Learning the lexicon of bandwidth management will take some time. But here are some of the basics to help you sort through what can be confusing terms tossed about by vendor marketing departments.
Application Acceleration ― Often employed as part of a WAN Optimization effort, Application Acceleration is comprised of several techniques, namely compression, caching and protocol optimization, to speed up performance of applications on a wide area network.
Application Bonding ― For Internet-facing applications, this technique makes proxy connections for multiple queries, receives the replies, and reassembles and delivers them to the end user. The advantage is being able to use links from multiple providers at multiple sizes and speeds. The disadvantage is only Web and ftp downloads can be “bonded.” Otherwise the traffic will be blocked by ISPs as spoofing.
Bandwidth Aggregation ― See Link Aggregation
Bandwidth Bonding ― Combining multiple carrier links and multiple link speeds and capacities by sending packets across them as if they were one larger pipe. Bonding requires like appliances on both ends of the connection.
Bandwidth Limiting ― See Traffic Shaping
Bandwidth Shaping ― See Traffic Shaping
Bandwidth Throttling ― See Traffic Shaping
Broadband Bonding ― See Bandwidth Bonding
Caching ― One of the data reduction techniques used in Application Acceleration is caching. Object caching is placing a copy of the content in a location closer to the user than the originating server. This saves time and bandwidth when a user requests the same object again or when multiple users request an object at the same time. A second, more granular type is byte caching, which is made possible by two appliances on the local and remote ends of the network. Accordingly, byte caching is bidirectional.
Channel Bonding ― See Bandwidth Bonding
Compression ― One of the data reduction techniques used in Application Acceleration, compression technology reduces the number of packets that are sent by removing extraneous or redundant from the data flow. When the data arrives at the other end, the same algorithm uncompresses the data. Not all applications are equally compressible. While e-mail and ftp compress well, encrypted traffic and VoIP do not.
Content Filtering ― Another component that can fall under WAN Optimization is eliminating undesirable content that can clog up the WAN and impact the performance. Examples include Web surfing, peer-to-peer, file sharing, personal VoIP calling traffic. Every corporation should set acceptable use policies for network users; however content filtering techniques can help that along.
