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High speed tcp/ip traffic compression

surenx_cisco
Level 1
Level 1

Hi

Does cisco have a module for Cisco 7600 or Catalyst 4503 or any hardware which supports high speed tcp/ip traffic compression?

I'm talking about 300mbit/s internet traffic speed, from which only 10% is voip.

Can you tell me even if this is possible with any other hardware, or theoretically possible?

E.G.

We have a STM-1 (155mbit) link and want to put 2 equipments on both sides of the link and want to reach near 300mbit speed through the 155 mbit STM-1 link.

Thanks in advance.

6 Replies 6

Giuseppe Larosa
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Hello Suren,

the modern approach to WAN optimization is actually a different one:

there are appliances that have specialized in performing TCP optimization acting as proxy: they consolidate TCP sessions avoiding the waiting time of multiple TCP handshakes

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/contnetw/ps5680/ps6870/prod_white_paper0900aecd8051d553_ps6474_Products_White_Paper.html

look for WAAS devices in CCO.

At 155 Mbps simple compression probably doesn't pay back.

Hope to help

Giuseppe

Joseph W. Doherty
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Not sure there's any available compression modules for a 7600 or 4503, especially the latter. There are compression modules for software routers, but although you might average your minimum 2x boost, as Giuseppe notes, there are newer approaches; perhaps best-of-breed, 3rd party (i.e. non-Cisco). If you drop such an appliance on both ends, besides basic compression, many offer some type of compression cache that can, if like data is seen, can offer very impressive bandwidth reduction.

"Can you tell me even if this is possible with any other hardware, or theoretically possible? "

I believe it's possible, not only in theory, but in practice. There's hardware that can run compression even at bandwidth you want. However, whether it can effectively double your bandwidth depends on the traffic. Much new traffic doesn't lend itself to compression (e.g. already compressed, encrypted, etc). So, you might get better than 2x effective bandwidth, but could also get 0x. (Compression has always been highly variable in its effectiveness, but perhaps even more so today.)

The industry trend has been moving away from using compression to expand a path's effective bandwidth, alone. The reason has been to provide "LAN" like performance. Such performance can often not be obtained with increased bandwidth, whether via compression or natural bandwidth expansion. (This because there's other latency causes than bandwidth.)

For you, the real question would be whether a compression solution would be cost effective. First, you need to take into account whether it will deliver the compression you need. Second, you need to take into account whether you're forced to buy features you'll never take advantage of.

Thanks for your reply,

If you're saying that there is a hardware which can do the compression for the 155mbit bandwidth, can you give me an example of such hardware or technology?

Because everything I've found is more a proxy than a compression hardware.

Hardware that supports "WAN Optimization", often provides some form of compression. Note even in Giuseppe's reference "• Compression-Provides standards-based compression for data in transit to minimize the amount of bandwidth consumed on a link during transfer"

If you're looking for hardware that does nothing but compression, and to support 155 Mbps, in today's market, you might not find it, which is why I warned you're likely to pay for additional features.

Not exactly sure what you consider "proxy", but I've worked with 3rd party WAAS devices that you drop in-line, transparent to hosts, that very much will do compression at 155. Such WAAS/WAFS devices often support many features beyond basic compression and these feaures can often be selected/deselected. I.e., probably could be configured just for ordinary in-line compression, but that alone, in their routine role, wastes their full capabilities.

paolo bevilacqua
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

As Giuseppe said.

The industry has decided by consensus that no compression should occur on high speed links consequently there is no product to do that.

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