The WAN Gateway role is dynamically assigned to the most suitable server in a particular location. In most cases, the replication server with the higher WAN Gateway priority (e.g., priority 1 indicates the highest priority) assumes this role.

A replication server will not attempt to become a WAN Gateway if any of the following conditions exists:
  • The WAN Gateway priority is set to 0
  • The replication server is backlogged at server startup
  • The current WAN Gateway has higher priority
  • The WAN Gateway has not been elected yet, but higher priority replication servers are present in the location
The currently active WAN Gateway server will give up the gateway role in the following cases:
  • The server has started the shutdown process
  • The server is preparing for a scheduled maintenance cycle
  • The server learns about a higher priority replication server in its location

Replication servers send WAN Gateway information to other servers at regular intervals using the replication protocol. This allows the replication servers to take the appropriate action, for example, to become a WAN Gateway, if necessary without any manual administrative action.