Cisco vManage-K9 Full English Product Description
1. Short Official Part & License Label
vManage-K9: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager (vManage) Virtual Appliance Software Image License, Formerly Viptela vManage, Runs on VMware ESXi / KVM / Cloud Platforms, Centralized Single-Pane Management, Orchestrates SD-WAN Overlay Fabric, Template-Driven Zero-Touch Provisioning, Real-Time Application-Aware Assurance, Multi-Tenant Support, REST API Automation, Deployable Standalone or 3-Node Production Cluster, Active Supported Virtual SD-WAN Management Controller
2. Full Product Overview
The Cisco vManage-K9 is the ordering SKU for theCisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager (commonly known as vManage)virtual appliance, the unified management, configuration, monitoring and analytics plane for Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN (formerly Viptela SD-WAN). It is deployed as a virtual machine on mainstream hypervisors or public cloud infrastructure and works alongside vBond Orchestrator and vSmart Controller to build end-to-end SD-WAN overlay networks.
vManage delivers full lifecycle management for IOS-XE SD-WAN routers, Catalyst 8000 edge platforms, vEdge virtual routers and ENCS edge appliances. Administrators utilize feature templates, device templates and policy templates to standardize configuration across thousands of remote sites, enabling zero-touch onboarding for branch edges. It collects streaming telemetry, application performance metrics, DPI data and tunnel statistics to provide end-to-end path visualization, application route assurance and fault troubleshooting.
For production high availability, a minimum3-node vManage clusteris recommended to distribute configuration database, messaging, statistics and application server workloads. It supports both single-tenant and multi-tenant deployment models for service provider environments. Native integration with Cisco ISR/ASR, Catalyst 9800 wireless controllers, ISE, ThousandEyes and Security Cloud enables SASE architecture workflows, Cloud OnRamp for multi-cloud connectivity, and end-to-end zero-trust policy enforcement.
Naming Update: Starting from Release 20.12.1, Cisco officially rebrands vManage toCatalyst SD-WAN Manager, while the vManage-K9 ordering PID remains valid for software licensing. Supported SD-WAN control component releases span 20.x code trains. Software entitlement is ordered separately via Cisco DNA for SD-WAN subscriptions.
Key Differentiator vs vSmart / vBond: vManage is themanagement & analytics plane, not a control-plane controller. vSmart handles overlay routing policy; vBond performs edge authentication and orchestration. Unlike physical hardware controllers, vManage is pure virtual software with flexible resource scaling on virtualized infrastructure.
3. Virtual Machine Resource Specifications
Supported Hypervisors & Cloud Platforms
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VMware ESXi 6.7 / 7.0 / 8.0
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Linux KVM
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Supported public cloud: AWS, Azure (Cisco-hosted marketplace images)
Standard Resource Profiles (Per vManage Node)
Small Profile (Up to 2,000 Edges):
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vCPU: 16 vCPUs
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RAM: 32 GB
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Storage: Minimum 500 GB SSD
Medium Profile (2,000–5,000 Edges):
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vCPU: 32 vCPUs
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RAM: 64 GB
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Storage: Minimum 1 TB SSD
Large Profile (5,000–10,000 Edges):
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vCPU: 32 vCPUs
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RAM: 128 GB
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Storage: 5 TB ~ 10 TB SSD (statistics retention dependent on disk size)
Virtual Interfaces
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Data vNIC: Control connections to edges, vSmart, vBond, GUI, API traffic
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Supports 802.1Q VLAN tagging, static IP addressing
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Virtual serial console for OS installation and recovery
Virtual Platform Compliance
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Pure software virtual workload; no physical power/thermal constraints
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Certifications inherited from underlying hypervisor infrastructure
Verified Scalability Limits (3-Node Production Cluster)
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Maximum managed SD-WAN edge devices: Up to 10,000 nodes
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Supports multi-tenant mode for up to 100 independent tenants
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Collects AppRoute, interface, DPI, security and system event statistics
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Retention window of telemetry data governed by allocated SSD storage capacity
4. Core SD-WAN Manager Software Feature Suite
1. Zero-Touch Provisioning & Lifecycle Management
Automated bootstrap onboarding for remote edges; certificate generation and distribution; Software Image Management (SIM) for coordinated firmware upgrades; device inventory and version tracking.
2. Template-Driven Configuration Automation
Feature templates, device templates, CLI templates, centralized policy templates; configuration audit, drift detection and scheduled deployment.
3. Application-Aware Overlay Assurance
End-to-end tunnel visualization, AppRoute path quality monitoring, loss/latency/jitter tracking, on-demand packet capture, path trace, real-time and historical performance dashboards.
4. Deep Packet Inspection & Application Intelligence
DPI application classification, SaaS visibility, application route policy monitoring, traffic volume reporting and QoS validation.
5. Security & SASE Integration
Centralized security policy management; integration with Cisco Umbrella SIG, IPS, URL filtering; direct integration with ISE for identity-based SD-WAN policies; audit logging for compliance.
6. Cloud OnRamp Multi-Cloud Connectivity
Guided workflow for AWS/Azure/GCP workload access; automated tunnel provisioning between branch edges and cloud virtual routers.
7. Multi-Tenant Architecture
Logical tenant isolation, separate administrative domains, segmented monitoring and configuration access for managed service provider use cases.
8. High Availability & Cluster Operations
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3-node distributed cluster architecture for redundancy
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Synchronized configuration database across cluster members
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Rolling non-disruptive controller upgrades
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Scheduled full configuration backup and restore
9. Programmability & Orchestration
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Embedded HTML5 responsive web GUI
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Local CLI access via virtual console
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Comprehensive REST APIs for Ansible, Terraform and third-party OSS/BSS integration
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SNMPv3 for external monitoring platforms
5. Typical Deployment Scenarios
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Enterprise SD-WAN fabric management for hundreds to thousands of global branch offices
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Multi-tenant managed SD-WAN platform for service provider customers
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Hybrid architecture combining on-prem datacenter edges and remote worker virtual edges
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SASE deployment orchestrating SD-WAN connectivity with cloud security services
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Migration environment upgrading legacy Viptela SD-WAN to modern Catalyst SD-WAN releases
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Lab and proof-of-concept validation for application-aware routing and multi-cloud workflows
6. Short Sales Listing Tagline
Cisco vManage-K9 Virtual Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Software License, Virtual Appliance Runs on ESXi / KVM / Public Cloud, Centralized Single-Pane SD-WAN Fabric Management, Zero-Touch Edge Provisioning, Template-Driven Configuration, AppRoute Application Assurance, DPI Traffic Analytics, Multi-Tenant Support, REST API Automation, Deployable Standalone or Minimum 3-Node Production Cluster, Modern Virtual Management Plane for Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Overlay Networks
Note: vManage-K9 is the software ordering PID for Catalyst SD-WAN Manager. Corresponding control-plane virtual controllers: vSmart-K9 (SD-WAN Controller), vBond-K9 (SD-WAN Validator).
