Cisco Wide Area Application Services

Demonstration LAB

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Table of Contents:
Overview____________________________________________________________3
Definitions and Acronyms ____________________________________________5
Acronym __________________________________________________________5
Explanation ________________________________________________________5
Objectives of the lab ___________________________________________________6
Beginning _________________________________________________________6
Preliminary tests: FTP and HTTP browsing_________________________________7
Preliminary tests with FTP ____________________________________________7
Preliminary tests with HTTP browsing___________________________________8
Configuring the optimization processes ___________________________________10
Putting inline the WAE engines _______________________________________10
Activating the Edge and Core WAEs engines ____________________________10
Setting UP the Application-Accelerator WAEs ___________________________12
Activating the Application Accelerators_________________________________12
Managing Devices through Groups ____________________________________14
Testing WAAS functionality ___________________________________________17
Performance Improvements for First Transfer & subsequent transfers _________17
Performance tests with FTP __________________________________________17
Cold test _______________________________________________________17
Hot test ________________________________________________________17
Optimized tests with HTTP browsing___________________________________18
Cold test _______________________________________________________18
Hot test ________________________________________________________18
Visualizing statistics __________________________________________________19
Conclusion _________________________________________________________21
Appendix A_________________________________________________________22
WCCP WAAS Traffic Interception ____________________________________22
WCCP Support __________________________________________________22

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Overview
Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) is an new technology that
provides application acceleration and WAN optimization capabilities to enable
organizations with multiple branch offices the ability to centralize their
storage, server, and data protection infrastructure while providing LAN-like
performance for remote users that access information over the WAN. Cisco
WAAS provides generic optimizations for TCP based applications,
compression, and data suppression capabilities that result in more efficient
bandwidth usage and faster response times for client applications.
This document offers a demonstration script for Cisco WAAS.
document includes key test areas and a recommended test environment.

The

Cisco WAAS is deployed on the Cisco Wide Area Application Engine (WAE)
family of appliances. The general deployment configuration is described in
Figure 1 below. A WAAS deployment typically involves the following
elements:

One Central Manager

One or more Application Accelerators located at the data center
One or more Application Accelerators in each of the remote branch
offices

Figure 1: Lab Deployment of Cisco Wide Area Application Engine Solution

For this demonstration, we are using the following minimal equipment and
setup:
A Windows server with File, Web, Domain Controller and FTP
services enabled.
2 switches/routers with WCCP (version 2) capabilities
A LAN switch for Ethernet connectivity
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One WAE acting as a Core WAE, or Datacenter WAE (10.10.P2.250)

in the simulated data center, deployed near the server 10.10.100.100
One WAE (10.10.100.24P) acting as a Central Manager, deployed in
the simulated data center
One WAE acting as an Edge WAE or Branch WAE (10.10.P1.250),
deployed in the simulated branch office
A XP client.
A WAN emulation system (NISTnet) that is capable of both restricting
bandwidth and inducing delay. NISTnet is available for download
from Cisco Connection Online. This device is deployed between the
branch locations and the data center to simulate a wide area network.
NISTnet is simulating a T1 connection having 40 ms of latency in one
way.

