BorborIn Cisco SD-WAN, the management, control and orchestration functions are distinct even when components can run as virtual machines.
Three important roles
- SD-WAN Manager (formerly vManage): centralized management, configuration, visibility and operations.
- SD-WAN Controller (formerly vSmart): control-plane policy and OMP route distribution.
- SD-WAN Validator (formerly vBond): assists initial discovery, authentication and control connection establishment.
What a WAN Edge does
The WAN Edge is responsible for forwarding user traffic and maintaining the overlay data-plane tunnels. It learns routes and policy information from the control plane.
Controller reachability matters
If a controller host fails, the impact depends on redundancy, existing state, timers and the specific control sessions involved. A lab should test control-plane loss without assuming the data plane instantly disappears.
The names and deployment patterns can change across Cisco software releases. Confirm the relevant platform and release documentation for production deployments.