Deploying Cascade and Steel Heads

Deploying Riverbed Cascade and SteelheadsA Best Practices Whitepaper DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Steelhead Releases .................................................................................................................................................................. 2 3. Steelhead Appliance Deployment Scenarios ............................................................................................................................ 2 4. Configuring Steelhead Appliances for Flow Data Export .......................................................................................................... 3 Overview ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 RiOS v5.5.1 and v5.5.3 ................................................................................................................................................................... 3 RiOS v6.0 ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 5 5. Additional Steelhead Configuration Steps ................................................................................................................................. 8 Overview ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Simplified Routing ........................................................................................................................................................................... 8 LAN Subnets ................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 ifIndex Persistence ........................................................................................................................................................................ 10 6. Configuring Cascade Profiler .................................................................................................................................................. 11 Overview ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 11 SNMP Configuration ..................................................................................................................................................................... 11 WAN Configuration ....................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Interface Groups ........................................................................................................................................................................... 14 7. WAN Optimization Reports ..................................................................................................................................................... 16 Standard Reporting Templates ..................................................................................................................................................... 16 WAN Optimization Site Reporting ................................................................................................................................................. 17 WAN Optimization Intersite Reporting .......................................................................................................................................... 18 WAN Optimization Overall Reporting ............................................................................................................................................ 19 8. Additional Profiler Capabilities ................................................................................................................................................ 21 Application Performance (w/ RTT) ................................................................................................................................................ 21 User-defined Policy for Response Time........................................................................................................................................ 22 Application Fingerprinting.............................................................................................................................................................. 23 User Identity .................................................................................................................................................................................. 23 Logical Path Association ............................................................................................................................................................... 23 Integrations and Extensible API .................................................................................................................................................... 23 9. Summary ................................................................................................................................................................................. 24 © 2010 Riverbed Technology. All rights reserved. Readers should refer to individual product documentation for more details. and host behavior • Quickly triage issues by understanding the impact to the business • Compare current behavior to typical or historical behavior. 