Implementing Cisco SD-WAN Solutions (ENSDWI)

The vSmart controller is responsible for overseeing the control plane of the Cisco SD-WAN overlay network. It establishes, adjusts, and maintains the connections between the WAN Edge devices, which form the fabric of the overlay network. This function ensures the correct operation and management of the network connections within the Cisco SD-WAN architecture.

The two hardware platforms that support Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN images are the ISR4000 series and the ASR1000 series. These platforms are specifically designed to run Cisco IOS XE, which includes the SD-WAN feature set. The ISR4000 series provides a reliable, branch networking solution, whereas the ASR1000 series offers high-performance edge routing capabilities, both of which are compatible with Cisco's SD-WAN images.

The default protocol for control plane connection in many networking systems, particularly in Cisco's SD-WAN, is DTLS (Datagram Transport Layer Security). DTLS provides communication privacy for datagram protocols and is designed to prevent eavesdropping, tampering, and message forgery. It runs over UDP, making it well-suited for applications that require low latency and can tolerate some loss of data, such as real-time communications commonly used in control plane connections.

The Cisco SD-WAN component that should be located in a public Internet address space and facilitates NAT-traversal is vBond. vBond acts as the orchestrator and initial point of authentication for all SD-WAN components. It needs to be reachable publicly to facilitate the onboarding of WAN Edge devices and ensure connectivity through NAT devices.