Cisco Wide Area Application Services () Software Version 4.0 Product Overview Cisco Wide Area Application Services () is a powerful application acceleration and WAN optimization solution that optimizes the performance of any TCP-based application operating in a WAN environment. This optimization allows IT organizations to consolidate costly branch-office servers and storage in centrally managed data centers and to deploy new applications directly from the data center while offering LAN-like application performance for any employee, regardless of location. Features and Benefits By accelerating the performance of any TCP-based application over the WAN, Cisco offers the following benefits: Deliver centralized applications with LAN-like speed to any employee, regardless of location, while preserving end-to-end visibility and security. Consolidate costly branch-office server, storage, and backup infrastructure in data centers, while optimizing WAN bandwidth utilization. Maximize regulatory compliance and data protection through consolidation of branch-office storage as well as acceleration of branch-office backup applications. In comparison to other WAN optimization products, the Cisco solution offers these unique benefits: Lower total cost of ownership (TCO) Ease of operation through network transparency Reliable deployment with enterprise applications Better voice-over-ip (VoIP) quality Preserved security of accelerated traffic Lower TCO Cisco provides the lowest TCO of any solution currently on the market by simplifying the IT application delivery architecture. The Cisco network module for the Cisco Integrated Services Routers reduces operating costs by up to 70 percent compared to other solutions by minimizing the number of branch-office devices, thus reducing router support costs and simplifying management. Cisco enables consolidation of a large number of branch services. In addition to file, application, storage, and backup infrastructure, Cisco uniquely helps consolidate print and software distribution infrastructure in the data center. Cisco minimizes the number of servers required in the consolidated data center. By reducing the load on centralized file servers by up to 90 percent, Cisco helps reduce power, cooling, and space consumption in the data center. All contents are Copyright 1992 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 1 of 7
Cisco is simple and cost effective to scale for small deployments, offering 50,000 optimized sessions, with 1-Gbps optimized WAN throughput, without the need for load balancing. Cisco is reliable and cost effective to scale for midsize to large deployments, offering 6 million optimized sessions, with 32-Gbps optimized WAN throughput using the existing router/switch Web Cache Communication Protocol (WCCP) for load balancing and with no single point of failure, without the need to buy an external load balancer. Cisco provides high performance and is cost effective to scale for very large deployments, offering 16 million sessions, with 64-Gbps optimized WAN throughput using a load balancer such as a Cisco ACE Application Control Engine appliance. Ease of Operation Through Network Transparency Cisco is built with a unique network-transparent architecture (Figure 1). Network transparency and preservation of IP and TCP header information allows ease of operation and interoperability with network services such as quality of service (QoS), Cisco IOS NetFlow, access control lists (ACLs), firewalls, Cisco Optimized Edge Routing, and IP service-level agreements (SLAs). Other WAN optimization products hide accelerated traffic in opaque tunnels that break these network services, compromising the reliable operation of voice, data, and security in the network. Figure 1. Cisco Network Transparency Reliable Deployment With Enterprise Applications Cisco offers high-performance acceleration for important business applications without the use of invasive and risky reverse engineering. For example, joint interoperability testing among Cisco, Oracle, Microsoft, and SAP has validated significant acceleration benefits. The combination of joint interoperability testing, appropriate licensing agreements and escalation support among these industry leaders allows networking and application groups within IT organizations to confidently deploy WAN optimization and minimize the risk of difficult troubleshooting and collaboration. All contents are Copyright 1992 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 2 of 7
Better VoIP Quality Cisco uniquely integrates with Cisco IOS QoS architecture to help ensure reliable deployment of VoIP in the enterprise. Cisco IOS QoS deployed at the WAN edge dynamically adapts to changing WAN conditions, makes use of visibility into WAN and LAN traffic, and offers extensive QoS mechanisms for reliable voice delivery. Unlike solutions that implement limited LAN-only QoS on the WAN optimization device and require multiple sets of policies to be independently managed, Cisco in combination with Cisco IOS QoS provides a unified VoIP framework. Preserved Security of Accelerated Traffic The Cisco WAN optimization solution does not compromise enterprise security. Cisco provides the industry s first solution for securing accelerated traffic. Cisco deployed with Cisco firewalls (such as Cisco IOS Firewall, Cisco PIX Firewall Software, Cisco ASA and Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Firewall Services Module [FWSM] firewalls) provides stateful firewall inspection and network virus scanning of accelerated traffic. Other tunnel-based products