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A hybrid cloud blueprint with Citrix SD-WAN for Microsoft Azure Citrix | A Hybrid Cloud Blueprint with Citrix SD-WAN for Microsoft Azure 2
Where the apps go, This guide explores four cloud migration stages designed to match an organization’s network and networks follow application requirements. It also looks at the benefits For decades, business-critical applications have provided by Citrix SD-WAN in terms of application resided in data centers – and for good reason: IT experience, security, and cloud on-ramp automation. had operational control for management, scale, and security. With the proliferation of cloud services as a viable alternative to on-premises computing, Scenario #1: the location of applications has taken a dramatic shift. Optimize the WAN for virtual 451 Research cites that 70% of enterprises are utilizing SaaS applications and that more than and legacy apps hosted in 32% are using a form of private cloud, IaaS, or PaaS.1 an on-prem data center
Both virtual and legacy apps are used in many SD-WAN eases the transition to industries and their WAN networks are typically built in a hub-spoke model with legacy IP routers at the cloud the branches accessing applications in the private As organizations migrate their application workloads data center. This is most often architected with one to the cloud, the network needs to undergo a shift to active MPLS connection and an IPsec VPN connection align with this new paradigm. This means extending operating in standby mode. into public cloud environments, which could be any combination of IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS. Further, Challenges: organizations are leveraging the best of both worlds: data center connectivity combined with cloud • MPLS comes with a high monthly cost, is inflexible connectivity in the form of hybrid cloud. from a provisioning perspective, and bounds customers to lengthy contractual terms. This is where SD-WAN can help. A software-defined • Since MPLS does not allow for customer control wide area network (SD-WAN) is defined as a virtual over the network, poor user experience can result WAN architecture in which the control of network especially for latency-sensitive applications such as connections, application flows, policies, security voice, video, and virtual desktops. mechanisms and general administration is separated • Bandwidth on the standby link cannot be utilized from the underlying hardware. Everything is managed until failover occurs and cannot be combined with the via software on centralized consoles instead of at each primary link. physical location on individual edge devices • IT lacks control over infrastructure at each branch and infrastructures. increasing complexity and costs. SD-WAN leverages multiple connections (broadband internet, MPLS, 4G/LTE, satellite) to provide resiliency Solution: and performance. One of the unique SD-WAN attributes is the ability to identify and precisely steer traffic • Deploy Citrix SD-WAN in the data center and branches directly to the resources in data center or cloud as an overlay to the underlay physical network. environments. SD-WAN can provide cloud on-ramps • Use Citrix SD-WAN to bond up to 8 MPLS and/or so organizations can quickly connect branches and broadband links into a single virtual network with locations to applications running on public cloud all links active with sub-second failover in case of environments such as Microsoft Azure. blackout or brownout of a link.
1. Voice of the Enterprise: Cloud, Hosting and Managed Services, 2019 Citrix | A Hybrid Cloud Blueprint with Citrix SD-WAN for Microsoft Azure 3
• Automatically detect over 4,500 unique applications Scenario #2: and apply policies and optimizations that are configurable. Prioritize latency-sensitive traffic Extend the wan to optimize any streams such as voice and multimedia. workload in Microsoft Azure • Utilize bandwidth from all available links for better efficiency and increased traffic throughput. Organizations are migrating applications to the public cloud to leverage greater elasticity, Citrix SD-WAN Orchestrator’s Zero Touch Deployment self-service provisioning, redundancy, and capability quickly and remotely onboards SD-WAN flexibility through pay-per-use models. To ensure appliances remotely at branches. It also leverage a great application experience after a cloud migration, templates for zone cloning, application and firewall the network has to be extended into environments configuration to further save time. As a single-pane of such as Microsoft Azure. glass management and analytics tool, centrally manage your infrastructure through an informative dashboard and intuitive graphical interfaces. Challenges:
• MPLS was not natively architected to connect to the Benefits: cloud. Therefore, customers have to look to services such as Azure ExpressRoute. However like MPLS, • Improve WAN operational costs by leveraging ExpressRoute is also expensive particularly because lower-cost broadband connections (Internet, cable, egress data charges occur on a metered basis and it is 4G/LTE and satellite). These connections can either subject to lengthy provisioning times. replace or augment MPLS and provide better • For control, security, and compliance reasons, traffic reliability and performance through link bonding and is commonly backhauled from branches to the data load balancing and sub-second failover. center adding more bandwidth on the already strained • Steer the right traffic to the most optimal links for MPLS circuits. The data center then connects to Azure the best possible application experience in branches. via ExpressRoute or the internet which, due to a hairpin Improve critical and real-time application performance effect, adds latency when branch users access through automatic detection and optimization. cloud resources. • Provide the best experience for all applications. • Centrally and easily provision, monitor, and manage the entire network from a cloud service.
Figure 1: Citrix SD-WAN Phased Migration Scenarios
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