Sites, Routers, Paths, and Interfaces

WAN Insights’ network modeling follows the SD-WAN configuration for sites, edge routers, and interfaces. A path is a connection between two routers (an endpoint pair) located at different sites. The figure below shows a simple two-site configuration between sites located in Boston and New York.

There can be multiple paths between the router interfaces, as shown below. These paths represent different router interfaces connected to dedicated circuits, for example Comcast fiber or a dedicated MPLS circuit. These circuits are designated by SD-WAN color names such as private1 or mpls, which you can see on the WAN Insights drill-down screens.

Although the graphic above shows the interfaces on each router connecting to the same circuit, it’s also possible to have interfaces on either end connecting to different circuits.

In a default load-balanced situation, the three circuits shown above would be equally weighted. However, a WAN Insights recommendation might indicate that overall user experience could be improved if Voice traffic went exclusively between the two interfaces connected by the circuit labeled as private2.

The router interfaces on each site can also connect to each other using different circuits. The example below shows Boston connecting to New York via private1 → biz-internet.

When calculating recommendations, WAN Insights takes into account the total number of user sessions going over a particular path, in order to improve user experience for the maximum number of users.

Note: Some interface types are considered high-risk and are blocklisted by the WAN Insights recommendation engine. Today, these interfaces are “LTE” and “3G”. Therefore, WAN Insights does not generate recommendations for any site that has fewer than two non-blocklisted interfaces.

Hubs and Spokes

WAN Insights identifies the site topology as either Hub or Spoke. A hub site serves as a central connection point for many other sites, while a spoke site connects to a single hub site.