U S E C A S E B R I E F

Reduce Time-to-Innocence Resolving performance and availability problems in the enterprise starts with identifying whether or not the network is at fault and identifying the culprit.

The Network is Slow

Most network administrators and engineers dread this phrase because it

has become the de facto claim made by anyone experiencing slow applica-

tion performance or dealing with unresponsive applications. While there is

generally no ill-intent when this statement is made, it summarizes the general

perception of end users: poor application performance and application

problems in general are caused by network problems. In reality, application

performance and application problems in general can and are caused by a

variety of problems including but not limited to the network.

What Causes Application Problems

Application problems encountered in networked environments can be

caused by a variety of factors involving every single intersection between

the client and the server. This includes the client, the network, intermediary

network devices and services (switches, routers, firewalls, load-balancers,

proxies), and the server.

CLIENT

includes the application (especially browser-based applications), the operating system, network configuration, other applications contending for resources, and hardware resource utilization

NETWORK & INTERMEDIARY DEVICES

includes the operating system, configuration, contention for resources, link state, routing protocols, security policies and access control lists, and resource allocation

SERVER

includes the application, the number of concurrent requests, available resources and contention, and configuration

In order to adequately diagnose application problems and isolate them, each

of these must be considered. For network administrators and engineers, it

is for all intents and purposes required that the network be proven innocent

before other potential sources of application problems are investigated.

Four Steps to Isolate Application Problems

Rather than fighting the “blame the network” mentality directly, network

administrators and engineers should use resolution of application problems

as an opportunity to change the overall mindset by showing that the network

isn’t to blame. We recommend following these steps to help prove the network

innocent and identify the root cause of application problems.

1) Reduce the number of potential root causes in the equation—by deploying AppFabric from CloudGenix, the number of devices needed in your network can potentially reduce, thereby decreasing the number of possible failure points

2) Examine the state of connectivity—look at the connection to each provider to see if connectivity between your networking devices and provider networking devices is established and operational

3) Examine the state of the WAN links—ensure VPN connections amongst sites are established, operating as expected, and packets are flowing between sites

4) Examine application response time metrics—identify what factors contribute to overall user experience including network transfer time (NTT), round-trip time (RTT), and server response time (SRT)

a. Network Transfer Time—the amount of time taken to transfer data from the client to the server or the server to the client

b. Round Trip Time—the perceived bidirectional latency between the client and the server

c. Server Response Time—the amount of time taken by the server to respond to a request sent by the client

The CloudGenix Portal provides

visibility into network metrics and

application metrics which help un-

derstand the state of connectivity

and how applications are behaving

over your network.

C L O U D G E N I X | U S E C A S E B R I E F | R E D U C E T I M E - T O - I N N O C E N C E | 2

FIGURE 1: CLOUDGENIX HELPS UNDERSTAND NETWORK METRICS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT CONDITIONS ARE BEING ENCOUNTERED BY YOUR APPLICATIONS.

Summary

Application performance and availability issues generally start with a

complaint to the network team. With the right tools, network administra-

tors and engineers can quickly identify whether or not the network is the

culprit (thereby reducing time-to-innocence) and whether or not prob-

lems are being caused by data transfer time or the server response time.

C L O U D G E N I X | U S E C A S E B R I E F | R E D U C E T I M E - T O - I N N O C E N C E | 3

© 2018 Cloudgenix inc. All rights reserved.

ABOUT CLOUDGENIXCloudGenix provides a software-defined WAN solution with AppFabric technology that enables you to build a global WAN based

on business policies for application performance, compliance, and security, across all sites and users. Unlike router-based solutions,

CloudGenix AppFabric allows you to define top-down global policies based on business intent rather than fragmented bottoms-up

configuration changes based on technical implementation. With CloudGenix, you can easily integrate heterogeneous WAN connections

for any site, take advantage of cloud and SaaS applications, improve visibility for app performance and SLAs, and dramatically simplify

network operations.

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FIGURE 2: CLOUDGENIX HELPS IDENTIFY WHETHER THE NETWORK, THE APPLICATION, OR BOTH ARE CONTRIBUTING TO APPLICATION PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS.