How to Alleviate Traffic Congestion with Cisco Firepower

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In order to alleviate traffic congestion on their links going out to the internet, the organization with a Cisco Firepower device can use several methods, including creating a NAT policy, creating a flexconfig policy to use WCCP for application aware bandwidth limiting, creating a QoS policy rate-limiting high bandwidth applications, or creating a VPN policy so that direct tunnels are established to the business applications.

Let's discuss each option in more detail:

A. Creating a NAT policy: NAT, or Network Address Translation, is a technique used to modify network address information in IP packet headers while they are in transit across a traffic routing device. By creating a NAT policy, the Cisco Firepower device does not have to translate as many addresses, which can alleviate traffic congestion and improve network performance.

B. Creating a flexconfig policy to use WCCP for application aware bandwidth limiting: WCCP, or Web Cache Communication Protocol, is a Cisco protocol that enables routers or switches to redirect client traffic to a cache engine, such as a proxy server, for content inspection and filtering. By creating a flexconfig policy to use WCCP for application aware bandwidth limiting, the Cisco Firepower device can limit the amount of bandwidth used by specific applications, which can alleviate traffic congestion and improve network performance.

C. Creating a QoS policy rate-limiting high bandwidth applications: QoS, or Quality of Service, is a technique used to prioritize certain types of network traffic over others. By creating a QoS policy rate-limiting high bandwidth applications, the Cisco Firepower device can limit the amount of bandwidth used by high bandwidth applications, which can alleviate traffic congestion and improve network performance.

D. Creating a VPN policy so that direct tunnels are established to the business applications: A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is a secure tunnel that enables remote users to access network resources as if they were directly connected to the network. By creating a VPN policy so that direct tunnels are established to the business applications, the Cisco Firepower device can ensure that legitimate business traffic reaches its destination without being affected by traffic congestion.

In summary, there are several options available to alleviate traffic congestion on a network with a Cisco Firepower device, including creating a NAT policy, creating a flexconfig policy to use WCCP for application aware bandwidth limiting, creating a QoS policy rate-limiting high bandwidth applications, or creating a VPN policy so that direct tunnels are established to the business applications. The best option depends on the specific needs and requirements of the organization.