What is the role of the Management Plane in the SD-WAN architecture?

In the context of SD-WAN architecture, the Management Plane plays a crucial role in the access and management of network devices. It encompasses the functionality required for configuring, controlling, and monitoring the distributed network infrastructure. This includes tasks such as deploying and managing WAN edge devices, configuring policies for traffic management, and integrating network services.

The Management Plane allows administrators to centrally manage the entire SD-WAN deployment, which streamlines the processes of device provisioning, policy application, and health monitoring across all endpoints in the network. This centralized management is essential for maintaining operational consistency, facilitating updates, and optimizing the overall network performance.

While routing traffic, monitoring performance, and building the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) table are important aspects of networking, they are primarily handled by the Control Plane and Data Plane rather than the Management Plane. The Management Plane's distinct focus on the orchestration and governance of network resources is what sets it apart in the SD-WAN architecture.