ZEC Network Bonding

Owned by Avinash Bisht (Unlicensed)
08 Aug 2023
2 min read

ZEC's Network Bonding feature enables you to divide a stream into several network channels by utilizing multiple NICs and links and then subsequently reuniting them at the Zixi Broadcaster side. For example, a 5 Mbps stream can be streamed using two links, one 2 Mbps link that uses a mobile network and another 3 Mbps Wifi network. The stream is automatically bonded at the Zixi Broadcaster side without any special configuration (as long as the Push input is defined and the two NICs are setup in the machine running the Zixi Broadcaster). Network Bonding can be used for load balancing between multiple links in the following configurations:

  • ZEC with Multiple NICs to a single Zixi Broadcaster NIC - the stream is divided at the ZEC end and then bonded at the Zixi Broadcaster end. This configuration requires configuring Network Bonding in the ZEC.
  • ZEC with Multiple NICs to multiple Zixi Broadcaster NICs - the stream is divided at the ZEC end, sent to multiple IP addresses (each Zixi Broadcaster NIC has a separate IP address), and then bonded at the Zixi Broadcaster end. This configuration requires configuring Network Bonding in the ZEC. Each destination (i.e. each Broadcaster NIC is configured in a separate network bonding link by using a different Host IP address). 
  • ZEC with single NIC to Multiple Zixi Broadcaster NICs - the stream is sent to multiple IP addresses (each Zixi Broadcaster NIC has a separate IP address), and then bonded at the Zixi Broadcaster end. This configuration requires configuring Network Bonding in the ZEC. Each destination (i.e. each Broadcaster NIC) is configured in a separate network bonding link by using a different Host IP address. 
  • ZEC with multiple NICs to another Zixi Broadcaster with a single/multiple NICs - a Zixi Broadcaster can transfer a stream to another Zixi Broadcaster through multiple NICs at the source Broadcaster and single/multiple NICs at the destination Broadcaster. This configuration requires configuring Network Bonding in the Zixi Broadcaster.