SD-LAN or SD-Wave is a short form of service provider directed networking, which is nothing more than a high-speed connection to any Internet service. In SD-LAN, there is no need to use WAN adapters or dedicated circuits for any communication. It was designed with the intention of making Wide Area Networking easy and inexpensive.
SD-LAN enables computer users to establish a Local Area Network (LAN) with a minimal investment of capital. This helps minimize the use of Wide Area Networks (WAN) which has several disadvantages like lack of application performance and excessive cost. SD-LAN enables computer users to establish a centralized connection to several WAN nodes without the use of WAN adapters or dedicated circuits.
With the help of this technology, a company can easily establish a Local Area Network (LAN) in which each node can be connected to multiple WAN routers using a common SSID. The benefit of establishing such a centralized service is that it eliminates the requirement for expensive and heavy-duty WAN adapters or expensive circuits. The use of SD-LAN reduces bandwidth requirements on the part of the provider and this in turn improves the scalability of the data center. There are two major advantages of using SD-LAN over WAN.
Since SD-LAN uses the client/server model, it is able to provide guaranteed application performance even when the traffic is heavy or high-traffic. Another advantage of using a centralized service is that it enables business-driven SD-Wans to easily adjust the overloads and cuts down the costs involved in deployment of new traffic to ensure the highest level of service. This makes SD-Wans ideal for data centers that face difficulties in managing heavy traffic. Businesses can easily scale their capacity without affecting their business processes.
An SDSS compliant network infrastructure is essential for SD-WAN to function. A number of companies have introduced enterprise-wide SD-WAN solutions that include SDSS compliant edge devices with on-demand provisioning of address lists and automatic assignment of logical addresses. These edge devices can be secured to ensure mission-critical traffic is disconnected during periods of high load. SD-WAN vendors also offer multi-site WAN configurations that include authentication for WAN IP addresses and WAN port numbers between sites. Multi-site WAN allows organizations to centralize management of all WAN traffic by centralizing administration of the physical infrastructure, virtual private LANs, gateway, and routing procedures for each site. Multi-site WAN configuration also allows for the introduction of WAN interfaces between remote sites.
In summary, SD-WAN can provide the benefits of a unified infrastructure and more efficient and streamlined application and network functionality through security policies and the utilization of SaaS models. The flexibility of SD-WAN solutions can be extended through easy application integration with existing and upcoming enterprise software applications. This technology can also be implemented as a SaaS offering through the use of open source software applications such as CloudStack, CloudERP, and others. The benefits of cloud connectivity and SaaS are gaining increasing importance in an increasingly competitive world. Companies looking to capitalize on this trend should consider SD-WAN solutions.
Benefits Of SD-WAN:
There are several benefits of using SDP based SD-WAN. One of the benefits is that it offers guaranteed system bandwidth and guaranteed system latency so that you can make the best use of your network resources and avoid outages. With these benefits of SDP based SD-WAN, you get:
Real-time Gateways: When your SDP based SD-WAN gateway is receiving data from a remote location, it can send it immediately without delays and to its final destination. This helps reduce outages, which can also lead to lost revenue. The speed at which traffic is delivered to the destination also increases thereby helping to increase the productivity of your business. Another benefit is that you can configure the gateway with additional SSL security features so that private connections are maintained between customers and servers. These added security features help reduce the attacks on servers and prevent hacking of personal information from the server.
Cloud-Based: A Cloud-based SD-WAN solution offers guaranteed system latency so that you can make best use of your connection. With a SDP based SD-WAN, the latency is reduced as the gateway uses IP networking. This reduces the cost of connecting to a remote location and ensures that data packets reach their destination without delays. This feature has the ability to reduce bandwidth costs and boost revenues by improving business interconnections. It can also be used to provide better quality service as well as reduce troubleshooting time.
Agility: SDP based SD-WAN allows the administrator to define various parameters of the physical layer, so that you can easily test and retest the bandwidth and latency. You can adjust the rate of packet transmission to improve the level of agility of your system. This feature helps the network administrator in maintaining efficiency, by adjusting the number of hops for each outgoing packet and retrying connection if needed. This will help you in improving the network performance over a period of time.
Software-defined: SD-WANs with software-defined features are able to provide various advanced functions such as auto discovery, QoS, security control, and failover mechanism. The process is achieved by utilizing different types of connection types. It can support software-based traffic management protocols (TMP) and application-level protocols (APPC). It is quite easy to deploy software-defined SD-WAN using available software vendors such as Cisco and Microsoft.
Provisioning: A fast WAN setup is easier with sdp provisioning. With sup-enabled networks, the administrator can configure and manage services and applications without requiring advanced technical knowledge. The process is achieved through pre-determined parameters such as the interface speed, the number of hop limits, and the gateway ip. In addition, most companies prefer to use sDP enabled SD-WAN instead of manually configuring the same. Through proper diagnosis, it becomes easier to troubleshoot and properly manage the network.