SD-WAN For Application Performance Management

Short answer: SD-WAN improves application performance by watching every link and sending each application over the best one. It load-balances traffic away from congested paths, prioritises voice and critical apps, and moves traffic to a backup link when bandwidth drops. The result is fewer slowdowns and crashes for cloud and video applications.

There is a surge of transformation taking place in the networking world day in and day out. Before we know it, there is something new that’s already the next big thing in the market. In the recent past, cloud computing is what has taken over the market. A stage has come where we are all heavily reliant on cloud-based applications for our day to day functions.

Enterprises have also embarked on a journey where they are migrating to cloud networking. Where building a faster, better and efficient network has taken the utmost priority. Since companies undergoing this migration also need to maintain the performance of the network. This is where many organizations are opting for Software-Defined – Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), for its agility, efficiency and integrated applications connections. Assisting organizations with better productivity and performance, and eliminating the scope of stress on the networks.

What causes poor application performance?

Networks and organizations face many issues with application performance which may include –

• Inconsistent bandwidth – Connectivity and internet speeds still vary from site to site in India. With organizations relying on remote collaboration and video calls, network congestion is common – which in turn leads to poor connectivity and insufficient bandwidth leading to poor user experience.  
• Overload of the server, leading to increased downtime – This congestion gives rise to network bottlenecks in turn taking a toll on the applications making the performance dip. Various issues like applications crashing, issues with carrying out specific tasks as well as slowly loading start to arise.
• Lack of backup links – Without a backup link, a single congested or failed connection can slow down or stop business applications, affecting both upload and download speeds. A second link keeps critical applications running when the first one has problems.

How does SD-WAN improve application performance?

Though issues like these may persist, SD-WAN comes to the rescue. With the adoption of SD-WAN, many of those issues seem to be trivial and be solved without giving much thought to them. Here is how SD-WAN improves the application performance which in turn focuses on giving users a smoother experience:

• It increases visibility and flexibility – SD-WAN provides higher visibility and speed availability and prioritizes voice packets. Furthermore, hybrid deployments provide the flexibility to shift traffic from MPLS and public connections.  
• Hybrid deployments – Taking the Hybrid option gives the organization a choice to switch between networks. If one network ceases to give sufficient bandwidth, the alternative can play the role of a backup network and provide high speed without interrupting the business flow.
• Effective with load balancing – Unlike a few years ago, today, all applications function on IT networks, which means that there is an increase in the required bandwidth. SD-WAN creates a path for load balancing, which focuses on automation, that is; making the critical software decide the best network, without straining or creating congestion. It smoothly diverts traffic to less populated channels
• Easy on the pocket – Along with being user-friendly, SD-WAN is also pocket friendly. Enabling businesses the upper hand to completely take advantage of all the available connections. SD-WAN can reduce the hassle of maintenance contracts and the need for expensive professional services to set up the network.

SD-WAN is here to stay and make changes that will take businesses to new heights. Providing ample bandwidth along with giving full control to the organizations, while being an affordable and viable option.

Related: application-aware SD-WAN from Nexapp, moving from MPLS to SD-WAN and SD-WAN vs MPLS cost in India.

Frequently asked questions

How does SD-WAN improve application performance?

SD-WAN monitors link quality and steers each application over the best path. It prioritises critical traffic such as voice, balances load across links and switches to a backup link when one degrades.

What causes poor application performance on a WAN?

Common causes are congested or inconsistent bandwidth, overloaded links creating bottlenecks, and no backup link when the primary connection fails.

Does SD-WAN support load balancing?

Yes. SD-WAN can spread traffic across several links and automatically move it to less congested paths, so no single link is overloaded.

Can SD-WAN prioritise specific applications?

Yes. Nexapp SD-WAN uses deep packet inspection to identify applications and applies SLA tiers with sub-second failover, so critical apps keep running when a link degrades.

See Nexapp SD-WAN Enterprise to find out more about SD-WAN and its features.