Final Catalyst WAN Performance Optimization Notes

Posted by: Eric Siegel

OK, two final notes on WAN Performance Optimization from the Catalyst Conference.

(By the way, I'll be rewriting my 90-page, hyper-boring paper "Optimizing WAN Performance" starting in a week or so; it should be published in a couple of months. Ask me if you need a draft copy sooner than that. And post a reply to this blog entry if you have any suggestions for me or for anyone about WAN performance optimization!)

FIRST, be sure to test using realistic user scenarios. Don't just rely on vendor promises or magazine articles or your buddy's experiences or some simple "drag and drop across the Windows desktop" copies! I've been saying this for years, but it really bears repetition.

The classical example is assuming that all vendors handle Microsoft's remote file access protocol, CIFS (or its latest Vista version, SMB 2.0) in the same way. They don't. And there's a difference between string-based compression (e.g., Riverbed) and Wide Area File Services (WAFS)-based compression (e.g., Cisco WAAS and Expand Networks). If you just do a sequential copy (e.g., drag-and-drop across the Windows desktop from a remote file share to your local disk), all of the CIFS systems look good. BUT if you open a file from INSIDE Microsoft Word, Excel, or some other application (is that what your users do?), then you'll see major differences. An application doesn't usually do only sequential reads and writes; it'll do "random" reads and writes within the file, and it'll create temporary files. So the intelligence of the WAN performance optimization solution becomes relevant: it can greatly improve performance when using remote file shares, possibly using the inherent caching ability of CIFS (i.e., the "oplock" capabilities), but it'll also be more complex and vulnerable to possible failure if the programming is sloppy.

SECOND, don't underestimate the impact of Web caching. Even major vendors, such as Microsoft, don't set their cache tags for performance. You can make simply astounding improvements in performance by setting Web cache tags appropriately, and your application front end (AFE) or load balancer can even do that for you. Be sure to include an "Expires" header, or most caches will not cache your pages, or they'll have to check back with the server to check the expiration status of every single object (unless you're using a specialized Web accelerator). See my Burton Group paper "Optimizing WAN Performance" and http://www.mnot.net/cacheability/, http://www.squid-cache.org/, http://www.web-caching.com/, and http://webmaster.info.aol.com/caching.html for more information. (Also look at http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html, which Nick Fiekowsky recommends, for more caching hints and general performance suggestions for the Web.)

Comments

[Michael Leonard]

Eric,

good points about testing and caching.

At Cisco we are seeing a lot of uptake for WAN Optimization as customers consolidate branch office servers.

I agree that customers should do their own live testing between their key locations to see how a product works in their environment.

About caching our WAAS solution offers both string based caching that reuses byte patterns and file based caching (WAFS) that also works offline.

WAAS has a number of features such as transparent network integration, that preserves services on the network, and a module for the Integrated Services Router that brings down the total cost of ownership, that customers find compelling.

I look forward to seeing your next paper. I've read previous ones and they are informative.

Michael
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