So I was messing around with my production 2800 series router a few days ago and I discovered a module called "Integrated Services Engine". My colleague did a "show inventory" and it was discovered that this module: NME-WAE-502-K9, was in the Router.

Now I was made aware that at somepoint this thing was fully operational, but it didn't work as planned.

Now I want to start implementing and using it, would anyone care to help me out?

Just for understanding the application of this WAAS:

I have a metro-ethernet based service at 100Mbps. I have a Gre Tunnel set up from my office to a corporate Office in the US. What do I need to set this up? Do I need something on the Corp Office's end? How can I effectively use this WAAS device?

Please view the link as well: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/contnetw/ps5680/ps6870/product_data_sheet0900aecd8058218c.html

I worked once with Cisco WAAS.

You need on the other side a Cisco WAAS module too to optimize the link.

You should get a WAAS appliance too and use it as a central manager device.

Right now we are working with Expand products. They are cheaper and in my opinion a lot better.

What about a point-to-point scenario.

In other words:

at one end of the tunnel a WAAS module is in place, and the same at the other end?

We have the equipment (i think) so I want to implement it.

What are the network characteristics (bandwidth & latency) between the sites? That will dictate the potential usefulness of WAAS. Assuming there is some benefit, you'll need a minimum of three (3) devices - an appliance (or NME) for each site and a Central Manager (CM). You can do without the CM for basic testing, but some features require it.

Will you also be using a NME at the other site?

Regards, Zach

Lets say between the two sites: -68ms ping (on average) -I have about 10Megs up/down to play with

The other site should have a module.

The only reason I need to start using WAAS is for file transfer. I want to heavily accelerate transferring files from a server there to a desktop here.

Or also exchange mailbox downloads.

I recently upgrade my line, before uploads to the other site, would be slow, and same with downloads. Now only upload speeds have increased, download speeds have not increased....

I doubt that you will "heavily" accelerate file transfer, but you will optimize the WAN link.

For file you can use WAFS on Cisco WAAS or Expand accelerators. The WAAS device on the branch side will copy the files on the local HDD and the users can access the files with LAN speed. Only the changes on the files will be transferred over the WAN link. This is good for word, excell and other files.

We tested Expand Networks accelerators for a Bank. They are using terminal services (RDP) and the acceleration was about 3000%, compression about 200%.

What is the file transfer protocol being used?

For Microsoft Exchange used in conjunction with Microsoft Outlook client, WAAS will perform MAPI-specific acceleration, which can help mitigate the effect of the RTT latency on the link. If you are using some other type of client to access the Exchange servers, it just depends on what protocols are in use.

Zach

Im not sure which file transfer protocol, but think "Windows" and it's DFS.

If your versed with MS in some way, you would enter this in an explorer bar:

\HOST OR IPfolder\

\HOST or IPc$

And we can browse thru the files and drag & drop them anywhere onto our machine.

I'm trying to accelerate this.

along with downloading exchange mailbox to outlook (from an exchange server somewhere out in California).

And accessing internal websites.

This is painful for me because my upload speeds have increased where as my download speeds from the California location have not increased. (possibly due to their upload speed)

The file transfer protocol in your case would be CIFS. WAAS can accelerate most CISF traffic using generic WAN optimization techniques, as well as the CIFS Application Optimizer (AO), which provides CIFS-specific acceleration.

Do you have the solution in place yet?

Zach

Hi Guys i have implemented Cisco Waas for the first time for a client. we purchased 3 WAE-512-K9 appliances, 2 dedicated to accelerators and 1 for the CMS.

the CMS can see the traffic and is telling me what type of data is traversing but no acceleration or optimisation is taking place. i ran some troubleshooting commands and found this to be interesting: "Rejected Connections Due to No License" ... anyone have any ideas ???

