Data Plane Resiliency in Cisco SD-WAN Software

Implementing Data Plane Resiliency in Cisco SD-WAN Software

Question

For data plane resiliency, what does the Cisco SD-WAN software implement?

Answers

Explanations

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A. B. C. D.

D.

In Cisco SD-WAN, the data plane resiliency is a critical feature that ensures high availability and reliable connectivity between the WAN Edge routers in a network. The SD-WAN software implements various mechanisms to achieve data plane resiliency, and the most common ones are:

A. Multiple vBond Orchestrators: The vBond orchestrator is responsible for authenticating and authorizing the WAN Edge routers in the network. The SD-WAN software allows the deployment of multiple vBond orchestrators to provide redundancy and resiliency in case of any failure. The vBond orchestrators work in a cluster, and if one of the vBond orchestrators fails, the other vBond orchestrators in the cluster can take over without any interruption in service.

B. Establishing Affinity between vSmart controllers and WAN Edge routers: The vSmart controllers are responsible for managing the routing policies and traffic flows across the network. In a large-scale SD-WAN deployment, it is recommended to establish affinity between the vSmart controllers and WAN Edge routers. This means that each WAN Edge router is assigned a primary and a secondary vSmart controller, which ensures that the router will always use the same vSmart controllers for routing and traffic flows. This way, even if one vSmart controller fails, the WAN Edge routers can continue to function using the secondary vSmart controller.

C. Overlay Management Protocol (OMP): The Overlay Management Protocol (OMP) is a proprietary protocol used in Cisco SD-WAN to manage the overlay network. OMP provides a dynamic and scalable way to advertise the WAN Edge router's routes across the SD-WAN fabric. It also provides fast convergence in case of any network failures. OMP is designed to work seamlessly with other SD-WAN features like vBond orchestrator, vSmart controllers, and WAN Edge routers to provide data plane resiliency.

D. Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD): Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) is a protocol used in Cisco SD-WAN to detect link failures quickly. BFD works by exchanging periodic hello messages between the neighboring WAN Edge routers, and if a hello message is not received within a specified interval, the link is considered failed, and the router can take the necessary action to re-route traffic. BFD provides sub-second link failure detection, which helps in maintaining high availability and resiliency in the network.

In summary, Cisco SD-WAN software implements multiple mechanisms to provide data plane resiliency, including the use of multiple vBond orchestrators, establishing affinity between vSmart controllers and WAN Edge routers, using the Overlay Management Protocol (OMP), and Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD). These features help ensure that the SD-WAN network remains highly available, reliable, and resilient in case of any network failures.