WAAS Express between 2 routers, CM required?

[Bill CARTER]

I will have two routers connected via T1. I would like to enable WAAS Express on both routers. Is a WAAS Central Manager etc. required or will this work just between the two routers?

[Fabrizio Pedracini]

Hi Bill,

using WAAS express between 2 routers can be done without using a CM. Central Manager is recommended for monitoring and config, however it's not mandatory.

hope this helps,

Fabrizio

[Michael Korenbaum]

Bill,

As Fabrizio has mentioned this will technically work.  However, this type of topology is not recommended for two reasons.

1) You have to manage each individually without a CM and lose the reporting capability of CM.

2) You lose DRE when peering two WAAS Express devices.  Since WAAS Express only does DRE decode, having WAAS Express devices on both ends of the connection means you effectively limit yourself to only TFO + LZ even if the policy is set for TFO DRE LZ (e.g. Full optimization).  This is why WAAS Express is recommended to peer with a WAAS appliance at the head end.

Regards,

Mike Korenbaum

Cisco Data Center PDI Help Desk

http://www.cisco.com/go/pdihelpdesk