Software Defined Networking

Data Plane

The layer of a networking device responsible for the actual forwarding of traffic and transferring information from one interface to another.

Control Plane

The layer that manages how data is processed and routed, including routing tables and switching tables.

Management Plane

The layer that allows network administrators to manage devices via SSH or web-based front ends.

SD-WAN

Software-Defined Networking in a Wide Area Network; manages the complexities of connecting to cloud-based services.

Zero-Touch Provisioning

A method that allows devices in a network to automatically configure themselves without user intervention.

Infrastructure Layer

Another name for the Data Plane, responsible for heavy lifting tasks like data forwarding.

Central Policy Management

A system that allows configuration changes to be made from a single console, pushing updates to all routers in the network.

Application Aware

Capable of understanding what application is being transmitted and optimizing the data path accordingly.

Transport Type Agnostic

Indifferent to the method of connection (e.g., fiber, 5G, DSL) when establishing connectivity in an SD-WAN.

Network Address Translation

A method used to translate the private IP addresses of devices in a local network into a public IP address.