Cisco WAAS

Aleksandar Vulovic, SE alvulovi@cisco.com

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2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cisco Confidential

Agenda WAAS Introduction WAAS Technical Overview Cisco WAAS Products

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2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cisco Confidential

WAAS Introduction

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2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cisco Confidential

Key IT Priorities 2006-2009

1

Continue Data Center consolidation New applications for productivity, business enablement Mobility all data, anywhere, anytime extend new Data Center & applications to branch, yet simplify branch IT
2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential

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Growing Trend: Consolidate Branch Office

Major Branch Issues
Backup Local Storage

Application performance
Bandwidth limitations Latency / jitter / chattiness

Infrastructure cost / complexity

App/file/print Servers Switch Clients Router

File, print & email servers Storage & backup WAN bandwidth

Data protection
Failing backups / lost data an average of 6.9 devices per branch
Source: Nemertes Research

Compliance

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2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

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WAAS File Services Introduction

Branch Office
IT
Backup

Regional Office
IT
File Backup Cache NAS DAS DAS Files

File
Cache NAS DAS DAS Files

Data Center Remote Office

IT IT

Backup NAS SAN Files

WAN

File Cache NAS DAS DAS Files

Backup

Decentralized Optimized Centralized andStorage Centralized Storage

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Cisco Vision: The Consolidated Branch

Consolidated Branch

WAAS = key enabler

WAAS

Clients Router Switch

Data Center
App/file/print Servers Storage WAAS

Design Goals: Fewer local servers / no storage Continued LAN-level performance Ability to leverage centralized apps Preserve services of existing network
Presentation_ID 2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential

Backup

WAAS - performance
Word Open Time
Native WAN WAAS Native LAN
0 5 1MB Word File (sec) 10 15 20 25

Word Write Time

Native WAN WAAS Native LAN
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Excel Open Time

Native WAN WAAS Native LAN
0 2MB Excel File (sec) 10 20 30 40 50

Excel Write Time

Native WAN WAAS Native LAN
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Link T1, latency 80ms

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Accelerates Broad Range of Applications

Application File Sharing Application Protocol Windows (CIFS) UNIX (NFS) Exchange (MAPI) E-mail SMTP/POP3, IMAP Notes Internet / Intranet Data Transfer Software Distribution Database Applications HTTP, HTTPS, WebDAV FTP SMS (CIFS, HTTP) Altiris (HTTP) SQL Oracle Notes Data Protection Other Backup Applications Replication Applications Any TCP-based Application like Citrix
2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential

Improvement 2X-400X

2X-50X

Ensures LAN-like performance for branch-based access of corporate applications Enables branch server and storage consolidation without affecting workflow and employee productivity Simple network integration enables lower TCO

2X-50X 2X-50X 2X-100X

2X-10X

2X-50X 2X-10X
9

* Performance improvement varies based on user workload, compressibility of data, WAN characteristics and utilization. Actual numbers are case-specific and results may vary.
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WAAS Technical Overview

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2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cisco Confidential

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WAAS Feature Overview

Transparent Interception via WCCP or PBR Application Traffic Policy (ATP) engine
Traffic classification and handling definitions

TCP Flow Optimization (TFO)

interception, auto-discovery, and better WAN performance Provides the plumbing needed for other services

Redundancy Elimination (DRE)

Segment based redundancy elimination, byte-based LZ compression

Full WAFS 3.0.5 CIFS file proxy

New features (disconnected, coherency) WAFS tunnel benefits from TFO/DRE

Full WAFS 3.0.5 Print Services

New Centralized Driver Distribution Management

Converged Centralized Management

WAFS and new DRE/TFO acceleration

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2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cisco Confidential

11

Cisco WAAS Optimization Architecture

Other Other Apps Apps File File Services Services Local Local Services Services

L7: Application Optimization

Video Video

Web Web

L4: Transport Optimization

Data Redundancy Data Redundancy Elimination (DRE) Elimination (DRE)

