Riverbed SteelHead 3070-SD, User Manual

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Introducing SteelHead SD | 9
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Introducing SteelHead SD
This topic provides an overview of the SteelHead SD. It includes these sections:
• “Overview of the SteelHead SD” on page 9
• “Routing features by model” on page 11
• “Hardware and software requirements” on page 12
• “Next steps” on page 13
This guide doesn’t provide detailed information about configuring and managing SD-WAN or WAN
optimization features. For details, see the
SteelConnect Manager User Guide and the SteelHead User
Guide .
This guide assumes you have installed your SteelHead SD appliances. For details, see the SteelHead SD
Installation Guide .
Overview of the SteelHead SD
SteelHead SD combines SD-WAN and cloud networking capabilities (powered by SteelConnect) with
Riverbed WAN optimization (powered by RiOS) into a single appliance. SteelHead SD seamlessly
integrates advanced SD-WAN functionality with industry-leading WAN optimization, security, and
visibility services all in one streamlined appliance. SteelHead SD WAN optimization reduces bandwidth
utilization and accelerates application delivery and performance, while providing SteelConnect
integration in the SteelOS environment.
SteelHead SD provides you with the ability to quickly provision branch sites and deploy applications
remotely. At the same time, applications are optimized to ensure performance and reduce latency with
zero touch provisioning.
Typically, SteelHead SD appliances and the SteelConnect SDI-2030 gateway are located in the branch
office in conjunction with SteelConnect SDI-5030 gateways at the data center. The SteelConnect SDI-
2030 gateway can also be deployed inline as a 1-Gbps data center gateway with active-active HA. The
SteelConnect SDI-2030 gateway can also serve as a very large branch office box with high throughput
requirements. The SteelConnect SDI-2030 gateway doesn’t support WAN optimization capabilities.