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Definitions and Acronyms

Acronym

Explanation

WAE
WAAS
WAAS CM

Cisco Wide Area Application Engine

Wide Area Application Services.
The WAAS Central Manager, a Web-based interface that allows one to manage and configure all the WAAS
devices in their network.
Wide Area File Services, a component (module) within WAAS providing CIFS and NFS protocol specific
optimizations.
The WAAS Central Manager LCM (Local Central Management) cycle is used for the Central Manager and
application accelerators to exchange configuration updates, propagate statistics relative to application
acceleration, and send alarms and other notifications
A WAE with WAFS Core services enabled. Typically found on the LAN where the centralized file servers exist.
A WAE with WAFS Edge services enabled. Typically found at the remote branch office.
Wide Area Network
Local Area Network
The Windows desktop or workstation which will map to the File Servers, running applications that read and write
data saved on the File Server.
Common Internet File System. The file sharing protocol commonly used in Windows environments.
Network File System. The file sharing protocol commonly used in Unix environments.
Application Traffic Policy (ATP) is the centrally-managed behavioral policy that dictates how a topology of
WAEs should optimize application flows
Data Redundancy Elimination: advanced, segment based compression. DRE eliminates redundancies (global
commonalities) from network flows regardless of application
The DRE context is an isolated portion of the DRE database that is reserved for a DRE peer, containing a history
of signatures and segments that have been seen by the local WAE and the peer.
Transport Flow Optimization; a set of optimizations applied to intercepted traffic by the WAAS devices. TFO
protects communicating nodes from negative WAN conditions, such as bandwidth constraints, packet loss,
congestion, and retransmission.
Lampel-Ziv compression; a generic byte based compression, exploiting local commonalities.
Milliseconds
Edit button
New button
Assign All button
Remove All button
Reload button, depending on context can reload a single or multiple devices
Refresh screen button, use it instead of the browsers refresh function
Print Services Administration button, used to launch the local print services management UI
Force Group Settings, forces a device group configuration across all devices in the group.
Restore Default Application Policies, restores the policies and classifiers that shipped with the WAAS system

WAFS
LCM

Core WAE
Edge WAE
WAN
LAN
Client
CIFS
NFS
ATP
DRE
DRE Context
TFO

LZ
ms

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Objectives of the lab

This lab is partially configured. The proctors have already done the following
operations:
Initial WAE Setup, using the WAE CLI.
Configuring the Central Manager (CM) and application accelerators.
Basic WAAS configuration; configuring device groups, configuring
system settings, and applying default application policies
Configuring interception mechanisms (WCCPv2) at the branch office and
the data center.
Upon successful completion of this demonstration, you will have completed the
following:
Testing non optimized connections: FTP downloads & uploads, HTTP
browsing.
Configuring WAAS Accelerations policies
Testing WAAS file services functionality by executing manual tests: FTP
downloads & uploads, HTTP browsing
Beginning
Welcome to the WAE lab. Please note your Pod Number: you will need this value in
this lab. Your machine is already connected to your remote lab pod. You should see
this kind of display. If not, ask the proctors present in the room for help.

Figure 2: Lab access

The cloud network is a T1 Mbps connection having 40 ms of latency one way (80 ms
for the round trip time)
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Preliminary tests: FTP and HTTP browsing

We will compare the performance of two readily available protocols HTTP and FTP
as a base line for performance of applications over the WAN. The remote file server
10.10.100.100 has a web and FTP server installed and configured with a few files of
different types and sizes.
Preliminary tests with FTP

1. Connect to PC Desktop from the Branch Office Pod using

Logon : administrator
Password : cisco
2. Lauch the FTP client by selecting the START/PROGRAM/FTP
Client/WS_FTP95 LE application.

Launching the FTP client

3. Select the destination: 10.10.100.100

4. use the anonymous mode, check box as in picture below
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5. Download and upload small files to your local My Documents folder. Use
then largest files!
The FTP client displays the time taken to download/upload the files in the
bottom part of the windows.

Please note these values as we will optimize this kind of traffic.

File Name

File size

Time to
upload/download

Preliminary tests with HTTP browsing

Browse the 10.10.100.100 HTTP server with Internet Explorer.
Type http://10.10.100.100 in the address window. Select the 2MB.doc Word
document, 2MB.PPT and 15MB.PPT Powerpoint files for example. Save them
in your My Documents folder.
Record the time for accessing the pages and documents.
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File Name

File size

Time to upload

Close all your applications : Explorer, FTP client

Now we are going to activate the Acceleration WAAS features

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Configuring the optimization processes

Putting inline the WAE engines
The gigabit interface of the two WAE engines is down. Click on the green console
windows of the Branch and Datacenter WAE engines.

Log yourself with the admin username and default password.

