Summary of Reddit Comments on Managed SD-WAN

Pros of SD-WAN:

• Automatic failover and load balancing: "SD-WAN will give you automatic failover and load balancing."
• Cost-effective: "We can get 300/20 broadband circuits as backups... for less than $150/month."
• Local offloading: "You can offload some traffic locally instead of back-hauling it to corporate."
• Future-proofing: "SD-WAN allows you to change your links at your sites at any time to any carrier."
• Efficiency: "You're not going to find people telling you that having a single circuit is the way to go."
• Improved connection: "We made a deal with a circuit broker... and we totally eliminated MPLS in 120 sites."
• Redundancy & Reliability: "The network itself is fine, we've had no issues and the failover is seamless."

Cons of SD-WAN:

• Ongoing monthly fee: "A true per-packet SD-WAN would incur an ongoing monthly fee."
• Added costs: "If you don't require 100% uptime... I wouldn't be able to justify the added costs."
• Complexity: "Hard to identify if the drivers were due to the complexity of running SD-WAN over traditional MPLS."
• Vendor dependency: "My last company put Meraki MX’s with cellular connectivity as failover in case of a circuit failure on AT&T."
• Learning curve: "It is a learning curve... but it's not that hard after you get the idea."

Product Recommendations:

• Fortinet: Offers quality, user-friendly SD-WAN features without additional licensing.
• Palo Alto: Known for modern and advanced SD-WAN solutions with breakthrough security options.
• Aruba EdgeConnect (Silver Peak): Great for those looking to move from carrier-provided private lines to Internet-based connections with SD-WAN.
• Cisco SD-WAN: Suitable for organizations transitioning from MPLS to multi-transport SD-WAN setups.

Implementation Tips:

• Routing Simplification: "You can reduce the complexity by using ADVPN with SD-WAN and BGP on a loopback."
• Centralized Management: "Each router can use the same template if they are cookie-cutter designs."
• Configuration Assistance: "You can use a CSV file to upload the values for every site attached to a template."
• Security Considerations: "You can use Zerotier for VPN and BGP route servers/reflectors to enhance security."

User Experiences:

• MPLS to SD-WAN Migration: "We migrated to SD-WAN... and we're very happy with it."
• Self-Managed SD-WAN: "Our users were very happy... they noticed the difference."
• Vendor Management: "Our provider handled EVERYTHING... we're fans."

In conclusion, SD-WAN offers various benefits such as cost-efficiency, improved network connectivity, and flexibility, but it may come with a learning curve and ongoing costs. Product recommendations include Fortinet, Palo Alto, Aruba EdgeConnect, and Cisco SD-WAN. Implementation tips focus on routing simplification, centralized management, and configuration assistance. User experiences vary, with many organizations finding success with SD-WAN migration and improved network reliability.