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

PDF

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

Configure path preference

Updated: September 23, 2026

Want to summarize with AI?

Log in

Configure TLOC preference or affinity preference to choose the preferred path for traffic to a service chain.

You configure path preference to control how traffic flows through service chains by directing traffic over specific TLOCs or by setting affinity preferences between branch sites and service chain hubs.

You can use TLOC preference or affinity preference to choose the preferred path for traffic to a service chain. If both TLOC preference and affinity preference are configured, the affinity preference is evaluated first, then the TLOC preference is evaluated.

Procedure

  1. Configure a TLOC list to direct traffic only over certain TLOCs or to prefer certain TLOCs over others.

    The TLOC list can be specified with TLOC-list as part of a service chain action in a data policy or a control policy.

  2. To configure affinity preference, use affinity-group preference in branch sites to set the affinities of branches, and use affinity-group in service chain hubs to set the affinities of VPNs.

    The data policy set service chain action is compliant with affinity by default.

  3. (Optional) Configure the following command to disable consideration of affinity in a data policy: data-policy-ignore-affinity-metric

Traffic to the service chain follows the configured path preferences, with affinity preference taking priority over TLOC preference when both are configured.