Deploying Cisco Wide Area Application Services

• Copyright 2008
• Edition: 1st

• Book
• ISBN-10: 1-58705-494-9
• ISBN-13: 978-1-58705-494-5

Design and deploy Cisco WAN optimization and application acceleration solutions for the enterprise WAN

Today, IT organizations are increasingly squeezed by competing demands. They must support more distributed users who demand greater availability and performance. They must protect their digital assets with far more robust security. And they must do it all while gaining far greater control over cost. Distributing IT resources increases management, hardware, and software overhead, but centralizing IT can worsen application performance. There is a solution to this quandary: Cisco application acceleration and WAN optimization technologies that permit IT to safely centralize distributed IT resources, meeting user performance expectations without replacing existing network infrastructure.

Deploying Cisco Wide Area Application Services is the first comprehensive guide to designing and deploying solutions with these Cisco technologies. Zach Seils and Joel Christner show how to deploy Cisco WAAS in a scalable, transparent, and seamless fashion that responds to both your business and technical challenges. Writing for network design and implementation engineers and other networking professionals, they cover the entire planning and configuration process. Drawing on their extensive experience implementing WAAS in the enterprise, they also offer real-world implementation examples and case studies–including full chapters on network, branch office, and data center integration.

Zach Seils, CCIE No. 7861, is a technical leader in the Cisco Advanced Services Data Center Networking Practice, where he specializes in designing, deploying, and troubleshooting application acceleration solutions for the largest Cisco enterprise and service provider customers.

Joel Christner, CCIE No. 15311, is director of product management for Reconnex Corporation, the industry leader in data loss prevention (DLP) solutions. Prior to Reconnex, Joel was senior manager of technical marketing for the Application Delivery Business Unit (ADBU) at Cisco, where he helped drive the product and technical strategy for Cisco Wide Area Application Services. Christner is coauthor of Application Acceleration and WAN Optimization Fundamentals.

• Centrally provision applications to employees in any location without compromising performance
• Reduce costs by centralizing servers, storage, and applications by leveraging optimization capabilities that integrate cleanly with your existing infrastructure
• Thoroughly understand Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) and Wide Area Application Engine (WAE) and the business benefits provided by them

- -       Perform effective WAAS planning, discovery, and analysis

- -         Use WAAS and interception mechanisms such as WCCP or inline to transparently optimize flows traversing your network for end users accessing centrally deployed and centrally  managed applications, files, and other information

- -         Integrate application acceleration and optimization into data centers, branch offices, and other environments

- -         Learn how to use the Cisco WAAS Central Manager, WAE device GUI, and command-line interface to configure, manage, and troubleshoot

This book is part of the Networking Technology Series from Cisco Press, which offers networking professionals valuable information for constructing efficient networks, understanding new technologies, and building successful careers.

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Network Integration and Interception

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Table of Contents

Foreword xvi

Introduction xvii

Chapter 1    Introduction to Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) 3

