The SD WAN controller is a vital component of all SD WAN services and solutions. It’s function is manage all the resources or key assets on the Service Defined Wide Area Network, the implementation of new technologies and even provide basic or advanced features.
Its able to provide physical and virtual device management for his EDGES and Gateway associated with the controller. You can install new offices or placements very easily with SD WAN and provide control of everyone of them without any problem, and without loosing time.
With SD WAN controller you can configure and activate your network and manage IPS, as well as pushing down policies on Gateways or EDGES.
SD WAN controller placement
Pulling apart control plan and data plan is possible in the SD WAN controller. No matter the vendor you want to contract, is almost 100% sure it have control plan and data plan for separate. You can deploy both in different location for geographical redundancy.
You know that most vendors offer two models of controls:
- On premises: When you choose “On premises” model you will have full control over you network. That means you will have to manage control plan and data plan. Of course, this would give you a complete management but a high probability to have errors (human things!). For “On-prem” modelo you gonna need a good virtualization to deploy the controllers, which run as a VMs. One of the most common problems with this model is the geographic restriction you’ll have.
Cloud: Forget about geographic restriction or human errors, the cloud model for SD WAN controller is easy to use, secure and have a low cost. This is the future of networks and interconnections. Of course, this model of control don’t give you maximum control to your assets, resources or network.