Creating a policy for a specific virtual circuit in the Exinda Web UI
Use the following instructions to create a policy that relates to a specific virtual circuitlogical definitions that partition a a physical network circuit and used to determine what traffic passes through it and how much (VC). While these instructions assume that the policy is intended for a specific VC, it can later be used with other VCs.
Before you begin
Some of the following steps require understanding that is not included in the instructions. You should consult the following, where needed:
- Configuring a policy to accelerate traffic
- Configuring a policy to discard (block) traffic
- Configuring a policy to redirect HTTP traffic to an HTTP Response webpage
- Configuring a policy to redirect HTTP traffic to a URL
To create the policy
- Go to Configuration > Optimizer. The right side of the screen refreshes.
NOTE
You can create a policy on either the Optimizer or Policies tab. If you create the policy on the Optimizer tab, the policy must first be associated with a specific virtual circuit. The policy can be associated with other virtual circuits later. If you create the policy on the Policies tab, it is then available for use with any of the virtual circuits.
- If not already open, select the Optimizer tab
- Click the Create New Policy link adjacent to the virtual circuit that requires the new policy. The page refreshes to show the new policy configuration options.
- In the Policy Name field, type a suitable name for the policy.
- If necessary, edit the pre-populated policy number in the VC Policy Number field.
NOTE
The policy number determines the order in which the policy is enacted in the policy tree; lower numbers receive higher priority, so highly specific policies should receive lower numbers and more general policies should receive higher numbers.
- Optionally, specify a Schedule.
NOTE
The default is "ALWAYS". Schedules that have been defined will appear in the drop-down list. If necessary, you can create schedules by going to Configuration > Objects > Schedules.
- Specify the Action.
- Optimize– Perform traffic shaping, acceleration, or packet marking on the traffic.
- Discard– Discard the packets effectively blocking the traffic
- Ignore– Perform no action on the packets allowing them to pass through the appliance unaffected. This setting is effective for a monitor only mode. Note that this option should not be used for policies within a dynamic virtual circuit.
- Return HTML Response– Presents the webpage defined in the HTML response object to the source web browser.
- HTTP Redirect– Redirect the packets to a specified URL effectively presenting the URL to the network client.
NOTE
Each of the policy actions comes with its own set of options.
- Complete the additional settings as required by the action.
- Enter the Filter Rules. Any of the following fields may be used to specify how to filter the traffic.
- VLAN– Select traffic based on 802.1Q VLAN ID and/or 802.iP VLAN priority tag using a pre-defined VLAN object.
- Source/Direction/Destination– Select traffic based on one end of the conversation belonging to a predefined network objecta logical definition created and stored in the Exinda lilbrary, can represent any network component (static or dynamic) or select traffic based on one way or two way conversations between two predefined network objects. For the first host, select a network object that filters for the initiation of a conversation. For the second host, select a network object that filters for the destination of the conversation. If hosts are not specified, ALL network objects are assumed. Traffic direction is relative to the Exinda appliance.
- ToS/DSCPDifferentiated Services Code Point– Select traffic based on particular ToS/DSCP marks in the IPInternet protocol header.
- Application– Select traffic based on a predefined application object or application group.
NOTE
- By default, initially only four filter rules can be created per policy. If more are required, fill out the first four rules, save the Policy, then edit the Policy and four more lines will become available.
- To delete individual filter rules, set all the fields for that filter rule to blank.
- Click Add New Policy to add this policy to the policy tree. The policy will also be added to the policy librarythe Exinda repository for network objects and their definitions.
To delete a policy from the system
To delete a policy from the system, it must be deleted from the policy library. Go to Configuration > Traffic Policies > Optimizer > Policies.