Cisco SD-WAN Implementation and Deployment

[rpidcock@bankrcb.net]

We are wanting to consider a Cisco SD-WAN deployment this year and I'm wanting to confirm if I can do a partial deployment.  For example, I have approximately 60 branches that communicate back to a primary data center location or alternatively a DR site.  Can I do a partial deployment, that is some sites participate in the SD-WAN overlay while other sites remain on legacy routing.

[svemulap@cisco.com]

Hi,

Yes, you should be able to.
This is part of the migration strategy that customers go through.
Key is do (route) summarization properly, between converted vs. non-coverted sites (two different overlays)
You may want to work

HTH.

[husseino]

Yes, you can. Keep in mind that you will need to migrate the data center first - either convert wan routers to SD-WAN, or insert new SD-WAN routers to co-exist with current wan routers in the Data centers. From there, you can start partial migration of sites and there are multiple migration strategies for migrated-to-non_migrated site traffic depending on current design and customer requirements.

This document is a little old but totally valid

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/routers/sdwan/migration-guide/cisco-sd-wan-migration-guide.pdf

[Richard Pidcock]

So, for clarity, is it necessary to have multiple routers in my data center.  For example, do I need to have an SD-WAN router separate from my legacy WAN router.  Will my current routers handle both SD-WAN and legacy routing?

[husseino]

I don't know the models of your routers, but if you have for example ASR1000 router, you can upgrade it to SD-WAN and you can use them for both WAN and SD-WAN, but you need to test this in a lab to make sure you can cover all existing functionality. That's why the recommended option is to install to new routers in the DC to make things simple and separate concerns. However, it is definitely doable with in place upgrade but required careful planning.

[Richard Pidcock]

Thanks, I'll build this out in a lab scenario to test, I think I have enough hardware to build it out in a lab.