1 . however. Riverbed Cascade™ Profiler ensures this visibility is not lost and provides real-time and historical views of the infrastructure and associated host conversations. All rights reserved. more complex applications while decreasing transaction time to make employees and customers more efficient while driving costs out of the infrastructure. expediting root cause analysis • Maintain information for audit purposes This document describes how to deploy Riverbed Steelhead appliances in conjunction with Cascade Profiler. As a result. It is written for network administrators who are familiar with the NetFlow functionality of the two products. troubleshooting and performance analysis can be more difficult. There are seemingly conflicting requirements to deploy new. Introduction Businesses large and small rely upon the network to ensure availability of critical business services. The Riverbed Steelhead appliance provides significant advantages to companies wanting to optimize their infrastructure and provide reliable and faster connectivity between sites. automatic and custom behavioral analytics. as visibility into the WAN is reduced. This document provides a high level overview of the operation of the Riverhead Steelhead and Cascade Profiler appliances and is not intended as a step-by-step guide or a replacement for the respective products’ documentation.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS 1. user. application. organizations can: • Better understand their network for planning purposes • Be alerted to meaningful changes in network. and configurable dashboards – are available to support the optimized network infrastructure. both locally and across the optimized and non-optimized WAN infrastructure. As a result. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. There is an associated cost. All the benefits that Cascade Profiler delivers – including real-time and historical reporting. the optimized connections will be reported using the Steelheads as the end-points of the flow. 2 . All rights reserved.5. This document focuses on the in-path and virtual in-path deployment models.4. You use the router to export the pass-through flow data. Feature RiOS v5.3 and RiOS 6.4 Cascade Profiler v8.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS 2. Virtual in-path In a virtual in-path deployment. Refer to the Riverbed Steelhead Deployment Guide for additional details on deployment models. the traffic on the LAN interface is non-optimized while traffic on the WAN interface is optimized. It also covers Cascade Profiler releases 8. the Steelhead appliances do not have sufficient information to determine the flow direction of pass-through traffic.1 Available with CascadeFlow or CascadeFlow-compatible Sensor-VE Requires Cascade Profiler v8.5. the following command must be run on the Steelhead appliance that is running virtually in-path: enable config term ip flow-export destination <ip address> <port> interface wan0_0 fakeindex on This enables the Steelhead appliance to determine the flow of optimized traffic on the WAN interface in a virtual in-path set up.4 Automatic identification of optimizing Steelhead pairs N/A Available with NetFlow v5. The table below provides a summary of the features available in each release.4 Cascade Profiler v8.3 and v8. There is the potential for some double counting in reports under certain circumstances. In a virtual in-path configuration. This deployment differs from a physical in-path deployment in that a packet redirection mechanism is used to direct packets to the Steelhead appliance. Steelhead Releases This document describes features that are in RiOS v5. it is necessary to enable NetFlow export on the router to capture information about the passthrough traffic. RiOS 5. © 2010 Riverbed Technology.5. however. In this mode.1. where they see all traffic. the Steelhead appliances are placed physically out of the path but virtually in the path between the clients and servers. ensuring all optimized and non-optimized traffic is exported. Therefore. In-path In this configuration.5.0 NetFlow Support v5 v5 v5 and v9 Enhanced NetFlow Support N/A v5.0. Clients and servers continue to see the real client and server IP addresses. You enable flow data export and use the primary/auxiliary interface to export the data to the Cascade Profiler. Select All to export all traffic received by the Steelhead appliance to Cascade Profiler. including in-path. Note. In this configuration. and out-of-path configurations. you enable NetFlow on the WAN interface and export flow data for only the optimized traffic from the Steelhead. the Steelhead appliances are placed in the physical path of the client and server.4 Requires Cascade Profiler v8.4 Requires Cascade Profiler v8.1 CascadeFlow (v9 based) and CascadeFlow-compatible (v5 based) WAN optimization reporting Cascade Profiler v8. Enabling NetFlow on the router will allow for reporting traffic on the actual WAN link. not the original client/server. Additionally. Steelhead Appliance Deployment Scenarios There are multiple deployment models to consider when architecting a monitoring solution for the Riverbed environment.3 and v8. There are also variants of these deployment models.1 RiOS v5.3 and v8. virtual in-path. Redirection mechanisms include PBR (Policy Based Routing) and WCCP (Web Cache Communication Protocol). as it is not an endpoint in optimization. that the router’s WAN interface must not be included in the WAN Optimized group.3 RiOS 6.3 and 8. If the Steelhead is using correct addressing.4 3. it is not generally possible to report on the actual WAN-link utilization based on the Steelhead reports. Configuring Steelhead Appliances for Flow Data Export Overview This paper specifically