Type the following commands on both WAE engines [Branch and Data Center
WAE].
WAE # configure
WAE (config)# int gigabitEthernet 1/0
WAE (config-if)# no shut
WAE (config-if)# exit
WAE (config)#
Activate the communications between each WAE engine and the content Manager
WAE (config)# cms enable

WAE (config)# exit

WAE #
Activating the Edge and Core WAEs engines
1. Verify that the Central Manager (CM) processes has successfully started by
pointing the Internet Explorer browser of the PC desktop at the branch to:
https://10.10.100.24P:8443 (P= your Pod number)

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2. Login using the default credentials of:

Username: admin
Password: default

3. For ease of use and ability to start collecting statistics earlier, there are a few
parameters that need changing. In this section we will extend the CM session
timeout interval, as well as modify the intervals by which the CM or WAE
poll or push data to/from the CM.
4. Change view to the System Configuration page (figure 3), wait a few sec
for the screen to refresh.
5. Then, change the cdm.session.timeout parameter to 100. To change this
parameter, click the edit button.
.
Update the attribute value to 100 and submit. Click on System Properties to
comeback to previous screen for the next change.

6. Change the System.monitoring.collectrate to 60 seconds and the

System.datafeed.pollRate to 30 seconds too.

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Figure 3: modifying parameters

Setting UP the Application-Accelerator WAEs

Once a device has its network parameters and primary interface configured, it is ready
for final configuration. In this section we will complete the setup and configuration
of the application accelerators. There will be one (or more) in the data center and one
(or more) in each remote office.
You should see a list of devices, marked Inactive (Figure 4) under the Devices
Devices page. Note the system status is yellow (minor) due to the same reason.

Figure 4: Inactive WAEs in the CMs Devices Devices page

Activating the Application Accelerators

For security purposes, WAEs that are being added to the WAAS network need to be
approved by the WAAS network administrator. This security features prevents
unauthorized devices from joining the WAAS network. In this section we will
activate all the inactive devices.
To activate the devices log on to the CM and select the Devices Devices page

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1. In the taskbar, click the Activate all inactive WAEs icon to activate the two
inactive WAEs.

Figure 5: CMs Activate all inactive WAEs icon

2. The Activate all inactive WAE window appears. By default, the Create a
new location for each inactive WAE option is selected (Figure 6).

Figure 6: The Activate all inactive WAE page.

3. Click Submit at the bottom of the page

4. When a Transaction Warning dialog box appears, click OK and then click
Submit. The current state of the core and edge WAEs is now listed as
pending instead of inactive. Notice the system status has changed to orange,
with 2 devices reporting CMS status : Pending.

Figure 7: Devices in Pending status

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5. After a few minutes, all devices should be reporting Online

Figure 8: CM Devices Devices page, all WAEs are online

Managing Devices through Groups

WAAS Central Manager (CM) allows the creation of device groups. Groups allow
you to configure settings for the devices in the group, and then apply those settings
consistently across all devices in the group. Groups not only save time when
configuring multiple devices, but they also ensure that configuration settings are
applied consistently across the WAEs in the WAAS network.
In this section we will inspect the default group, verify WAE association with a group
and use it to apply common configuration.
To inspect and modify the groups:
1. In the CM, open the Devices Device Groups page (Figure 9).
2. The only group present after installation is the AllDevicesGroup, as shown in
figure 12.
3. click on the edit button, to inspect the group settings.

Figure 9: CMs Devices Device Groups page

4. Note that only non-CM devices are part of this group. Verify by clicking
Devices Device Groups Contents Assign Devices (figure 10).

Figure 10: Contents of the AllDevicesGroup

5. Note that there are currently no Application policy definitions or

prioritizations on this group. Inspect Contents Acceleration Policies
Definitions (Figure 11).
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Figure 11: No configured application policies for the AllDevicesGroup

6. Apply the default application policies on the group by pressing the Apply
Defaults icon in the task bar of the group home page (Figure 12).

