Cisco Wide Area File Services Software (WAFS)

Table Of Contents

Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool
for Microsoft Office Applications
Installation and Configuration Note

Installing the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool

Before You Begin

Points to Consider

Running a Benchmark

Running a Cache Miss Benchmark

Running a Cache Hit Benchmark

Running a Native WAN Benchmark

Clearing the Cache

Understanding the Results

Removing the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool

Contacting Technical Support

Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool
for Microsoft Office Applications
Installation and Configuration Note

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The Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool for Microsoft Office Applications measures response times for basic file operations (open, save, close) when using a Microsoft Office application (such as Word, PowerPoint, or Excel). The benchmark executes a scripted set of operations and measures the time it takes to complete them. The operations are repeated for different file sizes (50KB-2MB). The benchmark can be run under different scenarios:

•Cache Miss: access a file server through the WAFS cache for the first time

•Cache Hit: subsequent access to a file server through the WAFS cache

•Native WAN: access a file server directly over the WAN

A single instance of the benchmark is executed on a single client, measuring effective office application response times in a single-user access scenario. The benchmark can also be run over an emulated WAN in a lab environment using NIST Net, thus providing a wider range of WAN environments. These different benchmark scenarios can be used to approximate the gain seen, based on various enterprise network environments.

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Note The Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool for Microsoft Office runs only on Microsoft Windows 2000 or Microsoft Windows XP, and can be used only with Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP (2002), or Office 2003 applications.

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This document contains the following sections:

•Installing the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool

•Before You Begin

•Running a Benchmark

•Clearing the Cache

•Understanding the Results

•Removing the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool

•Contacting Technical Support

Installing the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool

To install the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool, follow these steps:

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Step 1 Run the WAFSBM_1.1.x.msi file to start the "WAFS Benchmark - InstallShield Wizard."

You can find the latest version at the WAFS Software Center area of Cisco.com, here:
http://www.cisco.com/cgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/fe_util

Step 2 Read the End User License Agreement (EULA), select "I accept the terms..." to accept the License Agreement.

Click Next.

Step 3 Select the destination folder (or accept the default).

Click Next.

Step 4 Click Install.

Step 5 Click Finish.

The installation is completed and an icon is created on your desktop to launch the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool.

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Before You Begin

Before running a benchmark, make sure you map network drives for both native and cached access. For example, if:

•the original file server is called FEFS01 and it has a share called "Benchmark"

•the cached view of FEFS01 is called \\AS-FEFS01

then

•Map "W:\" (for WAN access) to \\FEFS01\Benchmark\

•Map "L:\" (for local access) to \\AS-FEFS01\Benchmark\

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Note You must run benchmarks as the same user that was used to install the benchmark tool.

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Points to Consider

It might be helpful to remember the following points before running a benchmark:

•Prior to each run, the tool prepares a set of test files in a folder called WAFS Benchmark.

•All Microsoft Office applications to be closed before running the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool.

•The Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool controls the keyboard and mouse movements throughout the run.

•You can save the results of each run by clicking Save results to file at the end of each run (see Figure 1). By default, the files are saved using the WAFSBM_date_time.csv file name format.

•You can view the saved results by clicking Open results folder at the bottom of the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool main screen (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool - Main Screen

1	Preparing and running a benchmark. Environmental settings and drive selection.
2	Benchmark tool progress box: here you can view the progress of the preparation as well as the run itself.
3	Results box: As results are recorded, you can view them here. Results are the time it takes to complete an action, in seconds.

Running a Benchmark

Each benchmark cycle consists of data preparation and the execution of file operations. Results are recorded at the bottom portion of the tool (see Figure 1), and can be saved to a CSV (Excel Comma Separated Values file). The output presents the time it took (in seconds) for each operation to complete.

Three types of benchmarks can be run:

•Cache Miss—Also known as "cold cache", this benchmark tests how quickly a file server can be accessed through the WAFS cache for the first time (with no data in the cache).

•Cache Hit—Also known as "warm cache", this benchmark tests how quickly a file server can be subsequently accessed through the WAFS cache (with data already in the cache).

•Native WAN—This benchmark tests how quickly a file server can be accessed directly over the WAN.

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Note For the best response times, run the Benchmark tool multiple times and in Local coherency mode. Local coherency preserves coherency semantics for all users accessing shared data from the same site. For more information on configuring coherency, refer to the Cisco WAFS 3.0 User Guide.

