Getting started with LLDP for Secure SD-WAN Engines

Secure SD-WAN Engines can use LLDP to send information about themselves to directly connected devices on the network, and receive information that other devices on the network send.

LLDP makes it easier to deploy a large number of Secure SD-WAN Engines. LLDP announcements from Secure SD-WAN engines allow other directly connected devices on the network to assign the correct VLAN IDs to ports on network switches to which the Secure SD-WAN engine is connected. LLDP announcements from directly connected devices on the network provide information about switch topology to Secure SD-WAN Engines, such as which network switch and port the Secure SD-WAN Engine is connected to, and which VLANs it can reach.

When LLDP is enabled for a Layer 3 Physical Interface on an Secure SD-WAN Engine, the Secure SD-WAN Engine always announces the following type-length-values (TLVs):

  • Chassis ID — The MAC address of the first Ethernet port
  • Port ID — The name of the interface in the format 'ifname <name>'
  • Port Description — The name of the interface
  • Time to Live — The period of time for which LLDP advertisements should be stored in the cache of neighboring LLDP-compliant devices. This value is automatically calculated based on the transmit delay and the hold time multiplier defined in the LLDP Profile element that the Secure SD-WAN Engine uses.

The Secure SD-WAN Engine can optionally announce the following TLVs:

  • System Name — The name of the Secure SD-WAN Engine or the node in the Secure SD-WAN Engine cluster in the SMC.
  • System Description — Operating system details about the Secure SD-WAN Engine, such as operating system name, operating system version, and architecture.
  • System Capabilities — A bit-map of the enabled capabilities of the interface as router, repeater, and other.
  • Management Address — The IP addresses of the control interfaces

LLDP for Secure SD-WAN Engines has the following limitations:

  • LLDP is not supported on Virtual Engines.
  • LLDP is supported only on Layer 3 Physical Interfaces.