Distributed node discovery and overlay path management on a data communication network
An initial provisioning by a management plane of the SD-WAN is received from a centralized SD-WAN gateway with static path overlay between the network edge device on a local LAN and the centralized SD-WAN gateway. At runtime, intelligent decision are made about which overlay path to select and when for the new flow over a control plane of the SD-WAN, based on the topology of the remote network edge and the local SDWAN policy, and to build the selected overlay path.
1. A network edge device in an SD-WAN (software-defined-wide area network) of a data communication network for dynamic overlay path management at runtime on a control plane of the SD-WAN, the network edge device comprising:
a processor;
a network communication interface, communicatively coupled to the data communication network; and
a memory, communicatively coupled to the processor and storing:
a control module to receive initial provisioning by a management plane of the SD-WAN from a centralized SD-WAN manager with static path overlay between the network edge device on a local LAN and the centralized SD-WAN gateway, wherein the initial provisioning includes a local SD-WAN policy;
an edge discovery module to, responsive to new data flow from a client on the local LAN in real-time, discover a remote network edge device associated with a destination of the new flow and a topology of the remote network edge device having two or more links connecting the remote network edge device to the data communication network, wherein a first link of the two or more links to the remote network edge device comprises an LTE connection and a second link comprises a broadband connection, wherein discovery includes collecting an IP address for IKE (Internet Key Exchange) negotiations and a domain ID to specify a type of underlay transport;
a dynamic path manager to make an intelligent decision about which overlay path to select and when for the new flow over a control plane of the SD-WAN, based on the topology of the remote network edge and the local SD-WAN policy, and to build the selected overlay path.
2. The network edge device of claim 1 , wherein the network edge device comprises a gateway device.
3. The network edge device of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic path manager automatically updates the path selection based on a current health of the path, without additional provisioning.
4. The network edge device of claim 1 , wherein the current health comprises one or more of latency, packet loss and jitter.
5. The network edge device of claim 1 , wherein the centralized SD-WAN gateway administers a plurality of SD-WANs.