Troubleshooting application problem on WAAS

Troubleshooting application problem on WAAS

In order to troubleshoot an application problem on WAAS can be easy if we follow the follow steps.

First we need to gather the information about the problem

• Check whether the problem in all application or single application (i.e. CIFS, HTTP)

• Try to get the details of client IP and server IP with port details and application details.

• Try to find whether the problem lie with single site or multiple sites. If single site concentrate more on Branch side and if multiple site concentrate more on DC side.

Now we need to identify the traffic flow

We assumed that multiple user having problem with single application/ multiple applications on single site, so concentrate on that site WAE. Check whether the connection is being optimized by WAAS or pass through using commands Show statistics connection or Show statistic connection client-ip < Src ip address>: Red circle in fig-1 show the type of optimization used by the connections.

 

Now lets see here the troubleshooting steps

Before doing the following steps we assumes that we have already check the interface error and duplex setting on the WAE port and WCCP is   redirecting the traffic to WAE, because if any of these fails will affect all applications that are passing through WAE.

At application (AO) level:

Use the following command to see the statistics of particular connection if connection using any AO.

See the values of dropped connection if incrementing means problem with specific AO or if not able to isolate the problem, then try to bypass AO using custom policy for particular connection or by shutting down AO.

In case you need to create custom policy, here are the steps

Steps 1 – Create application definition: – it identifies general information about the application:

Go to WAAS CMS: https://xyz:443 : Select Applications from Configure Menu. To create an application definition

Step 2: Creating an Application Policy: this is to determines the action a WAAS device takes on the specified traffic

Go to WAAS CMS select the WAE where you want to Define the policy. Go to MY WAN-> manage device -> Select WAE -> Edit

Step 2.1: Creating a Classifier:

Step 2.2: Creating a matching Condition for Classifier:

After creating the policy, use the WAE#Show statistics connection client-ip <ip address> details:   Command and check now that connection will be shown either pass-through or TFO only based on action you defined in custom policy.

OR 

Shut down particular AO:

Use this if problem is not isolated by custom policy.

This will affect all connection related to specific application.

If problem still persist: Bypass the connection from WAE: –

Bypass WAE for the connection:

Means you are not allowing the Traffic to use WAE optimization technique. Simply pass-through the traffic without any optimization: use the following

 WAE (conf t) # bypass static ?

To see the pass-through connections use the following command:

If it does not solve the problem then conclude that problem is not with WAE. Try to diagnose problem with another prospective and also involve application team and use Ethereal to further analysis the traffic.