Which policy type directly influences data-plane traffic forwarding decisions?

Which policy type directly influences data-plane traffic forwarding decisions?

• A. AAA policy
• B. Data policy
• C. SNMP policy
• D. Logging policy

Answer: (B)

In SD-WAN, forwarding decisions for user traffic are made by the data plane, and the rule set that directly controls those decisions is the data policy. The data policy specifies how matching traffic should be handled—such as which VPN tunnel or path to use, whether to apply QoS, encryption, or NAT—so those actions are executed as packets pass through the data plane. That direct mapping from traffic to forwarding action is what ties the policy to data-plane decisions. Other policy types govern non-forwarding aspects: authentication and access control (AAA) affects who can use the network, monitoring and management (SNMP policy) handles visibility, and logging policy controls which events are recorded. They don’t dictate per-packet forwarding, which is why the data policy is the correct choice.

In SD-WAN, forwarding decisions for user traffic are made by the data plane, and the rule set that directly controls those decisions is the data policy. The data policy specifies how matching traffic should be handled—such as which VPN tunnel or path to use, whether to apply QoS, encryption, or NAT—so those actions are executed as packets pass through the data plane. That direct mapping from traffic to forwarding action is what ties the policy to data-plane decisions.

Other policy types govern non-forwarding aspects: authentication and access control (AAA) affects who can use the network, monitoring and management (SNMP policy) handles visibility, and logging policy controls which events are recorded. They don’t dictate per-packet forwarding, which is why the data policy is the correct choice.