Branch Overview

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A Versa SD-WAN network consists of two basic components: a headend and a branch. This article provides an overview of the Versa branch. For an overview of the headend, see Headend Overview.

A Versa branch consists of Versa Operating System^TM (VOS^TM) software that is running on a network services device located in a branch office. The VOS appliance is connected through a public network (such as the internet) or through a private network (such as an MPLS network), or through both, to the Versa Controller, which is one of the Versa headend components located in a data center. The headend components—Versa Director, Versa Analytics, and Versa Controller—work in conjunction with each other to manage a network of VOS appliances located at different branch offices.

The VOS software is a highly available distributed network services that supports multitenancy.

The VOS supports a variety of network services, including the following:

• Routing services
  • Carrier-grade NAT
  • Layer 3 routing for customer-premises equipment (CPE)
  • Provider edge services
  • Route reflector
• Security services
  • Application detection and control
  • DDoS protection
  • DNS filtering
  • Intrusion detection system and intrusion prevention system (IDP/IPS)
  • Layer 3 and Layer 4 firewalls
  • Network antivirus and antimalware services
  • Next-generation firewalls
  • URL filtering
  • Unified threat management
  • Zero-day attack prevention
• VPN services
  • Site-to-site IPsec VPNs
• Network services
  • BFD
  • DHCP server and relay
  • Ethernet OAM
  • QoS
  • VRRP
• Software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) services with link SLA monitoring

The VOS software is configured and managed by Versa Director, which also provides a REST-based API to allow integration of third-party applications for managing branch devices.

The underlying platform for each VOS device can be a Versa CSG700 series appliance, white box hardware, an x86-based bare-metal device, a public cloud platform, or a virtual machine (VM). You can also deploy a Versa Controller on a Versa CSG700 series appliance or on white box hardware.

You can configure the VOS software to perform these functions:

• Branch router or CPE
• Hub router
• SD-WAN gateway
• SD-WAN controller (for the headend)