SD-WAN

SD-WAN is a software-defined approach to managing Wide-Area Networks (WAN). It allows you to offload internet-bound traffic, meaning that private WAN services remain available for real-time and mission critical applications. This added flexibility improves traffic flow and reduces pressure on the network.

SD-WAN platforms create hybrid networks that integrate broadband and other network services into the corporate WAN while maintaining the performance and security of real-time and sensitive applications.

SD-WAN with Application Aware Routing can measure and monitor the performance of multiple services in a hybrid network. It uses application routing to offer more granular control of where and when an application uses a specific service, allowing better use of the overall network.

Some of the key benefits of SD-WAN include:

• Reduced cost with transport independence across MPLS, 3G/4G LTE, and others.
• Improve business application performance thanks to increased availability and agility.
• Optimized user experience and efficiency with SaaS and public cloud applications.

SD-WAN has 3 objects:

• SD-WAN interface

  Also called members, SD-WAN interfaces are the ports and interfaces that are used to run traffic. At least one interface must be configured for SD-WAN to function; up to 255 member interfaces can be configured. See Configuring the SD-WAN interface.

• Performance SLA

  Also called health-check, performance SLAs are used to monitor member interface link quality, and to detect link failures. They can be used to remove routes, and to reroute traffic when an SD-WAN member cannot detect the server. They can also be used in SD-WAN rules to select the preferred member interface for forwarding traffic. See Performance SLA - link monitoring.

• SD-WAN rule

  Also called service, SD-WAN rules are used to control path selection. Specific traffic can be dynamically sent to the best link, or use a specific route. There are five modes:

  • auto: Assign interfaces a priority based on quality.
  • manual: Assign interfaces a priority manually.
  • priority: Assign interfaces a priority based on the link-cost-factor quality of the interface.
  • sla: Assign interfaces a priority based on selected SLA settings.
  • load-balance: Distribute traffic among all available links based on the load balance algorithm.

  See SD-WAN rules - best quality, SD-WAN rules - lowest cost (SLA), and SD-WAN rules - maximize bandwidth (SLA).