Public, private, and hybrid cloud environments all face the same performance limitations of today’s applications and networks. To maximize the flexibility and savings of the public cloud, you must first overcome the same latency and bandwidth constraints that challenge distributed IT infrastructure environments.

Riverbed cloud services help transform the cloud into an extension of the data center. Cloud Accelerator virtual appliances accelerate the migration of data and applications to the cloud, while speeding access to that data from anywhere. Compatibility with industry leading cloud environments eliminates vendor lock-in.

As you migrate services to the cloud, and later broaden your application and data footprint there, Cloud Accelerator virtual appliances ensure you will meet application performance service level agreements (SLAs), regardless of network latency and enterprise bandwidth limitations, to ensure seamless public-cloud integration through features like:

This section provides an overview of the Riverbed cloud services system and its components. Figure: Riverbed cloud services shows an overview of Riverbed cloud services.

The Riverbed cloud services system consists of these components:

This section illustrates the client-server deployments that Riverbed cloud services support.

Figure: Servers in the cloud behind a Cloud Accelerator in a NATed environment shows a deployment in which the server-side servers are behind a Cloud Accelerator in a network address translated (NATed) environment.

Figure: Servers in the cloud behind a Cloud Accelerator shows a deployment in which the servers in the cloud are behind a Cloud Accelerator. In this case, the network does not have NAT: for example, when you use an Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).

Figure: Clients in the cloud behind a Cloud Accelerator shows a deployment in which the clients in the cloud are behind a Cloud Accelerator. In this case, the network does not have NAT: for example, when you use an Amazon VPC. In this deployment, you must use a Discovery Agent in the network.

For complete model specifications, go to the SteelHead Family Specification Sheet.

Each Cloud Accelerator instance requires at least two virtual disks. One disk stores the Cloud Accelerator configuration and management resources (this disk is automatically deployed when you create the virtual appliance); the other disk serves as the data store (you must manually add this disk). In AWS, virtual disk drives are referred to as Elastic Block Stores (EBS). Hard disk drives (HDDs), also known as magnetic drives, can be used for most models, but solid-state drives (SSDs) can provide higher performance.

Cloud Accelerator images can be installed on AWS, VMware ESX/ESXi, and Microsoft Azure. The Cloud Portal supports licensing and simple management for Cloud Accelerator virtual appliances on all virtual machine platforms.

All Cloud Accelerator virtual appliances, including virtual appliances intended for AWS China or AWS GovCloud regions, must be manually deployed. However, Cloud Accelerator virtual appliances can be automatically licensed through the Cloud Portal providing they have web access to the portal.

Hybrid networking features such as path selection and secure transport are not supported. Also, SCPS licenses are not supported.

This section describes the deployment and feature options that the Cloud Accelerator for AWS does not support.

This section describes the deployment and feature options that the ESX Cloud Accelerator does not support.

In Cloud Accelerator versions before 1.2, you must allocate a data store volume of exactly 440 GB for the virtual appliance; otherwise, the Cloud Accelerator does not function correctly.

The reduced data store support feature in Cloud Accelerator 1.2 first checks if 440 GB of disk space is allocated for the data store. If less than 440 GB of disk space has been provisioned, the Cloud Accelerator software creates a 30-GB data store. This allows you to create Cloud Accelerator that require less disk space but still provide WAN optimization. The optimization performance is impacted when you do not use a 440-GB disk for the data store. Performance depends on the size of your working data set.

The Cloud Accelerator uses either 440 GB or 30 GB. If you allocate a disk space that is less than 440 GB, but later than 30 GB (such as 250 GB), the Cloud Accelerator uses only 30 GB; it disregards 220 GB. If you allocate less than 30 GB, the Cloud Accelerator does not function correctly.

After you create a disk, if you resize it to 440 GB, the Cloud Accelerator still uses only 30 GB. To increase the data store size to 440 GB, you must delete the original disk and create a new 440 GB disk. Doing this reverts the data store to a “cold” state; performance improves as the SteelHead executes subsequent data transfers over the WAN.

These limitations apply to the Cloud Accelerator for Azure:

Licenses for Cloud Accelerator virtual appliances are stored on the Cloud Portal. Each license is associated with a one-time token unique to it. Applying a one-time token to a Cloud Accelerator enables the virtual appliance to contact the portal and to associate the token’s license with the Cloud Accelerator. To obtain a one-time token, you must have an account on the Cloud Portal. Typically, Riverbed will establish a user account on the portal for you after you purchase a cloud product, and Riverbed will send you an email with details and login information about your account. After your account is established, you can log in and view your purchased licenses. Select a license to view details about it, including the one-time token associated with it.

To upgrade a Cloud Accelerator virtual appliance to a model that does not require a higher-capacity virtual machine, simply purchase a license for the new Cloud Accelerator model. Downgrading a Cloud Accelerator model is as simple as downgrading the license to that of a lower-end model. The Cloud Accelerator detects any change in the license associated with it when it communicates with the Cloud Portal.

Downgrading a Cloud Accelerator model is as simple as downgrading the license to that of a lower-end model.

You can upgrade and downgrade the operating system software on your Cloud Accelerator for AWS virtual appliances through the Cloud Portal by performing the task described in this section.

You can upgrade and downgrade the operating system software on your Cloud Accelerator virtual appliances hosted on other cloud platforms in the same manner as physical SteelHead appliances by using the Software Upgrade page in an appliance’s management console. For details, see the SteelHead User Guide and To upgrade a Cloud Accelerator for Azure or ESX/ESXi to RiOS 9.2 or later.

With RiOS 9.2 and later, Cloud Accelerator images use a partition layout for the data store disk that is different from the layout of Cloud Accelerator images using previous versions of RiOS.

Because of this change, upgrading through the virtual appliance’s console or the CLI will not work. For Azure and ESX/ESXi environments, you must first create Cloud Accelerator running RiOS 9.2 or later and then manually transfer the license, configuration file, and data store disk from a pre-RiOS 9.2 or later Cloud Accelerator to the RiOS 9.2 or later Cloud Accelerator.