Create a SkyX Tunnel

Xpress has the ability to accelerate traffic between hosts on one side of a PacketShaper unit and hosts on the other side of a SkyX device. This type of tunnel, called a SkyX tunnel, requires that you manually create a static tunnel that is SkyX compatible. A SkyX tunnel has the following characteristics:

• Accelerates traffic with XTP unless SCPS is enabled
• Uses global settings for Prefetch and FastStart
• Does not compress or pack traffic (compression and packing cannot be enabled)
• Options for firewall support, DiffServ support, and auto-discovery of hosts and partners are not applicable.
• Can be created in migration or enhanced mode

Note:  The SkyX option is intended for accelerating flows between a PacketShaper unit and a SkyX device. Although Xpress allows you to create a SkyX tunnel between two PacketShapers, it's not supported or recommended, nor does it serve any useful purpose.

Configuring the SkyX Device

Before creating a SkyX tunnel, you need to make sure "accept-all-xtp" mode is enabled on the SkyX device:

1. Log into the SkyX device.

2. At the command line, type skyx stat to view the current settings.

3. If accept-all-xtp is off, type skyx set accept-all-xtp on to enable it.

Adding a SkyX Tunnel

To add a SkyX tunnel:

1. In the PacketShaper browser interface, click the xpress tab.

2. Click add tunnel. The Add Tunnel window appears.  show screen

3. Enter a descriptive Name for the tunnel. The name can be up 24 characters long and may include alphanumeric characters and the following special characters: . - _ : @ # $ % = + [ ] { }
Spaces are not allowed.

The following names are reserved for other uses and are prohibited as tunnel names: acceleration, all, class, compression, default, delete, dictionary, diffserv, discovery, faststart, firewall, force, global, high, holdtime, host, information, ip, local, logging, low, mem, mtu, new, normal, off, on, packing, partner, password, ping, prefetch, priority, remote, remove, scps, service, show, state, static.

Note: Tunnels cannot be renamed so choose your name carefully. If you later decide that you want to rename a tunnel, you'll need to remove it and create a new one.

4. For Partner IP, specify the IP address of the SkyX device.

5. For Device, select the device to configure on the local PacketShaper:

main — built-in interface

upper — upper LAN Expansion Module (LEM)

lower — lower LEM

6. Make sure Acceleration is set to use global.

7. Select the SkyX compatible checkbox.

8. In the MTU field, set the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) used for the tunnel. The MTU defines the maximum size of the super packet — it's the largest datagram than can be transmitted by an IP interface (without it needing to be broken down into smaller units).

Select use this value and enter the MTU (100-1500; the default is 1500 bytes).

or

Select use global to use the global default setting.

9. Click OK. The SkyX tunnel will now be listed in the Xpress Tunnels Overview. In the Features column for the SkyX tunnel you just created, you will see A(S) if acceleration is already globally enabled or (S) if acceleration hasn't yet been enabled. A=Acceleration, (S)=SkyX.

10. Enable global acceleration, if you haven't already.