Geek Speak

WAN Accelerators and/or Optimizers

Since I didn't see any responses on the subject of CMDB and quite frankly it's not one of my favorite subjects anyway I've decided to write about something else...

I've recently been working with some WAN acceleration and/or optimization gear from Blue Coat, Cisco, and Riverbed. In working with this gear and with these vendors I have a need to compare the pre and post optimization traffic levels on a holistic level as well as per application, protocol, user group, destination, etc. This is completely doable with our current product set but required some manual manipulation of the data.

Having an easier way to do this analysis within the product would certainly help me and would be beneficial to the hardware vendors as it makes it easy to see the value that the appliances provides. But would it help you or is this a complete edge case?

Josh

Published Jan 07 2008, 08:46 PM by Josh Stephens

Comments

 

BryanBecker said:

We've actually looked at all 3.  We have quiet a few RiverBeds deployed.  We are using custom mib to poll for cpu/memory, etc.  Any further data you can provide with these products would be great.

January 8, 2008 12:12 PM
 

Josh Stephens said:

Bryan,

Thanks for the comment. I'd have to check to verify which software our Riverbeds are running, but I'm able to natively poll CPU, memory, interface stats, and more with Orion without having to use the Custom MIB Poller. Also, I'm able to get NetFlow data directly from the device as they support NetFlow version 5.

Are you seeing NetFlow stats from your Riverbeds?

Josh

January 8, 2008 10:04 PM
 

Tredent said:

Hey Brian,

Just make sure you are in 4.x code and you should be able to get the info via standard mib and that will give you the best netflow support as well.

Justin Lofton

VP of Engineering

justinl@tredent.com

Tredent Data Systems, Inc.

http://www.tredent.com

January 9, 2008 1:29 AM
 

klomper2007 said:

This would be huge.   We finally got a bunch of WAAS cards in from Cisco and we will be rolling them out in a couple of weeks.  We're already being asked to provide a detailed before and after picture of our traffic, and anything you can do to provide easier ways of getting the data, would be huge.  Also, Cisco has been so backed up with orders for their devices they had a 2 months delay on them for a while.  We had escalated to a high level in Cisco and they said the demand was just so much higher then they thought it would be.  I would think any product that integrates with these devices types will be huge in the future.  Just my 2 cents.

January 9, 2008 11:16 AM
 

BryanBecker said:

We are running 4.1.  I was mistaken...we are monitoring the native stuff like cpu/memory.  As for NetFlow we already monitor the WAN links with NetFlow.

BB

January 11, 2008 2:53 PM

About Josh Stephens

Josh Stephens is director of technology – aka Head Geek – at SolarWinds, where he plays an integral part in the development and delivery of our award-winning network management products. Josh has extensive experience in network management systems, network engineering, and software development. His 15-plus years of experience in technology include designing and deploying advanced networks and network management systems within organizations including the US Air Force, Sprint, MCI/UUNET, and Wal-Mart. He has received several industry certifications including those from Cisco Systems, Microsoft, and HP.