Juniper Networks WXC Application Acceleration Platforms
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OverviewA Multi-function Platform for the New Data CenterThe Juniper Networks WXC application acceleration platforms provide distributed enterprises with a scalable approach to accelerating application delivery over the WAN. Based on the integrated WX Framework, which delivers all the elements needed to accelerate applications and optimize WAN performance, the WXC platforms help businesses improve application response times, maximize WAN investments, and control and prioritize key applications. The WXC platforms include the WXC 250, the WXC 500, and the WXC Stack. The WXC platforms scale from 128 Kbps to 155 Mbps, with hard-drive capacity from 40 GB to 3 TB. The hard drives provide support for Network Sequence Caching, which dramatically speeds the transfer of large files by eliminating repetitive data sequences. The hard-drive storage supplies the capacity needed to store long data sequences for long periods of time, enabling up to 100-fold increases in WAN capacity. The WXC platforms constantly communicate, exchanging vital information such as topology, accessibility, and path-performance metrics. The WXC platforms also interoperate with the Juniper Networks WX application acceleration platforms. In addition, the WXC Stack pairs WXC 500 platforms with a WX 100 platform to extend support for Sequence Caching to 155 Mbps bandwidth levels. WXC platforms can be installed and configured in just 10 minutes using a web-based wizard. Configuration can also be fully automated using the WXOS and WX Central Management System (CMS) software. IT simply defines centralized configuration templates; when remote WXC platforms boot up, they retrieve a network address, locate the WX CMS server through the domain name service (DNS), download their configuration file, and begin operation. SpecificationsThe WXC platforms accelerate applications between corporate locations, enabling faster response times, reducing WAN bandwidth consumed, and prioritizing mission-critical traffic. These WXC platforms scale to meet a range of WAN bandwidth levels, interoperate with the WX platforms, and provide a comprehensive feature set to optimize WAN performance.
DeploymentThe WXC application acceleration platforms operate transparently, independent of other network equipment, and IT can place a WXC device either in the flow of traffic between a LAN switch and WAN router or attach it to just a mirrored port on a switch or router.
WXC platforms provide a number of redundancy features. The WXC platforms support fail-safe operation; in the event of a hardware or software failure, including total loss of power, the platforms automatically convert to bypass mode in which all traffic simply passes through the WXC platform untouched. WXC platforms also support a multitude of redundant deployment modes. WXC platforms work effectively alongside VPN servers or firewalls. The WXC platforms sit on the LAN side of the security device and optimize traffic before it is encrypted. FrameworkIT continually finds itself trapped between the conflicting requirements of keeping costs in check while providing users with new and faster applications. This conflict is most acute on the WAN, where costs are already high and getting applications to perform well is hampered by limited bandwidth and high latency. To solve this dilemma, IT needs a cost-effective approach for optimizing WAN performance. That optimization must cut across several dimensions, solving issues related to bandwidth congestion and the redundant transmission of large files, high latency and loss, application contention for access to the WAN, inflexible transport options, and an overall lack of insight about what's happening over the WAN. Solving these myriad issues requires an extensive feature set, which Juniper Networks delivers in its WX Framework for application acceleration:
Juniper Networks delivers industry-leading capabilities in each of these discrete technology areas, but the real value of the WX Framework derives from the integration of these technologies and the symmetrical deployment of the WX and WXC application acceleration platforms. Because these core technologies are integrated within the WX Framework, they impact, modify, and improve each other's capabilities and performance. Symmetric, or dual-ended, deployment of WX and WXC platforms increases the system capabilities because the devices continuously share information with each other and have knowledge of the WAN link from both ends. This distributed stateful intelligence enables the WX and WXC platforms to tune their settings for increased benefits and improves IT's understanding of the dynamic WAN environment. How MSR and Sequence Caching Impact QoSElements of the WX Framework