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Note Microsoft Office files can be saved in different views depending on how they were last saved. For consistent results, be sure these files have been saved using the same view before running the benchmark tests.

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Running a Cache Miss Benchmark

To run a cache miss benchmark, follow these steps:

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Step 1 Make sure the cache is cleared (see the "Clearing the Cache" section).

Step 2 Launch the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool.

Step 3 Check the Prepare benchmark checkbox.

Step 4 Set the Copy workload files to drive value to W:

This is the target directory where the files are copied so that tests can be run on them.

Step 5 Check the Run benchmark checkbox.

Step 6 Set the Use workload files from drive value to L:

This is the drive used for the testing.

Step 7 Set the Delay before file save (seconds): value to 60.

Step 8 Click Go!

The Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool copies the workload files to the file server, and begins the test. You see the progress in the progress box (see Figure 1). Each files is opened, modified, saved, and closed, and times are recorded for each operation.

Click Save results to file to save the results, or click Open results folder to view the results.

Click Exit to close the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool.

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Running a Cache Hit Benchmark

To run a cache hit benchmark, follow these steps:

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Step 1 Launch the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool.

Step 2 Check the Prepare benchmark checkbox.

Step 3 Set the Copy workload files to drive value to L:\

This is the target directory where the files are copied so that tests can be run on them.

Step 4 Check the Run benchmark checkbox.

Step 5 Set the Use workload files from drive value to L:

This is the drive used for the testing.

Step 6 Set the Delay before file save (seconds): value to 60.

Step 7 Click Go!

The Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool copies the workload files to the file server, and begins the test. You see the progress in the progress box (see Figure 1). Each files is opened, modified, saved, and closed, and times are recorded for each operation.

Click Save results to file to save the results, or click Open results folder to view the results.

Click Exit to close the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool.

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Running a Native WAN Benchmark

To run a native WAN benchmark, follow these steps:

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Step 1 Launch the benchmark tool.

Step 2 Check the Prepare benchmark checkbox.

Step 3 Set the Copy workload files to drive value to W:\

This is the target directory where the files are copied so that tests can be run on them.

Step 4 Check the Run benchmark checkbox.

Step 5 Set the Use workload files from drive value to W:

This is the drive used for the testing.

Step 6 Set the Delay before file save (seconds): value to 60.

Step 7 Click Go!

The Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool copies the workload files to the file server, and begins the test. You see the progress in the progress box (see Figure 1). Each files is opened, modified, saved, and closed, and times are recorded for each operation.

Click Save results to file to save the results, or click Open results folder to view the results.

Click Exit to close the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool.

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Clearing the Cache

To clear the cache, follow these steps:

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Step 1 Open the share using the L:\ drive.

Step 2 Delete the WAFS Benchmark directory.

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Alternatively, follow these steps:

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Step 1 Log on to the EdgeServer manager

Step 2 Stop the EdgeServer component

Step 3 Run Utilities -> Cache Removal

Step 4 Restart the EdgeServer component

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Understanding the Results

Once saved, files can be accessed by clicking Open results folder at the bottom of the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool main screen (see Figure 1). A results file includes the following information:

•Environment settings (OS and Microsoft Office components version, file location, and delay before save value)

•File operation results:

–File name (and actual size)

–Open, Save, and Close with time in seconds it took to complete each operation.

Sample results numbers are presented in Table 1:

Table 1 Sample Results

1	Environmental settings section
2	Results section: File, operation and time it took to complete each operation

Removing the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool

The Cisco WAFS Benchmark setup application creates shortcuts under Start > Programs > Cisco Systems > WAFS Benchmark. To remove the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool, follow these steps:

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Step 1 Choose Uninstall WAFS Benchmark from the Start > Programs > Cisco Systems > WAFS Benchmark menu.

This starts the WAFS Benchmark InstallShield Wizard.

Step 2 Select the Remove radio button.

Click Next.

Step 3 Click Remove to confirm the removal.

Step 4 Click Finish.

The Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool is removed from your system.

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Contacting Technical Support

For any questions related to the Cisco WAFS Benchmark Tool for Microsoft Office Applications, please contact:

•Email: fe-support@cisco.com

•Web: http://www.cisco.com

•Phone: +1 866 282 3068

Copyright © 2004 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.