Which statement best describes cloud gateway connections in the SD-WAN context?

• A. Cloud gateway connections (Direct Connect/ExpressRoute equivalents) connect cloud VPCs to the SD-WAN fabric and enable policy-driven traffic
• B. They replace VPN tunnels entirely
• C. They are used only for on-prem networks
• D. They are optional and rarely used

Answer: (A)

Cloud gateway connections in SD-WAN are the bridge that links the SD-WAN fabric to cloud environments, bringing cloud VPCs into the same policy-driven network fabric as your branches and data centers. They provide direct, private connectivity to cloud resources—think of them as Direct Connect or ExpressRoute equivalents—so SD-WAN can apply routing, security, and quality-of-service policies to traffic moving between cloud VPCs and the rest of the WAN. This enables consistent control over where traffic goes, how it’s prioritized, and how it’s secured, whether traffic is traveling from on‑prem to the cloud, between clouds, or from the cloud back to sites.

They aren’t just for on‑prem networks, and they don’t exist to replace VPN tunnels entirely. Cloud gateway connections specifically extend the SD-WAN fabric into cloud environments, often reducing reliance on the public internet and improving performance for cloud workloads, while VPN tunnels may still be used for other paths or as a backup. They are not optional or rarely used in modern SD-WAN deployments that include cloud workloads; they’re a fundamental part of delivering consistent, policy-driven connectivity to and from the cloud.