Policy Engine Statistics

Session timeouts: 0, Total timeouts: 0 Last keepalive received 00.2 Secs ago Last registration occurred 24:22:24:56.5 Days:Hours:Mins:Secs ago Hits: 237867, Update Released: 183782 Active Connections: 1, Completed Connections: 54062 Drops: 0 Rejected Connection Counts Due To: (Total: 22) Not Registered : 0, Keepalive Timeout : 0 No License : 22, Load Level : 0 Connection Limit : 0, Rate Limit : 0 Minimum TFO : 0, Resource Manager : 0 Global Config : 0, Server-Side : 0 DM Deny : 0, No DM Accept : 0

cheers

Starting in the WAAS 4.1 release, we introduced licensing. By default, there are no licenses configured:

WAE-674#sh lic There are no active licenses configured. The following list of licenses is available in this release for configuration: Transport Enterprise Video Virtual-Blade Please, use "license add " CLI command to enter the license you purchased already. WAE-674#

You can add a license with "license add" command:

WAE-674#lic add Enterprise WARNING: There is an enabled accelerator in the system, but accelerator doesn't optimize the traffic yet. It takes about 2 minutes to start the traffic optimization after the license is activated. WAE-674# WAE-674#show lic License Name Status Activation Date Activated By

Transport not active Enterprise active 05/10/2010 admin Video not active Virtual-Blade not active WAE-674#

Let me know if this doesn't solve your problem.

Regards, Zach

We are looking at deploying some wan optimization. Our organization is a Cisco shop so that's the direction we are currently looking. One issue I have run into is that at least of other vendors they will not even think about helping us because we have no routers in our network. Everything is L3 switching, 3750s and 4500s. Because of this I am thinking inline would be the best. We have 2x 10 Meg, a 20 Meg and possibly a 100 Meg pipe we would like to optimize but I can't seem to find good sizing documentation on Cisco's website. The root of our issue is Citrix traffic is eating a lot of bandwidth on our links so we were hoping to find a solution to elevate it as well as help out with Web and CIFS traffic, our next two biggest users. Citrix is about 50-60% of the traffic and the other two are about 15-20% each.

Thanks, Jamison

Jamison,

You can use an in-path (physical inline) or off-path (WCCP) deployment model -- whichever is best suited for your environment.

Can you share a topology diagram that includes the WAN bandwidth and RTT latency?

Thanks, Zach

Here is a simple network Diagram. The reason I say this is because our network is from a technical standpoint needlessly over complex but I cannot do anything about it. We basically have a Service provider that provides connectivity between buildings which is contracted through another provider who has an additional switch at each site. Our main site has the main switch for both providers where each building has a dedicated port which goes from one provider to the other and we connect each of our switches into the second provider at each building including the main site. Are you lost yet? The diagram provided is how we see the network but realize there other switches out there that I have no control over. All latency is the 1ms range as it is all within 5 miles.

I forgot to add the reason I was thinking inline is because while WCCP would be useful we only have IPBase on our switches.

What type of traffic are you looking to optimize?

Zach

Citrix mainly. CIFS and HTTP would be nice as well but we don't have as much of that traffic right now.

Jamison

Honestly, I don't think WAN optimization is a good fit for your environment. The processing latency incurred by any WAN optimization solution will likely make performance worse, especially for chatty applications like CIFS. Unless you're only concerned with bandwidth reduction (at the expense of higher transaction latency), I don't see a reason to move forward with WAN optimization.

Regards, Zach

That makes sense but we do have an issue with the amount of Citrix traffic on our network. CIFS isn't really a major issue or web. We have maxed a 10Mb/Sec link with Citrix and it can cause it to lag. We upgraded to 20Mb/Sec and we didn't max it as much but we still had issues.

Thanks, Jamison

I see. In that you can test WAN Optimization to see if the reduction in bandwidth has an overall positive effect.

Regarding your network interception choice, Cisco WAAS can be deployed physically inline between 1 and 4 paths per appliance, depending on the appliance model used. If that's enough coverage for all of the physical links between the WAN and LAN at each of your sites, then inline is fine. Otherwise you would be looking at using WCCP, which could require and IOS feature set change (as you previously mentioned).

Regards, Zach