PEPLINK UNIVERSITY  •  A WEST NETWORKS TRAINING RESOURCE (352) 316-7701  ·  SHOP PEPLINK →

VLAN as WAN (Virtual WAN)

VLAN as WAN gives a Peplink router more WAN inputs than it has ports: WANs on VLAN tags, on WAN or LAN interfaces. What the Virtual WAN license does, the LAN-bus caveat, setup, and 8.4/8.6 changes.

VLAN as WAN — the Virtual WAN Activation License, often shortened to VWAN — lets a Peplink router create a WAN on a VLAN instead of on a dedicated physical port. When a site needs more WAN inputs than the router has sockets, or the carrier hands you service on a tagged trunk, this is the answer that doesn’t involve buying a bigger router.

What it is

A virtual WAN is a fully-fledged WAN interface that lives on a VLAN tag rather than a physical port. You can land it on a WAN or a LAN interface. On a Balance 20X, for example, the license adds up to three additional virtual WAN inputs on top of the physical ones. Once created, a virtual WAN behaves like any other WAN: it gets health checks, participates in outbound policy, and joins SpeedFusion tunnels.

This is not the same as “WAN as LAN” (repurposing a physical WAN socket as a LAN port), and not the same as PPPoE/tagged service on a physical WAN — it is an additional WAN conjured out of VLAN space.

Where you see it in the field

  • Trunked carrier handoffs — the provider delivers multiple services on one cable, each on its own VLAN; each becomes its own WAN.
  • Public-IP VLANs — taking a routed public VLAN in as a WAN. You’ll find “VLAN as WAN 3001/3101/3103…” all through real West Networks designs.
  • More WANs than ports — a small router that needs to speak to four upstreams.

Field note

The one limit to remember: a virtual WAN on a LAN interface shares the LAN bus. If the LAN is 1 Gbps, every virtual WAN riding it shares that 1 Gbps. Size accordingly before you stack four upstreams on one copper run.

Setting it up

  1. Activate the Virtual WAN license on the device (via InControl 2 or the local UI).
  2. Create the new WAN, give it a VLAN ID, and attach it to the physical interface (WAN or LAN) where that VLAN arrives.
  3. Configure addressing (DHCP/static/PPPoE) exactly as you would a physical WAN, and set its priority.
  4. Steer traffic into it — a WAN nobody routes into carries nothing.

Version notes

  • 8.4.0 — virtual VLAN WANs work across Synergy Mode, so a synergized device can contribute VLAN WANs too.
  • 8.6.0 — IEEE 802.1p CoS values are honored on VLAN-tagged and virtual VLAN WANs, and per-WAN bandwidth caps arrived for metered links. Everything in 8.6 →

Watch it done

Watch: Peplink University Monthly Webinar | The Virtual WAN Activation License · Peplink

Related reading