impact and improve the behavior of other elements. The WX and WXC platforms' compression and sequence caching techniques, Molecular Sequence Reduction (MSR) and Network Sequence Caching, have a powerful impact on how QoS policies are invoked on a WX or WXC platform. For QoS policies to operate accurately, they must know at all times the effective size of the WAN pipe. Since the instantaneous bandwidth of a link varies based on the effect that MSR compression and Sequence Caching have on the data being processed at that time, the additional WAN capacity they generate can change from packet to packet. As a result, the effective capacity of a WX-optimized WAN link continuously changes, which in turn requires QoS policies to dynamically react to these changes. The WX QoS engine is tightly integrated into MSR compression and Sequence Caching, allowing its QoS policies to immediately detect changes in the effective WAN size and to adjust allocation and prioritization schemes appropriately. For instance, if QoS learns that a given packet has been compressed 90%, and the QoS policy allows that application to consume up to 10% of the WAN link, it can allow many more of that application's packets to immediately traverse the WAN. The immediacy and the granularity of this feedback into the QoS engine is the real strength of this integration. Standalone approaches to QoS cannot respond quickly enough to the dynamic changes in WAN throughput and so will either unnecessarily restrict an application's access to the newly created WAN bandwidth or not apply enough constraints, causing congestion and packet loss on the WAN.
Summary:
Benefit: Distributed Stateful IntelligenceThe distributed stateful intelligence of the WX Framework improves the operation of the WX and WXC platforms and provides IT staff with a deep, continuous, and accurate understanding of the WAN. The distributed stateful intelligence communicates:
This information enables the WX and WXC platforms to tune their settings to better optimize WAN throughput and increase application performance. For instance, information about the speed, latency, and loss across a link enables the WX QoS policies to more accurately manage traffic flows. The tool tunes itself based on global knowledge of all key WAN parameters instead of just the local bottleneck on one side of the WAN. Similarly, since the WX and WXC platforms on both ends of the WAN link have per-packet knowledge of all TCP parameters, the application acceleration features can accurately detect exactly when a flow is latency limited and immediately adjust protocol windows or acknowledgements to overcome this limit. Since TCP, for example, is an end-to-end protocol, all WX and WXC platforms across the WAN must share knowledge of it and synchronize their optimizations to guarantee end-to-end transparency and protocol reliability. This distributed TCP state across the WX and WXC platforms, achieved through the WX Framework, provides the devices with a unique and unified view into the TCP protocol on a per-flow basis, and it allows them to eliminate latency-induced inefficiencies that a single-ended, standalone solution would not be able to detect. TechnologiesMolecular Sequence Reduction (Compression)Molecular Sequence Reduction (MSR) is the flagship compression algorithm of the WX and WXC platforms. The patented technology, which has enabled enterprises to realize as great as a 10-fold increase in WAN capacity, has its roots in DNA pattern matching. MSR compression recognizes repeated data patterns and replaces them with labels, dramatically reducing WAN transmissions. MSR technology operates in memory, and its dictionary can store hundreds of megabytes of patterns.
The MSR reduction capabilities benefit a broad cross-section of application types. It effectively reduces both short, chatty applications such as Citrix and HTTP as well as larger data patterns, such as Word files. Because MSR is dictionary based, it is able to eliminate patterns even when they are separated by large amounts of other data. MSR compression provides immediate congestion relief to WAN links, enabling IT to improve application performance and avoid the costly process of procuring additional WAN capacity. Network Sequence CachingNetwork Sequence Caching is the patent-pending sequence caching technique in the WXC platforms. The Sequence Caching feature, like MSR compression, identifies patterns at the IP layer and replaces them with a label for transmission across the WAN. But unlike MSR, which operates entirely in memory, Sequence Caching uses hard drives to retain and recognize these patterns. Sequence Caching focuses on larger patterns than MSR and is able to detect these patterns even when they are separated by hundreds of gigabytes of other data and have occurred days or weeks earlier.
