What is traffic shaping in Firecradle?

Firecradle traffic shaping lets you define quality-of-service (QoS) policies that prioritize latency-sensitive traffic such as VoIP and video conferencing over bulk transfers, and cap bandwidth for non-essential applications.

Can Firecradle limit bandwidth per device or VLAN?

Yes. Firecradle supports bandwidth limits and prioritization rules that can be applied per device, per VLAN, or per application category, keeping business-critical traffic responsive during peak usage.

Does Firecradle support link bonding for higher throughput?

Yes. Firecradle supports link bonding across multiple WAN connections for increased throughput and automatic failover if one link degrades or drops.

Traffic Shaping & QoS

Bandwidth That Behaves The Way You Tell It To

Firecradle's traffic shaping engine sets bandwidth limits, priority queues, and per-flow rules on every interface. Voice and video stay smooth. Big transfers step aside. No special hardware or extra license needed.

IT Director / CIO

Predictable bandwidth for the apps your business depends on
Voice and video calls get priority with one-click presets
No separate QoS license or extra hardware
The same engine and console on every appliance

Network / Security Admin

Full control over limiters, queues, and classification rules
Priority marking on a per-rule basis
Shape traffic per interface, per direction, and per device
Shapes outbound traffic natively, and inbound traffic too

System Administrator

One-click presets: VoIP priority, ACK priority, gaming low-latency
Live per-queue stats: sent, dropped, and backlog
Turn a rule off without deleting it
Manage rules for every appliance from the cloud dashboard

Four Building Blocks of Traffic Shaping

Combine limiters, queues, and classification rules. Build anything from a simple per-VLAN bandwidth cap to a full voice-and-video priority system.

Limiters

Set a bandwidth cap per interface, per direction, and even per device. Pick from several scheduling methods to control how traffic waits its turn.

Priority Queues

Build a tree of queues. Each interface starts with one default queue, and smaller queues share bandwidth without going over their parent's limit.

Classification Rules

Match traffic by protocol, address, port range, or an existing priority marking. Then send it to the right queue or limiter.

Priority Marking

Mark traffic with a priority code so other network gear can treat it the same way you do.

Example Shaper Rule

Priority 50Direction: outProtocol: udpPort: 10000-20000Action: set_dscp=efQueue: voip

"Prioritize voice media traffic" - this rule is matched, marked as high priority, and sent to the realtime voice queue before any bulk-traffic queue.

One-Click Presets

No Manual Math Required

Setting up priority queues by hand can take real work. Not on Firecradle. Built-in presets build a working queue tree and classification rules for the traffic that matters most. You get priority handling in one click, instead of an afternoon of tuning.

VoIP Priority

Marks voice traffic as high priority and sends it to a fast queue. Calls stay clear even when the internet link is busy.

ACK Prioritization

Speeds up small acknowledgment packets so one big upload does not stall every other connection on the same link.

Gaming Low-Latency

Gives gaming traffic a fast lane with almost no wait time, so round-trip times stay low.

Per-Queue Statistics

See What Each Queue Is Actually Doing

Every limiter and queue shows live counts of what was sent, dropped, and backed up. You can check that a preset really is protecting voice traffic, instead of just assuming it. Outbound traffic is shaped directly. Inbound traffic is shaped too, so both directions stay smooth without dropping traffic you want to keep.