Exam SD-WAN-Engineer Topic 4 Question 32 Discussion
Actual exam question for Palo Alto Networks's SD-WAN-Engineer exam
Question #: 32
Topic #: 4
Question #: 32
Topic #: 4
An administrator has configured a Path Policy for "ERP_Traffic". The policy allows two public internet links,
"ISP-A" and "ISP-B", both marked as "Active". The Path Quality Profile (SLA) requires a latency of less than
150ms. Currently, both ISP-A and ISP-B have a latency of 40ms, well within the SLA.
How does the Prisma SD-WAN ION determine which link to use for a new flow of "ERP_Traffic" when both active paths meet the SLA requirements?
"ISP-A" and "ISP-B", both marked as "Active". The Path Quality Profile (SLA) requires a latency of less than
150ms. Currently, both ISP-A and ISP-B have a latency of 40ms, well within the SLA.
How does the Prisma SD-WAN ION determine which link to use for a new flow of "ERP_Traffic" when both active paths meet the SLA requirements?
Suggested Answer: B Vote an answer
Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation
Prisma SD-WAN utilizes a sophisticated decision engine for Application-Based Path Selection that goes beyond simple failover. When configuring a Path Policy, the administrator defines "Active" paths and a "Path Quality Profile" (SLA).
* SLA Compliance (The Filter): First, the system filters the available paths based on the Path Quality Profile. In this scenario, both ISP-A and ISP-B have 40ms latency against a 150ms threshold. Both are
"green" or compliant paths.
* Selection Criteria (The Tie-Breaker): When multiple paths are configured as "Active" and all meet the performance SLA, the ION device aims to optimize the overall user experience and network utilization. The default behavior for load balancing across healthy, compliant active paths is to select the path with the highest available bandwidth capacity.
By steering new flows to the link with the most "headroom" (available Mbps), the system prevents the saturation of a smaller link (e.g., a 20Mbps DSL line) while a larger link (e.g., 1Gbps Fiber) sits underutilized.
This maximizes the aggregate throughput for the site. While latency is the qualifier, bandwidth availability is often the selector for compliant paths. Note that if the application was defined as "Real-Time" and configured for packet duplication, behavior would differ, but for standard traffic, capacity-based distribution is the standard active/active logic.
Prisma SD-WAN utilizes a sophisticated decision engine for Application-Based Path Selection that goes beyond simple failover. When configuring a Path Policy, the administrator defines "Active" paths and a "Path Quality Profile" (SLA).
* SLA Compliance (The Filter): First, the system filters the available paths based on the Path Quality Profile. In this scenario, both ISP-A and ISP-B have 40ms latency against a 150ms threshold. Both are
"green" or compliant paths.
* Selection Criteria (The Tie-Breaker): When multiple paths are configured as "Active" and all meet the performance SLA, the ION device aims to optimize the overall user experience and network utilization. The default behavior for load balancing across healthy, compliant active paths is to select the path with the highest available bandwidth capacity.
By steering new flows to the link with the most "headroom" (available Mbps), the system prevents the saturation of a smaller link (e.g., a 20Mbps DSL line) while a larger link (e.g., 1Gbps Fiber) sits underutilized.
This maximizes the aggregate throughput for the site. While latency is the qualifier, bandwidth availability is often the selector for compliant paths. Note that if the application was defined as "Real-Time" and configured for packet duplication, behavior would differ, but for standard traffic, capacity-based distribution is the standard active/active logic.
by Les at Oct 09, 2026, 06:06 AM
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