TCP Flow TCP Flow Optimizations Optimizations (TFO) (TFO)

Content Content Distribution Distribution

Application Classification and Policy Engine Application Classification and Policy Engine Logical and Physical Integration Logical and Physical Integration
Network Infrastructure

Security Security

Monitoring Monitoring

Quality of Service Quality of Service

Core Routing & Switching Services Core Routing & Switching Services

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WAAS base network

Client Server

WAE

WAE

1. Packets that meet configured criteria are intercepted and passed to the WAE.

2. WAE performs configured optimizations and passes the packets to the server, which are intercepted on the other end, and passed to the WAE. The participating WAEs auto-discover each other.

3. Original packet data recreated and passed to the origin server.

4. The connection is spoofed and return traffic passes through the same transparent interception and optimizations on the return path.

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Seamless, Transparent Integration

Seamless integration with the packet network with high availability, load-balancing, and failover
WCCPv2 Policy-Based Routing

Src Mac AAA Dst Mac BBB

Src IP 1.1.1.10 Src TCP 15131 Dst IP 2.2.2.10 Dst TCP 80

APP DATA

Full preservation of L3/L4 packet header information (IP/TCP) Compliance with network valueadded features
Classification - QoS, NBAR, Queuing, Policing, Shaping Security - Firewall policies, Access Control Lists Reporting - NetFlow, monitoring

Src Mac BBB Dst Mac AAA

Src IP 1.1.1.10 Src TCP 15131 Dst IP 2.2.2.10 Dst TCP 80

optimized

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Traditional WAN Optimization:

Not Seamless, but Disruptive to Existing Network
A

Preservation of IP and TCP Header Information

Security Filter VPN QoS NBAR NetFlow ACL NAT

Traditional WAN Optim.

LAN Switch Origin File Server WAN Router Firewall Core Device

Client Workstation

LAN Switch

Edge Device

Firewall

WAN Router

WAN Optimization Tunnel

NAS

Traditional WAN Optimization changes header information Result: Services may not work Extra integration required Risk of downtime due to dedicated links
15

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2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Cisco WAAS:
Seamless Network Integration, Service Preservation
A

Full Preservation of IP and TCP Header Information

QoS NBAR NetFlow ACL NAT

Client Workstation

Security Filter VPN

Firewall

QoS NetFlow Visibility

Cisco WAAS
LAN Switch Firewall WAN Router

LAN Switch

WAN Router

IP Network

NAS

Edge WAAS

Core WAAS

Robust Application Adapters to Offload WAN and Data Center Local Services

Transport and Flow Optimizations Data Redundancy Elimination Accelerates ALL TCP Traffic

Data Center Scalability

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16

Application Traffic Policy Engine

Centrally managed from GUI as well as device CLI Classify traffic based on L3/L4 attributes
TCP Protocol Type Source/Destination IP Address/Range Source/Destination TCP Port

Apply actions to classified traffic

Actions include: compress, DRE, TFO, protocol specific optimization Bypass Monitor

Default policies for common applications

Default policies are pre-defined and can be restored by clicking a button Fully customizable classification and optimizations

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2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Cisco WAAS Auto-Discovery

Cisco WAE devices automatically discover one another and negotiate optimization capabilities
Performed per TCP connection Flexible optimization configuration Exchange of peer capabilities and limitations

A A

WCCPv2 WCCPv2 or PBR or PBR

WCCPv2 WCCPv2 or PBR or PBR

B B

WAN

A:B TCP SYN A:B TCP SYN

B:A TCP SYN/ACK B:A TCP SYN/ACK

A:B TCP SYN SYN/ACK B:A TCP B:A TCP A:B TCP SYN SYN/ACK (marked) (marked) (marked) (marked) ACCELERATION II would like ACCELERATION would like CONFIRMED! to accelerate CONFIRMED! to accelerate this connection! this connection! Here are my details Here are my details

A:BB:A TCP SYN/ACK TCP SYN A:BB:A TCP SYN/ACK TCP SYN (marked) (marked)

WAE1

WAE2

II know WAE1 is Acknowledge know WAE1 is Acknowledge in the path, lets Acceleration! in the path, lets Acceleration! Here are my details accelerate! Here are my details accelerate!

