# CloudLink vs self-hosted Bondix Server

CloudLink is a managed service operating Bondix servers in different geo regions
around the world in a secure, highly available and reliable manner. This service
is fully monitored, controlled and operated by Unwired Networks.

[Routers](./intro.md#supported-devices) can connect to this service
in order to aggregate their uplinks and get full access to Bondix S.A.NE features
without operating a server infrastructure yourself.

Alternatively you can operate a Bondix server yourself. Depending on your security,
reliability and cost requirements, this document serves to ensure the right
decision for your application.

## Implementation comparison

```{list-table}
:header-rows: 1
:class: full-width

* - Feature
  - Bondix S.A.NE self-hosted
  - CloudLink
* - High availability
  - None[^1]
  - Fully highly available
* - Security
  - Hardcoded passwords and<br>
    manual certificate rotation
  - Certificates with automatic
    rotation[^2]
* - Monitoring
  - Your operations team
  - Fully monitored by Unwired Networks<br>
    operations team
* - Authentication
  - Tunnel name + password<br>
    or manual CA config
  - Certificates
* - Setup cost
  - Your time to setup the server<br>
    and operate, update, monitor and<br>
    securely maintain it
  - None
* - Operating cost
  - Servers + maintenance personell
  - Fixed monthly fee per device
* - Setup time
  - Your installation time
  - None/available immediately
* - Typical use cases
  - Small deployments, development<br>
    and testing environments, company<br>
    already has a full opertions team.
  - Low latency, high bandwidth, reliable<br>
    production deployments for few to<br>
    many routers
```

* High availability:
  * CloudLink is operated in highly available clusters with a minimum of 3 worker nodes per
    geo region in order to improve fault tolerance during:
    * hardware or software faults
    * software updates
    * system maintenance and security updates
  * Bondix S.A.NE self-hosted running on a single VM will always have a single point of failure

[^1]: a fallback server could be operated, but unless a full certificate infrastructure is
  deployed, using tunnel names and passwords, all these passwords will need to be updated
  on each server and manually kept in sync.
[^2]: required for companies with ISO27001 key material rotation policies

## Operating your own Bondix S.A.NE server

You can operate your own servers and virtual machines and install Bondix S.A.NE server
and operate it yourself.

The main tasks required for a production deployment would be:
- solid certificate infrastructure with certificate rotation
  - alternatively assign passwords to each router/tunnel and rotate those regularly manually
- operating a fallback server (which has to be in sync with
  the main server's passwords and certificates)
- solid client-side certificate infrastructure
  - alternatively use hardcoded passwords
- operations of the service:
  - monitoring
  - OS and system updates
  - security fixes
  - Bondix S.A.NE updates
- quality assurance:
  - testing infrastructure functionality before applying an update

While this makes sense for small installations, testing and development setups, and
all setups with custom requirements or on-premise requirements, it needs a solid operational
foundation to operate at scale and in a production enviroment.

## Using CloudLink

CloudLink simplifies those challenges by offering a simple monthly-cost service that
can easily be rolled out and is fully operated by Unwired Networks.

CloudLink is operated on a solid operational foundation in clusters around the world. The clusters
are designed to handle very large bandwidth peaks and have sufficient CPU power to
work under a wide range of production requirements. Our data centers peer
very well to other local and international ISPs in order to reduce latency.

## Custom geo regions

CloudLink is available in many geo regions around the world. For projects with geo regions
that are not available right now, additional geo regions can be added. Please contact
[sales@unwirednetworks.com](mailto:sales@unwirednetworks.com) to learn more.

## Contact

For any additional information about CloudLink, regional availability or technical consulting,
including consulting about operating production Bondix S.A.NE servers please
contact [sales@unwirednetworks.com](mailto:sales@unwirednetworks.com).