An Introduction to Crescendo s Maestro Application Delivery Platform

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An Intrductin t Crescend s Maestr Applicatin Delivery Platfrm Intrductin This dcument is intended t serve as a shrt intrductin t Crescend s Maestr Platfrm and its cre features/benefits.

1 An Intrductin t Crescend s Maestr Applicatin Delivery Platfrm Intrductin This dcument is intended t serve as a shrt intrductin t Crescend s Maestr Platfrm and its cre features/benefits. The dcument will als highlight cmpetitive advantages f the prduct, alng with typical custmers best suited fr the platfrm. Functinality Maestr is a purely hardware-based appliance that frnt-ends web applicatins in rder t ptimize/accelerate the applicatin. This class f prduct is cmmnly referred t as an AFE (Applicatin Frnt End). Maestr (specifically, the CN-5000 Maestr prduct family) is functinally lcated in a netwrk as seen in the diagram belw: Typical Maestr Deplyment At this lcatin in the netwrk, Maestr perfrms a number f ptimizatin/acceleratin tasks: TCP terminatin, fflad, and cnnectin cnslidatin: Descriptin: Maestr is the actual TCP endpint fr all client cnnectins. In turn, it starts and wns a small number f server side cnnectins. All incming requests are received by Maestr ver the client-side cnnectins and then directed t ne f the server side cnnectins. This nt nly helps reduce the TCP verhead fr each server, but als accelerates the rate at which each server delivers cntent t the netwrk. 1

2 Benefits: When it cmes t handling TCP cnnectins, standard server TCP stacks have 3 majr pain pints: 1. Handling a large number f TCP cnnectin setups and teardwns 2. Handling a large number f simultaneus TCP cnnectins 3. Dealing with WAN-based cnnectins that are subject t delays, drps, retransmissin, and cngestin Web applicatins facing Internet clients expse servers t all f these pain pints. Maestr addresses all these issues by perfrming TCP terminatin, fflad, and cnnectins cnslidatin. The cnnectins between the CN and the servers are small in number and lng in lifetime. This relieves the server frm bth the number f setup/teardwn peratins it must perfrm and the number f cnnectins it must simultaneusly maintain. Als, since Maestr initiates and wns the server-side cnnectins, the servers essentially think all the clients are n the same LAN. This allws them t be ttally shielded frm WAN-impsed cnnectin issues and transmit data t the netwrk at full LAN speeds. Maestr takes care f all buffering necessary t transmit the respnses t the clients, based n the individual capabilities/bandwidth f each client cnnectin Cntent Cmpressin: Descriptin: Since Maestr is fully respnsible fr delivering the server respnses t the clients, it can perfrm HTTP cntent cmpressin as the request flws frm the server t the client. This is dne thrugh a fully hardware-based cmpressin mdule that can cmpress at 1Gbps wire speed. Benefits: Cntent cmpressin reduces the number f bytes that flw frm the web site t the client. This helps reduce the amunt f bandwidth used by the site, which can help any site that is limited in bandwidth usage, either technically (nly finite amunt f bandwidth available) r financially (higher cst fr mre bandwidth utilizatin). Cntent cmpressin als reduces the number f bytes that the client needs t receive fr each bject, effectively imprving the client s perceived respnse time. Cmpressin is als an fflad technlgy. The benefits f cmpressin are vast enugh that servers may, themselves, perfrm the cntent cmpressin. Hwever, cmpressing cntent is a CPU burden fr the server which increases the verhead fr cntent serving. Offlading the cmpressin task t the CN relieves the server frm this pain. SSL Offlad: Descriptin: Maestr can als fflad all SSL prcessing frm the server. All SSL cnnectins are terminated at the CN-5000 and prcessed at scale thrugh an embedded hardware fflad mdule. The SSL mdule can handle bth SSL sessin setup and bulk data encryptin tasks. Secure requests can be sent t the servers via clear-text HTTP r via SSL (using weaker security ciphers and lnger lasting SSL sessins, fr minimized impact). The server respnse is als re-encrypted by Maestr n the way back t the client. Benefits: SSL prcessing is a significant resurce burden fr a server. The cryptgraphic algrithms that are used in bth sessin setup (SSL handshake) 2

3 and actual data transfer (bulk encryptin) bth require significant CPU cycles frm a server. Maestr fflads this functinality t dedicated hardware that accelerates bth sessin setup and bulk encryptin. The advantage f perfrming the fflad external t the server is that additinal functins such as cmpressin and lad balancing can be perfrmed n secure data since Maestr has access t the clear-text versin during the encryptin/decryptin prcess. Lad Balancing: Descriptin: Lad balancing allws Maestr t distribute the incming requests acrss a number f identical servers. Because Maestr knws the specific status f each request with each server, it can ptimally chse the mst apprpriate server t fulfill each request. Requests can als be directed t different clusters based n URL, file type, language, r Hst header. Benefits: Lad balancing nt nly allws a site t scale with new servers, but als prvides failver and fault tlerance in case servers in a web applicatin have unexpected failures. It als prvides a seamless way fr taking servers in and ut f service fr maintenance reasns. Maestr s lad balancing functinality is request-based, because f the underlying architecture and TCP terminatin capabilities. Maestr can als be integrated int a netwrk with an existing lad balancer, allwing it t add its fflad and acceleratin functinality t the netwrk. Other Functinality: The fllwing are a few f the ther highlights f the maestr platfrm: DDS Prtectin Since the maestr platfrm is built frm the grund up t deal with HTTP traffic and WAN clients, it s innately immune t cmmn L2-L4 DDS explits, especially SYN attacks. Fast TCP Maestr s hardware-enabled TCP engine incrprates ptimized TCP algrithms that prvide tw imprvements ver standard TCP implementatins: A mechanism t speed up TCP s slw-start algrithm, in rder t reach maximum capacity f a TCP link quicker. An ptimized cngestin avidance algrithm that nt nly tries t use the maximum allwable bandwidth f a TCP cnnectin, but minimizes drpped packets. Cmpetitive Advantages Maestr has three significant advantages ver ther AFE slutins which prvide similar functinality: Device Architecture The Maestr is purely hardware-based system based slely n hardware cmpnents such as netwrk prcessrs and FPGAs. The system has dedicated hardware fr each f its many tasks that utilize mre than 60 micr-engines fr a truly distributed architecture. Similar prducts are built n ff-the-shelf PC platfrms that utilize cmmn perating systems and a 3

