Hardware, software and OS of F5 BIG-IP Load balancer

Provisioning BIG-IP resources (CPU and RAM)

Provisioning, which was added to BIG-IP in version 10, gives you some control over the BIG-IP resources both CPU and RAM, that are allocated to each license module.

For example if you are licensed for both GTM and LTM & you know that you are implementation of GTM will require fewer resourses than LTM.

You can use provisioning to minimize that resources dedicated to GTM. LTM is provisioned by default. Unless you have purchased additional BIG-IP modules, there is nothing you need to do.

 Configuring provisioning :-

To provision BIG-IP resources you use the system tab in web configuration utility. These are four levels you can set to indicate the resources you want allocated for each you are licensed to use.

1. Dedicated
2. Nominal
3. Minimum
4. None 

Dedicated :- If only one module is functional on that CPU or on the whole system.

Nominal :- Nominal gives the module enough resources for most typical configuration if they are available.

Minimum :- it gives the module its minimum functional resources to other modules. Use the minimum setting to coexist system.

None :- Use none of you do not want any resources provisioned for the module.

BIG-IP Hardware platforms

F5 network offers multiple BIG-IP platforms to fit different traffic needs. All platforms run the same software, but higher end platforms contain more options and can support more modules simultaneously.

BIG-IP LTM 8900 Series 

The 8900 series comes with symmetrical multi processing across eight core. It includes 16 gigabytes of RAM, 16 copper Ethernet ports, each with a speed of 1 gigabit, 4 fiber ports and dual power. The 8900 also supports upto 56,000 transactions per second

(or TPS) of SSL encryption.

BIG-IP LTM 6900 Series  

The 6900 series comes with symmetrical multi processing across 4 cores. It includes 8gb of RAM, 16 copper Ethernet ports with speed upto 1gb, 4 fiber ports and dual power. The 6900 also supports upto 25,000 TPS of SSL encryption.

BIG-IP LTM 3600 Series  

The 3600 series comes with symmetrical multi processing across 4 cores. It includes 4gb of RAM, 8 copper Ethernet ports with speed upto 1gb,  dual power is an option . The 3600 also supports upto 10,000 TPS of SSL encryption.

BIG-IP LTM 1600 Series  

The 1600 series comes with symmetrical multi processing across 4 cores. It includes 4gb of RAM, 4bg copper Ethernet ports, Dual power is an option . The 1600 also supports upto 5,000 TPS of SSL encryption.

BIG-IP VIPRION

The most powerful BIG-IP platform is the VIPRION, a single controller that uses modular performance blades you can add or remove with out disrupting your applications. A fully loaded VIPRION system with blades delivering greater performance superior functionality then competitive products. Each of the blades includes 2 dual- core processors, 8gb of RAM, 8 copper Ethernet ports each with upto 1gb speed, 12 gb fiber ports and upto 2 10 gigabit fiber ports. 

Inside a 3600 BIG-IP

All one board

1. processor
2. SSL chip
3. AOM
4. switch fabric

Adding hardware

There are few pieces of additional hardware that you can order from F5.

1. A redundant power supply.
2. A F IP’s SSL accelerator card which allows for independently- certified secured management and storage of private keys. Note that F IP’s card must be installed at the factory.
3. A small form pluggable (or SFP)
4. Additional RAM
5. This power supply and FAN chassis included with the product are customer replaceable.

BIG-IP LTM Software support 

        Platform                                                    V9.x                         v10.x

1. VIPRION                                                    V9.6 +                               Y

2. 8900, 6900, 3600, 1600                             V9.4x+                           Y

3. 8800, 8400, 6800, 6400 3400, 1500              Y                               Y

4.5100, 2400, 1000                                              Y                               N

5.520,540                                                          V9.2+                           N

  

Details of each platform the versions of BIG-IP software that is supported.

Light Out Management System

The BIG-IP Hardware is actually running two operating systems. The primary BIG-IP operating system is linux, but traffic management micro kernel (TMM) is responsible for processing all client network traffic.

The second is either always ON management (AOM) or switch card control processor (SCCP) (depending ON the hardware platform) and is dedicated separate system the provides light out management as well as other supporting functions for BIG-IP.

AOM is included is most current BIG-IP products the 8900, 6900, 3600 and 1600 series.

SSCP is on the 8800, 6400, 3400, and 1500 models. Both AOM and SCCP are embedded linux systems.

Configuring IP for AOM / SCCP 

For the light out operating system to be available remotely. In case TMM goes down, you must configure an IP address for AOM or SCCP. The best time is to do this is during the initial setup. You must use the serial console session with BIG-IP to configure this IP address. To access the menu, press and release the escape key and then press the left parenthesis “{ “ Key

The menu for SCCP or AOM appears chose option and follows the prompts to configure the IP address.