Performance Analysis of an SD-WAN Infrastructure Implemented Using Cisco System Technologies

Abstract: Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) is an emerging technology that has the potential to satisfy the increasing demand for reliable and efficient Wide Area Networks (WANs) in the enterprise-network market. This thesis focuses on the main features of an SD-WAN network and on the technical challenges facing the design and implementation of an SD-WAN infrastructure. It also provides a detailed comparison between the SD-WAN and the otherWANs solutions such as MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS). The thesis is based on the project that is about the migration of network infrastructure that uses the MPLS technology to a network infrastructure that uses the SD-WAN technology. The migration process includes many phases such as the analysis of the existing MPLS based infrastructure, identification of suitable appliances based on customer requests, and the design of the SD-WAN infrastructure that can be implemented without disrupting the network functioning during the transition stage. The thesis provides a detailed description of these steps and it discusses the trade-offs that were made during the design phase of the project. The results presented in the thesis are obtained through on-site tests performed for the new SD-WAN infrastructure. The tests were performed with the objective to evaluate some of the main SD-WAN functionalities such as load balancing, traffic shaping, and high availability. The obtained results show the effective functioning of the network infrastructure and illustrate some of the main advantages that the new SD-WAN infrastructure has over the old MPLS infrastructure. Finally, this thesis could be of interest to network professionals and employees who consider SD-WAN as a possible solution for their company’s business.