You can configure WCCP to classify traffic for redirection, such as FTP, proxy-web-cache handling, and audio and video applications.
This classification, known as a service group, is based on the protocol type (TCP or UDP) and the Layer 4 source destination
port numbers. The service groups are identified either by well-known names such as web-cache, which means TCP port 80, or
a service number, 0 to 99. Service groups are configured to map to a protocol and Layer 4 port numbers and are established
and maintained independently. WCCP allows dynamic service groups, where the classification criteria are provided dynamically
by a participating application engine.
You can configure up to 8 service groups on a switch or switch stack and up to 32 cache engines per service group. WCCP maintains
the priority of the service group in the group definition. WCCP uses the priority to configure the service groups in the switch
hardware. For example, if service group 1 has a priority of 100 and looks for destination port 80, and service group 2 has
a priority of 50 and looks for source port 80, the incoming packet with source and destination port 80 is forwarded by using
service group 1 because it has the higher priority.
WCCP supports a cluster of application engines for every service group. Redirected traffic can be sent to any one of the application
engines. The switch supports the mask assignment method of load balancing the traffic among the application engines in the
cluster for a service group.
After WCCP is configured on the switch, the switch forwards all service group packets received from clients to the application
engines. However, the following packets are not redirected:
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Packets originating from the application engine and targeted to the server.
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Packets originating from the application engine and targeted to the client.
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Packets returned or rejected by the application engine. These packets are sent to the server.
You can configure a single multicast address per service group for sending and receiving protocol messages. When there is
a single multicast address, the application engine sends a notification to one address, which provides coverage for all routers
in the service group, for example, 225.0.0.0. If you add and remove routers dynamically, using a single multicast address
provides easier configuration because you do not need to specifically enter the addresses of all devices in the WCCP network.
You can use a router group list to validate the protocol packets received from the application engine. Packets matching the
address in the group list are processed, packets not matching the group list address are dropped.
To disable caching for specific clients, servers, or client/server pairs, you can use a WCCP redirect access control list
(ACL). Packets that do not match the redirect ACL bypass the cache and are forwarded normally.
Before WCCP packets are redirected, the switch examines ACLs associated with all inbound features configured on the interface
and permits or denies packet forwarding based on how the packet matches the entries in the ACL.
Note |
Beginning with Cisco IOS Release 12.2(58)SE, both permit and deny ACL entries are supported in WCCP redirect lists.
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When packets are redirected, the output ACLs associated with the redirected interface are applied to the packets. Any ACLs
associated with the original port are not applied unless you specifically configure the required output ACLs on the redirected
interfaces.