Cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS)

johng231 · ‎09-20-2012

Hello

Does anyone know where can I find documentation on how to configure SaaS with WAAS?

I'm looking to setup salesforce application on the WAAS for WAN optimization out to the branch office. All I can find is whitepapers that talks about what it does. I need detail steps on how to properly configure it or examples showing how to.

Do you just build an SSL service connection to *.salesforce.com?

How will the traffic from the branch office be able to route to salesforce.com when they have their own local ISP?

Do you add static routes for all of the possible IP addresses for the application out of your Data Center? If so, this makes it very difficult to manage since the cloud service can change their IP address at any given time.

I would appreciate for someone to give me a simple example to follow. :-)

Thanks in advance!

John

johng231 · ‎05-06-2013

Hello

Can anyone help me find documentation on how to configure SAAS with the WAAS? I'm being asked to test out office 365 and I wanted to see how the WAAS can be leveraged here. I want to be able to route all remote branches traffic destined for office 365 and then on the core side have it only send 1 stream of the traffic outbound to the Internet.

Is this what SAAS can do or am I not understanding it? There is nothing in the WAAS configuration guide that explains how to configure it. Is there anything that needs to be configured?

johng231 · ‎05-07-2013

There has to be someone out there that knows about using Cisco WAAS with SAAS.

Anyone that's a WAAS expert on here from Cisco, please send some documentation on how the configuration is done. I'm looking to use the WAAS with office 365 in the cloud.

The marking talks about splitting the stream at your core side so only 1 connection goes to the Internet. What configuration has to be done on the WAAS to setup the URL to be intercepted??? It can't just take take many HTTP connections and only send out 1 to the cloud. It doesn't work this way by default with our internal web applications. So how does the WAAS act as a proxy for cloud based web applications?

I really would appreciate if someone can help me out here! Thanks! :-)

Felix Arrieta · ‎05-08-2013

Hello John,

I am not an expert on this but still PLEASE read the following on detailed, you will find most of your questions answered:

Simplified Deployment Model for Cloud-Based Services

Cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers such as WebEx.com and Salesforce.com primarily use HTTPS to securely deliver services to their clients. Using Cisco WAAS SSL Application Optimizer, Cisco WAAS can optimize delivery of these services to the remote branch-office users who connect to these services through a backhaul connection to the data center.

However, the solution poses some unique challenges related to simplifying the implementation and deployment model. Typically, SaaS providers have multiple SSL server farms with multiple hosts spanning several data centers. When a client initiates an SSL connection request to a server located in the SaaS server farm, the Cisco WAAS SSL Application Optimizer needs to map the destination IP address in the incoming SSL request to an SSL accelerated service to present the right SSL certificate to the client to perform an SSL handshake.

For SSL services that are hosted in the enterprise data center, the IT administrator knows and controls the SSL server IP address and can provide it to the data center Cisco WAAS. But for an SSL service hosted at a third-party SaaS provider cloud, the SSL server IP address is not controlled by the IT administrator. Also, there may be not just one but multiple server IP addresses even for a single SaaS service, and these may be subject to change.

To simplify the deployment model for SaaS optimization, Cisco WAAS provides support for domain names in the SSL accelerated service configuration. This model can be applied to any cloud-based SaaS applications such as Salesforce.com and WebEx.com. For example, when an SSL accelerated service is configured in the data center Cisco WAE with a wildcard domain name (for instance, *.webex.com) option, the Cisco WAAS SSL Application Optimizer performs a reverse Domain Name System (DNS) lookup on the destination server IP upon receiving an SSL connection request from the client, and if the IP address resolves to a host that matches the configured wildcard domain name (for instance, *.webex.com), then the appropriate SSL accelerated service policy is applied to this connection (Figure 3).

Cisco Wide Area Application Services SSL Application Optimizer Deployment Guide (Simplified Deployment for SaaS Optimization)

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/contnetw/ps5680/ps6870/deployment_guide_c07-541981.html

This topic is pretty complex for a support forum, I suggest to open a TAC case or contact your Cisco partner or PDI support.

hope this helps!

Felix

johng231 · ‎05-10-2013

Thanks for the information. So if I were to backhalk office 365, how would you route the IP address from the DNS name if it can change at any given time? Is there a way to map the DNS name to an internal Ip address then use the waas to front end the external part? How is it being done for sales force and WebEx.com?