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SD-WAN with Versa Networks: Glossary

Too many acronyms and terms for you to keep track of? Bookmark this glossary of commonly used terms so you can quickly look up a term.

Term Description
Analytics Provides visibility into the SD-WAN topology by gathering IPFIX data from the controller, hub, and branch sites. The data is displayed in readily accessible formats.
Autonomous System (AS) An AS is a network or a collection of networks that are all managed and supervised by a single entity or organization. AS has different subnetworks with combined routing logic and common routing policies.
BFD Bidirectional forwarding detection and provides fast forwarding path failure detection times for all media types, encapsulations, topologies, and routing protocols.
BGP Border gateway protocol manages how packets are routed across the internet through the exchange of routing and reachability information between edge routers.
Branch A branch is used to distribute information to, from, and among remote sites, stores, branch offices, and data centers.
CMS The cloud management system uses software and technologies designed for operating and monitoring applications, data and services residing in the cloud.
CSN Control and service node may be a public or private computer providing an intelligent network.
DSCP Differentiated services code point is a way of classifying and managing network traffic and providing quality of service (QoS) in layer 3 IP networks.
EBGP External border gateway protocol is a BGP extension that is used for communication between distinct AS.
ESP Encapsulating security payload provides data confidentiality, data origin authentication, data integrity checking, and replay protection.
FlexVNF Branch Branch is the distributed routing and service node in an SD-WAN topology.
FlexVNF Hub The FlexVNF hub is a uniquely named FlexVNF branch node, running the same FlexVNF software as a branch node, but potentially running multiple tenant organizations, additional scalable centralized services, and may run on elastic cloud and data-center based server resources. The FlexVNF hub may also act as a traffic exchange site in a distributed star topology, and may also assist in hosting IPsec connectivity for sites with restrictive NAT traversal requirements.
Hub A hub serves as a central connection for all of network equipment and handles a data type known as frames.
IETF The internet engineering task force is an open standards organization that develops and promotes voluntary internet standards that comprise the internet protocol suite.
IKE Internet key exchange is the protocol used to set up a security association in the IPsec protocol suite. IKE builds on the Oakley protocol and ISAKMP.
Intelligent network Enables a phone call to be located separately from the switching facilities, allowing services to be added or changed without having to redesign switching equipment.
IPFIX Internet protocol flow information export is the name of the IETF working group defining the protocol.
ISAKMP Internet security association and key management protocol is defined by RFC 2408 for establishing security associations and cryptographic keys in an internet environment.
LAN A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a school or office building.
LEF Logging and export function
MPLS Multiprotocol label switching is a technique, not a service, that insures reliable connections for real-time applications.
MTU The maximum transmission unit is the size of the largest protocol data unit that can be communicated in a single network layer transaction.
NAT Network address translation is where a network device, usually a firewall, assigns a public address to a group of computers inside a private network. NATs limit the number of public IP addresses a company must use, for both economy and security purposes.
NAPT Network address port translation is a technique in which port numbers and private IP addresses are mapped from multiple internal hosts to one public IP address.
NLRI Network layer reachability information is exchanged between BGP routers using update messages.
OSI model Open systems interconnection model is a conceptual model that standardizes the communications of a computing system without regard to its underlying internal structure and technology.
OSPF Open shortest path first is a routing protocol for IP networks. It uses a link state routing algorithm and falls into the group of interior gateway protocols, operating within a single AS.
Post-staging After the staging phase, the branch goes into the post-staging phase. During this phase, the branch is configured for communication with Versa Director.
Router A router is a device that forwards data packets along networks. A router is connected to at least two networks and is located at gateways, the places where two or more networks connect.
SD-WAN Software defined-WAN simplifies the management and operation of a WAN by decoupling the networking hardware from its control mechanism.
SD-WAN controller Controller acts as the primary control node for SD-WAN routing and IPSec connectivity. Rather than creating a full mesh of IPsec IKE and security associations, the controller manages the distribution of SD-WAN topology using BGP.
SD-WAN portal A zero-based provisioning website at one or more data centers with connectivity to manage and control networks for SD-WAN.
Staging During a branches initial attachment to your network, it goes through a staging phase. During this configuration process a controller address, IPsec, and authentication information is connected to the controller(s) hosting the site-specific SD-WAN.
Switch A device that filters and forwards packets between LAN segments. Switches operate at the data link layer (layer 2) and sometimes the network layer (layer 3) of the OSI Reference Model.
Tenant Organizations Tenant organizations are logical containers that enable grouping and partitioning between enterprise organizations (for example, HR, Finance) or customers (for example, Coca Cola, Pepsi). One or more parent organizations are created (for example, Service Provider), along with tenant organizations that are be defined within SD-WAN controllers, hubs and branch nodes.
TTL Time to live, also known as hop limit, is a mechanism that limits the lifespan or lifetime of data in a computer or network.
VCSN Versa control and service node
VNF Virtualized network function is responsible for handling network functions that run in one or more virtual machines on top of the hardware networking infrastructure, which can include routers, switches, servers, and cloud computing systems.
VNI Virtual network interface is is an abstract virtualized representation of a computer network interface that may or may not correspond directly to a network interface controller.
VPN A virtual private network is a technology that creates an encrypted connection over a less secure network. 
VRRP Virtual routing and forwarding is a technology that allows multiple instances of a routing table to co-exist within the same router at the same time.
VXLAN Virtual extensible LAN is a network virtualization technology that addresses the scalability problems associated with large cloud computing deployments.
Versa Director VNF Manager for all controllers, SD-WAN hubs, and branch nodes. Versa Director is provisioned at one or more data centers with connectivity to management and control networks for the SD-WAN.
Versa Analytics The Versa analytics node provides a pre-integrated solution to a full operational visibility into the SD-WAN topology. The analytics node gathers IPFIX data from the controller, hub, and branch sites and archives and displays this data in readily accessible formats.