addresses the configuration of flow data export in Riverbed RiOS releases after v5. Similar to the virtual in-path deployment. create a report using a host subnet (or host address) with the Steelhead client IP address.3 To enable NetFlow on the Riverbed Steelhead appliance running RiOS v5. Click Networking to expand the Networking menu. In an out-of-path deployment. This data is then sent to a flow data collector such as the Cascade Express or Cascade Gateway. LAN or WAN). The following sections describe flow data export for RiOS versions v5.) A flow list on such traffic would show flows with both the ingress and egress interfaces of the Steelhead as the WAN. In this configuration.1. you configure the router to export the pass-through flow data.5. which can be changed as described later in this document. This typically is selective of only flows that have a good chance for optimization.5. Configuration of the LAN subnets is not necessary. It is still possible to create valuable reports with this configuration. because the out-of-path Steelhead sees only optimized traffic and is never passing through any traffic. it is an indication that either fakeindex was not enabled or LAN subnets were not properly configured. such as wan0_0.5. 3. As a result. 1. In this configuration. fakeindex must be enabled in order to properly report on the direction of the optimized traffic through the Steelhead appliance. To get information on only the non-optimized traffic.5. Exported flow records contain network statistics providing information about network hosts. and traffic logical path.5. as the Steelhead appliance will see only optimized data in this configuration. (See additional detail below.5. The Steelhead updates each flow record with information pertaining to each packet traversing the specified network interface. such as CIFS.. It sees only traffic that the router is configured to redirect to the Steelhead. peak usage times.3 and RiOS version 6. 3 . protocols and ports.1/v5.1 or RiOS v5.g. Navigate to the NetFlow configuration page. 2. you enable NetFlow on the primary/auxiliary interface and export flow data for only the optimized traffic from the Steelhead appliance. navigate to the Configure → Networking → NetFlow page and set the configuration as follows. The Cascade flow collection default port is 2003. the Steelhead does not see all traffic passing from the LAN to the WAN. The out-of-path solution uses NAT (Network Address Translation) thus there is no direct correlation between the client/server conversation and the traffic over the WAN. the operator will be unable to view the benefit of optimization.3. All rights reserved.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS If reports are showing abnormally large bandwidth on the Steelhead WAN interface. Click the Configure tab to display the Configuration menu. RiOS v5. However. An out-of-path configuration is suitable for data center locations where physical in-path or virtual in-path configurations are not possible.0. Out-of-path An out-of-path deployment is a network configuration in which the Steelhead appliance is not in the direct physical path between the client and the server. 4. Click NetFlow to display the NetFlow page. Choose the section that is relevant for the RiOS version installed on your Steelhead devices.1 and v5. Similar to the virtual in-path deployment. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. Steelhead appliances are unable to determine the flow of the optimized data in this configuration and are therefore unable to split traffic based on the source (e. the Steelhead appliance acts as a proxy.5. but they are not saved until you click Save on the main menu bar. 3. Select Enable NetFlow Export. 5.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS Enable NetFlow 1. 4. The changes take effect when you click Apply. Configure the Active Flow Timeout for 60 seconds. Configure Inactive Flow Timeout for 15 seconds. Click Apply. 4 . All rights reserved. 2. Select Disable Top Talkers. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. Navigate to the Flow Export configuration page. Notes: • • In the NetFlow Collectors section of the Configure → Networking → NetFlow page. Ensure the LAN Address box is selected as this ensures the proper client and server IP addresses are exported via NetFlow and not the addresses of the Steelhead appliance. All rights reserved. Click Flow Export to display the Networking → Flow Export page.1 or later if available. Click Networking to expand the Networking menu. For the desired interfaces. 1. navigate to the Configure → Networking → Flow Export page and set the configuration as follows. Click the Configure tab to display the Configuration menu. The Apply button and Add button make your changes temporarily. 5 . Enter the IP address and listening UDP port number of the Cascade Express or Gateway.0. then there will be an option for exporting NetFlow 5. 5. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. 2. select All to export both optimized and non-optimized flow information. 2.5. If the Steelhead is running RiOS version 5.0 To enable flow data export on the Riverbed Steelhead appliance running RiOS v6. 6. Choose Add to add the Cascade Profiler or Gateway to the collector list. click the Add a New NetFlow Collector tab. 4. Select version 5.3 or later. Select the version of NetFlow to be exported. RiOS v6.1. This option allows the Profiler to recognize Steelhead devices and automatically add them to the Steelhead WAN interface group. 