An AppWAN is created when an endpoint or group of endpoints (which can be any combination of virtual gateways, virtual machines, IoT devices, smartphones, laptops, etc.) is assigned permission to access a set of services (applications). How Do NetFoundry AppWANs Work?įirst, an administrator uses NetFoundry’s web-based orchestration console and/or APIs to design and instantly deploy cloud-native, application-specific networks (AppWANs). This is a form of virtualization, or overlay.

However, in the modern phone system, a phone number can become “virtualized” – that is, assigned to devices or software, or programmed to follow the user. In a traditional physical network, such as the original phone system, the phone number was used to locate a specific physical device hard-wired on to a network. A device can be located simply by knowing its identification tag or number in the networking system. SDxCentral describes it best: One way to conceptualize an overlay is to think of it as endpoints designated by an identification tag or number, somewhat like the phone system. Overlay networks also add layers of security and isolation when you’re working over the Internet, in public clouds, or in shared environments.

One major benefit of NetFoundry’s overlays (AppWANs) are that since they’re abstracted above the infrastructure, they’re completely service-provider agnostic. Overlay networking is a method of using software to create layers of network abstraction that can be used to run multiple separate, discrete virtualized network layers on top of a physical network, providing new applications or security benefits. They’re software-defined encrypted overlays created using our console, command-line interface, or APIs, that define how endpoints are permitted to access services (such as applications) across the Internet and/or existing private networks like MPLS.Ĭlear as mud, right? Let’s take a step back… What is Overlay Networking?

Thanks to the miracle of overlay networking, just about every time you see our name, we tell you how you can use our orchestration tools to spin up AppWANs in minutes. You may have noticed that here at NetFoundry, we talk a lot about AppWANs.

Nebraska sky overlays