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Edge Virtual Appliance - FAQ

Why Edge Virtual Gateway (“EdgeVG”)?

What is Edge Virtual Gateway?

Edge Virtual Gateway working with other devices and appliances

Configuring and installing Edge Virtual Gateway

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Why Edge Virtual Gateway?

Need for small / medium office solutions
Q: Why was EdgeVG developed?
A: Bandwidth management, compression, and application acceleration appliance vendor products are limited to large offices and high speed links due to their cost and complexity.

EdgeVG is software designed as a transparent and low cost solution that runs on existing branch office and other remote site infrastructure. It solves the problem of consistent network performance for the growing number of users of important business applications who work in remote offices, branch offices, and from home offices.

Utilize existing PC or server hardware
Q: What hardware is required to run EdgeVG?
A: EdgeVG runs on existing branch, remote or home office PC or server hardware that is already running Windows Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) or Windows Routing and Remote Access Services (RRAS).
This avoids the need for extra or new hardware and makes use of existing commodity hardware.

Simplicity
Q: What is meant by "simplicity"?
A: Install in minutes, master in hours.

Low total cost of ownership (TCO)
Q: Why is the total cost of ownership of EdgeVG low?
A: Costs are fixed per PC seat irrespective of WAN bandwidth providing network deployment flexibility without the need for upgrades, proprietary appliance hardware costs (often at each end of a link) are avoided, and simplicity means lower staff costs.

What is Edge Virtual Gateway?

The meaning of "software only"
Q: What is meant by NetPriva EdgeVG being "software only?
A: There is no proprietary appliance hardware as with a conventional network appliance device. It's all done in software using existing infrastructure without impact on users except the good kind - their WAN application response becomes consistent.

Components of EdgeVG
Q: What are the key components of EdgeVG?
A: There are three components which are installed by a single installer on the target ICS or RRAS host. The three components may optionally be installed on distinct hosts.
a) Console to manage the system, policies and for instant visibility and total replay of network scenarios
b) Collector / Policy Server to collect network statistics data and implement network application monitoring and control (traffic shaping) policies. The Collector / Policy Server may be located locally on a branch office subnet or be hosted centrally.
c) Agent to apply the monitoring and control policies and, optionally, to mark data packets and to capture network statistics data. The Agent must be installed on an ICS or RRAS host, at a point in the network where it can intercept and control all WAN traffic.

Network traffic scope
Q: What type of network traffic can EdgeVG handle?
A: EdgeVG handles all types of Ethernet, IP, TCP, and UDP traffic.

Bandwidth monitoring
Q: What are the network monitoring capabilities of EdgeVG?
A: EdgeVG provides granular (per second) monitoring with instant (real time) network visibility by application (IP address, URL, TCP / UDP ports, protocol), user (IP address), Citrix ICA tag, and DSCP code point. It has the ability to capture network statistics indefinitely at per second granularity and to replay network scenarios from those statistics. The statistics may be collected at the branch or centrally. Statistics collection may be switched on or off (in the case central collection via slow links) per link on demand.

Bandwidth control (shaping and prioritization)
Q: What are the bandwidth control (shaping) capabilities of EdgeVG?
A: In addition to monitoring (see above), EdgeVG provides bandwidth control (shaping) by application (IP address, URL, TCP / UDP ports, protocol), user (IP address), Citrix ICA tag, and DSCP code point. A flexible, preset EdgeVG control policy for a branch office dynamically manages the available bandwidth whenever there is congestion at the link between the branch office local area network (LAN) and the wide area network (WAN).

Defined traffic classes can be assigned a guaranteed minimum bandwidth allocation and a maximum bandwidth allocation. Latency sensitive classes can be assigned a priority status to expedite their transit across the network.

There is a facility to mark data packets (DiffServ).

Functionality of an EPDirect control (shaping and prioritization) policy
Q: What is the functionality of a control policy?
A: "An EdgeVG control policy manages traffic shaping and prioritization whenever there is congestion at the link between the branch office local area network (LAN) and the wide area network (WAN).

Network traffic can be filtered into channels by application (IP address, URL, TCP / UDP ports, protocol), user (IP address), Citrix ICA tag, and DSCP code point. The data in a channel can be controlled by setting % bandwidth, absolute bandwidth, discard, or monitor actions on the channel.

There is an option to mark data packets using DiffServ codes for routing and prioritization control by network routers and appliances.

Guaranteed bandwidth
Q: How does EdgeVG guarantee bandwidth?
A: EdgeVG controls wide area network (WAN) traffic based on a control policy. This is set up to align the use of available network capacity to an organization's business priorities (with focus on the applications and users that are important to the business).

Based on knowledge gained from a prior network monitoring phase, the important business applications can be allocated a defined minimum and maximum amount of bandwidth (% of the network link capacity or absolute bandwidth). This is the "guaranteed bandwidth" available so applications can operate with sufficient bandwidth whenever there is congestion. Bandwidth is allocated dynamically "on demand".

Prioritization
Q: How does EdgeVG provide prioritization?
A: EdgeVG can prioritize traffic latency sensitive applications such as VoIP, Video, Citrix and RDP to expedite their transit across the network.

