Meraki SD-WAN needs to WAN

HRafi1
New here

Meraki SD-WAN needs to WAN

I want to offer this SD-WAN product to our customer and wanted to confirm with the group.

 

1. Does SD-WAN only call SD-WAN when you have two WAN connections from the ISP?

2. Is Meraki SD-WAN is compliant with MEF 70 SD-WAN Attributes?

3. If we have multiple site locations, We plan on adding MX series routers in that location, Can we setup SDWAN with a single Internet connection or 2nd Internet connection is absolutely necessary in order to do SDWAN service. 

8 REPLIES 8
jdsilva
Kind of a big deal

  1. Generally speaking, yes you need two. With only one you cannot make dynamic path decisions because there's only one path. If you get into more technical definitions of SD-WAN there are more factors at play. 
  2. No. 
  3. Meraki's SD-WAN solution is built on top of their MX platform and their AutoVPN feature. You can combine sites using 1, 2, or 2+LTE connection any way you like. The only requirement is Internet and an MX appliance. 

So you are saying in order to have IDEAL SD-WAN you need two WAN connections but you can get by with One ISP connection as well? 

NolanHerring
Kind of a big deal

If you want Internet, you need to get an internet circuit. If you want to use 'SD-WAN (any vendor)', you CAN use a single internet connection, but the entire purpose of SD-WAN is that it will magically utilize multiple Internet circuits using magic that can allow you to send certain traffic out one circuit manually, or it can automagically/dynamically route traffic from WAN1 to WAN2 due to latency increase and other variables. Again this applies to any vendor that sells an SD-WAN solution. Some do it better than others.
Nolan Herring | nolanwifi.com
TwitterLinkedIn

I understand that but what I am asking is that must have 2 WAN connection in order to offer SD-WAN? I being told is you cant called a circuit SD-WAN if you don't have 2 WAN connections is that statement is true.
jdsilva
Kind of a big deal

You can mix and match sites with one or two Internet connections in an AutoVPN overlay. You do not have to have all with one, or all with two. 

 

If you want to call the single WAN sites regular WAN and the dual WAN sites SD-WAN then go right ahead. 

No, my question is Can I call single WAN site SD-WAN or I cant. Can Business with 5 site locations with Single WAN connection have SD-WAN? Or you are saying with Single WAN you will get AUTO-VPN but if you have DUAL WAN then its called SD-WAN.
NolanHerring
Kind of a big deal

Yes you can call it SD-WAN for a single WAN. Nobody will stop you 😃
Nolan Herring | nolanwifi.com
TwitterLinkedIn

OK, hang on. If we're going to go here then let's get this right.

 

<gets on soapbox>

 

"Software Defined" anything as it relates to networking is the concept of separating the control plane and the data plane functions. This almost always takes the form of there being a "controller" that oversees all of the network, and then a number of "forwarders" that take their programming from the controller and do the actual forwarding of network traffic. Technically speaking, there's an API that runs between the controller and forwarders that's referred to as the Southbound API.

 

Now, if you apply this concept to WANs you open up some interesting possibilities. By having a centralized controller that maintains a holistic view of the network, while being fed real-time statistical data about the state and performance of multiple WAN connections you create an environment where forwarding decisions can be made dynamically based on the current conditions of the network. Dynamic policy based routing if you will.

 

Add to this a little bit of probability theory applied to the performance of multiple Internet services compared to a single dedicated private circuit and now you end up with a system that can statistically provide very high levels of service over cheaper links, comparable, and even exceeding in some cases, what a dedicated private link can provide. 

 

But to be clear, SD-WAN isn't necessarily an MPLS killer, quite the opposite in fact. MPLS and Internet can co-exist in an SD-WAN deployment very well, each providing a different level or type of service that compliments the other. 

 

So, to reign all this back in, SD-WAN is the idea of applying SDN concepts to the WAN. It has nothing to do with the number of Internet services connected, however, the more links you have the higher the chances are you have a link that is performing well enough to meet even the most stringent SLAs, and as those links change so too will the routing decisions being made by the forwarder.

 

</gets on soapbox>

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