Cisco WAAS Double Inline Accelerator

[John Early]

I have recently taken over a new network and found something odd when I arrived.  I can draw an actual Visio if needed but let me try it in text, we have:

(Internal Network) -->--(Inline LAN WAAS WAE#1  Inline WAN)-->--(Inline LAN WAAS WAE#2  Inline WAN)-->--(WAN Router)-->--(WAN)

Has anyone seen this in production before??  We are seeing some odd WAN speeds between this site and another large site, both with 50Mbps connections.  I am not asking for help on the overall speed issues, just a validation that double inline WAE devices isn't hurting me more than helping.  Both do have active connections if I do "Show Stat Connection".

Thanks,

John

[finn.poulsen]

Hi John,

I haven't seen this in real life before, but it should be possible to serially cluster two inline WAEs :

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/app_ntwk_services/waas/waas/v541/configuration/guide/cnfg/traffic.html#67354

But it will required peer configuration as described in above link.

It pussles me though that both have active connections, unless WAE#1 is TFO overloaded.

Best regards

Finn Poulsen

[John Early]

From the link you posted, it doesn't appear that either of these devices are peered with each other or anything.  Should I go ahead and follow the serial cluster guide in the link??  Or should I go ahead and open a TAC case and let someone validate these settings?

Thanks.

[finn.poulsen]

Hi John,

The "peer" setting is only used to prevent that e.g. traffic to a site without WAAS doesn't gets optimized on the LAN cable between WAE#1 and WAE#2 and thus spilling ressources on those two WAAS boxes.

Normally optimization (and auto-discovery) bypasses intermediate WAAS devices, and setup optimization between the two most far WAASes, i.e. closest to the server and client.

Does WAE#2 have optimizations to the same peers as WAE #1 ?

I think you should just follow the guide, but feel free to open a TAC case.

Best regards

Finn Poulsen