    Understanding Application Performance Barriers 3

        Layer 4 Through Layer 7 4

        Network Infrastructure 8

    Introduction to Cisco WAAS 15

    WAN Optimization 17

    Application Acceleration 23

    Other Features 29

Summary 31

Chapter 2    Cisco Wide Area Application Engine (WAE) Family 33

    Cisco WAE Product Architecture 33

            Disk Encryption 34

            Central Management Subsystem 35

            Interface Manager 35

            Reporting Facilities 35

            Network Interception and Bypass Manager 36

            Application Traffic Policy Engine 36

    Hardware Family 38

        Router-Integrated Network Modules 38

        Appliances 40

    Licensing 42

    Performance and Scalability Metrics 42

        Device Memory 43

        Disk Capacity 44

        Number of Optimized TCP Connections 46

        WAN Bandwidth and LAN Throughput 46

        Number of Peers and Fan-Out 47

        Number of Devices Managed 48

    Summary 49

Chapter 3    Planning, Discovery, and Analysis 51

    Planning Overview 51

        Planning Overview Checklist 52

Requ    irements Collection and Analysis 52

    Site Information 54

        Site Types 54

        User Population 55

        Physical Environment 55

        Site Information Checklist 56

    Network Infrastructure 56

        WAN Topology 56

        Remote Office Topology 59

        Data Center Topology 60

        Traffic Flows 62

        Network Infrastructure Checklist 64

    Application Characteristics 64

        Application Requirements Checklist 65

    File Services Requirements 65

        Advanced Features 66

        File Services Utilization 66

        File Services Requirements Checklist 67

    Platform Requirements 67

        Platform Requirements Checklist 67

    Scalability Requirements 67

        Scalability Requirements Checklist 67

    Availability Requirements 68

        Availability Checklist 68

    Management Requirements 68

        SNMP Trap/Inform Routing 69

        SNMP Community Strings 69

        Syslog Servers 70

        Management Requirements Checklist 70

    Security Requirements 70

        Security Requirements Checklist 72

    Summary 73

Chapter 4    Network Integration and Interception 75

    Interface Connectivity 75

        Link Aggregation Using EtherChannel 78

        Using the Standby Interface Feature 82

    Interception Techniques and Protocols 86

        Web Cache Communication Protocol 86

    Policy-Based Routing 103

    Inline Interception 105

    Content Switching 109

        Application Control Engine 109

    Egress Methods for Intercepted Connections 111

    Network Integration Best Practices 114

    Summary 115

Chapter 5    Branch Office Network Integration 117

    In-Path Deployment 117

        Nonredundant Branch Office 118

        Redundant Branch Office 122

        Serial Clustering 125

    Off-Path Deployment 127

        Small to Medium-Sized Nonredundant Branch Office 127

        Large Nonredundant Branch Office 134

        Off-Path Redundant Topology 141

        Policy-Based Routing Interception 158

        Cisco IOS Firewall Integration 161

    Summary 163

Chapter 6    Data Center Network Integration 165

    Data Center Placement 165

    Deployment Solutions 174

        WCCP 175

        Content Switching 186

    Scaling Transparent Interception 192

        WCCP Scalability 192

        Application Control Engine Scalability 198

    Firewall Integration 199

    Summary 205

Chapter 7    System and Device Management 207

    System and Device Management Overview 207

        Initial Setup Script and Device Setup 208

        Command-Line Interface 212

        Central Manager Overview 213

        Centralized Management System Service 216

    Device Registration and Groups 219

        Device Activation 220

        Device Groups 222

    Provisioned Management 224

        Role-Based Access Control 224

        Integration with Centralized Authentication 227

    Device Configuration, Monitoring, and Management 229

        Device Homepage 229

        Status and Health Monitoring 232

        Software Upgrade and Downgrade 235

    Reporting and Logging 239

    Backup and Restore of Central Manager 241

    Summary 244

Chapter 8    Configuring WAN Optimization 247

    Cisco WAAS WAN Optimization Capabilities 247

        Transport Flow Optimization 247

        Data Redundancy Elimination 249

        Persistent LZ Compression 251

        Automatic Discovery 251

        Enabling and Disabling Features 253

        TFO Blacklist Operation 255

        Tuning TFO Buffers 257

    Application Traffic Policy 261

        Application Groups 262

        Traffic Classifiers 264

        Policy Maps 266

        Negotiating Policies 269

        EndPoint Mapper Classification 270

    Reporting 274

        Automatic Discovery Statistics 274

        Connection Statistics and Details 276

        WAN Optimization Statistics 279

    Summary 283

Chapter 9    Configuring Application Acceleration 285

    Application Acceleration Overview 285

        Core Services 287

        Edge Services 288

        Connectivity Directives 289

        Interaction with WAN Optimization 289

    Configuring CIFS Acceleration 291

        Configuring Core Services 291

Configuring Edge Services 294

        Configuring Connectivity Directives 297

        Examining CIFS Acceleration Traffic Policies 300

        Verifying CIFS Acceleration 301

    CIFS Preposition 304

        CIFS Preposition Architecture 304

        Configuring CIFS Preposition 306

        Examining Preposition Statistics 311

    Disconnected Mode of Operation 313

        Domain Integration 314

        Configuring Disconnected Mode of Operation 320

    Summary 322

Chapter 10    Case Studies 325

    Common Requirements 325

    Existing WAN Topology 325

    Remote Site Profile A 327

        Profile A Site Requirements 327

        Site Network Topology 327

        WAE Placement and Interception 328

        WAE Configuration Details 329

        WAN Router Configuration Details 330

        LAN Switch Configuration Details 331

    Remote Site Profile B 333

        Profile B Site Requirements 333

        Site Network Topology 333

        WAE Placement and Interception 334

        WAE Configuration Details 334

        WAN Router Configuration Details 336

    Remote Site Profile C 337

        Profile C Site Requirements 338

        Site Network Topology 338

        WAE Placement and Interception 338

        WAE Configuration Details 340

        WAN Router 1 Configuration Details 341

        WAN Router 2 Configuration Details 343

    Data Center Profile 345

        Data Center Site Requirements 345

        Site Network Topology 345

        WAE Placement and Interception 346

        WAE Configuration Details 348

        Data Center Switch 1 Configuration Details 349

        Data Center Switch 2 Configuration Details 352

    Application Traffic Policy 355

    Summary 357

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