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August 24, 2022

Is App aware in SD-WAN contributing to a company’s growth?

An in-depth view of what is the output.

There’s no denying the fact that businesses have started adapting to the SD-WAN network owing to its performance and reliability. One of the key advantages of SD-WAN is that it will enable deploying any number of new branches quickly and easily. The networking solution allows better control over the network at a meagre cost. However, suppose you want to ensure advanced security for your business, improve customer experience, and increase business productivity. In that case, you have to make your SD-WAN smarter through URL-based filtering and making it application-aware.

How is App Aware Routing in SD-WAN Helping Businesses Grow
SD-WAN collects information between edge/branch locations and then directs the application flow across the most appropriate network path that serves the intent of the business. With App Aware routing options, the traffic can be controlled based on user-defined applications and pre-defined SLA applications. So, the WAN links that meet the required path conditions and network features to support applications will receive the traffic automatically.

Advantages of App Aware Routing

  • Since traffic is automatically steered to WAN links based on the pre-determined SLA and user-defined applications, IT management is simplified.
  • Since traffic is better managed, you can enjoy Low Bandwidth costs.
  • You can enjoy better application performance without having to upgrade bandwidth.
  • You can achieve application consistency and reliability.

SD-WAN pulls out information on application awareness and intelligence from the network infrastructure and, based on application experience, enables the application of enforceable policies to make WAN a business-intelligent solution. Though SD-WAN can lower bandwidth costs and is highly reliable and agile, few SD-WAN solutions aren’t App aware. Opt for app-aware SD-WAN solutions if you want to benefit from a business-intelligent WAN.

What is URL Filtering in SD-WAN?
Uniform Resource Locator (URL) Filtering restricts the use of certain websites and app content by employees in a business. Users in an organization are blocked from accessing specific sites, devices, network bandwidth, or other corporate resources.

This filtering process can help your employees stay focused throughout work time. As a result, you can achieve better productivity; sometimes, over-blocking can result in restricted access to critical information or resource that may result in poor performance.

This post will help you understand and implement URL filtering better. Here’s a summary of what you need to know About URL Filtering with SD-WAN:

  • URL filtering with SD-WAN allows flexible and in-depth filtering solutions for traffic.
  • More than 450 million URLs can be categorized, filtered, and regularly updated.
  • Restrict access to sites and information based on URL reputation and category.
  • Enforce policy actions based on white-list and black-list URLs
  • There are a few pre-defined URL reputations that SD-WAN supports:
  • Trustworthy
  • Undefined
  • Suspicious
  • High Risk
  • Moderate Risk
  • Low Risk

There are numerous URL filtering Actions that you can choose based on the given circumstances:

Allow – The URL can be viewed and used and won’t get registered in entry logs.

Drop-Packet – The browser will prevent you from viewing the site if it’s in the list of restricted sites or if the server response is relatively slow.

Alert – will allow the site to be viewed but create an entry log.

Reject – An alert will be displayed for rejected sites and reset the server connection.

Block – The URL will be blocked and registered in an entry log.

Ask – The browser will ask the user to choose an action to proceed to the site or drop the session altogether.

Inform – The browser will present information on the site about to be entered. The user can click OK to proceed with viewing the resource.

Override – The user will be required to specify the password to enter the website. It will create an entry log.

Justify – The browser will inform the user about the site being opened, and the user will have to present or input a justifying message to continue using the website.

Besides preventing employees from wasting time on unnecessary or distracting sites during working hours, URL filtering helps protect employees/users from malware attacks or phishing attacks. The filtering solution is necessary to protect your business from data loss and cyber security risks. But exaggeration can do more harm than good. Over restriction can frustrate your employees, especially when they need the resource to work effectively. Your IT team will also have to respond daily to hundreds of website-viewing requests. So, while SD-WAN URL-filtering is essential, avoid over-restricting websites.

SMOAD SD-WAN
SMOAD SD-WAN features application prioritization and split tunnelling to ensure traffic is routed via the best available path on wired, LTE, or broadband. It comes with content filtering on end-use devices. Our content filter will block objectionable websites and images. Secure, safe, and stringent measures are taken through advanced Firewall protection and MAC address filtering. With SMOAD, you can be assured that external intrusions will never be a worry.

Call us for a demo!