Technical Overview

These labs are designed to provide you with instant access to hands-on experiences. They are typically used during Cisco Live events or can be used as instant demos for demonstrations or getting familiar with the net as code solution for SDWAN. You can access these labs through our platform, dCloud, and they can be booked upon request as self-service. You need to look for Network as Code SDWAN Demo inside the dCloud catalog after logging in with your Cisco account.

Network as Code SDWAN Demo

Feel free to ask for support in the Network as Code Community community space or using dCloud support.

One of the fundamental principles of SD-WAN as Code is the complete separation of data (variable definitions) from logic (infrastructure declarations). This separation is accomplished by distinguishing the YAML files, which contain the desired SD-WAN state, from the Terraform modules, which map these definitions to Terraform resources.

In Terraform, a module is a container for multiple resources that work together to perform a specific task. Modules provide lightweight abstractions for complex setup procedures. While a single Terraform resource represents an API object (or a managed object in the case of SD-WAN), a Terraform module can consist of multiple resources representing a branch of managed objects in SD-WAN.

The SD-WAN Terraform module is pivotal in mapping data to the corresponding SD-WAN modules. The configuration is divided into seven high-level sections:

• centralized_policies: Centralized policies are those policies that are applied globally (UX 1.0)
• edge_device_templates: Device templates define a device’s complete operational configuration and consist of a number of feature templates (UX 1.0)
• localized_policies: Localized policies are those policies that are applied locally on the edge routers on the overlay network (UX 1.0)
• edge_features_templates: Each feature template defines the configuration for a particular Cisco SD-WAN software feature (UX 1.0)
• policy_objects: Policy objects define groups of objects that are used in policy ‘match’ statements (UX 1.0)
• features_profiles: Each feature profile groups a set of features describing one area of configuration (UX 2.0)
• features: Each feature defines the configuration for a particular Cisco SD-WAN software feature (UX 2.0)
• sites: Site/node-specific configuration (variable values).

The SD-WAN as Code solution integrates with a specific Terraform provider. This provider includes multiple resources capable of managing any SD-WAN objects. For more details, you can see it in the SDWAN_TF_Provider documentation. The SD-WAN modules are located under the following public Git repository: SDWAN_Modules.