1 1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:02,430 Other WAN connections. 2 2 00:00:02,430 --> 00:00:03,290 In this lesson, 3 3 00:00:03,290 --> 00:00:05,710 we're going to cover some other WAN connection types, 4 4 00:00:05,710 --> 00:00:08,700 specifically, SD-WAN and mGRE, 5 5 00:00:08,700 --> 00:00:09,780 because they're a bit different 6 6 00:00:09,780 --> 00:00:12,510 than the other WAN connections we already learned about. 7 7 00:00:12,510 --> 00:00:14,520 First, let's talk about SD-WAN 8 8 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,020 or Software-Defined Wide Area Network. 9 9 00:00:17,020 --> 00:00:19,570 An SD-WAN is a virtual WAN architecture 10 10 00:00:19,570 --> 00:00:21,790 that allows enterprises to leverage any combination 11 11 00:00:21,790 --> 00:00:23,270 of transport services 12 12 00:00:23,270 --> 00:00:26,060 to securely connect users to their applications. 13 13 00:00:26,060 --> 00:00:29,400 And SD-WAN is essentially a software-based WAN architecture 14 14 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:32,540 with all the control extracted from the underlying hardware. 15 15 00:00:32,540 --> 00:00:34,770 So instead of configuring specific infrastructure 16 16 00:00:34,770 --> 00:00:37,940 to handle application traffic, using something like MPLS, 17 17 00:00:37,940 --> 00:00:41,070 you can actually manage an SD-WAN entirely in software, 18 18 00:00:41,070 --> 00:00:44,530 plus layered over multiple types of network transport. 19 19 00:00:44,530 --> 00:00:45,780 This means we can really use 20 20 00:00:45,780 --> 00:00:48,130 any of the other WAN connections we may want to. 21 21 00:00:48,130 --> 00:00:51,270 Things like MPLS, a cellular connection, a microwave link, 22 22 00:00:51,270 --> 00:00:54,340 or a regular broadband internet service like a cable modem 23 23 00:00:54,340 --> 00:00:57,310 in order to create a virtual Wide Area Network architecture 24 24 00:00:57,310 --> 00:00:59,330 that we can then run our networks over. 25 25 00:00:59,330 --> 00:01:00,670 To create an SD-WAN, 26 26 00:01:00,670 --> 00:01:02,620 you can use a centralized control function 27 27 00:01:02,620 --> 00:01:04,820 to securely and intelligently redirect the traffic 28 28 00:01:04,820 --> 00:01:06,150 across the WAN. 29 29 00:01:06,150 --> 00:01:07,330 Our traditional WANs, 30 30 00:01:07,330 --> 00:01:08,710 which were never developed with the idea 31 31 00:01:08,710 --> 00:01:11,430 of integrating cloud services into our enterprise networks, 32 32 00:01:11,430 --> 00:01:12,520 can't do this. 33 33 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:15,780 Instead, SD-WANs enabled cloud-first enterprises 34 34 00:01:15,780 --> 00:01:19,350 to deliver amazing quality experiences for their users. 35 35 00:01:19,350 --> 00:01:21,660 Let's consider a company that has several branch offices 36 36 00:01:21,660 --> 00:01:23,510 and one headquarters location. 37 37 00:01:23,510 --> 00:01:25,410 In our traditional WAn architectures, 38 38 00:01:25,410 --> 00:01:27,410 each branch office would likely be connected 39 39 00:01:27,410 --> 00:01:30,420 back to the central office using a star topology. 40 40 00:01:30,420 --> 00:01:31,540 This would allow the headquarters 41 41 00:01:31,540 --> 00:01:33,740 to conduct advanced security on that traffic, 42 42 00:01:33,740 --> 00:01:36,230 as it went from the branch offices to the headquarters, 43 43 00:01:36,230 --> 00:01:37,910 and then out to the Internet. 44 44 00:01:37,910 --> 00:01:39,620 This is great for security, sure, 45 45 00:01:39,620 --> 00:01:41,680 but it really slows down the entire process 46 46 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:43,760 for the end users at those branch offices 47 47 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:47,160 and results in a poor user experience and lost productivity. 48 48 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:49,370 Now, unlike traditional architectures, 49 49 00:01:49,370 --> 00:01:51,780 SD-WANs can solve this by using intelligence 50 50 00:01:51,780 --> 00:01:53,330 to identify the network applications 51 51 00:01:53,330 --> 00:01:54,960 being used by the end users 52 52 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:58,440 and routing that data across the WAN to the right places. 53 53 00:01:58,440 --> 00:01:59,740 This allows your WAN environment 54 54 00:01:59,740 --> 00:02:01,520 to be more dynamic and efficient 55 55 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:04,020 while providing improvements in visibility, performance, 56 56 00:02:04,020 --> 00:02:06,960 and manageability of an enterprise WAN architecture 57 57 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,040 from a single centralized point. 