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
- Pre-Staging Phase
- Staging Phase
- 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.