Technical Brief
Dynamic Path Control:
Real-time Traffic Updates for the Hybrid WAN
As organizations adopt public cloud ser- Overview
vices and unified communications, network
Silver Peak has long been able to maintain
architects are looking for affordable ways to
parallel paths between sites and gather
improve the performance and the availability
fine-grained network statistics. Dynamic
of branch office connectivity. The current
Path Control combines the two capabili-
practice of connecting branch offices to a
ties so Silver Peak can make real-time traffic
single MPLS connection leaves the office
decisions for any application - selecting the
vulnerable to network outages while
fastest, least congested or most available path
backhauling Internet traffic wastes
between locations.
bandwidth and adds latency (See Figure 1).
Statistics gathered from standard tools,
Many organizations are turning to hybrid
such as ICMP ping tests, can be misleading.
networks, connecting branch offices to the
Ping tests issue a command times once a
local internet and the MPLS backbone. Inter-
second, insufficient to draw valid, real-time
net connectivity provides low-cost resiliency
decisions. By contrast, Silver Peak’s forward
and access to cloud services, the MPLS back-
error correction (FEC) and packet order
bone provides access to corporate services.
correction (POC) technologies constantly
But connecting offices to multiple paths on gather network statistics, thousands of times
the same or different networks presents a a second, without adding significant overhead. Path control with real-time
number of architectural challenges. Traffic Ping tests would require over 12 hours to
loads need to be balanced across the paths register results with similar accuracy (see
network intelligence is like
to maximize a company’s investment in its “How to Accurately Measure Packet Loss”). the difference between a
WAN services. Latency- or loss-sensitive
traffic must be placed on paths the appro-
With real-time intelligence, Silver Peak GPS and a GPS with traffic
allows organizations to safely treat multiple
priate service quality, which also requires
connections as a single one. Replace updates. Dynamic Path
gathering real-time network statistics. Other
expensive MPLS connections with low-cost
applications may need to be designated to
internet connections; improve branch office
Control makes network
one path or another, such as for security or
cost reasons. Silver Peak addresses all those
availability and cloud performance by com- architectures smarter,
plementing MPLS with local internet access.
challenges with its next-generation path
Dynamic Path Control prevents links from more agile.
selection technology, Dynamic Path Control.
becoming imbalanced or application perfor-
mance from being undermined by changing
network conditions.
Configuration is also intuitive. Network
engineers use Silver Peak’s Global Manage-
ment System (GMS) to choose the path-
selection action for a given traffic flows
(See Figure 2). Path selection options include:
• Lowest latency or loss where Silver
Peak dynamically selects the path for
Figure 1: Many organizations backhaul Internet to the
datacenter, wasting bandwidth and adding latency.
a traffic flow based on the lowest
loss or latency.
1
Technical Brief
Dynamic Path Control:
Real-time Traffic Updates for the Hybrid WAN
providers (i.e. dual homing), intelligently
selecting the optimum path (See Figure 4).
• Improve availability without wasting
resources. Balancing traffic across two
connections, such as an MPLS primary
link and an xDSL or ISDN secondary link,
improves site availability without wasting
the bandwidth of the secondary connec-
tion. High priority traffic can be kept on
Figure 3: Silver Peak switches traffic to an alternative path
the primary network, low priority traffic on the same or different network, before loss or latency
Figure 2: Silver Peak offers a range of path
selection options.
on the secondary link, and in the event can disrupt the application.
of a failover, prioritize the high-priority
• Balanced where Silver Peak balances traffic over the lower priority traffic on
traffic flows between the available tunnels the critical link (See Figure 5).
based upon optimum bandwidth utilization. • Avoid costly backhaul. Some organiza-
• Manual where a traffic flow is designated tions consolidate internet access in one
for a preferred path. location, backhauling internet traffic across
Traffic flows can be identified based on their the MPLS network. With Dynamic Path
protocol, source address, destination address, Control, business critical traffic can
application, DSCP, or VLAN. continue across the MPLS network
while internet traffic is diverted across Figure 4: Replace MPLS with multiple low-cost
internet connections
a secondary internet connection.
Technical Benefits
Path control with real-time network intel- Deployment Steps
ligence is like the difference between a GPS
and a GPS with traffic updates. Dynamic 1. Identify the branch offices that can benefit
Path Control makes network architectures from Dynamic Path Control,
smarter, more dynamic, allowing them to: 2. Check service contracts before deploying
• Prevent problems before they occur. Dynamic Path Control. Shadow connec-
By monitoring packet loss rates and tions or backup internet lines may carry
latency fluctuations, Silver Peak often one price if left unused, but a higher price
identify emerging problems before they once active. Clarify those terms and Figure 5: Add a backup connection, improve site
obligations and renegotiate as necessary. availability and utilize its bandwidth.
impact the application, switching traffic
to another path before the connection 3. Determine traffic characteristics and prior-
fails completely (See Figure 3). ity. Silver Peak will automatically balance
• Reduce costs by replacing MPLS or traffic across your connections, finding the
private line with multiple low cost path with the least latency and loss. Alone
links. Internet connections are a fraction of that’s revolutionary and will allow network
the price of MPLS, but their quality is often architects to rethink their branch office
erratic and suffers from significantly higher connectivity. Greater control can be
loss and latency. Now IT can get the best of provided by designating the appropriate
the both worlds by load balancing across path selection option.
Figure 6: Avoid backhauling Internet traffic across the MPLS
internet connections from different 4. Let Silver Peak do the rest. network. Send Internet traffic through a local Internet con-
nection and corporate traffic across the MPLS network.
888.598.7325 | www.silver-peak.com
© Silver Peak Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. All other brands, products, or service names are or may be trademarks or service marks of,
and are used to identify, products or services of their respective owners. 2
