Which Cisco SD-WAN component is responsible for centralized policy distribution and control-plane route propagation between WAN Edge devices?

• A. vSmart controller
• B. vManage
• C. vBond orchestrator
• D. Cisco ISE

Answer: (A)

In Cisco SD-WAN, the component that handles the control plane and centralized policy distribution is the vSmart controller. It runs the Overlay Management Protocol (OMP), which propagates routing information and policy decisions from a central place to all WAN Edge devices (vEdges). This lets every edge learn the full fabric topology and apply consistent policies across the network.

The other components play different roles: vManage is the management plane used to provision and monitor devices but does not carry the control-plane routes or enforce policies itself. vBond orchestrator handles initial authentication and helps edges locate the control plane, but it doesn’t distribute policies or propagate routes. Cisco ISE is an identity services engine outside the SD-WAN control plane and is not responsible for SD-WAN policy distribution.