Figure 12: Applying the default application policies with the proper task bar tool

7. Press OK on the warning message to apply the default application policies.

8. You may also mark this group as the default group for all newly activated
devices. This will cause all newly activated devices to join the device group
and take the group configuration.

9. Inspecting the policy definitions now displays multiple definitions. The

WAAS software comes with over 150 default application policies that
determine the type of application traffic your WAAS system optimizes and
accelerates. These default policies cover the most common type of application
traffic on your network, in particular FTP and HTTP for this lab.
Each application policy contains the following elements:
Application definitionIdentifies general information about a specific
application, such as the application name and whether the WAAS Central
Manager collects statistics about this application.
Classifier Contains a matching condition that identifies specific types of
traffic. For example, the default HTTP classifier matches all traffic going to
ports 80, 8080, 8000, 8001, and 3128. You can create up to 512 classifiers and
1024 matching conditions.
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 Policy Combines the application definition and classifier into a single

policy. This policy also determines what optimization and acceleration
features (if any) a WAAS device applies to the defined traffic. You can create
up to 512 policies.
You can use the WAAS Central Manager GUI to modify the default policies
and to create additional policies for other applications.
10. Dont forget to push the submit Button!

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Testing WAAS functionality

Now that the WAAS network is set up and configured, it is time to test it. We will
compare the new performance of HTTP and FTP over the WAN. These tests will
demonstrate the power of DRE and TFO, and the increased performance of
applications with WAAS as compared to the non-optimized WAN.
Performance Improvements for First Transfer & subsequent transfers
In this test, you will verify Cold and Hot optimizations.
-

Cold optimizations are defined as scenarios when the Cisco WAEs in the path
of the TCP connection have no connection data cached in the DRE context.
Hot optimizations are defined as scenarios when the Cisco WAEs in the path
of the TCP connection have connection data cached in the DRE context.

The first step is to access the same files as before to note performance with cold
optimizations.
The second step is to access the same files as before to note performance with hot
optimizations.
Performance tests with FTP

Cold test
1. Lauch the FTP server by selecting the START/PROGRAM/FTP
Client/WS_FTP95 LE application.
2. Select the destination: 10.10.100.100
3. use the anonymous mode
4. Download and upload the same files as before! The FTP client displays the
time taken to download/upload the files. Please note these values.
File Name

File size

Time to
upload/download
Cold test

Hot test
Download and upload the same files as you did for the cold test! The FTP client
displays the time taken to download/upload the files. Please note these values.

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File Name

File size

Time to
upload/download
Hot test

Optimized tests with HTTP browsing

Cold test
Browse the 10.10.100.100 HTTP server with Internet Explorer.
Type http://10.10.100.100 in the address window. Select the same files as before
(2MB.doc, 2MB.PPT and 15MB.PPT for example). Save them in your My
Documents folder. Estimate the time for accessing the pages and documents.
File Name

File size

Time to download
Cold test

Hot test
Select the same files as before (2MB.doc, 2MB.PPT and 15MB.PPT for example).
Save them in your My Documents folder and estimate the time for accessing the
documents.
File Name

File size

Time to download
Hot test

Compare the values you have retrieved for the non optimized and optimized transfers.
What are your conclusions? Have you seen any differences beween the Cold and Hot
optimizations?

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Visualizing statistics
When you first log into the WAAS Central Manager GUI, the System Home window
displays the two charts that are part of the system-wide Traffic Statistics Report.
These charts contain aggregated data for all the WAE devices in your WAAS
network.
The system may display a message like this:

as the Content Manager may not have enough information. Follow this procedure for
more details.
1. To have access to this page, click on the Cisco logo at the top left corner of the
Content manager window. You will see some statistics graphs like this:

Click View Detailed Report located below either of the two displayed reports
to change the report options.

