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Enabling intelligent 5G LAN routing for devices behind cellular gateways/routers using Supernetting
Enabling intelligent 5G LAN routing for devices behind cellular gateways/routers using Supernetting
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Written by Team Celona
Updated over 8 months ago

Overcoming Private Wireless Network Challenges with Supernetting

Integrating non-cellular devices into Private 4G/5G networks via mobile routers like Cradlepoint, Sierra Wireless, and Digi offers significant benefits. However, this approach often leads to challenges such as reduced external visibility and the complexity of managing multiple IP subnets and DHCP scopes for each mobile router. These issues can pose security risks and significant management overhead potentially hindering the deployment of Private Wireless networks in industrial and enterprise settings.

Celona addresses these challenges with its unique and innovative 5G LAN Supernetting solution. This solution simplifies the network architecture, allowing for seamless connectivity and enhanced security.

This feature is supported on Celona private wireless networks with Edge clusters running software version 2306 or higher.

Implementing 5G LAN Supernetting: A Step-by-Step Guide

Objective

Enable non-cellular devices behind mobile routers to connect effortlessly to the enterprise network, ensuring full visibility and accessibility.

Following example illustrates how Celona's Supernetting feature can be used to onboard non-cellular OT & IT end-points in enterprise network.

Configurations on Enterprise Network

  1. Create a subnet for mobile router cellular (WAN) Interface

    • Net 10 - 10.10.1.x/24

    • VLAN 10

    • IP Address Range - 10.10.1.1 to 10.10.1.254

    • Default Gateway - 10.10.1.1

  2. Create a subnet for LAN behind mobile routers, including devices behind mobile router (Supernet)

    • Net 30 - 10.30.1.x/24

    • IP Address Range - 10.30.1.1 to 10.30.1.254

    • Default Gateway - 10.30.1.1

    • IP Address range 10.30.1.2 to 10.30.1.50 reserved for mobile router LAN interfaces

    • IP Address range 10.30.1.51 to 10.30.1.254 reserved for non-cellular devices behind mobile routers

  3. Switch port to Edge must be trunked with subnet Net 10 – VLAN 10.

    • Note IP subnet Net 30 is not required to be trunked as it will be routed instead

  4. DHCP Configuration

    • Create a DHCP scope 10.10.1.x/24 in subnet Net 10 defined for mobile router cellular (WAN) interface

    • Create a single DHCP scope 10.30.1.x/24 in subnet Net 30 defined for end-devices behind all mobile routers (Supernet)

      • Reserve static IP range for mobile router LAN interface in this IP address range

    • DHCP reservation or static IP address allocation for Edge interface is recommended

  5. Enterprise core router must have a static route for Net 30 (Supernet) with next-hop IP set to Edge interface IP address on Net 10 (VLAN 10)

Configurations on mobile router(s)

  1. IP address of the cellular (WAN) interface of the mobile router(s) is set up during the attach process

    • IP Address Range - 10.10.1.2 to 10.10.1.254

    • Default Gateway IP - 10.10.1.1

  2. Assign a unique static IP address to the LAN interface of the mobile router(s)

    • Reserved IP address range - 10.30.1.2 to 10.30.1.50

    • Note - This can be done manually or via templates to assign static IP addresses in bulk

  3. Turn off source NAT, so the mobile router is only routing

  4. Turn on DHCP relay to upstream enterprise DHCP server

Configurations on Celona Orchestrator to set up Supernetting​

Step 1. Create External IP Domain Setup

Create External IP Domain for IP subnet Net 10 (VLAN 10) for mobile router(s). Refer documentation.

Step 2. Create an Advanced Network configuration template to set up Supernetting

  • These templates can be created on an Edge Cluster details page, as long as the edge is running a version of 2305 or higher.

  • Navigate to the end of the page and click the Add Advanced Network Config button to open up the form

  • Give a name for your template (mandatory field)

  • Enable Supernetting and set the subnet mask

    • Subnet masks must hold the following format: a.b.c.d/e.f.g.h (where a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h are each numbers between 0 to 255) adhering to the IPv4 notation

    • Subnet mask corresponds to the IP subnet (Supernet) set up for end-devices behind the mobile Router

    • In this example, the subnet mask will be set to : 10.30.1.0/255.255.255.0

    • Once you click Create at the end of the form, you should see a success message with a green banner denoting that the advanced configuration has been successfully created, and the table should reflect your new template.

Step 3. Create a Device Group

Formulate a device group for the mobile routers, adding their SIMs to this group.

  • Navigate to the Device Groups page and click on Create New to create a new device group

  • To create a device group, provide a

    • Name (mandatory field)

    • Add mobile router(s) (SIMs) to the device group

Step 4. Apply Supernetting configuration to a Device Group

Assign the Supernetting template to the device group, ensuring the configurations take effect.

  • Navigate to the Device Groups page and click on the 3-dot menu, followed by the Edit button to launch the edit device group workflow for mobile router(s) device group created in step 3.

  • To apply an advanced network config policy to the device group, select an edge cluster and the corresponding advanced network configuration templates will appear

    • Please note that the Advanced Network Config field will only be displayed if an external IP domain is selected in the previous field

Editing/Removing advanced network config from a device group

  • To edit/remove an applied advanced network configuration from a device group, click on the 3-dot menu, followed by the Edit button to launch the edit device group workflow.

  • Select another template or mark the field as None to remove the associated configuration

Editing/Deleting an advanced network config template

  • Once an advanced network configuration has been successfully created, you can edit or delete the config and associated parameters from the edge cluster details page, using the 3-dot menu at the last column of the config table

Note: Please note that applying, editing or removing an advanced network configuration to a device group may result in network downtime so we recommend doing this during a maintenance window.

The same applies for editing the parameters of an advanced network config template which is already in use by one or more device groups.

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