In a virtual in-path deployment, the appliance is virtually in the path between clients and servers. Traffic moves in and out of the same WAN interface, and the LAN interface is not used. This deployment differs from a physical in-path deployment in that a packet redirection mechanism, such as WCCP or PBR, directs packets to appliances that are not in the physical path of the client or server. In this configuration, clients and servers continue to see client and server IP addresses.

On appliances with multiple WAN ports, you can deploy WCCP and PBR with the same multiple interface options available on physical appliances.

For a virtual in-path deployment, attach only the WAN virtual NIC to the physical NIC, and configure the router using WCCP or PBR to forward traffic to the appliance for acceleration. You must also enable in-path out-of-path (OOP) deployment on the appliance. To do that, enable L4/PBR/WCCP/Interceptor Support on the General Service Settings page of Management Console.