For those of us who have implemented IWAN or DMVPN, two of the Biggest features that were still mission for the SD-WAN IOS-XE platform have made it into the 17.7 release of IOS-XE. 

Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) (IOS-XE Routers) 

The first major feature is the Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE). CUBE acts as a Session Border Controller (SBC) and allows you to bridge voice and video connectivity between two VoIP networks. One of the VOIP Networks is usually connecting to a Carrier across the Internet or MPLS.  Most Companies use CUBE to enable SIP trunking to ISPs. This new SD-WAN feature now allows Companies to have a backup to the Centralized Data Center SIP Strategy. CUBE is also used in Contact Center deployments and Cloud Voice Deployments, such as UCCE and Webex Calling. 

In SD-WAN 20.7 (Vip-OS)/17.7 (IOS-XE), CUBE can be configured by using CLI add-on template or by using a CLI Device Template. In this Code Release, High Availability is still not supported. 

Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) (IOS-XE Routers) 

The second feature is Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP). First Hop Redundancy Protocol (FHRP) designed to allow transparent failover of the first-hop IP device. HSRP provides high network availability by providing first-hop routing redundancy for IP hosts on networks configured with a default gateway IP address. In Previous version, we only supported VRRP. Many Engineers that have been implementing Cisco Routers and Switches for years, have asked for this feature and now you have it. 

In SD-WAN 20.7 (Vip-OS)/17.7 (IOS-XE), HSRP can be configured by using CLI add-on template or by using a CLI Device Template. In this Future Code Releases, HSRP will be built into feature templates. 

About the Author: 

Alan Gardner is the CEO of Current Technologies Computer Learning Center. Alan is a Cisco Distinguished Instructor and triple CCIE (Voice, Collaboration, Route/Switch). Alan has written several Cisco Authorized Courses on Cisco SD-WAN, ENCS, Enterprise Networking, Collaboration, CUCM, CUBE, and Webex Configuration and Administration. If you are interested taking one of Alan’s Classes. Reach out to us sales@ctclc.com. He has a full teaching schedule that can be viewed at https://www.ctclc.com