SD-WAN architecture requires a new approach to network management

Software-defined networking (SDN) has become an important part of modern data center management infrastructure, and administrators can use controllers or controller clusters with software-defined functions to configure network devices in their data centers. This means that they no longer need to configure each switch, router, and firewall individually to ensure correct configuration and connectivity.

However, as software-defined networking technologies, including software-defined wide-area networks (SD-WAN), grow in the data center, administrators need to scale their management strategies accordingly.

Adoption of SD-WAN architecture

This year, SD-WAN has been adopted by many companies. In September, Verizon became the first US operator to truly implement SD-WAN deployment, but no other operator has deployed SD-WAN yet. According to a survey by analyst firm IDC, the adoption of SD-WAN architecture in enterprises has been relatively slow, but IDC expects SD-WAN adoption in enterprises to grow. IDC predicts that by 2020, the revenue of the SD-WAN enterprise market will reach $6 billion as companies hope to take advantage of the simplicity and security brought by SD-WAN. As early as 2015, market research firm Gartner predicted that by the end of 2019, 30% of enterprises will deploy SD-WAN technology in branch offices.

SD-WAN Management

The SD-WAN architecture attempts to abstract much of the network infrastructure that currently connects various local area networks (LANs) through Internet service providers. The SD-WAN architecture creates flow tables through SDN controllers instead of relying on the routing tables of edge routers. For example, if Internet-bound traffic from within a LAN is sent to branch offices located across the country, the packet routing depends on how the SDN controller sets the flow table. If the routing configuration needs to be changed, it needs to be changed on the controller and the generated flow table propagated to the relevant network devices. This is different from traditional network configuration, where administrators responsible for various servers must coordinate with the network team to ensure that applications can communicate with applications in remote locations through the existing network infrastructure. Although SD-WAN engineers may not usually be actual positions, network and system administrators must understand the relevant concepts. Network engineers who are not familiar with virtualization, server applications, and server operating systems are bound to fall behind. In addition, since the SD-WAN architecture is considered a solution to multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), relevant practitioners should be familiar with various existing SDN protocols (such as OpenFlow and OpFlex) and pay less attention to traditional routing accordingly. The advantages of SD-WAN architecture have not yet been fully realized, but enterprises will gradually push the technology into the mainstream of the industry. With large companies like Cisco and Verizon continuing to invest in and research and develop SD-WAN, SD-WAN will eventually become the mainstream of the industry, and network administrators will be able to familiarize themselves with SD-WAN as soon as possible.