Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Onboarding Guide, Releases 26.x and Later

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Create a virtual machine for the SD-WAN Control Component

Updated: July 7, 2026

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Provides step-by-step instructions for creating a virtual machine for the SD-WAN Control Component, configuring VM settings, selecting disk and network resources, setting up public IP addresses, managing network interfaces, and preparing post-deployment networking requirements in Azure.

This procedure describes how to create a virtual machine for the SD-WAN Control Component.

Before you begin

When creating a VM, ensure that you complete the following actions:

Follow the steps to create a Virtual Machine for the SD-WAN Control Component.

Note

For more information about tasks in Azure, see the Azure documentation.

Procedure

1.

Begin the workflow for creating a virtual machine (VM).

Deploy the VM in the virtual network created in Task 2.

  • Select the resource group that you created in a previous task, during the workflow for creating a virtual network.

  • Enter a name and region for the VM.

  • For the image, select the uploaded SD-WAN Control Component image.

    Note

    For information about how to locate custom images, see the Azure documentation.

  • For the VM size, select an option with the number of CPUs and memory that you want to use for the SD-WAN Control Component.

    For information about SD-WAN Control Component-device compatibility and server requirements, see Cisco SD-WAN Controller Compatibility Matrix and Server Recommendations.

  • Choose an authentication type (for example, SSH public key, or password) and provide the credentials, as required.

  • For disk resources, do one of the following:

    • If you are deploying an SD-WAN Controller or an SD-WAN Validator, no additional disk resources are required beyond the default.

    • If you are deploying an SD-WAN Manager component, choose one disk.

  • For networking details, choose the virtual network, the subnets, and the NSG that you created in earlier steps.

  • For the public IP address, choose the following options:

    • SKU: Basic

    • Assignment: static

      Note

      Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN requires a static IP address for SD-WAN Control Components.

  • Optional:

    • You can enable advanced boot diagnostics (a management option) to create an additional storage account in the resource group for storing diagnostics logs.

    • (Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Control Component release 20.6.1) Optionally, you can use the custom data feature (an advanced option) to enter commands for the VM to execute when rebooting.

    • Optionally, you can add a tag to categorize the SD-WAN Control Component.
2.

After creating the VM, create additional network interfaces (NICs) for the VM.

Create the network interfaces in the resource group that you created in an earlier task.

  • If you are deploying an SD-WAN Control Component or SD-WAN Validator, create one additional network interface.

  • If you are deploying an SD-WAN Manager controller, create two additional network interfaces.

  • If you are deploying an SD-WAN Manager controller in a cluster, see Cluster Management and Deploy ​Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager for additional information about SD-WAN Manager out-of-band interfaces.

When creating a network interface, ensure that you complete the following actions:

  • Specify the virtual network, subnets, and NSG created in earlier tasks.

  • Associate primary network interface with subnet 1.

    If you are deploying an SD-WAN Manager controller, associate secondary network interface with subnet 2.

    If you are using an SD-WAN Manager cluster, associate tertiary network interface with subnet 3.

    Note

    Associating a network interface with a subnet enables the VM to connect to the subnet.

  • For each network interface, enter the tag used for the controller that you are deploying.
3.

Create a static public IP for all of the controllers to use, and associate this public IP with primary network interface.

Note

Use the IP configurations option in Azure to create the public IP.

When creating a public IP, ensure that you complete the following actions:

  • For assignment, choose static.

  • Use the associate option to specify primary network interface.
4.

Stop the VM, and confirm when it has stopped.
5.

Attach the newly created network interfaces to the VM.

  • If you are deploying an SD-WAN Controller or an SD-WAN Validator, attach the network interface to the VM.

  • If you are deploying an SD-WAN Manager, attach both of the newly created network interfaces to the VM.
6.

Restart the VM.

Confirm in the Azure portal that the VM has restarted.

What to do next

Configure the network security group.