Which component of the Cisco SD-WAN network assures that only valid customer nodes are participating in the overlay network?

The vBond orchestrator is the first point of contact for all new SD-WAN components (vManage, vSmart, WAN Edge devices) attempting to join the overlay network. It authenticates and authorizes these devices using their certificates and validates their organization name, ensuring that only trusted and valid customer nodes participate in the network.

vManage is the centralized network management system and does not primarily handle the initial authentication and authorization of devices joining the network.

vSmart is the centralized control plane that establishes routing and policy, but vBond handles the initial onboarding and trust establishment.

A WAN Edge device is a client to the SD-WAN fabric and needs to be authenticated; it does not perform authentication of other components joining the network.