SD-WAN SDA Lab Setup

I am looking for an experienced Cisco SD-WAN and SDA engineer to help me build and troubleshoot a Cisco lab environment for testing configurations and practicing enterprise network automation.

I already have the topology and overall lab design. I primarily need hands-on assistance with getting the environment fully operational.

Scope of Work

1. Cisco SD-WAN Lab

I have already started building the SD-WAN environment and need assistance completing the setup and troubleshooting the current onboarding/control-plane issues.

The lab includes:
• vManage
• vBond
• vSmart
• Cisco Catalyst 8000V / cEdge
• SD-WAN control connections and certificates
• OMP, TLOC, VPN 0 and transport configuration
• End-to-end cEdge onboarding and controller connectivity

Current issue: the cEdge has IP reachability to the controllers and is authorized/visible from vManage/vBond, but the expected vSmart control connection is not forming consistently.

I need the freelancer to troubleshoot the existing configuration and get the SD-WAN fabric fully operational.

2. Cisco SDA Lab

I also need help setting up a complete Cisco Software-Defined Access (SDA) lab, primarily using Cisco DevNet/Sandbox resources where appropriate.

The lab should include:
• Cisco Catalyst Center / DNA Center
• Cisco ISE
• Catalyst 9000V / virtual Catalyst switches
• SDA fabric configuration
• Fabric border/control-plane/edge roles
• VN/VRF and segmentation
• Authentication and policy integration with ISE
• Fabric onboarding and endpoint connectivity
• Basic SDA troubleshooting and verification

3. SDA Automation

I also want the SDA environment prepared for automation testing, including the required API access and a working baseline that can be used to practice:
• Catalyst Center APIs
• SDA provisioning through APIs
• Network device onboarding/automation
• Configuration and policy automation
• Basic Python/API-based automation workflows

The goal is to have a working environment that I can subsequently use for configuration and automation testing.

I need someone who can:
1. Deploy the required virtual appliances/images.
2. Configure the lab components.
3. Establish connectivity between the components.
4. Complete SD-WAN and SDA onboarding.
5. Troubleshoot configuration/certificate/control-plane issues.
6. Leave the environment in a fully working state.
7. Explain the key configuration steps so I can maintain and use the lab myself.

This is primarily a lab setup and technical troubleshooting task, not a production deployment.

Required Experience

Please have hands-on experience with:
• Cisco SD-WAN
• Catalyst 8000V / cEdge
• vManage, vBond and vSmart
• Cisco SDA
• Catalyst Center / DNA Center
• Cisco ISE
• Catalyst 9000 / C9000V
• SDA fabric and segmentation
• Cisco APIs / network automation
• EVE-NG, VMware ESXi/vCenter or similar virtualization platforms

Please share specific relevant lab or real-world experience with SD-WAN and SDA, and briefly explain how you would approach setting up the environment and troubleshooting the existing SD-WAN issue.