Best Practices For Deploying WAN Optimization With Data Replication

All too often, the Wide Area Network (WAN) link is the weak link in data protection. Limited bandwidth, high latency, lost packets, and out of order packets can all jeopardize strategic data replication and backup initiatives, resulting in missed Recovery Point Objectives and Recovery Time Objectives (RPO/RTO).

As data volumes grow, and as the distance between data centers increases to protect business data from catastrophic disasters, there is increasing pressure being placed on the WAN. This has heightened the demand for optimization tools that can improve data replication times across the WAN while maximizing bandwidth efficiency during these processes.

There are unique requirements for deploying WAN optimization in a disaster recovery ("DR") environment. Replication, for example, involves a high volume of sustained traffic which is highly susceptible to lost and out-of-order packets. Transfer times are very well defined to fit within allocated windows, and DR traffic is often encrypted to protect sensitive business data. Replication solutions can run over TCP, UDP and in some cases proprietary and encapsulated transport protocols (depending on the solution), and often have their own optimization techniques that can affect the performance of downstream WAN optimization devices.

By understanding these requirements and establishing guidelines for addressing them, WAN optimization can be deployed with maximum effectiveness. As such, WAN optimization can live up to its potential as a key enabler for strategic disaster recovery initiatives.