Bandwidth capacity
Q: What is the maximum bandwidth that EdgeVG can handle?
A: Each individual user PC can operate at up to 55Mbps, there is no limit on the wide area network link speed.

EdgeVG traffic impact on branch wide area network (WAN) for central Collector
Q: What is the impact of EdgeVG on the WAN?
A: The EdgeVG statistics records that travel over the WAN from the branch to a central Collector are small in size. The typical impact per branch office user is estimated at 3Kbps.

Where this constitutes a problem due to a small WAN link size, it is recommended that statistics be switched off for that link. Statistics may be activated "on demand" for troubleshooting any link.

Hardware / Operating System requirements
Q: What are the hardware and operating system requirements for EdgeVG?
A: EdgeVG runs on Windows 2000, 2003 or XP in conjunction with other software – choice of Windows Internet Connection Sharing (ICS), or Routing and Remote Access Sharing (RRAS) software.

Edge Virtual Gateway working with other devices and appliances

Working with Windows and non Windows devices on the LAN
Q: How can EdgeVG work with non Windows devices on the LAN?
A: EdgeVG can be configured to work with both Windows and non Windows devices such as network printers, Linux boxes, Apple computers, hardware VoIP phones, etc.

All devices are routed to the WAN via a Windows PC running Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) or routing software and this will control the bandwidth allocated to the various devices. The individual bandwidth allocations for the devices can be set at the application (IP address, URL, Port, TCP / UDP protocol), user (IP address), Citrix ICA tag, RDP, and DSCP code point level.

Note that there is a license option to convert / upgrade EdgeVG to NetPriva End Point Direct (“EPDirect”) to achieve the Layer 7++ level control for Windows devices (classification of application by executable and user by login) by installing a NetPriva agent on each of the Windows devices while retaining the level of EdgeVG control for the non Windows devices.

Complementing bandwidth management / application acceleration appliances
Q: How can EdgeVG work with other network appliances?
A: Network congestion points increase as more applications and more users create more traffic at bottleneck points. These are typically where the local are network (LAN) goes out to the wide area network (WAN). EdgeVG is a cost effective and easy to use solution for this.

EdgeVG prioritizes and guarantees bandwidth by application and user. It does this at the point of congestion. Other appliances that compress or accelerate WAN traffic may be transparent to EdgeVG. However, EdgeVG ensures that such appliances focus firstly on the applications and users that are important to the business. EdgeVG can also assist such appliances to be more effective through EdgeVG marking data packets at a fine classification level.

Complementing routers
Q: How can EdgeVG work with routers?
A: EdgeVG can make routers more effective through EdgeVG fine classification and marking of data packets. The marked packets may be expedited or dropped by the router depending on the router's interpretation of the markings.

Complementing MPLS
Q: How can EdgeVG work with MPLS?
A: EdgeVG can make MPLS more effective through EdgeVG fine classification and marking of data packets for handling a greater range of applications per MPLS Class of Service (CoS). The marked packets may be grouped into specific MPLS CoS channels.

Complementing specific applications
Q: How can EdgeVG work with specific applications?
A: EdgeVG can provide more effective application delivery through a control policy that ensures the specified application (of importance to the business) has priority and guaranteed bandwidth in cases of congestion on the WAN link(s) protected by EdgeVG.

Configuring and installing Edge Virtual Gateway

Deploying the Console
Q: Where can the management Console be deployed?
A: One or more management Consoles may be deployed anywhere on the network, or access the network on a "dial up" basis.

Installing the Console
Q: What is involved in installing the management Console?
A: A management Console executable file may be downloaded from NetPriva's website and installed on an appropriate Windows host (Win XP, 2000, 2003,Vista). The download is approximately 15 Mb.

Deploying EdgeVG
Q: Where can EdgeVG be deployed?
A: EdgeVG may be deployed on the branch local area network (LAN) on a PC or server running a choice of Windows Internet Connection Sharing (ICS), Routing and Remote Access Sharing (RRAS)

A LAN installation requires the Collector / Policy Server to be installed in each relevant branch location. Network monitoring and control policies may be managed remotely and network statistics on each Collector may be accessed remotely via the management Console.

Installing EdgeVG
Q: What is involved in installing EdgeVG ?
A: An EdgeVG installer may be downloaded from NetPriva's website and installed on an appropriate Windows host (Win XP, 2000, 2003, Vista, 2008). The download is approximately 9 Mb.

Setting up EdgeVG policies
Q: How is an EdgeVG traffic control policy set up?
A: Policies are set up using the management Console's template screens and implemented by the Collector according to preset rules.

Network statistics capture and collection
Q: How are network statistics captured and collected?
A: The Collector captures the network statistics on a second by second basis for all WAN data flows. They are retained in an SQL database.

Retrieving and viewing or reporting network statistics
Q: How can network statistics be retrieved and viewed or reported on?
A: The management Console may be used to access network statistics using flexible parameters to display data on graphical format for different “top ten” and “drill down” views on the data (applications, users, URLs, time intervals, etc).

Alternatively a SQL query or report writing tool may be used for customized analysis, reporting, and data export.