Because Sequence Caching technology accumulates a vast knowledge base, it remembers that it has "seen" a particular traffic sequence earlier and prevents transmission of these repeated patterns across the WAN. These patterns could be anywhere from a few bytes in size up to the entire object, consisting of a series of packets across the WAN. In this manner, any repeated sequence of data, whether it is a small region within a file or the entire file itself, is eliminated from the WAN traffic and delivered to the end user as if it were locally generated on the user's LAN. Since Sequence Caching operates at the IP layer on the actual sequence of bytes transmitted across the WAN, it never needs to maintain object boundaries or manage content at the application layer. As a result, all content is, by definition, guaranteed to be consistent and fresh since all content bytes are actually generated by the server and then optimized across the WAN by Sequence Caching. Sequence Caching therefore does not require any form of content management and instead automatically detects and mirrors all repeated content at the byte level close to the end user. Unlike file or web caching, the Sequence Caching technique is also highly effective on dynamic content. Since the patterns that Sequence Caching detects and optimizes are byte sequences of variable length, they have no dependency on the objects, file sizes, names, URLs, tags, or other constructs. Hence, if an object or file is changed numerous times and accessed again across the WAN, only the changed regions are transmitted across the WAN - the unchanged regions are delivered to the user from the local WXC device. Packet Flow Acceleration (TCP Acceleration)The WX Packet Flow Acceleration (PFA) technologies accelerate TCP's performance over the WAN.
PFA includes:
Application Flow Acceleration (Application-Specific Acceleration)Application Flow Acceleration (AppFlow) technology transparently speeds the performance of key applications that are especially impacted by WAN latency. The AppFlow technology accelerates three specific protocols: the Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) used by Microsoft Exchange; the Common Internet File System (CIFS) at the basis of Microsoft file services; and HTTP for web applications. In the case of Exchange and file services, their underlying protocols send data in small blocks and require an acknowledgement for each, resulting in hundreds or even thousands of round trip times (RTTs) to complete a single transaction. As a result, performance drops dramatically when used across a WAN link with even modest latency-20 ms or 30 ms-resulting in user frustration and lower productivity. For web applications, HTTP requests objects one at a time, so dozens of RTTs are needed to load a single web page, again impacting user productivity. The AppFlow technology accelerates these applications by pipelining the data blocks and web objects, sending as many in quick succession as needed to fill the available WAN capacity. As a result, the AppFlow technology delivers a three- to 100-fold improvement in application performance.
AppFlow includes:
Quality of Service (Bandwidth Management)Bandwidth management includes both Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities and bandwidth allocation to allow IT to prioritize business-critical and latency-sensitive applications. The WX and WXC platforms defy the cliché that effective QoS must be difficult to implement-the intuitive wizard/template-based approach enables IT to easily ensure that business policies are met through QoS techniques.
IT can assign priority status and bandwidth-allocation metrics to applications. The WX and WXC platforms allow IT to classify traffic by looking not just at IP header or ToS/DiffServ information but also inside the data payload to act on Layer 7 application information. For example, at Layer 3, all Citrix applications look the same, so IT needs Layer 7 information to discern SAP traffic from a print job. Further, Juniper Networks recognizes that its WX and WXC platforms are not the only QoS-aware devices in the network. The WX QoS techniques preserve and allow visibility into the QoS markings that other devices apply. For example, WX and WXC platforms devices can preserve an enterprise-based QoS marking, map that QoS policy to an MPLS-based service level for transmission through a service provider's network, and then restore the enterprise-based marking in the remote location. Because the WX and WXC platforms know both the local WAN link speed as well as all the remote WX and WXC link speeds, IT can perform resource allocation accurately, maximizing a link resource without overrunning either WX or WXC platforms. The WX and WXC system software also supports a variety of queuing options for prioritizing access to the WAN link. Policy-Based Multipath (Path Optimization)The Policy-Based Multipath capability enables companies to take advantage of emerging WAN services based on Internet transport with the assurance that key performance metrics will still be met. IT managers have traditionally relied on proven and predictable leased line or frame relay services to interconnect locations. That sense of security, however, has a price-limited bandwidth, high recurring costs, and long inflexible circuit provisioning cycles. New services such as DSL offer robust bandwidth, attractive pricing, and quick provisioning, but reliability issues have slowed adoption for critical business applications. With the Multipath feature, IT can safely exploit low-cost options such as DSL while continuing to leverage legacy private WANs.