invalidate firewall functions such as ACLs and stateful inspection, exposing enterprises to malicious attacks. Data-at-rest security on the Cisco devices is based on Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) disk encryption to secure data even in the event of physical compromise. Cisco offers unique role-based access control (RBAC) to limit administrative users to specific capabilities and domains of management, helping prevent even accidental compromise. Flexible, Scalable Deployment Cisco provides exceptionally flexible and scalable deployment options, as shown in Figures 2 and 3. Figure 2. Cisco Deployment for Branch-Office Employees Remote Office Module Multiple device form-factors can be deployed as appliances or as a network module integrated with the Cisco ISR branch router Remote Office Remote Office WAN Data Center Flexible deployment options can be deployed in-path using a 4-port NIC, out-of-path using WCCP or PBR or integrated with ACE in the data-center. In all modes, preserves network transparency and auto-discovery Highest Scalability offers the highest single device and clustered device scale, up to 16 Million TCP connections All contents are Copyright 1992 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 3 of 7
Figure 3. Cisco Deployment for Mobile and Branch Employees Deployment Location Cisco Mobile Client Mobile Server WAE Network Modules on ISR WAE Appliances Mobile or Home Office PCs Yes Branch office Yes Yes Data Center Yes Yes Table 1 summarizes the main features and benefits of Cisco. For detailed information on accelerating mobile users, please refer to Cisco Mobile data sheet. Table 1. Benefit Main Features and Benefits of Cisco Feature Description WAN optimization Application acceleration Transport Flow Optimization (TFO): TFO shields applications from unfavorable WAN conditions by providing slow-start mitigation using large initial windows, virtual window scaling beyond standard TCP window sizes, enhanced packet loss handling, and fairness to all connections. Data Redundancy Elimination (DRE): DRE is an advanced form of network compression that uses a bidirectional database to store previously seen TCP traffic and replace redundant patterns with very small signatures. DRE can provide up to 100:1 compression depending on the data being examined. Adaptive Persistent Session-Based Compression: This type of compression can provide up to an additional 5:1 compression. Common Internet File System (CIFS) data and metadata caching: Files accessed by branch users are temporarily stored in the remote Cisco Wide Area Application Engine (WAE) Appliance. Unchanged files are safely served from the cache without compromising data integrity. Improved version control and collaboration: The file server or network attached storage (NAS) device always has the authoritative copy of the files that are being accessed, eliminating version-control concerns. Protocol acceleration: Application-specific latency is minimized through application-layer readahead, operation prediction, message multiplexing, pipelining, and parallelization. Pass-through authentication, authorization, and locking: Cisco provides integration with Microsoft Active Directory and supports Microsoft Windows NT LAN Manager and Kerberos authentication for CIFS. Content pre-positioning: Centralized policy-based file distribution and pre-positioning can be used to push files to edge Cisco WAE devices, accelerating software patch distribution and file access for all users. All contents are Copyright 1992 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 4 of 7
Branch-server consolidation Transparent integration Simplified central management and monitoring Scalability and high availability Security Cisco WAN optimization and application acceleration: These features provide near- LAN performance for applications over the WAN, enabling IT consolidation of branch-office infrastructure in the data center, including file, Web, e-mail, database, application, backup, and print servers. In addition to local file services, Cisco provides Windows-compatible print services to help keep print traffic off the WAN. Server consolidation with Cisco offloads the data center servers by up to 90 percent. Network transparency: Cisco preserves all existing network services through network transparency. Client, server, and application transparency: No modifications to clients, servers, or applications are needed. Automatic peer discovery: Cisco devices automatically discover peers, minimizing configuration. Cisco Central Manager: This tool manages central configuration, provisioning, monitoring, fault management, logging, and reporting for up to 2500 Cisco WAE devices within a Cisco topology. Comprehensive statistics: Comprehensive logs, reports, graphs, and statistics for Cisco WAE device functions help IT administrators optimize system performance and troubleshooting. Monitoring, reporting, traps, and alerts: Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Versions 2c and 3, Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP), SMTP authentication and syslog are supported. Centralized software upgrades: Administrators can remotely schedule upgrades or version rollbacks. Application performance management: NetQoS SuperAgent and Cisco together uniquely provide accurate reports on end-to-end application performance and WAN bandwidth utilization. Easy integration with software distribution tools: Tools include SMS, LANDesk, Altiris, and BigFix. Out-of-path deployment: Cisco can be deployed using WCCPv2 for high-availability