Software-Defined WAN, the overlay-based architecture replacing traditional hub-and-spoke MPLS in enterprise networks. Articles tagged SD-WAN cover architecture, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN (Viptela), SASE convergence, deployment models, and day-2 operational realities.
One MPLS circuit, two WAN Edge routers: without TLOC extension your redundancy is fiction. This post explains how one router uses a transport physically connected to the other and how it fits a redundant branch design.
DIA lets branch internet traffic exit locally instead of backhauling to a data center firewall. See how it works in Catalyst SD-WAN, how the data policy is configured, and the security question local breakout forces you to answer.
Localized policy is what runs on the SD-WAN edge itself: interface ACLs, QoS treatment, and route policies filtering what a branch redistributes into OMP. Syntax follows Cisco's current 20.x documentation.
Application-aware routing measures loss, latency, and jitter on every transport and steers each app onto a path that meets its SLA. This article covers centralized data policy, SLA classes, and how the fabric measures paths, per Cisco's 20.x docs.
In SD-WAN you do not configure routing policy on the routers. Centralized control policy is one document on the Controller that shapes topology, path preference, and reachability for the entire overlay.
OMP carries everything in Catalyst SD-WAN: routes, TLOCs, service routes, keys, and policy. This deep dive walks each advertisement type and the path selection logic, with WAN Edge CLI drawn from Cisco's current 20.x documentation.
CLI templates, feature templates, and configuration groups arrived in three different eras of Catalyst SD-WAN. This article explains what each provisioning model is, why it exists, and which one to use in 2026.
MPLS gives you a private SLA-backed core; DMVPN gives you cheap encrypted connectivity over any internet link. This article compares the two honestly and shows the standard hybrid designs most enterprise WANs end up running.
SD-WAN Manager (vManage) exposes a REST API for the entire Catalyst SD-WAN fabric. This article walks the API's shape for network engineers: monitoring the fabric, pulling tunnel health, and automating policy changes.
SD-WAN has two routing problems at once: how sites learn prefixes across the overlay with OMP, and how the physical transports route underneath. This post keeps the two layers separate using the Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN model.
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN (formerly Viptela / Cisco SD-WAN): the naming history, the four-plane architecture, OMP routing, and the zero-touch edge onboarding flow.
A decision framework for migrating from MPLS L3VPN to SD-WAN: what's different, when to migrate, the 7-step transition that works, and when the right answer is to stay.