Citrix SD-WAN

Deploy configuration to branches

After you have prepared the configuration using the configuration editor and exported the configuration package to the change management inbox, the next step is to prepare the SD-WAN Appliance Packages for distribution to the client nodes. Use the Change Management wizard in the Management Web Interface on the MCN.

There is a different SD-WAN software package for each SD-WAN Appliance model. An Appliance Package consists of the software package for a specific model, bundled with the configuration package you want to deploy. Therefore, a different Appliance Package must be prepared and generated for each appliance model in your network.

Note

If you have not already downloaded the required SD-WAN software packages to a PC connected to your network, you can do so now. For information on acquiring and downloading the software, see the section Acquiring the SD-WAN Software Packages

To upload and install the package and configuration to the MCN, do the following:

  1. Log into the Management Web Interface on the MCN appliance.

    Note

    You are uploading the software packages you previously downloaded to the connected PC. For convenience, you might want to use this same PC to connect to the MCN again.

  2. Select the Configuration tab.

  3. In the left pane, open the Virtual WAN section, and select Change Management. The first page of the Change Management wizard, the Change Process Overview page is displayed.

    Change process overview

  4. Click Begin. The Change Preparation page for uploading and verifying that the specified configuration and software packages is displayed.

    change preparation

  5. Upload each of the SD-WAN software packages required for your network. For each SD-WAN software package you want to deploy, do the following:

    1. Click Choose File next to the Upload Item field. This opens a file browser for selecting an SD-WAN software package to upload.

    2. Select an SD-WAN software package, and click OK.

    3. Navigate to the SD-WAN software packages you downloaded earlier to the local PC, and select the package to upload.

    4. Click Upload.

    5. Repeat steps (i) through (iii) for each of the SD-WAN software packages required for your network.

  6. In the Configuration field drop-down menu, select the new configuration package that you just exported to Change Management.

  7. Click Stage Appliance. Appliance staging initiates the following actions:

    • Transfers the selected software package and configuration to the MCN.

    • Generates an Appliance Package for each appliance model identified in the selected configuration.

    • Adds the new Appliance Packages to the list of available packages in the Site-Appliance table.

    • Stages the new configuration and appropriate software package on the MCN.

  8. Click Next. This proceeds to the Appliance Staging page.

    Appliance staging

    When the staging operation completes, the Site-Appliance** table is populated with the newly staged Appliance Packages information.

    Note

    If this is an initial deployment, only the MCN is updated and staged now. If you are updating an existing deployment and the Virtual Paths are already functioning between the deployed sites, this also distributes the appropriate Appliance Packages to the deployed client nodes, and initiates staging on those nodes. However, if you are adding new client nodes to an existing Virtual WAN deployment, you still must manually upload, stage, and activate the appropriate Appliance Package on each new client, as outlined in the remaining steps in this procedure.

    Select Ignore incomplete, when adding more sites to the network or if the site is in not connected state. This indicates that only the connected sites and the MCN get updated and staged. Once the sites that were in not connected state are back online, they automatically get staged and updated by MCN as part of auto-correction.

  9. Select Revert on Error to revert to previous application package on encountering some error. For more information, see Configuration Rollback.

  10. Click Activate Staged.

    Activate staging MCN

    The results and next steps will differ at this point, depending on whether this is an initial configuration or you are updating or replacing an existing configuration, as follows:

    • If you are updating or changing the configuration on an existing deployment.
      • If this is not an initial configuration, the new configuration and the appropriate Appliance Package on the MCN appliance is activated. The appropriate Appliance Package is then distributed to and automatically activated on each client in your SD-WAN. This may take several seconds to complete.

    Activation complete

    When the activation completes, an Activation complete status message appears, and the Done button is enabled. In addition, the Configuration Filenames status line (above the table) now displays the name of the newly activated package in the Active field.

  11. Click Done and proceed to one of the following:

    • If you are not adding any new nodes to your SD-WAN, this completes the preparation, distribution, and activation of the new Appliance Packages in your SD-WAN. You can proceed directly to Enabling the Virtual WAN Service.

    • If you want to add new client nodes to your SD-WAN, proceed to Connecting the Client Appliances to Your Network.

    • If you are activating an initial configuration, the new configuration package is not activated at this point, and there are more steps you must perform. The next step is to copy the configuration package to the Local Appliance Staging area, in preparation for staging and activating the configuration package on the MCN.

    Do the following:

  12. Once you click Activate Staged, the following message appears.

    Activate staged message

  13. Click OK.

  14. Click Activate staged.

    This displays a dialog box asking you to confirm the activation operation.

    Activation staged confirmation pop-up

    Activate staged confirmation

  15. Click OK.

    This initiates activation of the staged configuration package. This process takes several seconds, during which a progress status message displays.

    When the activation completes, a status message displays stating activation complete, and the Done button is enabled.

  16. Click Done. This proceeds to the Management Web Interface Dashboard page, where you can view the activation results.

You have now completed the preparation of the SD-WAN Appliance Packages on the MCN. Proceed to Connecting the client appliances to your network.

Tip

The Change Management wizard allows you to search the site-appliance table. This allows you to look up sites on a large network with multiple sites and download the required staged configuration. You can also search for error states, for example: ‘Fail’ or ‘Not connected’. This gives you a list of all the sites in that state.

Deploy configuration to branches