Aruba EdgeConnect Enterprise (SD-WAN) - WAN Optimization (BOOST) Sizing
Aruba EdgeConnect Enterprise (SD-WAN) - WAN Optimization (BOOST) Sizing
In this article, we are going to
talk about how to decide on BOOST licenses in terms of ordering a boost for a
customer. If you don’t know about the BOOST feature, you can read it here.
Related : Aruba EdgeConnect: BOOST in Action!
The BOOST license is available in
100 Mbps blocks. You can buy multiple of these as a pool of licenses. This pool
of licenses is available in any amount on any appliance in your organization. I
mean it is on-demand and can be configured as and when required for a site where
you want to optimize traffic. 
Fig 1.1- Aruba EdgeConnect WAN Optimization (BOOST) Sizing
If the Boost bandwidth is
exceeded all boosted traffic is rate limited to the Boost amount even if
bandwidth is available on the links. The appliances generate alarms when they reach
their Boost limit.
Sizing BOOST
Let’s talk about how to decide on
the BOOST license. To determine the specific amount of Boost, you have 3 approaches to
choose and all that depends on your engagement with the customer:
·
Approach 1 is to Boost
your total outbound WAN bandwidth. Boost only benefits tunnel traffic (traffic
that gets transferred between two sites with EdgeConnect appliances. To be
technically true, not all traffic can benefit from WAN optimization i.e. Real-time
voice traffic. So why pay extra for these features?
· Approach 2 is to perform a
complete analysis based on the report’s data available from the customer
environment. You only factor in the traffic that can be optimized and do not
consider non‐Boosted traffic. The goal of the practice is that you understand
all the interesting traffic that can be optimized and buy the exact amount of boost license. But this is only possible when you are already in the network and not when you are in the pre-sales phase. So you can now think of Option 3 to start with.
· Approach 3 is to form
an educated estimate. You pick a reasonable amount of traffic that needs
optimization. If you reach the provisioned Boost limit, the appliance rate
limits the boost traffic and the appliance generates alarms. This informs you to increase your Boost limit
at that site.
As a rule of thumb, start with 40% of the total bandwidth, and then watch for alarms. Once you see the alarm, you can change the configurations on the fly as it takes a few minutes and doesn’t need the device to reboot. If you don’t see any alarm, you can think of reducing the BOOST bandwidth.
Option 3 is the most followed approach and it may look manual but it
is the most efficient way to optimize BOOST license cost. Hope you find this informative!
