METHOD FOR MODIFYING AN SD-WAN USING METRIC-BASED HEAT MAPS
Some embodiments provide a method for using a heat map to modify an SD-WAN (software-defined wide-area network) deployed for a set of geographic locations. From a set of managed forwarding elements (MFEs) that forward multiple data message flows through the SD-WAN to a set of destination clusters, the method collects multiple metrics associated with the multiple data message flows. Based on the collected multiple metrics, the method generates a heat map that accounts for (1) the multiple data message flows, (2) locations of the set of MFEs, and (3) locations of the one or more destination clusters. The method uses the generated heat map to identify at least one modification to make to the SD-WAN to improve forwarding of the multiple data message flows.
1 . A method for using a heat map to modify an SD-WAN (software-defined wide-area network) deployed for a set of geographic locations, the method comprising:
from a set of managed forwarding elements (MFEs) that forward a plurality of data message flows through the SD-WAN to a set of destination clusters, collecting a plurality of metrics associated with the plurality of data message flows;
based on the collected plurality of metrics, generating a heat map that accounts for (i) the plurality of data message flows, (ii) locations of the set of MFEs, and (iii) locations of the one or more destination clusters; and
using the generated heat map to identify at least one modification to make to the SD-WAN to improve forwarding of the plurality of data message flows.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more destination clusters comprise a plurality of SaaS (software as a service) applications.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein using the generated heat map to identify at least one modification to make to the SD-WAN to improve forwarding of the plurality of data message flows comprises:
identifying from the heat map a particular destination cluster at a particular location that does not include a geographically proximate MFE for forwarding data message flows to and from the particular destination cluster; and
deploying a new MFE to the particular location to improve forwarding to and from the particular destination cluster.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein using the generated heat map to identify at least one modification to make to the SD-WAN to improve forwarding of the plurality of data message flows comprises:
using the heat map to identify one or more locations of one or more destination clusters in the set of destination clusters experiencing congestion; and
for each of the identified one or more destination clusters, deploying a new MFE to the location of the destination cluster to improve forwarding to and from the destination cluster.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein using the generated heat map to identify at least one modification to make to the SD-WAN to improve forwarding of the plurality of data message flows comprises:
using the generated heat map to identify a set of SD-WAN applications;
from the identified set of SD-WAN applications, identifying a particular SD-WAN application associated with a particular metric from the collected plurality of metrics to be improved; and
modifying the SD-WAN to improve the particular metric for the particular SD-WAN application.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the particular SD-WAN application comprises one of a VOIP application, a database application, and an application for running virtual machines (VMs).
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the particular metric comprises one of throughput, latency, packet loss, and jitter.
8 . The method of claim 5 , wherein modifying the SD-WAN to improve the particular metric for the particular SD-WAN application comprises modifying one of (i) a number of edge forwarding elements that connect datacenters to each other through the SD-WAN, (ii) a number of hubs that connect edge forwarding elements to each other through the SD-WAN, and (iii) link capacities of a set of links used to connect to the particular SD-WAN application.
9 . The method of claim 1 further comprising presenting a visualization of the heat map through a user interface (UI), wherein using the generated heat map to identify at least one modification to make to the SD-WAN to improve forwarding of the plurality of data message flows comprises implementing a user-specified modification received through the UI.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the visualization comprises (i) representations of the plurality of data message flows, (ii) representations of the set of MFEs at their respective locations, and (iii) representations of the one or more destination clusters at their respective locations.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of MFEs comprises (i) a set of edge routers for connecting datacenters to the SD-WAN, (ii) a set of cloud gateway routers for connecting edge routers in the set of edge routers to third-party datacenters through the SD-WAN, and (iii) a set of hub routers for connecting each edge router in the set of edge routers to each other edge router in the set of edge routers.
12 . A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for execution by a set of processing units, the program for using a heat map to modify an SD-WAN (software-defined wide-area network) deployed for a set of geographic locations, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
from a set of managed forwarding elements (MFEs) that forward a plurality of data message flows through the SD-WAN to a set of destination clusters, collecting a plurality of metrics associated with the plurality of data message flows;
based on the collected plurality of metrics, generating a heat map that accounts for (i) the plurality of data message flows, (ii) locations of the set of MFEs, and (iii) locations of the one or more destination clusters; and
using the generated heat map to identify at least one modification to make to the SD-WAN to improve forwarding of the plurality of data message flows.
13 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the one or more destination clusters comprise a plurality of SaaS (software as a service) applications.
14 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12 , wherein using the generated heat map to identify at least one modification to make to the SD-WAN to improve forwarding of the plurality of data message flows comprises:
identifying from the heat map a particular destination cluster at a particular location that does not include a geographically proximate MFE for forwarding data message flows to and from the particular destination cluster; and
deploying a new MFE to the particular location to improve forwarding to and from the particular destination cluster.
15 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12 , wherein using the generated heat map to identify at least one modification to make to the SD-WAN to improve forwarding of the plurality of data message flows comprises:
using the heat map to identify one or more locations of one or more destination clusters in the set of destination clusters experiencing congestion; and
for each of the identified one or more destination clusters, deploying a new MFE to the location of the destination cluster to improve forwarding to and from the destination cluster.
16 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12 , wherein using the generated heat map to identify at least one modification to make to the SD-WAN to improve forwarding of the plurality of data message flows comprises:
using the generated heat map to identify a set of SD-WAN applications;
from the identified set of SD-WAN applications, identifying a particular SD-WAN application associated with a particular metric from the collected plurality of metrics to be improved; and
modifying the SD-WAN to improve the particular metric for the particular SD-WAN application.
17 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 16 , wherein:
the particular SD-WAN application comprises one of a VOIP application, a database application, and an application for running virtual machines (VMs); and
the particular metric comprises one of throughput, latency, packet loss, and jitter.
18 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the set of instructions for modifying the SD-WAN to improve the particular metric for the particular SD-WAN application comprises a set of instructions for modifying one of (i) a number of edge forwarding elements that connect datacenters to each other through the SD-WAN, (ii) a number of hubs that connect edge forwarding elements to each other through the SD-WAN, and (iii) link capacities of a set of links used to connect to the particular SD-WAN application.
19 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12 , the program further comprising a set of instructions for presenting, through a user interface (UI), a visualization of the heat map comprising (i) representations of the plurality of data message flows, (ii) representations of the set of MFEs at their respective locations, and (iii) representations of the one or more destination clusters at their respective locations, wherein the set of instructions for using the generated heat map to identify at least one modification to make to the SD-WAN to improve forwarding of the plurality of data message flows comprises a set of instructions for implementing a user-specified modification received through the UI.
20 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the set of MFEs comprises (i) a set of edge routers for connecting datacenters to the SD-WAN, (ii) a set of cloud gateway routers for connecting edge routers in the set of edge routers to third-party datacenters through the SD-WAN, and (iii) a set of hub routers for connecting each edge router in the set of edge routers to each other edge router in the set of edge routers.