3. You must click Save on the main menu bar for the changes to be saved when the appliance is rebooted. 3. The changes take effect when you click Add. but they are not saved until you click Save on the main menu bar.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS Configure the NetFlow Collector and Exporting Interfaces 1. As shown below. 6 . 4. Configure Inactive Flow Timeout for 15 seconds. select Enable Flow Export. The changes take effect when you click Apply. 3. All rights reserved. but they are not saved until you click Save on the main menu bar.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS Enable Flow Data Export 1. Select Disable Top Talkers. 5. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. Click Apply. 2. Configure the Active Flow Timeout for 60 seconds. The changes take effect when you click Add. Selecting CascadeFlow or CascadeFlow-compatible as opposed to NetFlow v5 or v9 allows the Profiler to recognize Steelhead devices and automatically add them to the Steelhead WAN interface group. Notes: • • In the Flow Collectors section of the Configure → Networking → Flow Export page. For the desired interfaces. Select the version of flow data to be exported. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. Enter the IP address and listening UDP port number of the Cascade Express or Gateway. 4. The Apply button and Add button make your changes temporarily. click the Add a New Flow Collector tab.2. 5. 3. For Cascade Profiler 8. CascadeFlow is the preferred flow data type for Cascade Profiler 8. 7 . You must click Save on the main menu bar for the changes to be saved when the appliance is rebooted. but they are not saved until you click Save on the main menu bar.4. Choose Add to add the Cascade Express or Gateway to the collector list. select All to export both optimized and non-optimized flow information.3. All rights reserved.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS Configure the Flow Collector and Exporting Interfaces 1. select CascadeFlow-compatible and be sure to check the LAN Address check box. 2. so make sure that these are suitable for the Steelhead deployment in question. • HSRP cannot be used with Simplified Routing. The recommendations are deployment-specific and there are caveats associated with each. Simplified Routing is configured on the Configure → Networking → Simplified Routing page as follows. It has the following constraints in other configurations: • WCCP cannot be enabled. Refer to the Steelhead reference manual and/or your Riverbed SE to determine if one of the other simplified routing options is more appropriate. Simplified Routing Simplified Routing avoids situations where traffic could be directed through the Steelhead appliance more than once. Navigate to the Simplified Routing configuration page. packets. Simplified Routing works well in In-path configurations. Configure Mapping Data Collection On the Simplified Routing page. Click the Configure tab to display the Configuration menu. the same traffic is reported by the Steelhead multiple times. This can happen when the Steelhead appliance is installed in a different subnet from the client or server and the appropriate static routes have not been configured to avoid traffic passing through the Steelhead multiple times on the way to and from the default gateway. Click Networking to expand the Networking menu. 1. All collects MAC data for the destination. • Select Destination and Source if this is a connection-forwarding deployment. 3. • The default route must exist on each Steelhead appliance in your network. Click Simplified Routing to display the Simplified Routing page. • Select All to maximize the effect of simplified routing. This is the default option and is suitable for most deployments.” When this happens. yet the goal is to maximize the effect of simplified routing. 8 . However. Additional Steelhead Configuration Steps Overview The following configuration steps on the Steelhead are recommended to improve the accuracy of the exported flow data. causing what is commonly known as “ricochet. All rights reserved. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. 2. select the desired setting from the Collect Mappings From dropdown menu: • Select Destination Only if this is a connection-forwarding deployment. in complex deployment scenarios one of the other options may be more suitable. and other traffic statistics in various Profiler reports.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS 5. which causes an unexpected increase in bandwidth. This option cannot be used in connection forwarding deployments. source and inner connection. 7. 5. This configuration is necessary only in Virtual In-path configurations. All rights reserved. 6.5. click Add a Subnet Side Rule. click Apply. Specify a subnet using valid CIDR notation. Otherwise. Click Add to save the rule. so be sure to properly order the rules.1 or RiOS v5.0. End or rule number from the drop down list. The rules are evaluated in order. 1. 4. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. On the Flow Export page. On the Subnet Side Rules page.3 To configure LAN Subnets on a Riverbed Steelhead appliance running RiOS v5. Select Start. navigate to the Configure → Networking → Flow Export page as described above. RiOS v5. indicate whether this subnet is a LAN or WAN side subnet.