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Data Redundancy Elimination (DRE)

Reduce overall WAN consumption based on redundancy
Maintain active database of previously sent and received traffic Send database index on behalf of traffic that has been seen before Realize 5x 50x compression, minimize WAN bandwidth consumption

Compress all outbound traffic with LZ compression

Additional 2x compression beyond data suppression Very good compression for non-redundant data

ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ

L1+MNOP+L2

ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ

IP Network Label L1 L2
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DRE CACHE

Data ABCDEFGHIJKL QRSTUVWXYZ

DRE CACHE

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DRE Pattern Matching

DRE Database

NO MATCH NO MATCH NO MATCH

Original Original Message Message

NO MATCH

Encoded Encoded Message Message

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Cisco WAAS Transport Flow Optimizations

Cisco WAAS Transport Flow Optimizations (TFO) is designed to overcome common challenges associated with standard TCP implementations
Window Scaling capitalize on available bandwidth Large Initial Windows maximize transmission after connection establishment for short-lived connections Selective Acknowledgement efficient packet loss recovery and retransmission mechanisms Binary Increase Congestion (BIC) quick return to maximum throughput upon congestion

Currently mostly relying on standard optimizations

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TFO Improves Application Performance

TFO overcomes TCP and WAN bottlenecks Shields nodes connections from WAN conditions
Clients experience fast acknowledgement Minimize perceived packet loss Eliminate need to use inefficient congestion handling

WAN

LAN TCP Behavior

Window Scaling Large Initial Windows Congestion Mgmt Improved Retransmit

LAN TCP Behavior

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Maximum Window Size (MWS)

4 3 2 1

The Maximum Window Size (MWS) is the maximum amount of a data a node can have outstanding in the network unacknowledged The node can not continue transmission until previous transmissions have been acknowledged
Problematic over LFNs Long Fat Networks elephants Inability to fully utilize the available network resources

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Bandwidth Delay Product (BDP)

RTT 10 ms Bandwidth 155 Mbps (OC-3) Amount of data that can be in transit at any one point in time: 155Mbps x 10 ms = 192 KB

The Bandwidth Delay Product (BDP) of a network defines the amount of data that can be in flight within a network at any one point in time
If MWS > BDP, then application may not be throughput bound (i.e. application can fill the pipe) If BDP > MWS, then application will not be able to fully utilize the network capacity (i.e. application can not fill the pipe)

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WAAS TFO Window Scaling

Cisco WAAS TFO window scaling (based on RFC 1323) scales the TCP window to 2MB to overcome problems with filling LFNs (Long Fat Networks) Window Scaling applies a binary shift to the decimal value supplied in the data field

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Link Utilization and MWS, BDP

BDP BDP

Unusable network capacity! Unusable network capacity! Bandwidth

MWS MWS Link Utilization Link Utilization

Latency
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Link Utilization After Window Scaling

BDP BDP Cisco WAAS TFO Cisco WAAS TFO Able to fill the pipe! Able to fill the pipe! Bandwidth

Original MWS Original MWS

Latency
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Selective Acknowledgement
Standard TCP implementations acknowledge receipt of data by acknowledging the entire window has been received Loss of a packet causes retransmission of the entire TCP window, causing performance degradation as the window becomes larger
Transmit 1 2 3 Receive 1 2 ACK Retransmit 1 2 3 ACK 1 1 2 2 3 3
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Selective Acknowledgement (Cont.)

