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Policies & Traffic Engineering

This chapter covers comprehensive SD-WAN policy design including application-aware routing, QoS, data/control policies, direct Internet access, service insertion, and advanced traffic optimization techniques.

Chapter Overview

SD-WAN policies enable intelligent traffic steering, QoS enforcement, and service insertion. This chapter provides detailed policy design patterns for:

  • Application-aware routing based on SLA requirements
  • QoS policy for voice, video, and data prioritization
  • Data and control policy for traffic manipulation
  • Direct Internet access and local breakout
  • Service insertion and traffic chaining
  • Performance optimization techniques

Sections in This Chapter

  • 4.1 Policy Framework Overview - Policy architecture and components
  • 4.2 Application-Aware Routing - SLA-based intelligent path selection
  • 4.3 QoS Policy Design - Traffic classification and prioritization
  • 4.4 Data Policy Design - Traffic manipulation at data plane
  • 4.5 Control Policy Design - Route manipulation at control plane
  • 4.6 Access Control Lists - Traffic filtering and security policies
  • 4.7 Direct Internet Access - Local Internet breakout policies
  • 4.8 Service Insertion - Firewall and service chaining
  • 4.9 Forward Error Correction - Packet loss mitigation
  • 4.10 TCP Optimization - WAN optimization techniques
  • 4.11 Multicast Policy - Multicast traffic handling
  • 4.12 Policy Troubleshooting & Validation - Testing and verification

Policy Types

Centralized Policies (applied at vSmart): - Application-Aware Routing - Traffic data policies - Control plane policies

Localized Policies (applied at WAN Edge): - Access control lists - QoS policies - Route policies

Part of: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Implementation Guide | Previous: ← Security | Next: Implementation →