SD-WAN and SASE
(OBJ 3.2)
SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network)
- A virtualized approach to managing and optimizing wide area network connections
- Purpose
- Efficiently routes traffic between remote sites, data centers, and cloud environments
- Benefits
- Increased agility, security, and efficiency for geographically distributed workforces
- Control
- Software-based architecture with control extracted from underlying hardware
- Transport Services
- Allows the use of various transport services
- MPLS
- Cellular
- Microwave links
- Broadband internet
- Allows the use of various transport services
- Centralized Control
- Utilizes centralized control function for intelligent traffic routing across the WAN
- Traditional WAN vs. SD-WAN
- Traditional WANs
- Cannot efficiently integrate cloud services
- SD-WAN
- Enables dynamic and efficient routing, improving visibility, performance, and manageability from a single centralized point
- Identifies network applications that are being used by the end users and routes that data across the WAN to the right places
- Traditional WANs
- Use Cases
- Ideal for enterprises with multiple branch offices moving towards cloud-based services
- IaaS
- PaaS
- SaaS
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- Ideal for enterprises with multiple branch offices moving towards cloud-based services
SASE (Secure Access Service Edge)
- A network architecture combining network security and WAN capabilities in a single cloud-based service
- Used to consolidate numerous networking and security functions into a single cloud-native service to ensure that secure and access from end-users can be achieved
- Purpose
- Addresses challenges of securing and connecting users and data across distributed locations
- Branch offices
- Remote Workers
- Mobile Users
- The Cloud itself
- SASE ensure secure and efficient user-device connections to applications and services
- Addresses challenges of securing and connecting users and data across distributed locations
- Key Technology
- Utilizes software-defined networking (SDN) for security and networking services from the cloud
- Components
- Firewalls
- VPNs
- Zero-trust network access
- Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs)
- Policy and Management
- Delivered through a common set of policy and management platforms
- Cloud Providers
- Major cloud providers offer services aligned with SASE
- Examples:
- AWS VPC (Virtual Private Cloud)
- Azure Virtual WAN
- Azure ExpressRoutes
- Dedicated private connection between an Azure data center and your on-premise network infrastructure
- Google Cloud Interconnect
- Allows you to connect your on-premise infrastructure to the Google Cloud Platform over a dedicated private connection
- Google Cloud VPN
- Uses an IPsec VPN tunnel.
- Alignment
- These cloud services offer secure, flexible, and global networking capabilities, aligning with SASE principles
Importance
- As cyber threats evolve and organizations become more geographically dispersed, understanding and implementing SD-WAN and SASE are crucial for enhanced security and successful migration to cloud-based environments