Load balancing has increased web availability and improves performance for critical applications
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for
F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition, which is mostly requested by our customers, is using it as a load balancer, functioning as an LTM (Local Traffic Manager).
Recently, we had a requirement from a customer who hosts a web application on a web server and needed to increase the availability of the website. We suggested and implemented a solution where we placed F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition in front of the server and deployed three servers behind it, all hosting the same application. Using this approach, we have increased both the performance and availability of the application.
What is most valuable?
The two main features I like most about F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition are the Local Traffic Manager and the Application Security Manager, also known as Advanced
WAF. These two are my favorite features.
F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition has a positive impact on our customers. As I shared in the example scenario, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition helped our customers increase the high availability and performance of their applications, specifically their web applications.
What needs improvement?
I believe F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition could be improved in the area of pricing. It is a somewhat expensive solution, and the price needs to be improved based on what our customers have told us.
Another area for improvement is that training for F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is not widely available. While there is paid training available on the F5.com website, there is generally no free training available for F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been doing projects related to F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is very good. We can scale F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition very quickly in public cloud environments and also in our on-premise private environment.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support for F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is excellent. We always receive prompt responses from the customer support team.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use any solution apart from F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition.
How was the initial setup?
The setup cost is acceptable, but it is somewhat expensive. However, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition solves a very significant problem of high availability and performance, so the pricing can be overlooked, though our customers do mention that it is expensive. The licensing is also expensive because we need to have separate licenses for separate modules. For example, LTM has its own license and ASM has its own license.
What about the implementation team?
We purchased F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition through the
AWS Marketplace.
What was our ROI?
I can see the return on investment with F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition. The measurable metrics for us and our customers are those related to performance. There is a significant performance improvement in the website and website speed. Additionally, time is saved because we avoid a lot of manual processes using F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The setup cost is acceptable, but it is somewhat expensive. However, F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition solves a very significant problem of high availability and performance, so the pricing can be overlooked, though our customers do mention that it is expensive. The licensing is also expensive because we need to have separate licenses for separate modules. For example, LTM has its own license and ASM has its own license.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is a market leader, so we did not evaluate any other options.
What other advice do I have?
I rate F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition 10 out of 10.
I gave it a 10 out of 10 because F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition truly solves a significant problem of high availability and traffic and performance improvement in web applications.
The metrics showing performance and availability improvement with F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition include less downtime. Since we have increased redundancy on the web servers by placing three web servers behind F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition, if one of the servers fails, the other two will serve the traffic. Additionally, faster response time is achieved because we have more compute power with three servers serving the same purpose and hosting the same website.
I would highly recommend F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition to everyone because we have had a phenomenal experience using this device. It is a very capable solution. We have used the Local Traffic Manager and we are in the process of implementing the Advanced Security Module, Application Security Module, or Advanced WAF.
F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition is a very good solution that solves many of the problems faced by small to medium-sized businesses.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Good for cloud security and branch management in the cloud and offers seamless integration
What is our primary use case?
I use it in the IT environment in Brazil for a financial bank in Latin America.
We're primarily using BIG-IP LTM across our data centers, employing it for global load balancing with GTM. This setup is crucial for our operations in Mexican, Colombia, and Brazil as well.
How has it helped my organization?
The biggest impact is in security solutions, for example, with HCM, which is recognized in the Gartner. We use BIG-IP for cloud security and branch management in the cloud.
Moreover, the integration with other networks or security solutions improves the infrastructure.
In Brazil, within the government environment, we use BIG-IP for load balancing and another solution as a proxy, which is called Blue Coat.
We utilize BIG-IP, for example, for load balancing. The VPN model we use is called ARC. The first solution connecting with BIG-IP is very effective.
What is most valuable?
The features that I like include LTM and Global Traffic Manager (GTM).
What needs improvement?
BIG-IP could improve in supporting microservices, for example, in Docker and Kubernetes environments.
Accessing and load balancing with Docker and Kubernetes is becoming more common in financial banks to scale services globally.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for many years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is 50-50 because the environment has a lot of connections, which influences stability. For example, the VM in the environment sometimes becomes unstable, particularly the connection. In such cases, we need to decrease the connections within the environment.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is easier to manage because it's possible to scale up big clusters, both in cloud-based and enterprise environments. So, it caters well to new business segments.
There are 8,000 end users in the company.
How are customer service and support?
My impression of the support team is mixed; sometimes good, sometimes bad. For example, when I raised a ticket for an IMEI issue and needed to replace BIG-IP, it failed. No problem, this process is very easy for replacing the software. So, I had a complex problem in my environment. The standard package was not satisfactory.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used a different solution, but its performance was very bad in comparison to F5 BIG-IP.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is 50% complex and 50% easy because I had to follow a lot of steps. It wasn't that simple.
In our environment, it is 90% in AWS. I use BIG-IP in the cloud, where the cloud fronts are AWS, Columbia, and Brazil, creating the infrastructure.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is standard.
The pricing is moderate, not too expensive, and not too cheap. For a small company, it might be considered very expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend using this solution.
Overall, I would rate the solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
