Citrix SD-WAN Platforms

Gathering Information Needed for Configuration

Accurate information about both the local and the remote sites is essential to troubleshooting. Before installing the SD-WAN 4100/5100 appliance, make sure that you have done the following:

  1. Obtained or drawn an accurate network diagram of your local site (the one in which you are installing SD-WAN 4100/5100). The local network topology and the capabilities of your WAN routers determine which deployment modes are appropriate for the site.
  2. Chosen the deployment mode of the local SD-WAN 4100/5100 appliance (for example, WCCP or inline, with or without high availability and cascading).
  3. Compiled a list of critical applications that must be tested to validate the deployment.
  4. Obtained or drawn an accurate network diagram of your WAN, including both the local and the remote WAN links, their bandwidths in both directions, their subnets, and whether they are accelerated. In deployments with many remote sites, an aggregate of the different categories (accelerated and non-accelerated) is probably sufficient, and only the largest remote sites need to be considered individually.
  5. Determined whether there are multiple datacenters with datacenter-to-datacenter traffic, and whether any remote datacenters have an SD-WAN 4100/5100 appliance.
  6. Decided whether you plan to increase WAN capacity, the number of sites, or the number of users in the next 24 months. If so, the corresponding SD-WAN 4100/5100 capacity should be installed now.
  7. If possible, formed an idea of the traffic breakdown over the WAN, including TCP traffic to and from SD-WAN-accelerated sites, other TCP traffic, ICA users, HDX sessions, and real-time traffic such as VoIP. SD-WAN 4100/5100 needs to be provisioned for the peak loads in terms of accelerated TCP connections, ICA users, and total WAN link capacity.
  8. Determined the number of WAN links in the local site. Are they independent, or are they load balanced? If so, are they active-active or active-standby?
  9. Determined the current, unaccelerated RTT of the remote sites during peak periods.
  10. Identified any QoS devices or proxies in the path between the local and remote sites. QoS devices should be on the WAN side of SD-WAN 4100/5100. Proxies should be on the LAN side.
Gathering Information Needed for Configuration

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