Understanding SD-WAN and your Network Environment

To ensure an efficient and strong virtual environment, a business needs to be able to understand the health of their network across their whole system. This couldn’t be done very efficiently with generation 1 of SD-WAN which was focused on enabling traditional MPLS carriers. 

However, the latest iteration of SD-WAN is based on proactive data-science and is much more conducive for greater control and visibility. Here is a list of three things that will help your business better understand SD-WAN and manage your network environment. 

#1: Put Security First 

Security should be the first thing anyone thinks about when dealing with a virtual environment. When you move to an SD-WAN environment, you need to be able to enforce your security all the way to the edge; every possible entry point you need to be made aware of. What you don’t want to do is compromise on security with a “good enough model.”

#2: Establish a Baseline 

To gain a better understanding of SD-WAN and your network environment, you need to establish a baseline for each application. With a baseline, you will know what the normal response time is for an application. Whereas without a baseline, you won’t know for certain if you are experiencing a network issue (such as jitter and latency) or something else entirely like an external problem. 

#3: Create Alternate Pathways

Take these scenarios for example: during a conference call, a large file is being downloaded, causing the call to be jittery. Or, in a retail store, the music that is being streamed in is causing dropped calls. How does someone fix these problems? 

Well, in a virtual environment there are ways to circumvent application brownouts and transaction failures. There is not just one pathway to access an application for you or your users. When an application fails you can figure out an alternate path by running pings or by using an autonomous SD-WAN. This process is also referred to as QOS (quality of service).