Versa SD-WAN Staging Phases

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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.