Getting started with AWS Cloud WAN

To get started with AWS Cloud WAN, you first create your global network. Your global network contains all of your network resources, such as core networks, sites, devices, and attachments. During the creation process, you can choose to create your core network and core network policy simultaneously. Or you can choose to create the core network, and then create a policy at a later time. Creating a core network and policy creates the structure of your core network and implements it. Until you finish creating your core network and core network policy, you won't be able to do anything in your global network. After the structure is implemented, you can then add attachments, devices, or sites, and you can register existing transit gateways.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for setting up AWS Cloud WAN. However, some features are not available to you unless you set them up in advance. These features are described in the following table:

Prerequisite	Description
Events and metrics	Before viewing events on the Events dashboard, you must complete a one-time setup that registers your events with CloudWatch Logs Insights. Until you register your events, you'll be unable to view any of your events on the dashboard. See Onboard CloudWatch Logs Insights for the steps to register your events.
Transit gateways	A transit gateway must first be created on the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud console at console.aws.amazon.com/vpc/home. Transit gateways that you have created in Amazon VPC can then be registered in AWS Cloud WAN to be part of your AWS Cloud WAN global network.

Steps to create your global and core network

The following high-level steps provide links to the required and optional procedures for setting up the structure of your AWS Cloud WAN global and core network.

Step 1: Create a global network.

Step 2: Create a core network and core network policy.

Step 3: Create an attachment.

Step 4: (Optional) Create a core network policy version.

Step 5: (Optional) Register a transit gateway.

Step 6: (Optional) Add a device.

Step 7: (Optional) Create a site.

After getting your AWS Cloud WAN network set up, you can work with and modify any aspect of the network. Steps for working with your global and core network can be found in Work with AWS Cloud WAN. For example, you can:

• Add new segments and implement an updated policy version.

• Add, edit, or remove attachments, devices, and sites.

• Add new resource tags to further help identify your network resources.

• View logical and topological trees of your global and core networks.

You can also view visualizations of your global and core networks as topological trees and logical diagrams, and you can monitor and track events. See Visualize and monitor global and core networks for the ways you can visualize and monitor your global and core networks.