Improving Application Visibility, Performance and Security with SD-WAN

A poorly performing application can be costly in terms of productivity and the user experience. In today’s complex IT environment, however, applications often traverse multiple networks and interface with multiple clouds. Network performance problems affect various types of apps in different ways. An application-aware network that applies multiple optimization techniques can help overcome these challenges.

That’s one of the touted benefits of software-defined WAN (SD-WAN). Enterprise-class SD-WAN solutions optimize performance by classifying apps according to their requirements. It all starts with end-to-end visibility, which allows the SD-WAN solution to make policy decisions automatically. It also gives administrators the information they need to identify performance problems and pinpoint the root cause.

Why Visibility Is Key

It’s difficult to overstate the value of application visibility. Administrators set policies through a centralized console that enable SD-WAN to apply various optimization techniques:

• Dynamic path selection. With visibility into network conditions as well as application requirements, SD-WAN solutions can route applications over the best available network path. This is particularly valuable for latency-sensitive, real-time applications such as voice and video conferencing.
• WAN optimization. For non-real-time applications, WAN optimization techniques can significantly improve performance while reducing bandwidth consumption. Applications can perform equally well across broadband Internet, cellular and other types of networks that provide vastly different speeds and bandwidth.
• Application prioritization. SD-WAN solutions should be able to prioritize latency-sensitive applications over others that are more forgiving of network performance problems. Mission-critical apps can also be given priority over less important services. This helps improve Quality of Experience (QoE) — the user’s perception of Quality of Service (QoS) — by dynamically addressing network congestion.

The application visibility afforded by SD-WAN also helps improve security. Many organizations deploy SD-WAN as a means of serving branch locations with direct Internet connections. Security controls such as next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) and web gateways must be deployed at the edge. VPN tunnels must be used to protect applications and data traversing the WAN. Application awareness enables SD-WAN to route traffic so that these tools are used most effectively.

Bringing It Together with SASE

Organizations can take security even further with secure access service edge (SASE). Pronounced “sassy,” SASE combines multiple networking and security tools into a unified cloud-based service. SD-WAN also serves as a building block of SASE, which also includes the following major components:

• Domain name system (DNS) layer security to block malicious DNS requests before a connection to an IP address is established.
• A secure web gateway (SWG) to inspect web traffic in real time.
• Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS) to provide visibility and control of Internet traffic across all ports and protocols.
• A cloud access security broker (CASB) to provide visibility into traffic moving to and from the cloud, and control access to cloud services by blocking unauthorized users or endpoints.
• Zero trust network access, which assumes that every user and device attempting to access the network is a threat until their identity has been validated.

SASE enables IT teams to set and manage security policies through a central console and ensures that policies are applied consistently across the data center, branch locations, and remote and mobile users. It also cuts costs and simplifies the IT infrastructure by reducing the number of security components.

Conclusion

If poorly performing applications are costing you time and money, the right SD-WAN solution can help. An SD-WAN with application awareness can overcome network performance problems through prioritization, optimization and dynamic path selection. Application awareness also enhances security and gives administrators greater visibility into the application environment.

SageNet has extensive experience in SD-WAN solutions. Give us a call to discuss your specific needs and challenges.