WAN Monitoring and Management

The best solution to the problem of a slow WAN connection with many dropped packets between two sites would be to 'Implement Quality of Service (QoS)'. QoS allows for the management of data traffic to reduce packet loss and improve network performance. It prioritizes certain types of data traffic over others to ensure that critical applications receive the bandwidth they require. This is more likely to improve the WAN connection quality than the other options. 'Adding more access points' does not necessarily improve WAN connection, but rather WiFi connection within a specific area and hence would not necessarily solve the issue. 'Replacing all the patch cables' might not necessarily solve the issue as the problem could be with the network management rather than the cables themselves. 'Upgrading the router firmware' could help but it's not the best first step to take without knowing if the router is actually the problem cause.

The best solution to resolve the intermittent outages during peak usage times which is affecting the company's ability to access a critical remote resource would be to 'Configure a backup WAN link for redundancy'. This would ensure that there is an alternative route for data transfer when the primary link is experiencing outages, thus ensuring continuous access to the critical remote resource. 'Restricting access to the remote resource' would not solve the issue as it would not improve accessibility during peak usage times. 'Upgrading the company's server hardware' could potentially improve overall performance, but it might not necessarily resolve the intermittent outages on the WAN link. 'Shutdown non-critical remote resources' may reduce the total load on the WAN link, but it again, may not solve the intermittent outages and could possibly disrupt other operations.

The best way to resolve an issue of excess network latency due to a recently implemented WAN acceleration device is to 'Adjust the WAN acceleration rules to allow only high-priority applications'. This is because WAN acceleration devices work by prioritizing and streamlining data transfers over the network. During peak business hours, a multitude of applications may be utilizing the network, causing congestion and therefore latency. By adjusting the rules of the WAN device to prioritize only high-priority business applications during these times, network traffic can be managed effectively to reduce latency. 'Disabling the WAN acceleration device' is not a good option as it nullifies the benefits of WAN acceleration. And while 'adding more access points' and 'upgrading network cabling' can potentially boost network performance, these options do not directly address the issue of the WAN acceleration device causing latency and could result in unnecessary spending.