Cisco WAAS employs Selective Acknowledgement and extensions to improve acknowledgement of transmitted data, improve delivery of missing segments, and minimize unnecessary retransmission
Transmit 1 2 3 ACK Retransmit 3 ACK 1 1 2 2 3 3 Receive 1 1 2 2

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Cisco WAAS Large Initial Windows

While 80% of network traffic is typically associated with long-lived connections (elephants), approximately 80% of network connections are short-lived (mice) Short-lived connections transmit smaller numbers of packets and are torn down before ever leaving the slow-start phase of TCP Cisco WAAS Large Initial Windows, based on RFC3390, increases initial window size to expedite entry into congestion avoidance mode for high throughput

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Cisco WAAS Large Initial Windows

Packet Loss Packet Loss

Segments per Round Trip (cwnd)

TFO TFO

Slow-Start Slow-Start (discovery) (discovery)

Congestion Congestion Avoidance Avoidance (high-throughput) (high-throughput)

TCP TCP

Round Trips

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CIFS and WAN

Round Trip Time (RTT) ~ 0mS
LAN Switch Client Server

Round Trip Time (RTT) ~ many many milliseconds

LAN Switch Routed Network LAN Switch

Client

Server

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Application Adapters Mitigate Latency

Application and protocol awareness
Eliminate unnecessary chatter and transfer Pre-populate edge cache as necessary Enable disconnected operations
Cache and Protocol Proxy ~90% msgs 10% actual storage

Intelligent protocol proxy

Transparent or non-transparent Improves application response time Provide origin server offload
WAN
WAN Optimization DRE/TFO/LZ

WAASv4 application adapters

CIFS (Windows File Services) Windows printing
Origin Server 100% of capacity

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File Preposition
Files can be prepositioned into an Edge WAFS device cache to improve performance for first-user access
Scheduled acquisition and distribution of files Populates DRE database on WAEs Cache hit on first user access, local delivery

Preposition is commonly used in environments where the need to deliver large files or large amounts of data is critical
CAD/CAM Packages Engineering, Software Development Software distribution, patch management Imaging

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Print Services Capabilities

WAASv4 provides centrally managed print services, including driver upload and distribution
Distribute to a single WAE or amongst a group (via FTP) Automatic distribution of driver updates or deletions from CM to WAE Print Servers No reverse replication of drivers added directly to a WAE Print Server back to the CM Initially only provides support for a single version of a single driver within the CM driver repository

Supports 3rd-party tools to manage printers and drivers via SAMBA RPCs Guest printing allows printing (no user authentication for printing)

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Cisco WAAS

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Cisco WAAS
Comprehensive feature set
Wide range of app acceleration WAN optimization WAFS / print server

Data Center

WAE-7326

Seamless network integration Combination software/hardware

Transport & Enterprise versions Router module & WAE appliances

WAE-612

NME-WAE

WAE-512

Complete end-to-end solution

WAAS + IOS + load balancing

Branch
Hardware platforms
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WAE Family Positioning

WAE-7326 Up to 7500 TCP Up to 310Mbps WAN Up to 900GB disk WAE-612 Up to 6000 TCP Up to 155Mbps WAN Up to 300GB disk

Presentation_ID

Price
WAE-512 Up to 2000 TCP Up to 20Mbps WAN Up to 250GB disk NME-WAE Up to 500 TCP Up to 2Mbps WAN Up to 120GB disk
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Performance and Scalability

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Inline Considerations
Physical inline interception
Physical in-path deployment Fail-to-wire bypass No router configuration

4-port with fail-to-wire

Mechanical fail-through Supports HW/SW/power failure Two two-port groups Serial clustering for high availability

Interoperability
Automatic discovery and transparency Supports other sites using WCCP/PBR 802.1q and configurable VLANs WAE-512/612/7326 appliances

Cisco WAE 4-port Inline card

WAN
Basic Inline Deployment

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WAAS License Positioning

Applications/Protocol(s) Generic WAN Optimization Any TCP-based Application. Optimization for over 60 applications including:
Web (http, https) Bulk transfer (ftp) Email (MAPI, SMTP) Citrix SQL

Transport Yes

Enterprise Yes

Infrastructure Consolidation

Wide Area File Services (WAFS) for file sharing, collaboration, backup consolidation, software distribution
Windows (CIFS) UNIX (NFS)

No

Yes

Local Services
Print and other services

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