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS LAN Subnets In Virtual In-path configurations. 3. and evaluation stops when a rule matches.1 and v5.5. Using the radio buttons. On the NetFlow page. 9 . so take care to include all relevant LAN subnets. the Steelhead will be unable to discern whether the traffic is passing from the WAN to the LAN or in the opposite direction. as the subnets for each will likely be unique.5.0 To configure subnets on a Riverbed Steelhead appliance running RiOS v6. 2. 1. RiOS v6. configuring LAN subnets allows the Steelhead to properly determine the direction of nonoptimized traffic that is passing through the Steelhead. click the Subnet Side Rules tab at the top of the page. This configuration step must be performed on each Steelhead in a virtual in-path configuration. navigate to the Configure → Networking → NetFlow page as described above. Continue to add rules until you have completely mapped all subnets. enter all of the LAN subnets that are appropriate for the particular Steelhead device. This can result in over-reporting traffic in a particular direction or for a particular interface. Any subnet not specified is assumed to be a WAN subnet.3. 2.5. When done. No trap sinks configured. ifIndex persistence should be configured on each Steelhead that is exporting flow data to the Profiler.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS ifIndex Persistence In order to guarantee that the ifIndex values for various interfaces remain stable across Steelhead reboots and reconfiguration. causing the Profiler to incorrectly map the Steelhead interfaces. so that netflow can use the configured ifindex cam‐sh12 (config) # exit cam‐sh12 # write mem cam‐sh12 # show snmp SNMP enabled: yes System location: System contact: Engine ID: 0x8000430b805dc6257f4b328d15 Read‐only community: riverbed Traps enabled: yes Interface listen enabled: no Trap interface: primary Persistent ifindex: yes No Listen Interfaces. 10 . Enabling ifIndex Persistence Enabling ifIndex persistence must be done via the Steelhead CLI. there is the possibility that ifIndex values will change. All rights reserved. If this is not done. the Steelhead is cam-sh12. Refer to the sample command line output below for an example of making and verifying the changes: ssh admin@<your SH> [In this example.] cam‐sh12 > en cam‐sh12 # config t cam‐sh12 (config) # snmp ifindex‐persist You must restart the optimization service. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. SNMP interface polling can be configured globally and/or for a specific device. 1. and application performance using round trip time measurements is available for both real-time and historical reporting. Enter the default SNMP Community string for SNMP read access. Select the Global SNMP Settings… link. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. 5. 3. Unless a community string is explicitly configured for a device. the default is used. A dialog box is displayed.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS 6. 2. SNMP Configuration Configuring the Profiler for the WAN optimized environment requires setting up the SNMP configuration and editing the WAN definitions and interface groups. Both configurations are shown below. Navigate to the System Information → Devices/Interfaces page. Configure SNMP with the Steelhead appliances The Profiler retrieves interface information directly from the Steelhead appliances. All rights reserved. 11 . Information such as the effect of optimization. application name. the Gateway actually conducts the SNMP polling of the interfaces locally and forwards the interface information to the Profiler using an encrypted and reliable mechanism. Select the check box to Enable polling Select Use defaults for all devices to enable a default community string to use when polling devices for interface information. Configuring Cascade Profiler Overview The Profiler is able to provide robust reporting of the optimized and non-optimized infrastructure. as follows. ensuring common terminology is used between the Steelhead appliance and the Profiler. Even though SNMP is configured on the Profiler. These capabilities are shown in the screenshots that follow and are explained in more detail in Section 8. 4. A dialog box appears. Configure the WAN interface Speed of the Steelhead interface exporting flow data The Profiler uses SNMP to collect information about the flow data exporter (i. 2. 2. it is recommended that you change the speed of the WAN interface on the Steelhead to match that of the outbound WAN link (for example. All rights reserved. 3. among other details.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS Configuring SNMP for individual devices To configure an individual device to use a SNMP read community string different from the default. T3 or DS3 link.g. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. All the devices and interfaces exporting flow data are identified on this page. This means that the Profiler would typically report the outbound interface to be a 100 Mbps or a 1 Gbps link instead of a T1. Frame Relay sub interfaces). Enter the SNMP Community string for the Steelhead appliance.e. Click the Edit link to the right of the device. the speed of the interface exporting the flow data. Select the Use custom settings option. Note: These steps are required only if the Steelhead appliance uses a different SNMP read community string than the default setting for the organization. Note that the WAN device will not appear in this list if it is not configured for flow data export.. To enable the use of link utilization in Profiler reporting and custom analytics. 