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The report is displayed with parameters that allow you to choose a different
report and change basic properties of the report such as the time frame and size
of the report.
2. From the Chart drop-down list, choose one of the following chart types:
Reduction (incl. pass-through) Displays the percent of total traffic that
was reduced on your entire WAAS network using the WAAS optimization
techniques. This chart includes pass-through traffic in the total results.
Reduction (excl. pass-through) Displays the percent of total traffic that
was reduced on your entire WAAS network using the WAAS optimization
techniques. This chart excludes pass-through traffic in the total results.
Application Traffic Mix Displays the top nine applications with the most
traffic for your entire WAAS network.
Pass-through Traffic Mix Displays the most common reason that traffic
passed through your WAAS network unoptimized. This chart allows you to
show traffic statistics for all applications or for one specific application.
3. From the Time Frame drop-down list, choose the last hour option and then
the update button. You may see more details and graphs.
4. Look to the different available statistics, in particular to the FTP and Web
statistics. Nonclassified and nonmonitored applications are grouped together
into the Other category

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Conclusion
Your enterprise can take full advantage of Cisco Wide Area Application Services
(WAAS) to accomplish three primary IT objectives:
1. Provide optimal performance for applications delivered from your central data
center to branch office users
2. Consolidate costly branch office server, storage, and backup infrastructure into
data centers, while maintaining LAN-like service levels for remote users
3. Minimize WAN bandwidth expenses
The WAAS portfolio of technologies and products give branch and remote offices
LAN-like access to centrally hosted applications, servers, storage, and multimedia in
a common, easy-to-manage form, all with LAN-like performance. The solution
provides a powerful application delivery, acceleration, and WAN optimization
solution for the branch office that optimizes the performance of any TCP-based
application operating in a WAN or MAN environment.
Unlike traditional WAN optimization technology, Cisco WAAS integrates
transparently within customers networks, preserving TCP information to maintain
functions such as security, QoS, visibility and monitoring end-to-end. Additionally,
Cisco WAAS provides comprehensive acceleration and optimization capabilities, ease
of deployment and management through auto-discovery of devices, and complete
integration with Cisco IOS services like NetFlow and QoS.
You can find more information on the cisco web site at:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps5680/Products_Sub_Category_Home.html
Thank you for having attended this lab If you have further questions, dont hesitate
to ask the proctors standing in the room.
The Networkers lab team

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Appendix A
WCCP WAAS Traffic Interception
In a WAAS network, traffic between clients in the branch offices and the servers in
the data center can be redirected to WAEs for application-specific acceleration, flow
optimization, data redundancy elimination, and compression. Traffic is intercepted
and redirected to WAEs based on policies that have been configured on the routers.
WCCP Support

The Web Cache Communication Protocol (WCCP) developed by Cisco Systems

specifies interactions between one or more routers (or Layer 3 switches) and one or
more application appliances, web caches, and caches of other application protocols.
The purpose of the interaction is to establish and maintain the transparent redirection
of selected types of traffic flowing through a group of routers. The selected traffic is
redirected to a group of appliances.
The WCCP v2 protocol has a set of beneficial features built-in, for example,
automatic failover and load balancing. The router monitors the liveliness of each
WAE attached to it through the WCCP keepalive messages, and if a WAE goes down,
the router stops redirecting packets to the WAE. By using WCCP, the Edge WAE
avoids becoming a single point of failure for any of the services it provides. The
router can also load balance the traffic among a number of application accelerators.
Cisco WAAS supports transparent interception of CIFS sessions through WCCPv2.
WCCPv2 enabled edge WAE have packet flow protection enabled by default. If a
client CIFS session is established directly to a file server, because Edge WAE
services have been disabled, or Edge WAE services have failed, the WAE will not
process traffic for those sessions once it is turned on again, unless the session is
terminated and regenerated. This requires a workstation logout/login, disabling/reenabling the client NIC, or a client reboot. Once WCCP is turned on at both the router
and the Edge WAE, only new CIFS sessions are intercepted. Existing sessions are not
affected.
It is recommended as a best practice that CEF (Cisco Express Forwarding) be enabled
on any device that is redirecting traffic with WCCPv2.

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