Configuring the System Software

Step 1 Have the following information available for the Content Router. When you power up the Content Router for the first time, you will be prompted to provide this information:

Host name
Domain name
Administrator password
Host IP address
IP network mask
Gateway IP address
Domain Name System (DNS) name server IP address

Step 2 Gather the following information for each domain you want the Content Router to support:

Domain name
Origin server
IP addresses of each machine you intend to use as a content routing agent

Step 3 Open a window for the Content Router console using your terminal emulation program and power on the Content Router.

When the Content Router begins booting, it sends messages to the console window. After the operating system boots, you are ready to initialize the basic software configuration.

Step 4 Proceed to the "Initializing the Content Router Software" section.

Initializing the Content Router Software

To initialize the Content Router basic configuration after the operating system has booted:

Step 1 Enter values for the following parameters as you are prompted:

Host name for the Content Router
Domain name for the Content Router
Admin password for the Content Router

: This is the password you want to use for the admin user account, which is predefined on the
Content Router. The password is case sensitive and can be up to 20 characters, including spaces and any printable characters. You cannot set the passwords globally. Verify the password for the admin user account (or press Enter without entering a password to keep the existing password).

Note The Content Router does not display ***** (asterisks) while you are verifying your admin password.

IP address for the Content Router, for example, 10.1.1.1
IP network mask for the Content Router, for example, 255.255.255.0

: A network mask specifies which part of the IP address refers to the network; you can accept the default value by pressing Enter, or enter a different value.

Gateway IP address for the Content Router, for example, 10.1.1.2

: This is the IP address of the router that allows the Content Router to connect to the network.

DNS name server IP address for the Content Router

: A sample of a basic configuration follows.


---- System Configuration Dialog ---- 
You may use Ctrl-D to abort Configuration Dialog at any prompt. 
Would you like to enter the initial configuration? [yes]: yes

host name: boomerang 

domain name: cisco.com 

admin password: test 

host IP address: 10.1.58.5 

IP network mask: 255.255.255.0 
gateway IP address: 10.1.58.1 

DNS server: 172.16.2.132

Step 2 If the basic configuration is acceptable, enter yes. The Content Router indicates whether the configuration is accepted. At this point, the basic configuration is finished.

Use this configuration? [yes]: yes

>> Building configuration... 
>> . . START - phase complete

Step 3 Proceed to the "Configuring Direct or WCCP Mode" section, and then continue to "Configuring Domains on the Content Router" section.

In performing the configuration tasks that follow, it may be useful to refer to Figure 6-1 for an example of a boomerang-configured network in direct mode, and Figure 6-2 for an example of a boomerang-configured network in WCCP mode.

Figure 6-1: Example of Boomerang-Configured Network in Direct Mode

Figure 6-2: Example of Boomerang-Configured Network in WCCP Mode

Configuring Direct or WCCP Mode

The Content Router can operate in either direct mode or Web Cache Communication Protocol (WCCP) mode. To operate in direct mode, which uses DNS Delegation Insertion, direct mode must be enabled on the Content Router. In direct mode, the Content Router acts as the authoritative DNS server for all domains configured on the Content Router. DNS Address requests are sent directly from a local DNS server to the Content Router. To operate in WCCP mode, which uses Edge Intercept Insertion, WCCP must be enabled on the Content Router as well as on a router in the path to the Content Router and the primary DNS server. This router must also be configured to send DNS Address requests to the Content Router.

Configuring for Direct Mode—DNS Delegation

Step 1 In order to establish the Content Router as the authoritative DNS server for a domain, configure the domain's primary DNS server.

For example, to make a Content Router with IP address 10.10.10.1 the DNS server for www.domain.com, you would add these DNS resource records:

www.domain.com	IN	NS	boomerang

boomerang	IN	A	10.10.10.1

Step 2 Use the boomerang dns enable command on the Content Router to specify direct mode.

Console (config)# boomerang dns enable direct-mode

Configuring for WCCP Mode—Edge Intercept

In order to configure WCCP on a router, you must already be familiar with basic router configuration. If you are not familiar with basic router configuration, consult the Cisco IOS documentation supplied with the router. Detailed information for the router commands mentioned here is in the Cisco IOS documentation. Refer to "Web Cache Communication Protocol Version 2," for more information.

To configure a router to redirect DNS address requests to the Content Router:

Step 1 Ensure that the router is running a release of the Cisco IOS software that includes WCCP Version 2. If it does not have this support, upgrade the Cisco IOS software before continuing.

Step 2 In global configuration mode, use the ip wccp command to enable WCCP support. The boomerang service is represented by service number 50, so enter:

Router(config)# ip wccp 50

Step 3 In interface configuration mode, use the ip wccp 50 redirect out command to have the interface redirect requests to the Content Router. Enter this command for each interface that is an outgoing interface connecting to subnets containing authoritative DNS servers.

