Accelerate and secure data replication with F5 WAN optimization
Date
:
6/18/2010
Application availability, data center capacity, and business continuity can all depend on the timely movement of applications and data between remote sites. The low throughput and long data transfer completion times typical of wide area networks (WANs) can make remote WAN replication difficult or even impossible. Additionally, the need to meet regulatory and compliance standards—including controlled access to and encryption of replicated data—is often a paramount consideration for enterprise storage administrators.
With these challenges in mind, in November 2009 Dell and F5 performed proof-of-concept (POC) lab testing to demonstrate how organizations can help accelerate and secure Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage area network (SAN) replication over WANs using F5® BIG-IP® WAN Optimization Module™ (WOM) technology. WOM technology is designed to accelerate TCP traffic regardless of the specific application, and includes a variety of features to help boost performance, secure communications, and manage traffic—including iSessions network tunneling, symmetric encryption, symmetric data deduplication, symmetric adaptive compression, the TCP Express network stack, and Layer 7 (L7) quality-of-service (QoS) rate shaping.
As the Dell and F5 tests show, by overcoming the effects of limited bandwidth, high latency, and packet loss, WOM technology helps to dramatically increase throughput, reduce replication completion times, and enhance bandwidth utilization and efficiency. Combining WOM technology with Dell EqualLogic iSCSI SAN arrays enables organizations to create a shared storage solution supporting accelerated and encrypted site-to-site data transfers over WANs. And because bandwidth, equipment, and administration for WAN operations can represent significant costs over time, these performance advantages can quickly lead to bottom-line savings.
With these challenges in mind, in November 2009 Dell and F5 performed proof-of-concept (POC) lab testing to demonstrate how organizations can help accelerate and secure Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage area network (SAN) replication over WANs using F5® BIG-IP® WAN Optimization Module™ (WOM) technology. WOM technology is designed to accelerate TCP traffic regardless of the specific application, and includes a variety of features to help boost performance, secure communications, and manage traffic—including iSessions network tunneling, symmetric encryption, symmetric data deduplication, symmetric adaptive compression, the TCP Express network stack, and Layer 7 (L7) quality-of-service (QoS) rate shaping.
As the Dell and F5 tests show, by overcoming the effects of limited bandwidth, high latency, and packet loss, WOM technology helps to dramatically increase throughput, reduce replication completion times, and enhance bandwidth utilization and efficiency. Combining WOM technology with Dell EqualLogic iSCSI SAN arrays enables organizations to create a shared storage solution supporting accelerated and encrypted site-to-site data transfers over WANs. And because bandwidth, equipment, and administration for WAN operations can represent significant costs over time, these performance advantages can quickly lead to bottom-line savings.