DBAM Systems EP600 review

WAN optimisation solutions from DBAM Systems stand out, as this UK company has developed its own products with a keen focus on SMBs as well as enterprises.

The EP600 targets central office deployment and supports traffic loads of 2 to 16Mbits/sec. It offers WAFS (wide area file services), bandwidth management, protocol optimisation and compression, but DBAM's L7 packet inspection provides valuable performance and prioritisation features. And the EP600 can also prioritise traffic at no extra cost.

The EP family consists of four products, with the EP60 aimed at remote site deployment. We used the EP600 to front our main network, placed an EP60 at our simulated remote site, and used the lab's Network Nightmare simulator configured for a 1Mbit/sec WAN link with 40ms latency.

Deployment is swift, as you physically connect the EP600 to the network and access it with DBAM's Precision Start Java-based app. We linked our EP60 to the network, where it automatically connected to the EP600 and started optimising traffic based on the applications used at the remote site.

For performance testing, we used a Windows Server 2003 R2 domain controller configured with Kerio's MailServer (web ID:188211); on the other side we placed another Server 2003 R2 system to act as a client, and used a 4.8MB PowerPoint presentation to test a variety of scenarios. Worry not about SMB signing, as DBAM's WAFS module takes care of this as you extend shares to the EP appliances, and the clients map these instead.

With optimisation turned off, remotely opening the file at the client using PowerPoint took 1min 3secs, and saving a small modification to the server took 1min 18secs. With optimisation enabled and a hot cache, the file open took 3.5 seconds and the save operation was reduced to 44 seconds. Mailing the file as an attachment from the client to the server with no optimisation took 3mins 12secs, while receiving the same file at the client took 53 seconds. With DBAM in the mix the same operations took one and four seconds respectively.

File copies also saw big improvements, with the file sent from client to server and back again in 1min 12secs and 45 seconds, and only 41 seconds and 2 seconds with optimisation activated. We did note the remote save and client-to-server copy tests received only a 43% improvement, indicating DBAM's WAFS module isn't as efficient as Blue Coat's ProxySG appliances.

The EP appliances also offer advanced diagnostics, traffic analysis and fault finding. For traffic shaping, they can prioritise traffic based on parameters such as network ports, protocols, applications and URLs, and even monitor individual IM conversations and replace unacceptable words or phrases.

The EP600 is a low-cost WAN optimisation solution that offers good overall performance improvements. The WAFS module isn't as efficient as some, but the level of features provided make it excellent value.

Author: Dave Mitchell