VMware SD-WAN solution by VeloCloud facilitates customers (Enterprise or Service Provider) to use several WAN connections concurrently, guaranteeing application performance and capitalizing on bandwidth.
It has three main components.
- VeloCloud Orchestrator (VCO, also called VMware SD-WAN Orchestrator)
- VeloCloud Edge
- VeloCloud Gateway
VMware VeloCloud Orchestrator
VeloCloud Orchestrator is a cloud hosted or on-premises tool that runs the brains of SD-WAN solution and handles the control plane. Some of the features it provides are:
- Centralized installation, configuration and real-time monitoring
- Data flow orchestration through the cloud network
- Visibility into network & element operation
- One-Click provisioning of services
- Fault management, reporting and logging
- License management
VeloCloud Edge
VeloCloud Edge is a physical or virtual device (Edge 6×0 family, Edge 3400, Edge 3800 and vEdge) generally deployed at the branch location and is the entrance point to the SD-WAN infrastructure.
The Edge can either be configured as a standalone device or clustered for a High Availability (HA) setup. The device user interface (UI) can be accessed at http://edge.VeloCloud.net or at the default IP address of 192.168.2.1 via one of the default LAN ports, GE1 or GE2, or through the WiFi connection. The Edge Overview page provides the status of all the LAN and WAN interfaces. The Edge is responsible for sending branch traffic over various WAN links that can be a mixture of MPLS, VPLS, Ethernet, Internet, or 4G/5G networks. It can also provide firewall functionality for the outbound traffic.
VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN Edges provide zero-touch provisioning (ZTP), Dynamic Path Selection, Smart QOS, Per-Packet Link Steering and Remediation and provide secure optimized connectivity to private, public and/or hybrid cloud based applications and virtualized services. The Edges perform granular classification of 2500+ applications and offer default QoS policies. We can also deploy a VNF on the Edge device.
VeloCloud Gateway
VeloCloud SDWAN maintains a Scalable distributed network of Service Gateways deployed at top tier cloud datacenters around the world that provide full redundancy. VeloCloud SD-WAN Gateways provide network connectivity to the cloud with optimised data paths to all applications that reside in branches and/or datacenters.
As soon as the VeloCloud Edges detect a WAN link they establish Dynamic Multipath Optimization (DMPO) tunnels with one or more SD-WAN Gateways. DMPO implements continuous, unidirectional measurements of performance metrics such as loss, latency, and jitter of every packet on every tunnel between any two DMPO endpoints. The VeloCloud gateways forward the traffic to its final destination.
Device onboarding and provisioning
VeloCloud edge device are plug-and-play devices but there is a minimalist onboarding process a Customer needs to perform to activate the device and service. Here is a step-by-step onboarding process:
- Add a new VeloCloud edge device in the client account (on the portal) and generate an activation key. An email will also be sent to the Customer
- The VeloCloud Edge will be shipped to the client site with the factory default information
- Unpack and Power up the Edge device on arrival
- Connect the Edge to an available Internet connection (DHCP enabled by default)
- Connect the Ethernet cable to any of the available ports labeled GE3 to GE6.
- Once the device comes up, Click on the activation link in the received email
- The edge device is activated
Provisioning the Edge
You will need to create the profile and configuration for the VeloCloud Edge.
Go to: Configure> Edge > New Edge: Add new VeloCloud Edge
Fill in the required information as shown below and click Create
Edge will now be provisioned with an activation key and the configuration profile as shown below
The last step in Provisioning is to configure Edge specific parameters that include LAN IP addressing, Static WAN IP addressing, Firewall and Business policy rules etc.
Voila! You have activated the SD-WAN site
References
https://sdwan.vmware.com/content/velocloud/en/get-started/edge-610.html