3. SNMP provides. 1. T1): 1.. Navigate to the System Information → Devices/Interfaces page. 12 . Select the Interfaces (List) tab. the Steelhead appliance). Thus the interface speed information received by the Profiler refers to the connectivity between the Steelhead appliance and the router. Log in to the Profiler web interface. and not to the outbound WAN link (e. 13 . For example. manual configuration is required as follows: 1. enter “1544000.5. the Steelhead provides information to the Profiler that enables the WAN page to be automatically populated with the appropriate interface details. When using NetFlow 5. if the outbound link is a T1.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS 4. When using NetFlow v5 or V9 from a Steelhead or when adding interfaces for a WAN site that is non-optimized. For each Steelhead WAN interface. Navigate to the Definitions → WAN page.1 on RiOS v5. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. the WAN interfaces of the WAN optimization devices must be properly identified by the Profiler. All rights reserved. The Profiler has a specific page under the Definitions menu called WAN dedicated to keeping track of both optimized and non-optimized WAN interfaces. WAN Configuration For correct WAN optimization reporting.” 5. enter the speed of the actual outbound WAN in the Outbound Speed Override column.0 with either CascadeFlow or CascadeFlow-compatible.3 or RiOS v6. Make the necessary changes and then click the Apply button on the bottom right side of the page. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. All rights reserved. Note that any name entered must be in a format that can be recognized by Profiler. For example. Multiple interfaces can be selected at one time. there should already be interfaces listed and it will not be necessary to add these manually. 4. making policy definitions easier to instantiate and maintain. thus another use is to group devices or interfaces with common business policies. CascadeFlow-compatible) or CascadeFlow. In other words. For Steelheads that are configured to use either NetFlow v5. • Browse – There is a link for Browse under the Add new Interfaces entry box. By default. Click OK to add the interfaces to the WAN Interfaces list. Select an interface by clicking the checkbox next to the desired interface name. 14 . it must have been seen in flow data that was reported to the Profiler and must follow Profiler conventions for interface naming.1 (a. Choose Add as Steelhead Interfaces if the interfaces in the list are all optimized interfaces. For other interfaces. Click OK to add the selected names to the Add new Interfaces list. • Find Steelheads – There is a link labeled Find Steelheads that automatically searches the list of interfaces for any interface that follows standard Steelhead naming conventions. Devices and interfaces can also be used for user-defined policies. there are several methods for manually extending the list: • Manually – Type the interface names separated by commas. Incorrectly designating a non-optimized interface as optimized or vice versa will cause issues with properly reporting bandwidth reduction on the Profiler. On the WAN Interfaces table. the Browse dialog displays all of the interfaces that are known to the Profiler. This section has an edit entry area (Add new Interfaces) for specifying multiple WAN interfaces. Add the WAN interfaces from the Riverbed Steelhead devices that you would like to monitor. 3. Do not choose this option if the interfaces in the list are non-optimized interfaces or if the selection contains a mix of optimized and non-optimized interfaces. This displays a new section above the WAN Interfaces table named Add WAN Interfaces.k.a. This feature is provided as a convenience and provides one click access to all interfaces with appropriate names. select Add from the WAN Options drop down menu. users can choose to group devices or interfaces to map them to a business function or organize them based on a country or on a continent for easy reporting. Interface Groups Interface grouping is a powerful capability unique to Cascade that allows the operator to organize network interfaces for selection and reporting purposes.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS 2. There is a search capability at the top of the dialog for narrowing the content being displayed. 5. 3. 1. 5. • WAN-Steelhead – Contains a list of all the optimized interfaces. Enter the names of the interfaces in the group. either manually or by using Browse. it is best to select logical groupings of the devices and interfaces that will typically be included in a report or policy. This interface list always contains all the interfaces contained in the WAN-Steelhead group plus the WAN-Non-optimized group. Navigate to the Definitions → Interface Groups page. Refer to the online help system for additional information. 4. 2. To define a new group of devices or interfaces. Click OK. Enter the name of the new group. three interface groups are automatically created based on how the user fills out the WAN page described above. 