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Introducing the WANJet Appliance

Introducing the WANJet appliance

F5^® Networks WANJet™ appliance is an appliance-based solution that delivers LAN-like application performance over the WAN. The WANJet appliance accelerates applications including file transfer, email, client-server applications, data replication, and others, resulting in predictable, fast performance for all WAN users.

For data centers, the WANJet 400 appliance features fault tolerance and scalability for up to 10,000 optimized connections. For branch offices, the WANJet 200 appliance combines fault tolerant features, silent operation and performance for up to 2,000 optimized connections. The WANJet appliance solutions work seamlessly across all wide-area networks including dedicated links, IP VPNs, frame relay, and even satellite connections.

The WANJet appliance delivers unrivaled application performance and reduced IT expenses. At the heart of WANJet appliance is the F5 Session Matrix™, which is a networking technology that is essential to application performance on the WAN. Operating at Layer 5 of the OSI reference model, the Session Matrix gives the WANJet appliance full application knowledge and network awareness. It integrates key performance technologies, including Transparent Data Reduction™, adaptive TCP optimization, encryption, and quality of service that are applied to application streams.

About this guide

This guide describes how to install and use the WANJet appliance. Its intended audience consists of the network administrators, information system engineers, and network managers responsible for the configuration and ongoing management of the WANJet appliance.

This guide provides information about:

Additional information

In addition to this guide, there are other sources of documentation that you can use in order to work with the WANJet appliance. The following documentation is available in PDF format at http://tech.f5.com:

Stylistic conventions in this guide

To help you easily identify and understand certain types of information, this documentation uses the following stylistic conventions.

Using the solution examples

All examples in this documentation use only private IP addresses. When you set up the solutions we describe, you must use IP addresses suitable to your own network in place of our sample IP addresses.

Identifying new terms

When we first define a new term, the term is shown in bold italic text.

After you have completed the hardware configuration, using either the LCD panel or a console connected to the F5 appliance's serial port, you can configure the WANJet appliance using the browser-based utility, called the Web UI.

Identifying references to objects, names, and commands

We apply bold text to a variety of items to help you easily pick them out of a block of text. These items include web addresses, IP addresses, utility names, most controls in the Web UI, and portions of commands, such as variables and keywords.

For example, if the IP address of the appliance is 192.168.168.102, type https://192.168.168.102:10000 in the web browser to login to the WANJet appliance.

Identifying references to other documents

We use italic text to denote a reference to another document.

For example, see the Quick Start Card for the F5 WANJet 200 or WANJet 400 appliance for information about installing F5 appliances.

Identifying command syntax

We show actual, complete commands in bold Courier text. Note that we do not include the corresponding screen prompt, unless the command is shown in a figure that depicts an entire command line screen. Table 1.1 explains additional special conventions used in command line syntax.

Finding help and technical support resources

You can find additional technical documentation and product information using the following resource:

F5 Networks Technical Support web site
The F5 Networks Technical Support web site, http://tech.f5.com, provides the latest documentation for the product, including:

To access this site, you need to register at http://tech.f5.com.