Overview
Explains how OMP orchestrates the overlay network by separating services from transport and distributing routing, policy, and security information.
The Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Overlay Management Protocol (OMP) is a control protocol that
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establishes and maintains the Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN control plane
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exchanges routing, policy, and management information between Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controllers and Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN devices in the overlay network
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orchestrates overlay network communication, including connectivity among network sites, service chaining, and VPN or VRF topologies, and
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distributes service-level routing information, related location mappings, data plane security parameters, and routing policy.
Operational details and architectural role of OMP
The Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN devices automatically initiate OMP peering sessions between themselves. The two IP end points of the OMP session are the system IP addresses of the two devices.
OMP is a comprehensive information management and distribution protocol that enables the overlay network by separating services from transport. Services provided in a typical VRF setting are usually located within a VRF domain, and they are protected so that they are not visible outside the VRF. In such a traditional architecture, it is a challenge to extend VRF domains and service connectivity.
OMP addresses these scalability challenges by providing an efficient way to manage service traffic based on the location of logical transport end points. This method extends the data plane and control plane separation concept from within routers to across the network. OMP distributes control plane information along with related policies. A central Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller makes all decisions related to routing and access policies for the overlay routing domain. Edge devices then use OMP to receive routing, security, services, and policies for data plane connectivity and transport.