15 . These default groups are automatically maintained by the Profiler and can be modified only by changing the interfaces listed on the WAN page.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS By default. Because both reporting and userdefined policies make use of interface grouping. The default groups are: • WAN-All – Contains all the interfaces added to the WAN page regardless of whether they are optimized. All rights reserved. • WAN-Non-optimized – Contains a list of all the WAN interfaces that were not designated as optimized. Click Add. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. The page expands to display an area in which you can list the interfaces that comprise this group. To run a report based on one of the standard. you can define a wide variety of site.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS 7. enter the requested information. New templates specific to the organization can be generated and saved. Click Run now to run the report. Navigate to the Reports → Shortcuts page. click the link for one of the WAN Optimization templates. either manually or by using the Browse tool. The resulting report can be emailed. 1. predefined templates. 2. In addition. The Profiler correlates LAN and WAN measurements from multiple devices automatically and computes the benefit of WAN optimization so that the operator does not have to. and scheduled for recurring runs. The figure that follows illustrates the points at which the Profiler makes traffic measurements. The standard WAN optimization reporting templates include: • • • • • • Overall WAN Analysis Optimization Benefit Analysis Optimization Candidate Analysis Site Capacity Analysis WAN Site Optimization WAN Intersite Optimization Additionally. forcing the operator to define WAN and LAN interfaces. In the Report Criteria window. The Profiler has a combination of standard templates and custom reporting options available to demonstrate the benefit of WAN optimization. the Profiler can identify candidates for future WAN Optimization deployments. intersite. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. On the Built-in tab of the Shortcuts page. 3. printed. 16 . 4. Standard Reporting Templates The Profiler provides standard reporting templates. WAN Optimization Reports Riverbed has taken great care to make the configuration of both the Steelhead appliances and the Cascade Profiler as quick and simple as possible. Many solutions make WAN Optimization and WAN reporting in general very difficult. and overall WAN reports on the Profiler reporting pages. enabling businesses to benefit from the improved performance and reporting afforded by a combined solution. All rights reserved. DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS WAN Optimization Site Reporting The Profiler makes it easy to understand the positive impact of WAN Optimization on the business. host. All rights reserved. 17 . WAN Optimization solves more than bandwidth issues. port. To run a report on WAN optimization achieved by a WAN site. ensuring access to business applications is optimized and allowing the business to run more effectively. including by application. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. and other views. 1. The Profiler WAN optimization site reporting features allow the operator to quickly determine the performance of a site through numerous different views. Navigate to the Reports → WAN Optimization page and choose the Site tab. It also solves application performance issues. you will notice we changed this query to 2 hours. In this example. 3. You can also view historical information by selecting a specific time range. WAN Optimization Intersite Reporting The Profiler WAN optimization intersite reporting features allow the operator to configure a report on traffic between two sites. This report is helpful for the data center fan-in model. Click Run now to run the report. Navigate to the Reports → WAN Optimization page and choose the Intersite tab. Specify the Primary Site. 4. Traffic will be reported as inbound or outbound relative to this site. 18 . 3. where numerous remote sites are terminating on a single Steelhead appliance in the data center as shown in the figure that follows. The default report time period is one hour. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. In the Report by field. 2.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS 2. Alternatively. the amount by which the site optimizes traffic is to be reported by ports and applications. Specify the Secondary Site and the Report by attributes. To run a report on WAN optimization between two WAN sites. select attributes to be reported. Enter the name of the WAN group that you have defined for the site of interest. use the Browse tool to select the interfaces of the site in which you are interested. 1. However. Click Run now to run the report. All rights reserved. 4. 19 . The example that follows uses the default WAN group. All rights reserved. and the average reduction in bandwidth for the specified time frame. The interface grouping. is very beneficial with overall reporting. which was described previously.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS WAN Optimization Overall Reporting The Profiler WAN optimization overall reporting features allows the operator to view all of their WAN links and determine how they are performing. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. This report identifies the site and utilization percent of both the WAN and LAN. © 2010 Riverbed Technology.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS Selecting the down-arrow on the table displays a menu of options. Choose Add/Remove Columns to open the column chooser tool. All rights reserved. 20 . Additional Profiler Capabilities Application Performance (w/ RTT) The Profiler provides application performance metrics. and average response time for applications traversing an optimized link to a remote site. a comparison can be made using the current and historical views. 21 . This increase in application performance has a direct benefit to the business in improved employee productivity. allowing the operator to determine how an application is performing. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. Additionally. network response time. 8. enabling the operator to quickly identify discrepancies. The Riverbed WAN optimization technology not only reduces WAN bandwidth. and overall round trip time.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS The Chooser allows you to design a table that includes columns for just those attributes that you want to report. All rights reserved. The reporting metrics are broken down to average server delay. average network round trip time. The following report identifies the server delay. but it also improves the user experience by optimizing the response time of the application. The powerful user-defined policy capabilities are a unique capability of the Cascade Profiler and have been extended to include alerting on meaningful changes in response time for an application. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. remote site. All rights reserved. The figure below identifies a policy that will proactively alert the Network Planning group should the response time of the Financial Server increase to over 50 ms for more than a 5 minute period. 22 .DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS User-defined Policy for Response Time User-defined policies in the Cascade Profiler provide the organization with proactive solutions to identify problem before they impact the business. host or group of hosts. The application fingerprinting capability is enabled by the Cascade Sensor.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS Application Fingerprinting New applications using non-standard ephemeral ports and tunneling over known ports make it difficult for network operators to accurately identify which applications are running. This makes it possible to determine whether the primary or redundant path was traversed by a particular flow. This allows operators to quickly understand the application traversing a given flow. inspecting traffic via SPAN or mirror ports. for example. These integrations help you quickly identify and triage new events regardless of how they are generated (Profiler or other tools). This enables the operator to quickly identify a user who is consuming the network bandwidth or disrupting other users. All rights reserved. © 2010 Riverbed Technology. Other management tools identify applications using a protocol and port association. they reduce training requirements as the information provided by the Profiler is available from within tools already familiar to the network operators. thus requiring fewer appliances to provide coverage across the enterprise. Logical Path Association Using SNMP integration. Skype using tcp/80 or users going to Gmail. The user identity feature is available for real-time and historical reporting as well as through the custom analytics engine. The extensible API also provides the ability for custom integrations with homegrown tools. the Cascade Sensor tags a given flow with the application detail. which resides passively on the network. The Profiler application fingerprinting feature identifies the applications by inspecting the packet payload and comparing the payload to an extensive list of known applications. User Identity The Profiler integrates with identity management solutions. Unlike traditional packet inspection devices. Integrations and Extensible API The Profiler provides out-of-the-box integrations with more than 40 popular enterprise technologies to increase the value of your existing infrastructure investments. the Profiler records the logical path that a flow takes across the network. Additionally. 23 . Riverbed Technology Ltd. 1. 199 Fremont Street San Francisco. Inc. 391A Orchard Road #22-06/10 Ngee Ann City Tower A Singapore 238873 Tel: +65 6508-7400 Riverbed Technology K. Our testing has proven that the Riverbed Steelhead and Cascade products work together to not only maintain current levels of visibility but also to provide customers with additional valuable insight into their optimized network. Bracknell.riverbed. Shiba.K. Minato-ku Tokyo. Berkshire RG12 2XB United Kingdom Tel: +44 1344 354910 Riverbed Technology Pte. Riverbed Technology. Summary The emergence of WAN optimization devices – such as Riverbed Steelhead appliances – has brought new challenges and contradicts some fundamental assumptions made in NetFlow. Shiba-Koen Plaza Building 9F 3-6-9. All rights reserved. The Courtyard.com © 2010 Riverbed Technology. Ltd. CA 94105 Tel: (415) 247-8800 www.DEPLOYING RIVERBED CASCADE AND STEELHEADS 9. Eastern Rd. Japan 105-0014 Tel: +81 3 5419 1990 24 .