A post-staging template is a Versa Director device template containing the complete production configuration for a VOS branch device – interfaces, routing, tunnels, and services – deployed after any staging template has run. Parameterized variables in the template bind to device-specific values, such as IP addresses, when each branch is onboarded.
Key takeaways
- Post-staging templates hold a branch device’s complete production configuration.
- They deploy after staging templates, which only test basic connectivity.
- Parameterized variables bind to device-specific values at onboarding.
- One post-staging template can configure every device in a device group.
- Workflows create them; removing configuration requires a manual edit.
On this page: Why it mattersHow it worksStaging, service, and common templatesPost-staging templates & VersaFAQ
Why are post-staging templates important?
Configuring every branch device by hand doesn’t scale past a handful of sites. Post-staging templates solve this by letting an administrator define the complete production configuration – WAN, LAN, and AE interfaces, routing, tunnels, NAT, and management servers – once, then deploy it across every device in a device group. Onboarding a new branch reduces to entering the handful of values that are actually device-specific, such as IP addresses, rather than re-specifying the whole configuration.
The template is also the mandatory production artifact: a post-staging template is required to create a device at all, and it is the record Versa Director redeploys against whenever the configuration needs to change. Pairing it with a staging template lets teams validate basic connectivity in a preproduction or proof-of-concept network before the full production configuration ever touches the device.
What is a post-staging template?
In Versa Director’s Workflows, a post-staging template is created with template type SD-WAN Post-Staging, scoped to an organization, and associated with Controllers, a solution tier, and a preferred software version. Its workflow steps build out interfaces, split and site-to-site tunnels, BGP/OSPF/static routing, inbound NAT rules, and management servers (NTP, syslog, TACACS+, RADIUS, SNMP, LDAP) – everything a branch device needs in production.
A post-staging template is associated with a device group, and every device in that group uses it, optionally layered with one or more service templates for feature-specific configuration such as QoS or NGFW. Many of its fields can be parameterized rather than hard-coded: clicking the Parameterize icon turns a field like a VLAN ID, BGP neighbor IP, or static route prefix into a variable that is filled in per device as bind data when the device is onboarded.
Staging, service, and common templates
A post-staging template is one of several template types Versa Director uses together. A staging template is its lightweight counterpart: created for WAN interfaces only, it configures the minimal connectivity needed to redirect a device to a staging Controller during testing or a proof-of-concept, before the post-staging template takes over for production.
Service templates are feature-specific – QoS, NGFW, stateful firewall, application steering, secure access, or service chaining – and layer on top of a device group’s post-staging template rather than replacing it; one service template can be reused across many device templates and organizations. Common templates (also called datastore templates) are created automatically, one per organization, and are applied to every device in that organization by default, supplying shared objects like zones that service templates reference.
Post-staging templates & Versa
Post-staging templates are built and maintained through Director’s Workflows and Configure Basic Features screens: create, modify, clone, export, import, and lock/unlock are all supported, and cloning lets an existing template be reused for another organization with its workflow- and manually-applied changes intact. The staging and post-staging template guide covers the full create-and-manage lifecycle for SD-WAN and SD-LAN devices.
At the device-group level, a post-staging template appears in the Post-Staging Template Association tab, where it can be reordered against datastore and device-specific service templates – the configuration templates overview warns that changing this merge order can let common-template objects overwrite the main template’s, breaking things like hub-site route-distinguisher values. Director also supports parameterized organization templates, letting one service template be replicated across every organization it’s attached to by variable substitution.
Frequently asked questions
Is a post-staging template the same thing as a device template?
Yes. “Device template” is the general term; a post-staging template is the production form of a device template, distinct from its lightweight staging counterpart. Versa’s documentation uses the two names interchangeably when referring to the production configuration deployed to a branch.
What happens if I skip the staging template?
Nothing breaks – a post-staging template can be used as the only stage in branch deployment. The staging template exists to validate basic WAN connectivity before production configuration is applied; skipping it just means the branch goes straight to its full post-staging configuration.
Can one post-staging template configure multiple devices?
Yes. A post-staging template is associated with a device group, and every device placed in that group inherits it, along with any service templates layered on top. This is the mechanism that lets one configuration effort cover many similar branches at once.
What is bind data, and how does it relate to a post-staging template?
Bind data is the device-specific information – like an IP address or a PSK – that fills in a post-staging template’s parameterized variables when a device is onboarded. The template defines which fields are parameterized; bind data supplies the actual per-device values.
Can a post-staging template be locked or exported?
Yes. Locking prevents further changes, either for all users or all except the current one. Exporting saves the template as a .cfg file for archiving, and importing restores or copies that configuration back into a template of the same name.
Related terms
If you’re reading about post-staging templates, these are worth looking at next.
| Device Template | Branch | Versa Director |
|---|---|---|
| The general term for a baseline Versa Director configuration; post-staging template is its production form. | The site running a VOS device, whose full production configuration a post-staging template supplies. | The console where post-staging templates are created, modified, and deployed through Director Workflows. |