Cisco SD-WAN unlocks|new|possibilities with our network infrastructure, the new architecture is replacing the long-established role of the wide-area network (WAN), connecting our users at the branch office location to applications hosted on servers in the datacenters.  

Often VPN (Virtual Private Network) tunnels or Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) were implemented for segregation of data and security. This approached worked well for years, but as our customer moved into a mobile digital application world and their data move to the cloud, a new approached was required. 

It's a multi-cloud world

We live in a multi-cloud world, where using multiple clouds from multiple providers has become the new normal. Cisco SD-WAN has proven effective in helping Cisco partners accelerate their adoption of multi-cloud environments and drive business solutions for their customers. It helps them manage multiple network providers, ISP circuits, and connect branches to clouds. Cisco SD-WAN allows customers to deliver on-demand branch connectivity to their ISP and cloud providers directly from the SD-WAN controller. 

Model-Driven Programmability

Adding Cisco SD-WAN programmability via the vManage REST APIs has opened even more possibilities for extending automation to any task. Such as:

• Template-driven infrastructure deployment service, allowing engineers to define building blocks and create abstractions for the deployments of required sets of resources.  
• Update or delete the deployed resources with ease without many changes to the configurations. 
• Provisions the reference of one resource definition to another, thus enabling the creation of dependencies and controlling the order of creation of resources. 

Many Cisco partners are leveraging these APIs to create custom automated sequences for managing, monitoring, configuring, and troubleshooting the SD-WAN environment based on their specific needs. 

Getting the details via developer experience

The Cisco SD-WAN API allows Cisco partners to focus more and more on their developer experience. Product managers, marketers, and engineers alike have an interest in evaluating and improving how a developer uses APIs and the benefits they bring. That's why Cisco DevNet is dedicated to delivering an excellent developer experience with SD-WAN.  It's a dedication that pays off over many developer interactions, as they use the SD-WAN documentation, sandbox, and other resources. 

Are we doing this right though?

A mentor once told me "Feedback is feedback, no matter if this is valuable feedback or bad feedback. Asking the right people for feedback will help you grow." Hearing from our DevNet Specialized partners is key to improving the quality and content for Cisco SD-WAN API, and programmability in general. So, when it came to feedback on the SD-WAN Dev Center, I took the opportunity to speak with ourDevNet Specialized Partnersat the recent API Insights webinar. The webinar -offered exclusively to our DevNet Specialized partners -was focused on the Cisco SD-WAN Dev Center, new plans, and upcoming opportunities. 

The webinar featured a live presentation and demo of how partners can execute Cisco SD-WAN REST API calls for role-based access control (RBAC), based on the Resource Groups feature, and how this can be used for Cisco SD-WAN deployments. The presentation showed how this feature helps to simplify network administration, restrict blast perimeter, and meet compliance requirements. 

API Insights webinars are available exclusively to partners who have already achieved theirDevNet Specialization. I invite partners to learn more about theDevNet Specializationso they, and their teams, can experience these insightswebinar events, and see how beingDevNet Specialized can benefit your teams, your business, and the business of your customers. 

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