You can confirm your settings using the following show commands on the router:

show ip wccp shows the number of Content Routers and total number of packets redirected.
show ip wccp 50 detail shows detailed information about each Content Router connected to the router.
show ip interface shows detailed information about an interface, including whether WCCP redirection is enabled.

Step 4 Use the boomerang dns enable command on the Content Router to establish WCCP mode and configure the Content Router to accept redirected DNS address requests.

Console (config)# boomerang dns enable wccp-mode

Step 5 Enable WCCP and associate the Content Router with downstream routers. For example, if the router's IP address is 172.46.67.1, enter these commands:

Console (config)# wccp router-list 1 172.46.67.1

Console (config)# wccp boomerang router-list-num 1

Console (config)# wccp version 2

Note In WCCP mode, to disable the boomerang process temporarily, disable WCCP on the router instead of disabling the individual Content Routers. Do so by using the no ip wccp command on the router.

Configuring Domains on the Content Router

On the Content Router, configure each domain you want the Content Router to support.

For each domain, perform the following steps:

Step 1 In global configuration mode, enter the boomerang dns domain domain-name command. For example, to establish support for www.foo.com, enter:

Console (config)# boomerang dns domain www.foo.com

After entering this command you are in boomerang configuration mode, where you can configure the specified domain.

Step 2 Use the key keyword command to establish a keyword that will be used to encrypt data sent between the Content Router and each content routing agent. For example, if you wanted to use MySecret as the keyword, enter:

Console (config-boomerang)# key MySecret

Note You need to use the key command to enter this same keyword on each agent when you configure the agents for this domain. See "Configuring the Content Routing Agents" section. You can use a unique keyword for each domain.

Step 3 Use the origin-server ip-address command to specify the "last chance" response server for the domain. For example, if the origin server is located at IP address 10.10.10.5, enter:

Console (config-boomerang)# origin-server 10.10.10.5

Note You must use the origin-server command when you configure the Content Router in direct mode. In WCCP mode, if all content is supplied through push technology from the origin server to the content server, then it is not necessary to use the origin-server command. However, the origin-server command is necessary in WCCP mode if the content servers will pull the content from the origin server.

Step 4 Use the client ip-address command to specify the IP addresses of each content routing agent. For example:

Console (config-boomerang)# client 192.10.33.2 nickname NewYork

Console (config-boomerang)# client 149.10.10.21 nickname SanFrancisco

Note Additional Content Router configuration command options are available for many of these commands. See the "Boomerang Configuration Commands" section of Appendix B for complete command syntax listings.

Proceed to the "Configuring the Content Routing Agents" section.

Configuring the Content Routing Agents

To configure each agent for each domain that it supports, perform the following steps on each system you use as an agent.

First, prepare the agent for configuration:

Step 1 Make sure that the agent is running a release of the software that includes boomerang commands.

Step 2 In global configuration mode, enter the following command:

Console(config)# http proxy outgoing exclude enable

Step 3 Enter the following command:

Console(config)# http proxy incoming 80

Step 4 Enter the following command:

Console(config)# boomerang dns enable

Next, perform the following steps for each of the domains you associated the agent with when you configured domains on the Content Router:

Step 1 Use the boomerang dns domain domain-name command, where domain-name is the name of a domain you want the agent to support. For example:

Console (config)# boomerang dns domain www.foo.com

After entering this command you are in boomerang configuration mode, where you can configure this domain on the agent.

Step 2 Use the key keyword command to configure the same keyword on the agent that you configured on the Content Router. For example, if MySecret is the key entered on the Content Router for this domain, enter:

Console (config-boomerang)# key MySecret

Step 3 If the agent is not serving or caching the Web content, use the content-server ip-address command to point to the external content source. For example:

Console (config-boomerang)# content-server 10.4.23.10

Note For more information about all of the boomerang commands for the agents, including command options and additional commands, refer to the documentation supplied with the software that is running on the agent.

Verifying the Content Router Configuration

Once you have configured the Content Router and the content routing agents, check to ensure that the Content Router is working properly.

Step 1 From the command-line interface (CLI) of the Content Router, enter the show boomerang domain command.

The one-way delay to the agents is shown in milliseconds. If the agent is repeatedly unreachable, the word "unknown" is displayed instead of a number.

Step 2 From a machine on a network near an agent, start a Web browser and open various Web pages within the configured domain. Access some pages more than once to ensure that some pages are in the cache. If the agent is a Cache Engine, use the show boomerang domain command on the agent. There should be a nonzero value for "Total bytes served." For example:

newyork# show boomerang www.download.cisco.com

DNS packets with unknown domain	0

HTTP hostname requests dropped		0



Domain www.download.cisco.com

    Content server	172.29.249.234

    Origin server	172.29.249.205

    DNS A record requests		4

    Dropped (server down)		0

    Dropped (CPU busy)		0

    Security failures		0

    Cache hit bytes	4713

    Cache miss bytes	1571

    Total bytes served	6284

Table of Contents

Configuring the System Software