Customize SD-WAN to meet your needs

Software-defined WAN is such a technology. Since all SD-WANs are different, you must do some development to make SD-WAN your own.

Why do we always think that we can adopt a revolutionary technology by buying and connecting? Although the undeniable fact is that everything in the field of technology is becoming more complex and more sophisticated? Software-defined wide area networks are such a kind of Technology, since all SD-WANs are different, you have to do some development to make SD-WAN your own.

The cost of SD-WAN

SD-WAN works by creating a routing overlay, a network higher than IP. SD-WAN software and equipment are usually implemented by adding a virtual network header to the IP data packet. The size of this header depends on the specific implementation, but it can add half a dozen to dozens of bytes in the data packet。

 

For example, the SD-WAN cost of 12 bytes will increase it by about 6%. IoT data packets may be much smaller, between 30 and 50 bytes, so the same header size will increase the data packet size by 24% to 40%. Since the increase in data packet overhead has the effect of reducing the effective connection bandwidth, this may mean that small sites with limited bandwidth capabilities may see their speed further reduced due to overhead.

 

It is important to ask potential SD-WAN vendors about this cost and how they route packets. Very few SD-WAN vendors do not add their routing headers to every data packet, but to every session between the user and the application, which adds the least overhead. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain accurate data on whether the session or data packet is routed, and what overhead is added to make the best SD-WAN choice.

Prioritize data packets

The performance of SD-WAN may be affected by features that most potential users have not even considered. Voice, video, and some IoT applications may be sensitive to latency. If the traffic is heavy and the data packets are backed up at the source, it will be different. Some applications are more critical than others, and many users want these applications to skip the line and be sent before other low-priority packets. Prioritizing data packets is a function implemented by some SD-WANs, but its effectiveness will depend on how to effectively identify specific applications for prioritization.

Most SD-WANs just look at the type of data packet, or perhaps the TCP/UDP port number, which assumes that all voice data packets or all data packets of a particular application have the same priority. In many cases, users will prioritize the relationship between a specific worker and the application, rather than all users of a specific application, so the priority that may provide is less than you think.

 

If you have a specific reason to choose a higher-cost SD-WAN, or an SD-WAN that cannot be prioritized according to your wishes, you can reduce these two problems by using an access link with a higher bandwidth Impact. If not, and you need to use the access bandwidth efficiently, then please take the time to evaluate your vendor options based on cost and priority issues.

tionships, but also identify all possible employee-to-application relationships that are actually allowed. This means that SD-WAN can actually create better security. Some SD-WAN implementations include this level of relationship awareness, others may add a security layer to provide these functions. For example, this is the added content of Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) technology.

 

Additional application and relationship awareness may be helpful, but it is important to figure out what you can do with this knowledge. For example, an additional application awareness or SASE function may improve security, but can it affect priority or be used to choose a different route for SD-WAN packets to avoid congestion? If all these functions work together, That's really good, but it's not always the case.

SD-WAN offline performance

Another problem that is often hidden in SD-WAN is how traffic leaves the SD-WAN overlay and enters the data center. Remember the saying that "there are policies at the top, and the countermeasures at the bottom"? Things that enter SD-WAN must come down where these small sites are trying to connect, that is, the cloud or data center. The implementation of SD-WAN differs greatly in these offline performances.

Managed service or self-operated

The final question to consider is, "How will I manage these things?" If you are trying to equip your network operations center with skilled personnel, imagine how you will try to get even the most basic knowledge of on-site staff to help Solve the problems of those small sites you just connected to. Management functions are very important to the success of SD-WAN, and even for some international SD-WAN applications, these functions may not be enough. You might want to consider getting your SD-WAN from a service provider or managed service provider (MSP) instead of buying hardware and software and launching it yourself.

You want to buy your own SD-WAN, an SD-WAN that fits all your requirements, even those you haven't really thought about. Researching requirements and features ahead of time can help you avoid an expensive and destructive mistake.