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Chapter 1 Introducing the Cisco Wide Area Application Engine
Software Functional Description
1-4
Cisco Wide Area Application Engine 511 and 611 Hardware Installation Guide
OL-7220-02
Software Functional Description
The operation of the WAE is dependent on the software application that is
installed on it. This section describes WAAS, ACNS and WAFS software:
• WAAS Software Description, page 1-4
• ACNS Software Description, page 1-5
• WAFS Software Description, page 1-5
WAAS Software Description
With WAAS software installed, the WAE appliance functions as either a WAAS
Central Manager or a WAAS Application Acceleration Engine. The WAAS
Central Manager provides a graphical user interface to monitor and configure all
Acceleration Engines. The WAAS Acceleration Engine is deployed in remote
branch offices and in the data center to accelerate TCP applications that access
data across the network.
The Application Acceleration Engine functionality operates at different levels
based on the software licenses purchased. WAAS 4.x, software offers the WAAS
Transport License or the WAAS Enterprise License options.
Cisco WAAS software helps enterprises meet the following objectives:
• Provide branch office employees with LAN-like access to information and
applications across a geographically distributed network.
• Migrate application and file servers from branch offices into centrally
managed data centers.
• Minimize unnecessary WAN bandwidth consumption through the use of
advanced compression algorithms.
• Provide print services to branch office users. Cisco WAAS allows you to
configure a WAE as a print server so you do not need to deploy a dedicated
system to fulfill print requests.
• Improve application performance over the WAN by addressing the following
common issues:
–
Low data rates (constrained bandwidth)
–
Slow delivery of frames (high network latency)
–
Higher rates of packet loss (low reliability)