Best WAN Optimization Solutions
It is better to get familiar with how WAN works, to start by examining two of its functional problems:
TCP window size
The public perception is that increasing the bandwidth improves the WAN performance, but we must point out that this perception is completely wrong. Because the TCP window limits the throughput for the packets that are sent.
Latency
This problem is mainly from the back and forth of the search results of programs and protocols, which will follow a worse trend the further away they are from the WAN. A server sends packets and asks the opposite server about the arrival of these packets, and the server answers this question. Finally, this process is repeated continuously.
Although increased bandwidth may give you a larger overall path to handle more transactions, each individual transaction can only travel through a small path, often degrading the performance of the WAN application.
Data streamlining
Pay attention to data
All data is important to SteelHead, so it doesn’t matter what format or program the data is in. Because SteelHead looks at them all the same way. This means that very little data can be sent over the WAN.
For example, imagine how many times the words (the) and (a) appear in different programs, that’s what we’re trying to get at. The number of (the) and (a) doesn’t matter to SteelHead. Because these bytes look the same, it doesn’t see a need to send them. This method can eliminate the duplication of transmitted bytes by 65-95% of the WAN.
Check the scalability of the data packages
Users download files from the server. At the locations where these files are sent and received, SteelHead examines these documents and packages and stores them. Then the user modifies the file and sends it to 10 colleagues in the original location of the file via email. In this case, only the data sent over the WAN causes minor changes to the files, which are referred to as 16-bit sources to the SteelHead device.
Do not resend additional data
A process known as data deduplication removes bytes from the WAN. Data that is repeatedly accessed by users is not re-sent to them from the WAN. Small resources are sent as 16 bytes so that the SteelHead knows that this data has already been sent and can reassemble this data locally. After sending this data, it will never need to be sent again.
Which WAN Optimization Solutions to use?
You can use some solutions in this field. Next, we will introduce some of them.
Citrix SD-WAN
Designed to help secure valuable data, Citrix SD-WAN features provide the user with several choices, including legacy multi-site approaches and advanced, multi-layered approaches. In this way, users and data can be protected against multi-vector cyber threats in branches, data centers and clouds. You can also maintain your current firewall and complete external perimeter security in branch offices with Citrix SD-WAN integrated firewall.
But during preparation, you can use the new generation firewall that is provided by the equipment or As-a-Service. Citrix provides an integrated perimeter firewall that hides users and an organization’s infrastructure from cyber surveillance. This licensed and integrated firewall has global policy control and supports zone-based policies so that users can continuously segment traffic and apply policies.
Providing a better experience for everyone
With Citrix SD-WAN, branch offices, large or small, achieve maximum performance and availability for all their business-critical applications and data. Employees will have constant and uninterrupted access to their digital workspace and cloud and virtual applications on any device. When users are in the branch, they can access guest Wi-Fi to perform essential tasks or access self-service portals.
Improving the performance of the organization
Citrix SD-WAN uses WAN and Cloud connectivity. In this way, it can cost-effectively improve application and virtual desktop performance for branch office users. It can also optimize legacy enterprise applications, even when a network connection is down. By choosing the smart path, IT can also prioritize business-critical applications to ensure uptime and high performance, even on busy networks.
Reduce financial costs in branch offices with Citrix SD-WAN
Citrix SD-WAN features and capabilities reduce network costs by ensuring the organization fully utilizes its bandwidth. It is also possible to add WAN links at a lower price and consolidate expensive security and routing hardware in branches. The IT team can implement highly available and secure network connections that expand WAN capacity at low cost while maintaining MPLS-level quality and reliability.
Cisco SD-WAN
In order not to leave the field to competitors in the competition with other companies that produce Citrix SD-WAN products, Cisco announced on August 1, 2017 that it acquired Viptela, which was one of the leading companies in the field of SD-WAN solutions. He bought and owned it.
After Viptela joined Cisco License, the engineers of the two offered a product called Cisco SD-WAN. In this solution, like other solutions, 3 main layers are used:
- Data Plane layer: which includes physical and virtual equipment such as routers and switches in WAN networks.
- Control Plane layer: which includes SDN Controller(s) that can be provided as Virtual Machines (VM) or Containers.
- Management Plane layer: which actually includes a Network Management Server or NMS for short. A server that has the task of managing, monitoring, monitoring, etc. in SDN-based infrastructure.
- Orchestration Plane layer: which is generally responsible for coordinating and automating the SD-WAN infrastructure.
Riverbed StealHead
This network license allows easy installation and commissioning without any change in the network topology and provides the ability to provide complete and comprehensive reports to the user. Riverbed network license of SteelHead series that can be controlled by Riverbed StealCentral has benefited from increasing the efficiency of WAN lines by an average of 25 times, reducing bandwidth consumption by 99% and reducing passing packets by 98%.
Other important features of this Riverbed SteelHead network license include: minimizing the delay in sending and receiving packets, minimizing software restrictions and slowness, and encrypting all communications. The time validity of this network license is one year / three years / five years to lifetime, which you can buy in the market of network equipment at a reasonable price, and its installation and commissioning takes place without any change in the network topology.