Creating a virtual circuit
Use the following instruction to create a new virtual circuitlogical definitions that partition a a physical network circuit and used to determine what traffic passes through it and how much (VC). You use VCs to manage bandwidth through the Exinda Appliance.
Before you begin…
If you need to manage oversubscription to the VC, see the following:
As you create the new VC, you may want to employ the Dynamic Options. Depending on the configuration, the following can give some insight into the best way to achieve your goals:
- Configuring a Virtual Circuit as a Dynamic Virtual Circuit
- Sharing bandwidth equally among as many hosts as possible
- Ensuring minimum bandwidth when sharing equally among as many hosts as possible
- Capping bandwidth usage per host
- Capping bandwidth usage per host with minimum bandwidth allowed
- Limiting the number of hosts sharing bandwidth
Creating a virtual circuit in the Exinda Web UI
- Go to Configuration > Traffic Policies > Optimizer.
- If not already open, select the Optimizer tab.
- Click the Create New Virtual Circuit... link at the bottom of each circuit or edit an existing virtual circuit.
- In the Virtual Circuit Number field, type a number that will sort the virtual circuit in the policy tree.
- In the Virtual Circuit Name field, type a suitable name for the VC.
- If necessary, from the Schedule drop-down, select a schedule that defines a particular time period, the default is ALWAYS.
- Enter the desired Virtual Circuit Bandwidth as kbps or as a percentage of it's parent circuit.
NOTE
The desired bandwidth for a single virtual circuit must not exceed it's parent circuit's bandwidth in either direction.
- Specify how to handle Oversubscription . See the "Before you begin…" section above for a link to more information about managing oversubscriptions.
- Automatic– The VC shares bandwidth proportionally with other "Automatic" VCs.
- Manual– The VC is guaranteed a specified amount of bandwidth.
IMPORTANT
Any VCs with manually assigned bandwidth take priority over VCs with automatically assigned bandwidth. This means that "Automatic" VCs share the bandwidth that remains after all "Manual" VCs have received their guaranteed bandwidth. If no bandwith remains, the "Automatic" VCs receive nothing.
- If necessary, select the Dynamic Virtual Circuit option. The "Dynamic Options" open. See the "Before you begin…" above for links to topics that explain how to use the options.
- If necessary, specify a Connection Limit. This limits the number of active connections in the virtual circuit. Leave this field blank if you do not want to cap the number of connections.
NOTE
Once a virtual circuit connection limit has been reached, the VC will no longer match any incoming traffic. Therefore, connections that arrive later will be evaluated against the remaining virtual circuits in the Policy Tree. As active connections terminate, the VC then evaluates other connections.
BEST PRACTICE
To prevent traffic being entirely excluded, it is a best practice to create a further virtual circuit to capture traffic rejected by the VC.
- Complete the following Filter Options, as needed.
- Specify a VLAN Object to filter which traffic falls into the virtual circuit. The default is ALL.
- Specify a Network Object to filter which subnet, hosts, users, or user groups falls into the virtual circuit.
- Specify an Application to filter which application or application group falls into the virtual circuit. The default is ALL.
- Specify the Direction of traffic to capture in the virtual circuit. The direction options are:
NOTE
The direction is relative to the LANLocal area network. Consider an example where a network objecta logical definition created and stored in the Exinda lilbrary, can represent any network component and a direction is specified:
- Both– both inbound and outbound traffic
- Inbound– inbound from the WANWide Area Network only
- Outbound– outbound to the WAN only
| Network Object | Direction | Captured Traffic |
|---|---|---|
|
'Internal' or 'External' network objects |
Both |
Only inbound and outbound traffic to and from the subnets defined by the network object. |
|
'Internal' network object |
Inbound |
Only inbound traffic to the subnets defined as 'internal' by the network object. |
| 'External' network object | Inbound | Only inbound traffic to the LAN from the subnets defined as 'external' by the network object. |
|
'Internal' network object |
Outbound |
Only outbound traffic from the subnets defined as 'internal' by the Network Object. |
| 'External' network object | Outbound | Only outbound traffic from the LAN to the subnets defined as 'external' by the Network Object. |
- Click Add New Circuit. The virtual circuit appears in the policy tree.
