HARDWARE DATASHEET
BIG-IP System
4
Application Service Clustering delivers sub-second failover and comprehensive
connection mirroring for a highly available cluster of up to eight devices at the
application layer, providing highly available multi-tenant deployments. Workloads can
be moved across a cluster of devices or virtual instances without interrupting other
services and can be scaled to meet business demand.
Device Service Clustering can synchronize full device configurations in an all-active
deployment model, enabling consistent policy deployment and enforcement across
devices—up to 32 active nodes. This ensures a consistent device configuration,
with syncing of hardened firewall and access policies to simplify operations and
reduce attack surfaces.
Gain Agility and Control in Private Clouds
Enterprises are migrating to private clouds to achieve agility and speed time to market for
applications while maintaining control. Regardless of the chosen cloud stack, typically only
basic networking and app services like load balancing are provided. Advanced application
delivery and security services are required to optimize and protect applications.
Highly scalable BIG-IP platforms, with programmatic interfaces and service delivery
templates, enable integration and automation with orchestration systems and deliver right-
sized services aligned to specific app needs.
F5 solutions integrate with the leading private cloud technology stacks, including OpenStack,
VMware, and Microsoft. For OpenStack, F5 provides native orchestration with Heat
templates to automate the end-to-end deployment of advanced app and security services,
reducing deployment times from days to minutes. Integration with VMware vRealize
Orchestrator through the Blue Medora vRO plug-in reduces configuration time, enables self-
service of F5 application services by app owners, and automates complex, multi-step
workflows. F5 iWorkflow
™
(formerly F5 BIG-IQ
®
Cloud) enables integration of F5 devices with
software-defined networking (SDN) orchestration systems such as Cisco ACI and VMware
NSX, providing a single point of contact between the orchestrator and F5 devices.
Two-tier architecture
For enterprises deploying a private cloud, a two-tier architecture provides an optimized
design that takes best advantage of both hardware and software app delivery services.
The first tier provides services such as L4 traffic management, distributed denial-of-service
(DDoS) firewall, or SSL offloading, which are centralized and shared for all north-south
traffic entering the network, enforcing consistent app policies. These services, which deal
with high-volume traffic and incur heavy CPU loads, require high performance, scalability,
and guaranteed service-level agreements (SLAs). Dedicated, purpose-built hardware such
as BIG-IP iSeries appliances meet those requirements and, depending on the environment
and app requirements, can be more cost efficient than commodity servers.
Tier 2—the tenant or app tier—includes emerging, cloud-native applications that can be
hosted in containers or disaggregated into microservices. The apps require specific services
addressing intra-app traffic (east-west traffic). Those services, which can include basic
load balancing to web app firewall or web performance optimizations, can be delivered on
a per-application basis through highly scalable, flexible software such as virtual editions of
BIG-IP products. This two-tier architecture model, standardized on F5 application services,
offers flexibility, a strategic point of control where proven app policies can be enforced,
and complete visibility of all traffic, taking advantage of hardware where it’s needed and
software agility near the app.