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Purpose

This note summarizes the Huawei CPE device families used in the SD-WAN Solution, including their roles, characteristics, and typical use cases.

CPE Roles in SD-WAN

A CPE can take on different roles depending on configuration:

Device Families at a Glance

AR600 / AR6100 / AR6200 / AR6300 Series

Huawei NetEngine AR600, AR6100, AR6200, and AR6300 are next-generation physical routers.

Characteristics

• Carrier-Class Reliability:

  • Hot swap of interface cards, SRU, power modules, fan modules, optical modules
  • Redundant power supplies
  • Dual SRU for redundancy (control, forwarding, switching plane)
  • In-service patching (software upgrade without service interruption)
  • Attack defense mechanisms

• Powerful Service Integration:

  • Integrates routing, switching, wireless (voice, firewall, VPN, LTE/5G, WLAN) in one device

• Multi-Layer Hardware Extensibility:

  • Industry-highest port density
  • Flexible slot combinations (e.g., 2× SIC → 1× WSIC, 2× SIC + WSIC → XSIC)
  • Supports LAN, WAN, and wireless connectivity from a single device

• Remote Maintenance:

  • Plug-and-play, Zero Touch Provisioning, remote commissioning
  • Centralized management via iMaster NCE-Campus

Use Cases

Branch sites of all sizes, from small offices to larger branches with carrier-grade requirements.

AR5700 / AR6700 / AR8000 Series

Huawei NetEngine AR5700, AR6700, and AR8000 are next-generation physical routers for higher performance requirements.

Characteristics

• Carrier-Class Reliability:

  • Hot swap of power modules and optical modules
  • In-service patching
  • Attack defense mechanisms

• Powerful Service Integration:

  • Integration of routing, switching, and wireless

• Multi-Layer Hardware Extensibility:

  • High port density, flexible slot combinations

• Remote Maintenance:

  • Plug-and-play, ZTP, remote commissioning
  • Centralized management via iMaster NCE-Campus

Use Cases

Large enterprise branches, HQ sites, RR co-deployment, performance-intensive scenarios.

AR1000V

The AR1000V is a virtual router operating as a VNF (Virtual Network Function) on x86 hardware.

System Architecture

Supported Platforms

• KVM on physical hardware
• Huawei Cloud
• AWS
• China Telecom e-Cloud
• Alibaba Cloud

Characteristics

• Based on Huawei’s VRP platform (same platform as physical NetEngine AR)
• Decoupled control plane and forwarding plane
• Multi-core CPU with no forwarding bottleneck
• Fast and flexible deployment in PoP, hub, or enterprise cloud environments
• Automatic orchestration of overlay tunnels between sites

Use Cases

• Cloud access gateway (public cloud)
• vCPE as hub site for global branches
• PoP deployment for carrier POP scenarios
• SD-WAN extension into the public cloud segment

AR6700V-L

The AR6700V-L is a virtual router optimized for cloud and KVM environments. It is the newer complement to the AR1000V for cloud-native scenarios.

System Components

Strengths

• Based on Huawei’s leading network software platform (same as physical AR)
• Strong forwarding performance
• Deployable in KVM, OpenStack, or public cloud
• Cloud Access Gateway function: connects enterprise sites to public cloud
• IWG capability: connects SD-WAN overlay to legacy networks in cloud environments
• Unified security and management policies across cloud and physical networks

Networking Variants

Use Cases

• Cloud access gateway for enterprise branches with public cloud connectivity
• IWG in virtualized or cloud environments
• SD-WAN extension into KVM/OpenStack infrastructure
• Scenarios requiring unified security policies across cloud and on-premises

Comparison of the Four CPE Families

Key Takeaways

• AR600–6300 = classic branch routers with carrier-grade redundancy
• AR5700–8000 = higher-performance variant for HQ/DC and large sites
• AR1000V = cloud VNF, runs on KVM or public clouds (AWS, Huawei Cloud, etc.)
• AR6700V-L = newer cloud VNF, optimized for KVM/OpenStack and cloud IWG scenarios
• All four families: same VRP foundation, centrally managed by iMaster NCE-Campus
• All four families can function as RR, IWG, Edge Gateway, or Hub

Source

• 001_Docs/IMasterNCE/SDWAN/extracted/en-us_topic_0000001110534612.html (Introduction of CPEs)
• 001_Docs/IMasterNCE/SDWAN/extracted/en-us_topic_0000001185861376.html (AR600–6300)
• 001_Docs/IMasterNCE/SDWAN/extracted/en-us_topic_0000001231061015.html (AR5700–8000)
• 001_Docs/IMasterNCE/SDWAN/extracted/en-us_topic_0000001163739043.html (AR1000V)
• 001_Docs/IMasterNCE/SDWAN/extracted/en-us_topic_0000001526433262.html (AR6700V-L)

Samuel Heinrich

Senior Network Engineer at Selution AG (Switzerland)

Arbeitet in Raum Basel (Switzerland) als Senior Network Engineer mit über 15 Jahren Erfahrung im Bereich Netzwerk