- If necessary, in the policy tree, change the ranking of the VC. This ensures the VC is handled in the correct order.
To delete a policy from the system
To delete a policy from the system, it must be deleted from the policy librarythe Exinda repository for network objects and their definitions. Go to Configuration > Traffic Policies > Optimizer > Policies.
Related Topic
Creating a virtual circuit in the EMC
You have the option of creating a virtual circuit within the Configuration Library first, and then later assigning it to a circuit in the Optimizer Policy Tree, or you can create the virtual circuit directly within the Optimizer Policy Tree, which also saves it as a Library item . The virtual circuits within a tenant must have unique names. When a virtual circuit is modified, all instances of its use are modified.
To learn how circuits, virtual circuits, policy sets, and policy rules work together, see Policy Tree.
Where do I find Virtual Circuits?
Virtual Circuit library items can be found in Library > Virtual Circuits. Also, the virtual circuits that will be sent to appliances are found in the policy trees for each appliance group. Go to the (desired appliance group) > Optimizer Policy Tree.
To create a Virtual Circuit in the Configuration Library
- Go to Library > Virtual Circuits.
- Click Create new virtual circuit.
- In the Name section, key-in a name for the virtual circuit. The name must be unique within the tenant.
NOTE
If you want, you can leave the EMCExinda Management Center, SaaS service to centrally monitor and configure multiple Exinda appliances to define a name for you, It does this based on the configuration of the virtual circuit.
- In the Filter section, select the combination of filters to apply to the virtual circuit. Optionally, type a value to limit the number of connections at one time on this virtual circuit.
NOTE
The virtual circuit can partition the circuit by filtering the traffic based on these filters. You can apply any combination of these filters. Defined network object library items appear in the Network Object list, and you can also choose filters from the pre-defined application groups.
- In the Bandwidth section, type the desired bandwidth for this virtual circuit.
- Also specify how to share bandwidth with other virtual circuits when there is insufficient bandwidth due to over subscription..
NOTE
The bandwidth can be specified in %, Kbps, Mbps or Gbps.
- In the Dynamic Virtual Circuit section, set the options that provide the control you need.
NOTE
See For more information refer to Dynamic Virtual Circuits. for more information about configuring dynamic virtual circuits.
- In the Schedule section, set the time values for when the virtual circuit will be enforced.
NOTE
Options in the list are determined by the library Schedules category
- Click the Create button. The virtual circuit is added to the Virtual Circuits Library category.
To create a new Virtual Circuit directly in the Optimizer Policy Tree
- Go to (desired appliance group) > Optimizer Policy Tree.
- Click Create new virtual circuit.
- In the Name section, key-in a name for the virtual circuit. The name must be unique within the tenant.
NOTE
If you want, you can leave the EMC to define a name for you, It does this based on the configuration of the virtual circuit.
- In the Filter section, select the combination of filters to apply to the virtual circuit. Optionally, type a value to limit the number of connections at one time on this virtual circuit.
NOTE
The virtual circuit can partition the circuit by filtering the traffic based on these filters. You can apply any combination of these filters. Defined network object library items appear in the Network Object list, and you can also choose filters from the pre-defined application groups.
- In the Bandwidth section, type the desired bandwidth for this virtual circuit.
- Also specify how to share bandwidth with other virtual circuits when there is insufficient bandwidth due to over subscription..
NOTE
The bandwidth can be specified in %, Kbps, Mbps or Gbps.
- In the Dynamic Virtual Circuit section, set the options that provide the control you need.
NOTE
See For more information refer to Dynamic Virtual Circuits. for more information about configuring dynamic virtual circuits.
- In the Schedule section, set the time values for when the virtual circuit will be enforced.
NOTE
Options in the list are determined by the library Schedules category
- Click the Create button. The virtual circuit is added to the Circuit within the Optimizer Policy Tree and is also saved to the Configuration Library.
To add a Virtual Circuit from the Library to a Policy Tree
- Go to (desired appliance group) > Optimizer Policy Tree.
- Click Add Virtual Circuit from library.
- Select the desired virtual circuit from the drop-down list.