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Introducing the WANJet 500 Platform

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Overview of the WANJet 500 platform

F5^® Networks WANJet^® 500 platform is an appliance that delivers LAN-like application performance over the WAN. The WANJet 500 accelerates applications including file transfer, email, client-server applications, data replication, and others, resulting in predictable, fast performance for all WAN users.

The WANJet 500 platform features fault tolerance and scalability for over 20,000 optimized connections. You can incorporate the WANJet 500 seamlessly across all wide-area networks including dedicated links, IP VPNs, frame relay, and satellite connections. The WANJet 500 platform is Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) compliant, and meets RoHS guidelines regarding lead-free electronic equipment.

For detailed hardware specifications on the WANJet 500, see WANJet 500 platform specifications .

The WANJet 500 delivers excellent application performance and reduces IT expenses. Operating at Layer 5 of the OSI reference model, the WANJet 500 has full application knowledge and network awareness. The WANJet appliance integrates key performance technologies, including Transparent Data Reduction™, adaptive TCP optimization, site-to-site encryption, and quality of service, that are applied to application streams.

Figure 1.1 shows the WANJet 500 platform. For details on configuring and maintaining the WANJet 500, see the WANJet^® Appliance Administrator Guide.

 

Getting started with the WANJet 500 platform

You must complete the following basic tasks to install and set up the WANJet 500 platform.

The WANJet 500 comes with the hardware that you need for installation. However, you must also provide standard peripheral hardware, such as a serial terminal, if you want to administer the WANJet 500 directly.

Components provided with the WANJet 500

When you unpack the WANJet 500, you should make sure that the following components, shown in Figure 1.2 , are included:

Peripheral hardware that you provide

For each WANJet 500 that you install, the peripheral hardware you provide is determined by the configuration you want to create:

Familiarizing yourself with the WANJet 500

Before you begin to install the WANJet 500, quickly review the following figures that identify the controls and ports on the front and the back of the WANJet 500.

Using the WANJet 500 hardware

You need to be familiar with both the front and back panels of the WANJet 500. Figure 1.3 illustrates the front of a WANJet 500. On the front of the unit, you can connect a console, connect a USB keyboard, and view the indicator lights for hard disk access.

 

 

If you have physical access to the unit, you can use the front-panel LEDs to assess the condition of the unit. For details about the behavior of the LEDs, see Understanding LED behavior .

Figure 1.4 illustrates the back of a WANJet 500.

 

 

Note that the failover port, labeled 1 in the figure, is not used. You may use the Peer port on the front to set up a redundant system for the WANJet platform. Refer to the WANJet^® Appliance Administrator Guide for details on how to set up WANJet platforms in a redundant system.

About this guide

This guide describes the features of the WANJet 500 platform and contains the following information.

Finding additional information and technical support

In addition to this guide, there are other sources of documentation you can use in order to work with the WANJet platform. The information is available in the guides and documents described below. The following documentation is included with the WANJet platform.

In addition to the documentation included with the platform, you can find comprehensive technical documentation using the following resources.

Stylistic conventions

To help you easily identify and understand important information, our documentation uses the stylistic conventions described below.

Using the solution examples

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

Identifying new terms

When we first define a new term, the term is shown in bold italic text. For example, the Web UI is the browser-based utility for administering the WANJet appliance.

Identifying references to objects, names, and commands

We apply bold formatting 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, and portions of commands, such as variables and keywords. For example, to discover devices requires that you include at least one <ip_address> or an <ip_subnet> variable.

Identifying references to other documents

We use italic text to denote a reference to another document. In references where we provide the name of a book as well as a specific chapter or section in the book, we show the book name in bold, italic text, and the chapter/section name in italic text to help quickly differentiate the two. For example, you can find information about setting up optimization policies in the Advanced Configuration chapter of the WANJet^® Appliance Administrator Guide.

Identifying command syntax

We show 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. For example, the following command shows how to trace the route of IP packets from the WANJet command line interface:

traceroute <ip_address>

Table 1.1 explains additional special conventions used in command line syntax.

 

 

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