Troubleshooting guide

REVIEW DRAFT—CISCO CONFIDENTIAL
1-19
Cisco Wide Area Application Services Configuration Guide
OL-26579-01
Chapter 1 Introduction to Cisco WAAS
Benefits of Cisco WAAS
• EXEC mode—For setting, viewing, and testing system operations. This mode is divided into two
access levels: user and privileged. To use the privileged access level, enter the enable command at
the user access level prompt, then enter the privileged EXEC password when you see the password
prompt.
• Global configuration mode—For setting, viewing, and testing the configuration of WAAS software
features for the entire device. To use this mode, enter the configure command from the privileged
EXEC mode.
• Interface configuration mode—For setting, viewing, and testing the configuration of a specific
interface. To use this mode, enter the interface command from the global configuration mode.
• Feature-specific configuration mode—Some configuration modes are available from the global
configuration mode for managing specific features.
For information about using the CLI to configure a WAAS device, see the Cisco Wide Area Application
Services Command Reference and the Cisco Wide Area Application Services Quick Configuration Guide.
Benefits of Cisco WAAS
This section describes the benefits of Cisco WAAS and includes the following topics:
• Preservation of Source TCP/IP Information, page 1-19
• Autodiscovery of WAAS Devices, page 1-20
• Centralized Network Monitoring and Management, page 1-20
• Optimized Read and Write Caching, page 1-21
• WCCP Support, page 1-21
• PBR Support, page 1-21
• Inline Interception Support, page 1-22
• Failure Resiliency and Protection, page 1-22
• RAID Compatibility, page 1-22
• Streamlined Security, page 1-23
• SNMP Support, page 1-23
Preservation of Source TCP/IP Information
Many optimization products create tunnels through routers and other networking devices, which result
in a loss of source TCP/IP information in the optimized data. This loss of TCP/IP information often
disrupts important network services (such as QoS and NBAR), and can disrupt proper operation of traffic
analysis tools such as NetFlow and security products and features such as ACLs and IP-based firewalls.
Unlike other optimization products, Cisco WAAS seamlessly integrates into your network and preserves
all TCP/IP header information in the traffic that it optimizes, so that your existing analysis tools and
security products are not compromised.