SD-WAN Monitoring: More Than Just a Free Set of Steak Knives

When it comes to networking equipment, the conventional model has often been one where network management is an aftermarket addition—like receiving a free set of steak knives with your kitchen purchase. The tools provided for network management are typically clumsy, dated, and based on SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), a protocol that has been around since the era of pagers and faxes. Despite its age, SNMP has lingered, relying on centralized polling that results in limited edge processing. This outdated approach inundates Network Operations Centre (NOC) personnel with a flood of confusing and contradictory events, especially during outages when critical metrics are often only available retrospectively.

Steak Knives in the SD-WAN Deal

Enter Software-Defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WAN), a transformative technology designed to exchange metadata between network edges and a concentrator in a data center. Unlike traditional models, SD-WAN operates on a telemetry model, automatically providing analytics without the need for inefficient polling. This inherent visibility and monitoring are akin to receiving a free set of steak knives with your TV channel deal. In the realm of SD-WAN, basic visibility and monitoring come standard, making it an attractive option, particularly when calculating Return on Investment (ROI).

Chainsaw and Steak Knives: A Perfect Combo

The monitoring capabilities provided by SD-WAN can be elevated to match the extended network management abilities found in legacy networks. In many cases, the same platforms used for legacy networks can be seamlessly overlaid onto the new SD-WAN infrastructure with minimal modifications. This means that organizations accustomed to using heavy chainsaws for network management can continue to do so in tandem with the new and more agile steak knives.

Monitoring Usage and Performance with SD-WAN

In the book "SD-WAN for Dummies" by Pitt and Doyle, the authors highlight the monitoring capabilities of SD-WAN. The technology offers consolidated monitoring and visibility across various physical transports and service providers, encompassing all remote sites. This level of monitoring provides business-level visibility into application usage and network resource utilization. SD-WAN takes performance monitoring a step further, covering all components of the data plane. When combined with business policies, this performance monitoring enables intelligent traffic steering across different paths and resources within the virtual WAN network.

Hub and Spoke: Ensuring Flow Visibility

The architecture of SD-WAN typically enforces a hub-and-spoke model, automatically facilitating flow visibility across the entire network. These flows can be directed to information security and anomaly detection tools, enhancing monitoring and fortifying the overall network security significantly.

The SD-WAN and IoT Wave: Accelerating the Extinction of SNMP

As SD-WAN continues to evolve alongside the Internet of Things (IoT), it is accelerating the extinction event of SNMP. The shift towards a more agile and scalable telemetry model renders SNMP increasingly obsolete. The days of relying on the dinosaur that is SNMP are numbered, and for many, its passing will be a welcome evolution in network management. The future belongs to SD-WAN—a versatile tool that not only simplifies networking but also comes with a set of steak knives for effective monitoring and visibility. Say goodbye to the old and welcome the new era of network management!

🌐🔍🔧 #SDWANMonitoring #NetworkEvolution #FutureOfNetworking

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 * Originally published on LinkedIn by Ronald Bartels.