58 58 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:10,990 Now, for the Network+ exam, 59 59 00:02:10,990 --> 00:02:13,127 you don't need to know how to configure an SD-WAN, 60 60 00:02:13,127 --> 00:02:15,820 but you do need to know when we might use it. 61 61 00:02:15,820 --> 00:02:18,200 So if you're working at a large enterprise network 62 62 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:19,690 and you have lots of branch offices 63 63 00:02:19,690 --> 00:02:21,970 and they're trying to move more and more into the cloud 64 64 00:02:21,970 --> 00:02:24,800 using things IaaS and PaaS and SaaS, 65 65 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:26,960 then you may need to use an SD-WAN 66 66 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:28,960 to increase the performance for your end users 67 67 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:30,530 and reduce bottlenecks that were caused 68 68 00:02:30,530 --> 00:02:33,280 by your traditional centralized WAN architecture. 69 69 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:34,940 Now, the second type of WAN connection 70 70 00:02:34,940 --> 00:02:36,460 we need to discuss in this lesson 71 71 00:02:36,460 --> 00:02:40,670 is mGRE or Multipoint Generic Routing Encapsulation. 72 72 00:02:40,670 --> 00:02:43,760 mGRE is a protocol that can be used to enable one node 73 73 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:45,700 to communicate with many other nodes, 74 74 00:02:45,700 --> 00:02:48,560 essentially creating a point-to-multipoint network. 75 75 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:51,120 So, where might you use mGRE? 76 76 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:52,760 Well, you could use mGRE 77 77 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:54,450 on your router at your headquarters, 78 78 00:02:54,450 --> 00:02:56,860 and then you could support multiple other points 79 79 00:02:56,860 --> 00:02:59,800 such as your branch offices connecting back to it. 80 80 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:01,730 With the older Generic Routing Encapsulation 81 81 00:03:01,730 --> 00:03:03,150 or GRE protocols, 82 82 00:03:03,150 --> 00:03:05,050 you are limited to point-to-point connections, 83 83 00:03:05,050 --> 00:03:08,090 but with mGRE, you can do point-to-multipoint. 84 84 00:03:08,090 --> 00:03:09,860 With those older GRE protocols, 85 85 00:03:09,860 --> 00:03:12,080 we would basically use GRE to create a tunnel 86 86 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,560 and then create an IPSec tunnel within it to create a VPN 87 87 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:17,870 by having a dedicated router at the branch site 88 88 00:03:17,870 --> 00:03:20,230 and another dedicated router at the headquarters. 89 89 00:03:20,230 --> 00:03:21,810 But with mGRE, 90 90 00:03:21,810 --> 00:03:23,830 we can instead have a single larger router 91 91 00:03:23,830 --> 00:03:24,930 at our headquarters 92 92 00:03:24,930 --> 00:03:27,680 that can support sending data from a single central router 93 93 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,610 to all the multiple branch sites at one time. 94 94 00:03:30,610 --> 00:03:33,790 If you're going to use mGRE to sub this type of WAN connection, 95 95 00:03:33,790 --> 00:03:36,660 it's usually going to be combined with DMVPN 96 96 00:03:36,660 --> 00:03:39,480 or the Dynamic Multipoint VPN protocol. 97 97 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:41,320 This will give you better security. 98 98 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:43,790 This also allows you to create a dynamic VPN network 99 99 00:03:43,790 --> 00:03:45,890 with multiple sites without having to pre-configure 100 100 00:03:45,890 --> 00:03:47,510 the tunnel endpoint statically 101 101 00:03:47,510 --> 00:03:49,490 like you would with a traditional VPN. 102 102 00:03:49,490 --> 00:03:50,820 Again, for the exam, 103 103 00:03:50,820 --> 00:03:53,400 it's just important to know what mGRE is 104 104 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:54,500 and what it's used for. 105 105 00:03:54,500 --> 00:03:57,800 So, remember, mGRE is used to create tunnels 106 106 00:03:57,800 --> 00:03:59,740 from one node to multiple nodes 107 107 00:03:59,740 --> 00:04:01,610 and can be used as a form of WAN connection 108 108 00:04:01,610 --> 00:04:02,730 within your network. 109 109 00:04:02,730 --> 00:04:04,030 It's most often going to be used 110 110 00:04:04,030 --> 00:04:06,960 with Dynamic Multipoint VPN or DMVPN 111 111 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:09,890 for enterprise networks with multiple smaller branch sites 112 112 00:04:09,890 --> 00:04:12,160 that need to connect back to a centralized site. 113 113 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:14,280 It's a more traditional type of WAN architecture 114 114 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:16,093 than using something like SD-WAN.