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WHITE PAPER | Citrix Branch Repeater VPX and XenServer

How to set up a self contained Branch

Repeater VPX demo environment with

WAN emulation.

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Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 3

Products and Tools Required ........................................................................................................................... 3

XenServer Requirements .................................................................................................................................. 4

Demo Virtual Network Topology ................................................................................................................... 4

Configuration – XenServer Host ..................................................................................................................... 5

Configuration – Branch Repeater VPX 1 ...................................................................................................... 6

Configuration – Branch Repeater VPX 2 ...................................................................................................... 7

Configuration – WANem WAN Emulator ................................................................................................... 8

Configuration – Windows Server VM .......................................................................................................... 15

Configuration – Windows Client VM ........................................................................................................... 17

Configuration – WANem WAN Emulation Settings ................................................................................. 18

Configuration – Final Branch Repeater VPX Settings ............................................................................... 19

Conducting a WAN Acceleration Demonstration ...................................................................................... 20

Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................ 22

Introduction

This guide is intended to be a quick step-by-step walk through of the setup and configuration of a

self-contained Branch Repeater VPX demo environment with WAN Emulation. This environment

is designed such that it can be easily replicated to a laptop or portable drive for customer or

tradeshow demonstrations. Some skill set and environmental assumptions are made in this guide

and are required prior to configuration of the demo environment;

XenServer 5.5 is installed and configured on the recommended hardware configuration (see

below).

XenCenter 5.5 is installed and configured on a physical client machine for management.

The Branch Repeater VPX(s) are imported and licensed when possible.

The Windows Server VM has been created and a Windows Server operating system installed.

The Windows Client VM has been created and a Windows Client operating system installed.

The WANem ISO image has been downloaded and burned to a CDROM or DVD. (link

provided above)

Products and Tools Required

1 x XenServer 5.5

1 x XenCenter 5.5

2 x Branch Repeater VPX

1 x Windows Client VM (Windows XP or higher)

1 x Windows Server VM (Windows 2003 or higher)

1 x WANem v2.2 ISO

https://www.citrix.com/English/SS/downloads/details.asp?dID=36239&downloadID=1861206&pID=683148



http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/default.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/default.aspx

http://wanem.sourceforge.net/

XenServer Requirements

1 multi-core processor

4 GB of RAM

o 1gb – Branch Repeater VPX recommended

o 1gb – Branch Repeater VPX recommended

o 384mb – Windows Server recommended

o 384mb – Windows Client recommended

o 256mb – WANem WAN Emulator recommended

150gb available local disk space (for virtual hard disks.)

o 60gb - Branch Repeater VPX recommended

o 60gb – Branch repeater VPX recommended

o 10gb – Windows Server VM recommended

o 5gb – Windows Client VM recommended

o 0gb - WANem WAN Emulator

1 physical network adapter

1 CD/DVD Drive

Demo Virtual Network Topology

Configuration – XenServer Host

Start XenCenter 5.5

and connect to the

XenServer. Highlight

the XenServer name

node and then click

on the Network Tab.

Create four new

virtual networks by

clicking on the Add

Network button.

Follow the creation

steps once per virtual

network. Name them

logically along with

identifications of 1-4

Configuration – Branch Repeater VPX 1

While shutdown, configure

Branch Repeater VPX 1

networking such that Device0

and Device1 is attached to

Virtual Network 1 and Virtual

Network 2.

From the console, using the set

adapter command, configure the

IP addressing of the Branch

Repeater VPX 1 accelerated pair

(apA) as;

-IP: 192.168.1.11

-Subnet: 255.255.255.0

-Gateway: 192.168.1.1

Finish by issuing a restart

command.

Once the Windows Client is

configured later in this guide, log

into the Branch Repeater VPX 1

web admin tool at

http://192.168.1.11 and install a

license. See the Branch Repeater

VPX Admin Guide for detailed

steps on licensing. To acquire a

FREE Branch Repeater VPX

Express License, log into

MyCitrix.

http://192.168.1.11/


http://www.citrix.com/English/ss/downloads/details.asp?downloadId=1863377&productId=1350184


http://www.citrix.com/lang/English/publicindex.asp?destURL=%2FEnglish%2Fmycitrix%2Findex%2Easp%3F

Configuration – Branch Repeater VPX 2



networking such that Network

Device0 and Device1 is

attached to the Virtual

Network 3 and Virtual

Network 4.

From the console, using the set

adapter command, configure

the IP addressing of the


accelerated pair (apA) as;

-IP: 192.168.1.13

-Subnet: 255.255.255.0

-Gateway: 192.168.1.1

Finish by issuing a restart

command.

Once the Windows Client is

configured later in this guide,

log into the Branch Repeater

VPX 2 web admin tool at

http://192.168.1.13 and

install a license. See the

Branch Repeater VPX Admin

Guide for detailed steps on

licensing.

http://192.168.1.13/



Configuration – WANem WAN Emulator

Create a new VM in XenCenter

by right clicking on the

XenServer‟s name and choosing

New VM.

The New VM Wizard will start.

Scroll to the bottom of the list

and select Other Install Media.

Click Next.

Give the WANem virtual

machine a simple yet descriptive

name.

Select Physical DVD Drive as

the location for the WANem

install media. At this time, be

sure the CD/DVD containing

the WANem ISO image is

inserted into the DVD drive.

Click Next.

Chose the local server as the

home for the WANem virtual

machine. Click Next.

Configure the WAN virtual

machine to use 1 virtual CPU

and 256 megabytes of memory.

Click next.

Do not chose or create any

virtual disks. Click Next.

Using the Delete button, remove

all network adapters that may

automatically appear in the

interface list. Then click Add and

to add Virtual Network 2 and

Virtual Network 3. Click Next.