clustering and N+1 load balancing for up to 32 Cisco WAE devices within a WCCPv2 service group. Policy-based routing (PBR) is also supported as a deployment mechanism. Physical inline interception: Cisco WAE devices can be transparently deployed using a 4-port network interface card (NIC) with fail-to-wire capability in the event of failure, helping ensure that network connectivity is not lost. The inline option provides high scalability and activeactive failover through daisy-chain clustering, Cisco ACE: Cisco deployed with Cisco ACE can scale up to 16 million TCP connections and up to 64 GBps of bandwidth, supporting the largest deployments. Configuration backup and restore: In the event of hardware failure, the re-provisioning and restore process can be handled remotely using the Cisco Central Manager. Redundant WAN link support: Cisco supports environments with redundant WAN links, redundant routers, and asymmetric routing to improve high availability and optimization efficiency. Offline file access support: Cisco supports Microsoft Windows offline folders and an optional read-only disconnected mode of operation to provide data access when the WAN is disconnected. Disk encryption: All data on the Cisco WAE is secured with 256-bit AES encryption and automatic key management. Data access security: All security-related protocol commands are delegated to the file server and the domain controller. No additional domain security or user configuration is necessary. Management access security: The Cisco Central Manager offers authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) integration with external authentication providers such as Microsoft Active Directory, RADIUS, and TACACS+ and supports RBAC to help ensure security. Network security: Cisco and Cisco firewalls secure accelerated traffic with stateful firewall inspection and network virus scanning using Cisco IOS Intrusion Prevention System (IPS). No other vendor preserves security for accelerated traffic. Licensing Information Cisco offers the following licenses based on feature capabilities: Cisco Transport License: This license provides the WAN optimization features of Cisco including DRE, Lempel-Ziv (LZ) Compression, and TFO, optimizing application delivery to the branch office. Cisco Enterprise License: This license provides Transport license functions plus application-specific accelerations, CIFS services, and print services to facilitate application acceleration, WAN optimization, and IT consolidation. All contents are Copyright 1992 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 5 of 7
Cisco Central Manager License: This license enables a Cisco WAE device to be configured as a central manager for a Cisco deployment. Cisco Mobile License: This license enables Cisco to accelerate any TCP applications to any mobile employee, regardless of location. Ordering Information Tables 2 and 3 provide ordering information for Cisco. Table 2. Ordering Information for Cisco Software Options Product Description Cisco 4.0 SW image (separate license required) for WAE-512 Cisco 4.0 SW image (separate license required) for WAE-612 Cisco 4.0 SW image (separate license required) for WAE-7326 Cisco 4.0 SW image (separate license required) for WAE-7341, WAE-7371 Cisco Transport License for 1 WAE Appliance Cisco Enterprise License for 1 WAE Appliance Cisco Central Manager License (1 per mgmt appliance) Transport to Enterprise upgrade license for 1 WAE Cisco 4.0 NM SW image (separate license required) Cisco Transport License for 1 Network Module Cisco Enterprise License for 1 Network Module Cisco Enterprise License for 1 Network Module (Upgrade from Transport) Cisco Enterprise License for 1 Network Module (sold with ISR bundle) Part Number SF--4.0-SA-K9 SF--4.0-SS-K9 SF--4.0-SC-K9 SF--4.0-K9 -TRN-APL -ENT-APL -CNTRL-MGR -TRN2ENT-APL SF--4.0-NM-K9 -TRN-NM -ENT-NM -ENT-NM -ENT-NM-BUN Note: All Cisco software options must be ordered with a corresponding Cisco WAE appliance or network module platform. Table 3. Ordering Information for Cisco Mobile Software Options Product Description Cisco Mobile Server Software Cisco Mobile 25 concurrent user license Cisco Mobile 100 concurrent user license Cisco Mobile 500 concurrent user license Part Number -MBL-SRV-SW -MBL-LIC25 -MBL-LIC100 -MBL-LIC500 WCCP Support WCCP is a free software feature in Cisco IOS Software that runs on the following Cisco platforms: Cisco routers such as the Cisco 1800, 2800, and 3800 Series Integrated Services Routers, Cisco 3700 Series Multiservice Access Routers, and Cisco 7000 Series Routers; and Cisco switches such as the Cisco Catalyst 4500, 4900, and 6500 Series Switches. Service and Support Cisco offers a wide range of services programs to accelerate customer success. These innovative services programs are delivered through a unique combination of people, processes, tools, and partners, resulting in high levels of customer satisfaction. Cisco services help you protect your network investment, optimize network operations, and prepare the network for new applications to extend network intelligence and the power of your business. For more information about Cisco services, see Cisco Technical Support Services or Cisco Advanced Services. All contents are Copyright 1992 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 6 of 7
For More Information For more information about Cisco 4.0, visit: http://www.cisco.com/go/waas or contact your local account representative. Printed in USA C78-445372-00 01/08 All contents are Copyright 1992 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 7 of 7