The first step in building a Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN home lab is not setting up the virtual machine. It is not downloading the software images or deploying the controllers.
The first real step is getting access to a Cisco Smart Account.
As we discussed earlier in the book, every Cisco SD-WAN deployment starts with a Smart Account/Virtual Account. This is true even for a small home lab. Think of it as the main container for your SD-WAN environment. It is where you keep track of important SD-WAN information such as:
- controller profiles
- device ownership
- serial numbers
- the WAN Edge device list
- smart licensing
- plug and play
This makes the Smart Account one of the core building blocks of any Catalyst SD-WAN deployment, as shown in the diagram below.
A Cisco Smart Account is created and managed in the Cisco Software Central at: https://software.cisco.com/. If you curretly don't have access to Cisco Smart Account, you have two options to get one.
Option 1: Accessing Existing Smart Account
If you work for an organization that has purchased Cisco devices before, it most likely already has a Cisco Smart Account. In that case, the easiest path for your SD-WAN home lab is usually to ask the Smart Account administrators to create a separate Virtual Account for your lab.
What is a Virtual Account?
A Smart Account is the top-level account. An organization can have only one unique Smart Account. A Virtual Account is a smaller sub-account inside it. The Smart Account owns the assets. Virtual Accounts organize them into logical groupings.
Organizations can create Virtual Accounts to organize assets in a way that makes sense for them. For example, they can organize them by: business unit, product; geography, project, lab environment, production environment, and so on.
A dedicated Virtual Account keeps your lab separate from the real production network.
Option 2: Creating a new Smart Account
If you can't have a corporate Virtual Account, another viable option is to create your own Smart Account. A common misunderstanding is that creating a Smart Account requires payment. Many people assume they will need to enter credit card details or choose a paid subscription.
That is not the case.
Creating a Cisco Smart Account is free of charge. You do not need to provide payment details to create the account. However, there is one important requirement.
