Need help with SD-WAN and traffic shapping

[AndrejRistovsk]

Hi to all,

I am working in a company that has 11 offices world wide.

We have a hybrid environment and using O365, Dynamics in Azure in the classic portal (not Dynamic 365), local file sharing etc.

Today there is VPN IPSEC between 11 sites. Additionally some of the offices in the same country that are connected with MPLS.

We want to improve our network security and increase the network performance since we are experiencing slow network work general (both internal and external).

Almost two months we have been evaluating the Cisco Meraki solution (SD-WAN appliance MX67C-WW, small l2 MS120-8LP switches and AP MR33). We really like the products and the way how you can manage your network

I have few question regarding optimizing the traffic and using SD-WAN and traffic shaping.

1. As far as i have understood SD-WAN and traffic shaping is the same as QoS or maybe not?

2. For instance if i have Site-to-Site VPN between two sites that are in a Hub connection then i need to have the same settings applied on both SD WAN appliances configured in SD-WAN and traffic shaping ?

3. Scenario when you have three offices connected with MPLS. Office 2 and 3 reach internet via office 1. Is it correct that if you want  to optimize the traffic for the three offices you need to coordinate QoS rules with the ISP that is providing the MPLS connection?

Thanks in advanced for any advise.

[PhilipDAth · Accepted solution]

>1. As far as i have understood SD-WAN and traffic shaping is the same as QoS or maybe not?

I tend to think of SDWan as using performance classes over AutoVPN, and you need dual WAN connections to take advantage of it.

https://documentation.meraki.com/MX/Firewall_and_Traffic_Shaping/MX_Load_Balancing_and_Flow_Preferen...

But I guess Traffic Shapping and QoS also fall under that same bruce stroke.

>2. For instance if i have Site-to-Site VPN between two sites that are in a Hub connection then i need to have the same settings applied on both SD WAN appliances configured in SD-WAN and traffic shaping ?

Well, you would typically, but that is not a hard requirement.  Each end could have their own different policies - but you would have different rules being applied based on where a traffic flow originated.

>3. Scenario when you have three offices connected with MPLS. Office 2 and 3 reach internet via office 1. Is it correct that if you want  to optimize the traffic for the three offices you need to coordinate QoS rules with the ISP that is providing the MPLS connection?

Well, yes that is one way.  You can also just use traffic shapping.

Or you can use dual ISP links (forget MPLS) and then use performance classes for sensitive traffic, and let AutoVPN figure out the best way to achieve your requirements.  Note that flip around - you define the requirements and then let the network deliver it - versus the old school method of you buying a network with specific SLAs and specifications in a hope that it meets your requirements.