Systems and methods are described for automatically controlling network routing between downstream side and upstream side of a communication network to enforce symmetric routing. According to one embodiment, a Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SDWAN) controller of a network device associated with a spoke site of an SDWAN manages links forming the SDWAN. The controller receives information regarding route maps, including a preferred route-map and an un-preferred route-map. Further, the controller configures a local BGP daemon with the route maps to exchange routing information including a BGP attribute with the BGP peers and selects a link on which network traffic is to be transmitted. The controller causes the BGP daemon to (i) use the preferred route-map to advertise the routing information to the BGP peer associated with the selected link, and (ii) use the un-preferred route-map to advertise the routing information to a remainder of the BGP peers.