24
Steelhead Appliance Installation and Configuration Guide
Installing and Configuring the Steelhead Appliance
Choosing a Network Deployment
Ideally, Steelhead appliances optimize only traffic that is initiated or terminated at their local site. The best
and easiest way to achieve this is to deploy the Steelhead appliances where the LAN connects to the WAN,
and not where any LAN-to-LAN or WAN-to-WAN traffic can pass through (or be redirected to) the
Steelhead appliance.
For detailed information about your deployment options and best practices for deploying Steelhead
appliances, see the
Steelhead Appliance Deployment Guide
.
Before you begin the installation and configuration process, you must select a network deployment:
Physical In-Path
- In a physical in-path deployment, the Steelhead appliance is
physically
in the direct
path between clients and servers. The clients and servers continue to see client and server Internet
Protocol (IP) addresses. In-path designs are the simplest to configure and manage, and the most
common type of
Steelhead appliance
deployment, even for large sites.
Figure 3-1. Physical In-Path Deployment
Virtual In-Path
- In a virtual in-path deployment, a redirection mechanism (such as WCCP, PBR, or
Layer-4 switching) is used to place the Steelhead appliance virtually in the path between clients and
servers.
Figure 3-2. Virtual In-Path: WCCP Deployment
