ROUTER AFFINITY IN SOFTWARE DEFINED WIDE AREA NETWORK(S)

This disclosure describes techniques and mechanisms for utilizing affinity routing in SDWAN networks. The techniques may enable network administrators to assign and/or configure affinity numbers to hub(s) and/or gateway(s), tunneling interface(s), service(s), etc., as well as affinity-preference-order(s) to edge device(s) within the network. Network administrators may also configure control polic(ies). The techniques enable a scalable and simplified way to automatically load-balance traffic across different gateways within a network, while reducing network resource usage. The techniques may utilize routing affinity to achieve a variety of networking related functionalities, including automatic load-balancing of traffic, provisioning of active and backup gateways, optimal route distribution to routers from routing controllers, optimized service placement for edge routers, without the need for any policy configuration at all, let alone complex policies.