Sharing Configurations between PacketShapers

Suppose you have two PacketShapers when you decide to solve a recent problem with your legacy applications. You will need to create a new traffic class and policy on both PacketShapers. Now imagine the same situation, but with 120 PacketShapers. Configuring your legacy solution now becomes a very tedious job without economy of scale. PolicyCenter solves this dilemma by allowing multiple units to share configurations, letting you change something once instead of 120 times.

Note: This PolicyCenter recommendation assumes that you have a general understanding of PacketWise traffic classes, policies and partitions. If you need to review these concepts, please click on the links above and refer to those sections of PacketGuide.

A PolicyCenter sharable configuration consists of traffic classes, partitions and policies, and basic configuration values, such as login passwords and shaping on/off. Multiple PacketShapers can be assigned to a single PolicyCenter sharable configuration, allowing those units to operate with identical configurations. When you change a configuration through PolicyCenter, the change immediately affects all units assigned to that configuration. It is this capability of PolicyCenter that truly provides the economy of scale: one single change to a PolicyCenter configuration can result in an instant configuration update on hundreds of different PacketShapers.

PacketShapers running PacketWise software version 5.2 or later can be configured in either shared or local mode.

• Shared mode: Units configured in shared mode are assigned to a PolicyCenter sharable configuration, and inherit settings from their PolicyCenter configuration. When a unit is in shared mode, PolicyCenter continually synchronizes the unit’s configuration on the PolicyCenter server with the configuration files on that unit’s flash disk; therefore, if you switch from shared mode back to local, (or the network connection to the PolicyCenter server is lost) the unit’s configuration in local mode will be the same as its last configuration in shared mode. Units in shared mode may be returned to local mode at any time.
  
  
• Local mode: A unit running in local mode functions independently from other units, and has its entire configuration stored directly on its flash disk. Once PolicyCenter is installed on a network, PacketShapers in local mode can be configured for shared mode and added to PolicyCenter simply by accessing the unit’s web browser interface, selecting the PolicyCenter access setup page, then entering the DNS name or IP address of the directory server, and the PolicyCenter password.

While in shared mode, the files in the unit's flash disk are continually updated to match the PolicyCenter configuration; therefore, if you switch from shared mode back to local, the local configuration will initially be the same as the last shared configuration.

If a PacketShaper in local mode has a configuration you would like to use for other PacketShapers, you can create a sharable copy of that configuration in PolicyCenter then assign other units to it.

1. Add the PacketShaper with the configuration you want to share to PolicyCenter using the convert option.
   
   
2. Use the copy function to make a sharable copy of the PacketShaper's individual unit configuration.
   
   
3. Assign units to that sharable configuration.
   
   
4. Clear the individual unit configurations of units assigned to the new sharable configuration. Clearing the individual unit configuration removes any local overrides, and allows the PacketShaper to inherit all the settings defined in the sharable PolicyCenter configuration.