In a location served by two WAN links, IT can use the Multipath capability to define which applications should traverse which link. The system software monitors the performance of each path and automatically diverts applications from one path to the other if performance no longer meets acceptable levels. The Multipath capability demonstrates the integrated nature of the WX Framework. For example, when Multipath diverts traffic from one link to another, QoS policies ensure that applications already flowing over the second link are not negatively impacted. Visibility and ReportingTo fully optimize the WAN and improve application performance, IT must first understand what applications are traversing the WAN, how much bandwidth they're consuming, and how congestion is impacting performance. This kind of information is critical not only for the day-to-day running of the WAN but also for providing service-level management throughout the enterprise. The WX and WXC platforms provide two main software tools for gaining visibility into the WAN. The WebView software is built into each product and supports per-device configuration, management, and monitoring capabilities. The WX Central Management System (CMS) software provides an aggregated view across all deployed WX and WXC platforms. This kind of enterprisewide visibility enables IT to gauge application performance, site metrics, and traffic patterns for long-term planning as well as troubleshooting and analysis. BenefitsThe WX and WXC platforms enable organizations to realize a range of business and technical benefits. With these application acceleration devices, enterprises can:
Increase BandwidthEnterprise businesses of all kinds struggle to balance the competing demands of cost containment and increased network traffic. Since WAN costs typically account for IT's highest expenditure after headcount, most enterprises do not have the luxury of simply adding more WAN capacity to their networks. What accounts for the rise in bandwidth demands?
The SolutionJuniper Networks is focused on optimizing the WAN to improve application performance - increasing the available bandwidth across a link is part of that solution. The WX and WXC application acceleration platforms include reduction techniques to enable greater throughput over the WAN. The company's Molecular Sequence Reduction (MSR) technique, available on the WX and WXC platforms, stores patterns in memory and, when it sees a repeated pattern, sends a simple flag across the WAN rather than the full data pattern, reducing WAN traffic by 50 to 80 percent. The WXC platforms support a second reduction technique, Network Sequence Caching, which augments MSR compression with hard-disk-based pattern storage. The Sequence Caching techniquestores longer data patterns and stores them for a longer period of time. This approach allows the WXC platforms to eliminate redundancies even when a file has been modified or when it was last seen weeks previously. The Sequence Caching technique provides compression results as high as 80 percent to 98 percent. With WX and WXC platforms, IT can cost-effectively increase the available bandwidth on their existing WAN links.
Gain VisibilityWANs have traditionally proven hard to monitor. They don't provide an easy place for instrumentation, and IT departments can rarely cost-justify the purchase of probes and other monitoring devices. But it's crucial for a business to understand what's traversing the WAN. Key functions such as troubleshooting and network planning rely on an understanding of WAN traffic. Among the parameters that enterprises need to monitor are:
The SolutionWX and WXC application acceleration platforms support a broad range of visibility and control mechanisms to make the WAN a much better managed entity. Because the WX and WXC platforms typically reside on both ends of a WAN link, IT gains complete visibility into those links and can see summary or detailed information across a pervasive WAN acceleration deployment. The WX and WXC platforms provide extensive reporting-both on a device level in WebView, which is built into the platforms, and across a system of WX and WXC platforms through the WX Central Management System (CMS) software. More than any other single feature of the WX Framework, WX CMS is tightly woven into every other feature, providing IT with aggregated reporting of WAN and application performance and control over the parameters that affect business policies. The software helps IT learn the mix of applications running over the WAN and how much bandwidth they're consuming, which users are consuming the greatest amount of bandwidth, and how QoS is affecting application throughput. These top talker and other reports help IT quickly pinpoint anomalies in the network, identify whether the WAN is the culprit during application performance problems, and troubleshoot problems that have historically been tough to diagnose given the lack of WAN insight. WX CMS also highlights the benefits of each element of the WX Framework. It enables IT to manage additional WAN capacity enabled by compression, view application acceleration results, allocate bandwidth and prioritize applications, and direct applications over different WAN links. IT staff can customize the mix of reports they view by designing personal "My WAN" portals. With WX and WXC platforms, IT can gain the complete WAN visibility needed to simplify troubleshooting and perform long-term planning.
