Prisma SD-WAN
Features Introduced in Prisma SD-WAN ION Release 6.3
Table of Contents
Features Introduced in Prisma SD-WAN ION Release 6.3
Learn about the features introduced in Prisma SD-WAN ION Release
6.3.
| Where Can I Use This? | What Do I Need? |
|---|---|
|
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Learn about new features introduced in Prisma SD-WAN ION Release 6.3.
- Enhancements in Prisma SD-WAN Release 6.3.6
- Features Introduced in Prisma SD-WAN Release 6.3.2
- Features Introduced in Prisma SD-WAN Release 6.3.1
Enhancements in Prisma SD-WAN Release 6.3.6
Learn about the enhancements available in the following features in Prisma SD-WAN Release 6.3.6.
Flow Acceptance Profile
Prisma SD-WAN ION devices have a limited ability to
measure and throttle the number of flows per user/source. When a Flow Acceptance
Profile (FAP) key's flow count exceeds a pre-defined threshold, the FLOW LIMIT PER SOURCE EXCEEDED
incident is generated. The incident is specific to the source IP and VNI
(Virtual Network Identifier) associated with the key.
Application Probe
Prisma SD-WAN has supported dynamic probing for TCP
applications when it detected 3-way handshake failures. The ION device generates
these dynamic probes to verify whether a destination service is up or down on
that path. If verified as down, the ION device avoids sending additional user
requests for the service on the specific path, while continuing to generate
synthetic probes to detect any change in service reachability.
- A new command, dump app-probe history all, is added to display the last 1000 app-map entries received by the flow collector (FC), providing historical data.
- The dump app-probe flow count command is enhanced to show the total number of app-map entries in the flow collector at a specified time.
- The dump app-probe status command is enhanced to display the dropped_app_probes count and the total number of entries in the app_path_sla/* path.
- The inspect flow details command is enhanced to include a new field to indicate whether a flow is an app-probe flow.
SpeedTest
The speedtest-cli utility was accessible only via the support shell,
limiting its use to a small number of technical users. This update enables all
standard CLI users to measure and troubleshoot network bandwidth and performance
easily.
- debug speedtest interface: This command initiates a speed test to measure bandwidth.
- dump speedtest status: This command displays the status of the most recent speed test.
Performance Improvements
- Stability and reliability of Prisma SD-WAN ION software versions is enhanced in this release.
- Enhanced memory management for fragmented memory allocation in datapath.
Features Introduced in Prisma SD-WAN Release 6.3.2
Learn about the new features and enhancements for Prisma SD-WAN Release 6.3.2.
Site Templates
Prisma SD-WAN supports creating bulk site configurations
that allow you to create tailored site templates that cater to your deployment
requirements, allowing you to efficiently deploy branches and data centers at
scale. A site template is a predefined blueprint containing a list of variables
that encompasses all the necessary configurations for creating fully operational
sites and devices. You can deploy multiple sites using an existing template,
edit an existing one, or create a new template to deploy sites.
Here's the workflow for creating site templates.
Site Templates are supported on Prisma SD-WAN
Controller version 6.3.2 and above and ION device software 5.6 and
above.
Device Prestaging
You can pre-provision sites before an ION device is available to
accelerate the deployment. The device shell allows you to create elements,
visualize the network, and do simple configurations. If you don't have a
physical device at the time of deployment, a virtual configuration–device
shell–is created associating a device to a site which can be later assigned to a
device.
DNS Reachability
Prisma SD-WAN has supported dynamic probing for TCP
applications when it detected 3-way handshake failures. The ION device generates
these dynamic probes to verify whether a destination service is up or down on
that path. If verified as down, the ION device avoids sending additional user
requests for the service on the specific path, while continuing to generate
synthetic probes to detect any change in service reachability.
Starting with Release 6.3.2, Prisma SD-WAN supports this
functionality for UDP DNS traffic along with DNS health visibility also.
