Defining a Preferred PoP for a Site

This article explains how to designate specific PoP locations that a site prefers to connect to.

Overview of Preferred PoP Location

The Cato Cloud uses a connectivity algorithm to determine which PoP location a site connects to. The goal of this algorithm is to maximize network speed and the end-user experience.

There are a number of situations where you may want to prioritize specific geographic locations for a Socket site. For example, if there are a number branch offices near the same PoP, then you might want all these sites to connect to it. The Preferred PoP location feature lets you assign a primary and secondary PoP for a Socket site. The connectivity algorithm then includes this priority and increases the likelihood that the site is connected to the primary or secondary PoP location. The greatest priority is for the primary PoP, and then a lower priority is assigned to the secondary PoP.

Defining the Preferred PoP Location

The General section for a Socket site lets you define the primary and secondary (optional) PoP locations for each site.

We recommend that you use the default Automatic option. This means that there is no preferred PoP location for this site, and the site always connects to the PoP location with the best connection quality.

You can also choose to restrict a site to only connect to the Preferred PoP Locations that you configure for the site. In this case, the site doesn't connect to a non-preferred PoP location despite any connectivity or performance issues that the site is experiencing. When you use this option, you must define a primary and secondary PoP location for the site.

To define the preferred PoP location for a site:

  1. From the navigation menu, click Network > Sites and select the site.

  2. From the navigation menu, click Site Configuration > General.

  3. Expand the Preferred PoP Location section.

  4. In the Primary drop-down menu, select the PoP location that is the primary preferred PoP location for this site.

  5. In the Secondary drop-down menu, select the PoP location that is the secondary preferred PoP location for this site.

    Select None if you aren't defining a secondary PoP location.

  6. (Optional) Select Only connect to the Preferred PoP Locations to restrict the Socket from connecting to a non-Preferred PoP location.

    This option lets you force the Sockets for this site to only connect to PoP locations in a specific country or geographical region. The Secondary PoP location must be defined as a PoP or Automatic when you select this option.

  7. Click Save. The preferred PoP locations are defined for the site.

PoP Locations in China

For PoP locations in China, some locations have multiple PoPs that a site can connect to. For example, Shanghai_DC1 and Shanghai_DC3. For more about optimal PoP selection in China, please contact Support.

Reconnecting to the Preferred PoP Location

If the Socket connects to a different PoP in the Cato Cloud, which isn't a preferred PoP location, this is how the Socket reconnects to the preferred PoP location:

  • Automatic - the Socket waits for a defined time period before it reconnects to a preferred PoP location.

    • By default, the Socket waits 60 minutes and then reconnects to a Preferred PoP location.

    • You can customize the Reconnect to Preferred PoP settings and change the time period that the Socket waits before it reconnects to a Preferred PoP location.

    • You can also disable the Reconnect to Preferred PoP feature and configure the Socket to stay at its current PoP location instead of reconnecting to its Preferred PoP location.

  • Manual - From the Network > Sites screen, in the Actions drop-down menu.

Configuring the Reconnect to Preferred PoP Settings

You can customize how long the Socket waits before it automatically reconnects to the Preferred PoP location.

You can define this setting as a Global Setting for the entire account, and different Reconnect to Preferred PoP settings for specific sites. The Reconnect to Preferred PoP for a specific site overrides the account settings.

Customizing the Reconnect to Preferred PoP for the Account

You can customize the Reconnect to Preferred PoP setting that is applied to each site in the account.

To customize the account setting for reconnecting a Socket to a Preferred PoP Location:

  1. From the navigation menu, click Network > Connection SLA. The Connection SLA screen opens.

  2. Expand the Reconnect to Preferred PoP section.

  3. Define the behavior for reconnecting to a Preferred PoP location:

    1. To automatically reconnect to a Preferred PoP location, in After, enter how many minutes the Socket waits before it reconnects.

    2. To disable automatically reconnecting to a Preferred PoP location, select Disabled.

    The following screenshot shows a setting for the entire account that waits 60 minutes before automatically reconnecting to a Preferred PoP location.

    preferredpop.png

  4. Click Save.

Customizing the Reconnect to Preferred PoP for a Site

You can customize a different Reconnect to Preferred PoP setting for specific sites. The setting for a specific site overrides the account setting.

To customize reconnecting a Socket to a Preferred PoP Location setting for a specific site:

  1. From the navigation menu, click Network > Sites and select the site.

  2. From the navigation menu, click Connection SLA.

  3. Expand the Reconnect to Preferred PoP section.

    preferredpopSITE.png

  4. Select Override account settings.

  5. Define the behavior for reconnecting to a Preferred PoP location:

    1. To automatically reconnect to a Preferred PoP location, in After, enter how many minutes the Socket waits before it reconnects.

    2. To disable automatically reconnecting to a Preferred PoP location, select Disabled.

  6. Click Save.

Manually Reconnecting to a Preferred PoP Location

Use the Reconnect to Preferred PoP option in the Sites page for a site to manually connect the Socket to a Preferred PoP location.

After you click the Reconnect to Preferred PoP option, it takes a few seconds to establish a new DTLS tunnel to the Preferred PoP location. We recommend that you perform this action during a maintenance window to avoid a possible service impact during working hours.

If the Socket is already connected to a Preferred PoP location, then the Socket ignores this action.

To manually reconnect a site to a Preferred PoP location:

  1. From the navigation menu, click Network > Sites and select the site.

  2. From the Actions drop-down menu, select Reconnect to Preferred PoP.

  3. In the confirmation window, click Reconnect.

Was this article helpful?

2 out of 2 found this helpful

7 comments

Date Votes
  • Comment author
    George Grant

    In the Cato Client I have the option to choose Manual PoP selection. Where can I get a list of IP addresses of Cato PoP locations?

  • Comment author
    Yaakov Simon
    • Edited

    George,

    Please see this KB article for a list of PoP IP addresses: Production PoP Guide

    Thanks,

    Yaakov

  • Comment author
    CR Krishna Kumar

    Link no longer exists 

    "oops  The page you were looking for doesn't exist"

     

  • Comment author
    Yaakov Simon

    CR Krishna Kumar Thanks for letting us know. I fixed the link in the comment above.

  • Comment author
    James Hopkins

    Hi Yaakov Simon, I have had a look at that guide, what do we enter in the 'Manual POP Selection' box in the client? Just Auckland for example or do we need to know the format i.e. for London is is loncatod1 etc, as I can't see this information in the link above.

  • Comment author
    Ronny Chan

    Any update to this? When I manually specify and attempt to connect to lascatod9, I am unable to. When I remove the manually entry and allow my client to choose which PoP to connect to, it successfully connects to lascatod9 (same name as my manual entry). Is there a list of valid PoP names that can be entered in the Manual PoP Selection field?

  • Comment author
    Mitch Kotler

    Hi Ronny - Try again with a hashtag (#) in front of the PoP name.   Ex: #lascatod9

    We don't publish the names of all our PoPs, sorry.

Add your comment