Check the Start VM

Automatically checkbox. Click

Next.

The WANem virtual machine

will start. Select the new

WANem virtual machine node

on the left, and then the Console

tab. Your console window

should look something like this.

When asked, do not choose to

configure interfaces via DHCP.

Enter an „n‟ and press enter.

Do not configure the Ethernet

adapters yet. Press Esc.

Choose a new UNIX root

password. Retype it to confirm

and press <enter>.

When you see the

WANemControl@PERC

command prompt, enter the

„exit2shell‟ command and press

enter.

At the Knopix prompt

(root!tty1:/#) zero the IP

information for the two Ethernet

adapters and then create a bridge

adapter (br0) by entering the

following:

ifconfig eth0 0.0.0.0 up <enter>

ifconfig eth1 0.0.0.0 up <enter>

brctl addbr br0 <enter>

Now, add the two Ethernet

interfaces (eth0 and eth1) to the

bridge adapter (br0) by entering

the following:

brctl addif br0 eth0 <enter>

brctl addif br0 eth1 <enter>

Now assign the new bridge

adapter (br0) an IP address of

192.168.1.12 by entering the

following:

ifconfig br0 192.168.1.12 netmask

255.255.255.0 <enter>

Return to the WANem prompt

by entering the following:

wanem <enter>

Configuration – Windows Server VM


Windows Server VM to have a

single virtual network adapter

(device0). Also ensure that

device0 is attached to Virtual

Network 1.

Start the Windows Server VM

and log in with Administrator

credentials.

From the properties of the

Local Area Connection,

configure the IP addressing of

the Windows Server as;

-IP: 192.168.1.10

-Subnet: 255.255.255.0

-Gateway: 192.168.1.1

Finish by clicking OK twice.

Right click on the desktop and

create a new folder called

Public.

Share the folder and ensure

permissions are set accordingly

for access across the WAN.

Copy some random test

documents and images to this

folder. These files will be used

to generate CIFS traffic from

the Windows Client VM.

Configuration – Windows Client VM


Windows Client VM to have a

single virtual network adapter

(device0). Also ensure that device0

is attached to Virtual Network 4.

From the properties of the Local

Area Connection, configure the IP

addressing of the Windows Client

as;

-IP: 192.168.1.14

-Subnet: 255.255.255.0

-Gateway: 192.168.1.1

Finish by clicking OK twice.

Test WAN connectivity by

attempting to ping the Windows

Server VM across the virtual

WAN. Test by opening a

command prompt and entering;

ping 192.168.1.10 <enter>. Note the

ping response time (ms).

Configuration – WANem WAN Emulation Settings

Log into the console of the

Windows Client and open

Internet Explorer. Connect to

WANem at

http://192.168.1.12/WANem.

Note: the URL to the WANem

management console is case

sensitive.

Click on “Basic Mode” on the

WANem management console

toolbar. Ensure that “br0”

appears in the Bridges pull

down.

Chose a Bandwidth level for

both eth0 and eth1. A T-1/DS-

1 has been chosen in this

example.

Enter a packet delay (ms) for

both eth0 and eth1. 100ms for

both directions have been

chosen in this example.

Click Apply Settings.

http://192.168.1.12/WANem

Configuration – Final Branch Repeater VPX Settings

Log into the console of the

Windows Client and open Internet

Explorer. Connect to the Branch

Repeater VPX‟s at

http://192.168.1.11 and

http://192.168.1.13.

If the Branch Repeater VPX is not

licensed yet, click on Manage

Licenses and install a valid license

before continuing. To acquire a

FREE Branch Repeater VPX

Express License, log into MyCitrix.

Repeat this on step for both

Branch Repeater VPX‟s.

Click on the Adjust Using

Bandwidth Management link.

You must configure the Branch

Repeater VPX‟s Bandwidth

Scheduler. Enter values in the Send

and Receive Bandwidth Limit

boxes equal to approx 95% of the

configured WAN link speed you

chose in WANem.

In this example, WANem was

configured to emulate a T-1/DS-1

therefore; 1.544 x .95 = 1470.

Select Softboost, Full Bandwidth

and then click Update. Repeat

these steps on both Branch

Repeater VPX‟s

http://192.168.1.11/

http://192.168.1.13/



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Conducting a WAN Acceleration Demonstration

Open another Internet Explorer

window. Connect to the client side

Branch Repeater VPX admin sole

at http://192.168.1.13 and log in.

Click on the Usage Graph node.

Click on the Auto Refresh Toggle

link to enable refreshing of the

WAN traffic graph. Minimize the

browser.

Within the Windows Client VM

console, Click on Start | Run.

Connect to the Public file share on

the Windows Server VM by

entering \\192.168.1.10\Public

<enter>.

If needed, enter the proper

administrator credentials and

password.

The Public file share will appear

showing the test files copied

earlier. Select all of the files and

then right click on them. Select

Send To | My Documents. A file

copy will begin across the virtual

WAN generating CIFS traffic.

http://192.168.1.13/

Maximize the Branch Repeater

VPX web admin console and click

on the Usage Graph node. Notice

the WAN and LAN traffic graphs.

Blue indicated accelerated traffic.

Click on the Active Connections

node. The new accelerated

connection will appear. Notice the

bytes transferred and effective

compression ratio.

Conclusion

This demonstration can easily be repeated with different traffic types and WAN configurations. A

well-rounded demonstration should include a variety of bandwidth levels (dial-up, T1, T3, DS3) as

well as a variety of packet latency profiles (0ms, 100ms, 250ms and 500ms).

For easy portability, these virtual machines can now be exported and copied to a portable hard drive

or other media for easy re-import into another XenServer host.

Be sure to visit the Citrix Community to keep up on all inside product news, best practices, tools

and guides like this one.

About Citrix

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