Event Optimization
The following deprecated incident codes will no longer be emitted by the
controller:
- APPLICATION_APP_UNREACHABLE
- NETWORK_VPNBFD_DOWN
Disable Tunnel Reoptimization
Prisma SD-WAN will periodically check the latency by
default when multiple IP addresses or hosts are provided as part of the standard
VPN endpoint. If a destination has better latency, it forces a tunnel change
(config_change) to reoptimize the connection. As part of Release 6.3.2, users
now have the option to disable tunnel reoptimization. In this case, the tunnel
destination will change only if there is a failure.
Features Introduced in Prisma SD-WAN Release 6.3.1
Learn about the new features and enhancements for Prisma SD-WAN Release 6.3.1.
Virtual Routing Forwarding for WAN Segmentation
Prisma SD-WAN supports Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRFs) for WAN segmentation of
application traffic. Network segmentation will help achieve isolation of
application traffic for the same customer between different business units or
customers who share the same WAN infrastructure by carrying the segment
identifier over the WAN overlay.
WAN Segments are first defined in global VRF profiles. These VRF profiles are
then bound to sites. After that, interfaces are configured with the appropriate
VRF. When traffic enters the interface, it only considers destinations with the
same VRF locally or across the fabric. If the traffic is destined to go across
the fabric, it gets automatically encapsulated with a unique identifier specific
to that VRF. Once the traffic reaches the remote ION, it can egress onto the VRF
that is appropriately configured.
Performance Policy
Measuring application performance and delivering app SLAs is a core
component of Prisma SD-WAN. Performance Policy builds upon the
existing App SLA configuration to deliver a policy framework for the
measurement, enforcement, and alerting for application SLAs.
Performance Policy utilizes link quality metrics such as Latency, Loss,
and Jitter as well as application performance metrics such as Application RTT
and Init failure % as SLA metrics. If the SLA metrics are violated, the system
takes action to ensure that the SLA is enforced including moving flows to a
compliant path (if available) and invoking line conditioning such as Forward
Error Correction (FEC) to ensure the SLA is met. Optionally, an incident can be
generated for critical applications when an SLA is violated. Although default
policies work well for most environments, policies can be granularly tuned per
application, path type, DC group, and circuit category to align to the
performance needs of the business.
FEC is available as a preview feature in 6.3.1 for
testing purposes.
SNMP-based Discovery for IoT
Prisma SD-WAN supports the discovery of devices that are not
directly connected to the Prisma SD-WAN branch ION devices by
using SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) to discover IoT devices within a
branch network.
The system uses LLDP (Link Layer Discovery Protocol) to identify
neighboring networking devices in a branch ION, launching an SNMP MIB to gather
IP address and MAC Address entries. SNMP discovery involves querying LLDP
information for IP and MAC address bindings, retrieving data from neighboring
devices one by one until it discovers all the IoT devices. The ION device
transmits these discovered bindings, alongside VLAN, subnet details, and so on,
as Enhanced Application logs (EAL) to Cortex Data Lake (CDL). IoT Security uses
this information to enhance visibility in its portal by identifying the
devices.
Incident Dampening
You can now suppress incidents for a selected period of time using
Incident Policies. With incident
policy rules, you can specify the dampening interval during which the system
suppresses events generated by resources during the specified period.
Layer 2 Switching Capabilities in ION 3200
Prisma SD-WAN supports ION 3200 with Layer 2 switch. The
Layer 2 switch ports enable connecting multiple devices directly on the L2 LAN
or add downstream switches or Wireless Access Points (WAP).
Used-for-HA Capability on Layer 3 Interfaces
Generation One ION devices use the control port to exchange HA
heartbeat and manage the controller traffic between the active and the standby
device. With the introduction of used-for-HA (referred to as
Used-for-Control in earlier releases) as a port type,
the NextGen ION devices such as the ION 1200-S, ION 3200, ION 5200, ION 9200 do
not need a dedicated controller port for the management services. The
used-for-HA interface allows you to exchange HA
heartbeat and connect the standby device to the controller through the active
ION device. You can use the control interface to send management traffic like
App Probe, NTP, SNMP, RADIUS, and IPFIX.
Support for used-for-HA capability is extended
on the main interface on all routed ports. This capability was available on SVI
and sub-interfaces in the previous release. Used for HA is supported on all the
ION devices.
IPv6 BGP Support
Prisma SD-WAN now supports IPv6 for BGP.