Reduce CostsDespite the improving business climate in most enterprises, IT is still pressed to produce economic efficiencies and cost savings. This requirement-in direct conflict with IT's mandate to provide greater services to a growing user population-means IT has to make better use of existing resources rather than increase them. Enterprise IT organizations continue to find innovative and creative approaches to cost reduction. To save money, these businesses can:
The SolutionThe WX and WXC application acceleration platforms provide a number of hard- and soft-dollar savings to IT organizations. Where WX and WXC platforms enable a business to avoid a WAN upgrade in support of a new application, for example, the ROI can be as short as four to six months. For enterprises where bandwidth savings are not the attraction, productivity gains the WX and WXC platforms provide in the form of application acceleration can contribute to improving the bottom line. For some businesses, regulatory issues or cost concerns drive the need for server consolidation. The performance gains enabled by the WX and WXC platforms ensure that remote users get the application response times and throughput they need to perform their jobs, even when they're accessing resources across the WAN. Ultimately, the additional WAN visibility provided by the WX and WXC platforms reduce troubleshooting time for IT staff, enabling them to spend more time on long-range network planning and design. With WX and WXC platforms, IT can finally provide both improved network services and lower costs to the business.
Consolidate ServersPoor application performance across the WAN has driven the deployment of remote servers to provide e-mail and other critical file services in remote offices. While users enjoy the improved application response times that local servers provide, these remote servers create a range of IT problems. Chief among the issues are:
Server consolidation has its obvious benefits, and the move toward it is clearly underway, but IT organizations embarking on such a project must ensure that remote users will retain key application functionality. The fundamental WAN characteristics that slow application performance over WAN links haven't changed, so IT must address those limitations to ensure acceptable application performance when remote users access centralized servers. The SolutionThe WX and WXC application acceleration platforms help maintain application performance as users in remote offices access file and other servers in centralized locations. The company provides a suite of integrated features in its WX Framework to enhance application performance. First, MSR compression and Sequence Caching store repeated data patterns and replace them with flags for transmission across the WAN. As a result, data takes much less time to traverse the WAN. Most importantly, the WX and WXC platforms provide application acceleration to speed response times for users. The company's Packet Flow Acceleration (PFA) technologies provide broad-based TCP acceleration, which increases application throughput by reducing the impact of latency on any TCP-based application. More dramatically, the WX and WXC platforms support Application Flow Acceleration (AppFlow) techniques that speed Exchange, Microsoft file services, and web applications. These techniques overcome the protocol constraints that limit the throughput of those applications, enabling the WX and WXC platforms to pipeline large data blocks or multiple web objects across the WAN at one time. As a result, users see anywhere from 2x to 3x performance gains on web to as high as 30x to 50x gains on Exchange and file services. Finally, IT can improve application performance for remote users by applying the QoS and other bandwidth-management features. These easy-to-use, template-based tools let IT define QoS policies in simple wizards, making it quick and easy to apply application prioritization policies across the enterprise. With WX and WXC platforms to accelerate applications, server consolidation can make for happy IT and happy users.
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