Deploying Cisco Wide Area Application Services

Design and deploy Cisco WAN optimization and application acceleration solutions for the enterprise WAN

Today, IT organizations are increasingly squeezed by competing demands. They must support more distributed users who demand greater availability and performance. They must protect their digital assets with far more robust security. And they must do it all while gaining far greater control over cost. Distributing IT resources increases management, hardware, and software overhead, but centralizing IT can worsen application performance. There is a solution to this quandary: Cisco application acceleration and WAN optimization technologies that permit IT to safely centralize distributed IT resources, meeting user performance expectations without replacing existing network infrastructure.

Deploying Cisco Wide Area Application Services is the first comprehensive guide to designing and deploying solutions with these Cisco technologies. Zach Seils and Joel Christner show how to deploy Cisco WAAS in a scalable, transparent, and seamless fashion that responds to both your business and technical challenges. Writing for network design and implementation engineers and other networking professionals, they cover the entire planning and configuration process. Drawing on their extensive experience implementing WAAS in the enterprise, they also offer real-world implementation examples and case studies–including full chapters on network, branch office, and data center integration.

Zach Seils, CCIE No. 7861, is a technical leader in the Cisco Advanced Services Data Center Networking Practice, where he specializes in designing, deploying, and troubleshooting application acceleration solutions for the largest Cisco enterprise and service provider customers.

Joel Christner, CCIE No. 15311, is director of product management for Reconnex Corporation, the industry leader in data loss prevention (DLP) solutions. Prior to Reconnex, Joel was senior manager of technical marketing for the Application Delivery Business Unit (ADBU) at Cisco, where he helped drive the product and technical strategy for Cisco Wide Area Application Services. Christner is coauthor of Application Acceleration and WAN Optimization Fundamentals.

• Centrally provision applications to employees in any location without compromising performance
• Reduce costs by centralizing servers, storage, and applications by leveraging optimization capabilities that integrate cleanly with your existing infrastructure
• Thoroughly understand Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) and Wide Area Application Engine (WAE) and the business benefits provided by them

- - Perform effective WAAS planning, discovery, and analysis

- - Use WAAS and interception mechanisms such as WCCP or inline to transparently optimize flows traversing your network for end users accessing centrally deployed and centrally managed applications, files, and other information

- - Integrate application acceleration and optimization into data centers, branch offices, and other environments

- - Learn how to use the Cisco WAAS Central Manager, WAE device GUI, and command-line interface to configure, manage, and troubleshoot

This book is part of the Networking Technology Series from Cisco Press, which offers networking professionals valuable information for constructing efficient networks, understanding new technologies, and building successful careers.

Zach Seils, CCIE No. 7861, is a technical leader in the Cisco Advanced Services Data Center Networking Practice. Zach’s focus is the design, deployment, and troubleshooting of data center and branch application services solutions for Cisco largest enterprise and service provider customers. Zach is frequently engaged with partners and internal Cisco engineers worldwide to advise on the design, implementation, and troubleshooting of Cisco WAAS. In addition to working closely with partners and customers, Zach collaborates with various Cisco business units on product enhancements, testing, and application services architectures. Prior to joining Cisco, Zach spent six years in various senior technical roles at a managed service provider.

Joel Christner, CCIE No. 15311, is the director of product management for Reconnex Corporation, the industry leader in data loss prevention (DLP) solutions. At Reconnex, Joel drives the product strategy and direction for a comprehensive portfolio of solutions for protecting corporate sensitive information and ensuring compliance with industry and government regulation. Prior to joining Reconnex, Joel was the senior manager of technical marketing for the Application Delivery Business Unit (ADBU) at Cisco. Joel led the technical marketing engineering team and helped drive product strategy as a lead contributor to the product management organization. Along with product strategy, Joel and his team were responsible for global sales enablement, including technical whitepapers, product presentations, transfer of information, and competitive leadership. Joel is co-author of the book

Application Acceleration and WAN Optimization Fundamentals (Cisco Press), which outlines architecture and relevance for WAN optimization and application acceleration technologies

in today’s dynamic I/T organizations. Joel was previously a senior technical marketing engineer within ADBU, and was also part of the data center and storage networking advanced technology team within Cisco prior to joining ADBU. Joel’s background and experience includes information security, content, data center networking and security, storage networking, and application networking services. Joel is presently an MS Computer Science student at Columbia University in New York, NY, and holds a BS in Electronics Engineering Technology. Joel is co-author of Application Acceleration and WAN Optimization Fundamentals (Cisco Press), which outlines architecture and relevance for WAN optimization and application acceleration technologies in today’s dynamic IT organizations.