Replication Accelerator Mode unavailable after factory-reset

Amir Aziz · ‎03-05-2013

Gentlemen,

I need your good help in helping resolve a silly issue that I am facing with the WAE-7341-K9 device for a client.

The client has to DC that are connected via a 75Mbps link. They have two ISRs on either end that then connect to their respective core switches. The two WAE-7341 devices are connected to the core with WCCP as the interception method.

At first the client informed me that they require some sort of acceleration for different application types from DC to DC. Based on that information, I configured the two appliances in AA mode. The two devices were registered with a WAVE-574 device as the CM. I started to see traffic hit the ACLs configured on the core switch and redirection taking place. I could start seeing pass-through traffic on the AAs.

I then got busy with another project and decided to let the AAs build up their DRE database and assumed that after traffic is passed through the AAs there would be optimization eventually. Once I returned to check on the WAAS solution, I realised that the only traffic being sent through WAAS was "Storage" traffic. It was completely forwarded as pass-through which I can understand.

The client later confirmed that they were replicating from once DC to the other DC due to a shift in their DR policy. Anyhow, from my understanding of deploying WAAS the current setup of AAs would be inaccurate since RA mode is required.

I attempted to perform a "restore factory-default" command on the WAE-7341 devices with the hope that I could then have the option of putting the device in RA mode via the "setup" wizard.

UNFORTUNATELY, this did not happen. I have a WAE-7341 device running OS version 4.4.1 but it does not show me RA mode option in its listed device modes.

What do I do now??? I would appreciate if someone can guide me as to what I may have done wrong or have missed or if there is something pending that needs to be done.

The way I see it, I should have this option available to reconfigure the device in RA mode. So this does not make any sense.

Alternately, I could still configure AA mode but disable all features except TFO. However, that will not allow me to have fast DRE and PLZ options that are part of the RA mode. Maybe, if someone can guide me through this way, then I could solve the problem.

Kindly help. I am stuck.

Giovanni Dambrosio Ocampo · ‎03-08-2013

Hello, Amir:

About the issue you are having when a connection is showing as PT(Pass through) it means that on some point one WAE is not seeing its peer. The most common cause of this issue is a WCCP miss configuration.

If a connection shows as PT, even if you reload the WAE it won't come as an optimized connection.

Please check on the interfaces that you are doing the redirection and also if there is a firewall in the middle.

One useful troubleshooting command would be the "show stat conn | include x.x.x.x" The x.x.x.x would be the IP of the testing PC that generate a connection, please check if you are seeing the connection on both sides, even if it shows as PT.

Best Regards,

Giovanni DAmbrosio

Amir Aziz · ‎03-09-2013

Hi Giovanni,

Thank you for replying and giving your input to the problem I am facing. As you are aware and have read in my first post, my client is performing data replication at a Disaster Recovery site. This means that there are two WAE-7341 connected to the core switch at each site. We are using WCCP v2 for traffic interception and redirection.

I can see on the core switch at the main site that redirection is happening both ways which leads me to believe that traffic is intercepted and sent to the WAAS appliance. Of course, I need to check the other site to assess whether redirection is taking place or not.

Nonetheless, apart from a having redirection and the formation of WAAS peers a issue, my question is that I can not set the "Device-Mode" of WAE-7341 in Replication Accelerator mode. I only get two options i.e. Central Manager and Application Accelerator modes. My point is that this should not be the case since I have the correct OS for Replication Accelerator mode and that this device should support it. This is where I am stuck and need assistance.

Could you kindly elaborate as to what I can do to configure my WAAS appliance in Replication Acceleration mode?? Alternately, please advise if the same settings can be done in Application Accelerator mode should the former mode be absent.

Regards,

Amir Aziz

Giovanni Dambrosio Ocampo · ‎03-10-2013

Hello, Amir:

I hope that everything is fine.

I have not seen such a mode on a WAE, just to be sure I checked on the command reference and for version 4.4.1 there is no such mode, please check the link below:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/app_ntwk_services/waas/waas/v441/command/reference/glob_cfg.html#wp1044575

The application Accelerator should be the one to use to optimize the traffic.

Now going to the issue that you are having the connections on PT would mean that there is an issue with the WCCP configuration.

You said that the set up is for a disaster recovery and that you have 2 WAE's, Correct?

This kind of setup when you have multiple WAE's would cause issues with the configuration of service 61 and 62. In order for this to work, you should have service 61 on the Lan interface and 62 on the WAN interface of the core switch on the other side( branch offices) you would need to revert the services 61 on the Wan and 62 on the Lan.

The PT connections are not caused by the device mode setup. The PT connections are cause by an incorrect traffic flow between the 2 WAE's.

Best regards,

Giovanni D'Ambrosio

Amir Aziz · ‎03-15-2013

Hi Giovanni,

Thanks for your reply and the information you provided. I have done a little homework and it seems that only 4.0.19 provides the option I am looking for. However, I do not understand as to why only this specific OS version has RA mode and not in any others? Could it be because it is buggy and has performance issues? Or is it because the same configration can be performed by having the device in AA mode?

If the same results can be acheived by having the WAAS appliances in AA mode, can you assist in listing down or referring a document that may guide as to how this can be achieved?

Otherwise, I may have to downgrade to ver 4.0.19 to run the appliances in RA mode.

Regards,

Amir Aziz

Giovanni Dambrosio Ocampo · ‎03-19-2013

Hello, Amir:

What kind of traffic are you trying to optimize?

All of the features that you used to have would be improve or remove as the latest applications do not need them.

About the RA mode, exactly what you are trying to do with it, so we can look for the current feature on WAAS for that.

I won't recommend you to downgrade as the 4.0 version is really old and have lots of software issues.

Best regards,

Giovanni DAmbrosio

Amir Aziz · ‎04-08-2013

Hi Giovanni,

I read your comment quite some time back but was busy with another project and could not get back to you. Anyhow, I am back and working on this problem.

To stress further on what I need, please review the following link:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns517/ns224/ns377/solution_overview_c22-490577.html

What my client needs is optimization for their Storage traffic over the WAN to a Disaster Recovery site.

When I first trained on Cisco WAAS, I learned that such optimization can take place via Replicator Accelerator mode by using two WAE-7341 where one is position at each WAN end. However, based on your feed back, it seems that this was only supported on version 4.0.19 and does not seem to be option in any other later software version.

Due to this issue, the current traffic is simply being pass-through the WAAS without optimization. I need your assistance to guide me as to how I can tune the existing WAAS to achieve the same result without down grading to 4.0.19.

Regards,

Amir Aziz