4 central prcessr mdel. Maestr s architecture gives is significant advantages that translate t better perfrmance and scale. Scale Because f its architecture, Maestr s platfrm can achieve significant scale and has perfrmance benefits ver the cmpetitin. The platfrm is capable f handling mre than 3.6Gbps sustained web traffic. Furthermre, the purely hardware-based cmpressin engine can perfrm cmpressin at 1Gbps wire speed. The cmpetitive sftware-based prducts cannt scale at these levels. Feature Cncurrency Since all tasks are handled by dedicated, islated hardware, Maestr is capable f prviding multi-functinal capabilities withut any degradatin in perfrmance. In ther wrds, nt nly are all features integrated tgether seamlessly, but they can all be enabled with n ne feature affecting the perfrmance f anther. All functins can perate cncurrently at scale. The cmpetitive PC-based prducts which are based n a central prcessr mdel are designed s that all functins use the same prcessing pl. Because f this, when multiple functins are enabled, the verall device perfrmance suffers ften causing it t becme a netwrk bttleneck. Typical Applicatins Maestr s fflad, acceleratin, and ptimizatin functins can be applied t any web applicatin using the HTTP prtcl. Maestr s inherent HTTP intelligence allws it t help any web server r applicatin. Hwever, the platfrm becmes mre applicable t a web envirnment if any r a cmbinatin f the fllwing issues is a cncern: Bandwidth ver-usage Maestr s cmpressin capabilities can significantly reduce the amunt f utbund bandwidth used by a web applicatin. User respnse time imprvement A number f Maestr functins can help imprve the perceived respnse time experienced by the clients f an applicatin: Cmpressin reduces the number f bytes t be received by a client, directly imprving the user experience. TCP fflad relieves the server frm spending its resurces n TCP cnnectin handling. Since Maestr is inherently better in dealing with client cnnectins than a server, the client respnse times imprve when the user has TCP cnnectivity t Maestr instead f the server. Server resurce utilizatin In situatins where server CPU cycles (and memry usage) are precius, Maestr can dramatically reduce the resurce utilizatin f a server, allwing it t allcate all f its resurces t serving cntent, rather than the related verhead. The fllwing functins help relieve the server: TCP fflad significantly reduces the amunt f resurces a server allcates t dealing with TCP cnnectins. Cmpressin fflads the task frm the server, freeing up the CPU frm dealing with this task. The applicatin, hwever, can still enjy the benefits f cntent cmpressin since Maestr prvides this functin external t the server. 4

5 SSL fflad prvides a much-needed relief fr the servers, freeing them frm dealing with the task-intensive cryptgraphic algrithms that tday s secure applicatins demand. Peak lad prtectin Maestr s functinality inherently allws a server t scale and handle much mre traffic than it culd withut being frnt-ended by Maestr. Typically, a server can handle mre than 3-5 times the amunt f traffic after Maestr deplyment. Because f this, a server infrastructure can easily handle peak traffic cnditins, since typical server utilizatin will be drastically reduced after Maestr is deplyed. High availability and fault tlerance Maestr s lad balancing functinality allws many servers t hst a single applicatin. This nt nly allws the applicatin t scale by having new servers added, as necessary; but als prvides fault tlerance and high availability fr the servers. Anticipated Results The fllwing table utlines expected imprvements in server resurce utilizatin, site bandwidth usage, and end-user respnse time: TCP Offlad Server CPU Utili. Savings: Up t 50% Server Mem. Usage Savings: Up t 80% Server Capacity Imprvement Mre than 300% Cmpressin Client Respnse time Imprvement: Up t 66% Site Bandwidth Savings Up t 66% Server CPU Util. Savings: Up t 90% SSL Server CPU Util. Savings: Up t 90% *All tests perfrmed with CN-5000 and Apache 2 server Cnclusin Crescend s Maestr Applicatin Delivery Platfrm is a significant enabler fr web applicatins by prviding essential functins while fflading tremendus verheard frm servers. By allwing the servers t spend their resurces n the applicatin itself, rather than its verhead, the servers scale better and can reach their true ptential. Meanwhile, functinality such as cmpressin and lad balancing allw the applicatin itself t perate mre effectively, use less bandwidth, and have ptimal respnse times fr its users. 5

Transmission Control Protocol Introduction

Transmission Control Protocol Introduction Transmissin Cntrl Prtcl Intrductin TCP is ne f the mst imprtant prtcls f Internet Prtcls suite. It is mst widely used prtcl fr data transmissin in cmmunicatin netwrk such as Internet. Features TCP is reliable