Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN : why are we unable to convert VHD to AWS AMIs ?

[dbillon]

Hi All,

I was trying to setup an SD-WAN lab and I was considering to implement the control components (manager, controller, validator) in a CSP.

Cisco provides VHD files for Azure and explains how to upload and convert these files to images.

For some reason I would have preferred to use AWS and I read that the process was lot more cumbersome to this CSP: you have to ask Cisco to get access to the AMIs for the AWS account you work with. Moreover you have to ask access to a specific release of AMIs

Considering that I will probably want to switch between at least 2 releases during my lab, I have tried anyway to upload and convert the provided VHD files to AWS AMIs ... and yes it fails because the AWS conversion process does not detect a Linux O.S. from the provided VHD files. I used the regular AWS process : https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vm-import/latest/userguide/vmimport-image-import.html 

Anyone successfully converted the provided VHD files to AMIs ?

Why Cisco has implemented such a limitation for AWS ?

Thanks, Damien.

[bigevilbeard]

2 cents. Cisco likely provides pre-built VHD files for Azure because MS virtualization platform (Hyper-V) uses the VHD format natively and AWS uses a different virtualization technology and expects AMI files, which are based on the raw disk image format. So the limitation with AWS could be 

1. Cisco may want to have better control over the AMI distribution and licensing process for their SD-WAN components on AWS.
2. Sec By restricting access to specific AMIs, Cisco can ensure that only authorized users and accounts can access and deploy their SD-WAN components on AWS, reducing potential security risks or misuse.
3. There might be technical challenges or additional configurations required to package the SD-WAN components into AMIs that work seamlessly on AWS. Cisco may have chosen to handle this process internally rather than providing generic VHD files that users can convert themselves.

While the process for AWS may be more cumbersome, it's likely a conscious decision by Cisco to maintain better control and support over their SD-WAN components on the AWS platform.

Hope this helps, if you want a more definite answer, i am guessing you would need to raise this with your Cisco AM/TAC.