Versa SD-WAN Staging Phases

In this article, we will see the different staging Phases of Versa SD-WAN.

Versa SD-WAN has three staging phases. When a VOS branch device is powered on, it automatically goes through three stages before it becomes completely operational. A branch device comes pre-loaded with staging server configuration. In IPsec configuration profile, staging server IP address is given as remote IP address.

The three stages are

1. Pre-Staging Phase
2. Staging Phase
3. Post-Staging Phase

Pre-Staging Phase

• IKE session starts between the branch and a staging server.
• After the IKE session comes up, the staging server assigns an IP address to the branch.
• The Versa Director IP address is notified to the branch
• A notification is generated to Versa Director that the branch device has come up

Staging Phase

• Versa Director pushes the stage two configuration to branch device, through the staging server
• The controller IP address, in IPSec profile, is given as a remote IP
• The branch device is rebooted
• After the branch device comes up with stage two configuration, it establishes the IKE session with the Versa Controller.
• The Controller assigns an IP address to the branch device and generates a notification to Versa Director.

Post-Staging Phase

• Versa Director pushes stage three or the actual Branch configuration to branch device, over the IKE session, and reboots the branch device.
• The branch device is fully operational now and is a part of the customer SD-WAN network
• IKE and IPsec sessions are created between the Branch and the Versa Controller.
• VXLAN and ESP sessions are created between the Branches
• Branch to Branch ESP is maintained using lightweight DH keypair proprietary protocol

The Pre-Staging and the Staging phases have the IKE session over the VNI interfaces, whereas the Post-Staging IKE session is over the loopback (TVI) interfaces.

Summary

In this article, we understood the different staging phases an appliance goes through before downloading and applying the end state configuration.

The pre-Staging phase is optional for URL based and Script base ZTP process and it can be enabled only if a customer wants.