F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition Supported Platforms¶
F5® BIG-IP® Virtual Edition (VE) is supported on the following platforms. (This document was formerly named Virtual Edition and Supported Hypervisors Matrix.) You can also see the list of unsupported features and Cloud limitations for each F5 BIG-IP VE release.
BIG-IP VE supports all F5 modules. These modules are LTM, AFM, APM, ASM, AAM, BIG-IP DNS (formerly GTM), Secure Web Gateway Services, IP Intelligence Services, PEM, and Carrier-Grade NAT (CGNAT).
Caution
All single NIC configurations support a maximum throughput of 1 Gbps. BIG-IP uses a stable (unoptimized) driver for the management interface; therefore, a single-NIC deployment has only that one stable interface to process traffic.
Important
Be sure to consult this K5903 article to verify the technical support schedule for your version of BIG-IP VE. If your version of VE does NOT appear in this compatibility matrix, then it has reached END of technical support.
Note
An “X” indicates F5 support for all VE releases in that main branch. A “+” indicates F5 support for a specific dot release and subsequent releases.
Hypervisors¶
VMware ESXi (used by vSphere, vCenter, vCloud Director, and AWS VMC)¶
F5 supports the following versions of BIG-IP VE on VMware. BEFORE upgrading your VMware ESXi 6.7 environment, consult this K74921042 solution article.
Note
Support for major VMware ESXi releases and updates (for example, U1-U3) includes ALL SUBSEQUENT PATCHES (for example, a-g).
| BIG-IP VE version | Maximum throughput | ESXi version | vCloud Director version* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17.1.X | 40 Gbps | 8.0 U3b, 8.0 U2, 8.0 U1a, 8.0 and 7.0 U3c+ * (including VMC on | AWS) All 5.x versions later than 5.5, 8.x, 9.x, and v10.x |
| 16.1.X | 40 Gbps | 8.0, 7.0 U1-U3 (including VMC on AWS) | All 5.x versions later than 5.5, 8.x, 9.x, and v10.x |
| 15.1.X, 14.1.0.6+ | 40 Gbps | 7.0 U1-U3 (including VMC on AWS) | All 5.x versions later than 5.5, 8.x, 9.x, and v10.x |
| 16.1.X, 15.1.X, 14.1.0.6+, 13.1.3+ | 40 Gbps | 6.7 U1-U3 (including VMC on AWS) | All 5.x versions later than 5.5, 8.x, 9.x, and v10.x |
| 15.1.X, 14.1.X | 40 Gbps | 6.0 through 6.7 U1 | All 5.x versions later than 5.5, 8.x, 9.x, and v10.x |
| 13.1.1, 13.1.0 | 40 Gbps: ESXi 6.0 and later 10 Gbps: ESXi 5.5 and later |
5.5 through 6.7 U1 | All 5.x versions later than 5.5, 8.x, 9.x, and v10.x |
| 13.1.X | 40 Gbps: ESXi 6.0 and later
10 Gbps: ESXi 5.5 and later
|
6.0 through 6.7 U1 | All 5.x versions later than 5.5, 8.x, 9.x, and v10.x |
- Licenses are available for throughput of 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 3 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps. For throughput higher than 10 Gbps, high performance licenses are available.
- Single NIC configuration supports maximum throughput of 1 Gbps.
- 10 Gbps throughput and higher require SR-IOV.
- All versions of BIG-IP VE support SR-IOV and TSO, running on ESXi 5.0.
- vCloud Director supports TSO only (no SR-IOV).
* F5 supports but has NOT tested this version.
Linux KVM, Xen Project, and OpenStack¶
F5 supports the following versions of BIG-IP VE on Linux.
Supported Linux distributions include:
- CentOS/RHEL 6.3 and later
- Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and later
- Debian 7.2 and later
For other KVM-based hypervisors, see notes after the following table.
F5 supports upgrades that are backward compatible with these versions.
| BIG-IP VE version | Maximum throughput | Other Compatibility |
|---|---|---|
| 17.X, 16.X, 15.X, and 14.X | 85 Gbps * – KVM on CentOS/RHEL 8.4 and later | |
| 16.1.X | 85 Gbps * – KVM on CentOS/RHEL 7.3 and later | |
| 15.1.6.1-15.1.4 | 85 Gbps * – KVM on CentOS/RHEL 7.3 and later | Compatible with Intel SmartNIC 2.0+ |
| 15.1.0.4 | 85 Gbps * – KVM on CentOS/RHEL 7.3 and later | Compatible with Intel SmartNIC 1.0 and Intel QAT technologies. |
| 15.1.X, 14.1.0.3+ | 85 Gbps * – KVM on CentOS/RHEL 7.3 and later | Compatible with Intel QAT technology. |
| 15.1.X | 85 Gbps * – KVM on CentOS/RHEL 7.3 and later | Compatible with Hygon x86 CPU. |
| 14.1.X | 85 Gbps * – KVM on CentOS/RHEL 7.3 and later | Compatible with Cisco eNIC driver for Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card (VICß0/1340) in VM-FEX mode. |
| 13.1.X | 40 Gbps – KVM on CentOS/RHEL 6.3 and later 10 Gbps - all others |
* Based on L4 testing with Mellanox CX5 100Gbps NICs.
Licenses are available for throughput of 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 3 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps. For throughput higher than 10 Gbps, high performance licenses (vCPU-based) are available.
Single NIC configuration supports maximum throughput of 1 Gbps.
For maximum performance, use SR-IOV.
F5 supports Red Hat OpenStack Platform version 9 and later, for versions of KVM running on any of the supported Linux distributions.
BIG-IP VE supports most KVM-based hypervisor environments as long as:
You are using the BIG-IP VE standard KVM qcow2 or ova image from F5 Downloads page (v13.1 or higher)
You are using the virtio networking driver (Note: SR-IOV may not be supported.)
You are using a standard BIG-IP VE license
You or a third-party cloud/hypervisor vendor have not modified the base image to accommodate environment or hypervisor-specific customizations
You are using the default i440FX or Q35* machine type.
*Q35 machine type when using BIG-IP 15.1.10, 16.1.5 or 17.1.1 or higher versions. See https://cdn.f5.com/product/bugtracker/ID1492337.html in case your version needs a workaround to set interface´s MTU.”
Microsoft Hyper-V¶
F5 supports the following versions of BIG-IP VE on Microsoft Hyper-V Generation 1.
| BIG-IP VE version | Maximum throughput | Supported generation | Windows versions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17.1.X | 10 Gbps | Generation 1 | Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Update 1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 |
| 16.1.X | 10 Gbps | Generation 1 | Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Update 1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 |
| 15.1.X | 10 Gbps | Generation 1 | Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Update 1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 |
| 14.1.X | 3 Gbps | Generation 1 | Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Update 1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 |
| 13.1.X | 3 Gbps | Generation 1 | Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Update 1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 |
- Licenses are available for throughput of 10 Gbps, 3 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps.
- Single NIC configuration supports maximum throughput of 1 Gbps.
Citrix Hypervisor (formerly Citrix XenServer)¶
F5 supports the following versions of BIG-IP VE on Citrix Hypervisor.
Note
13.1.3 is the last BIG-IP VE releases for Citrix Hypervisor.
| BIG-IP VE version | Maximum throughput | Citrix XenServer versions |
|---|---|---|
| 13.1.1, 13.1.0 | 10 Gbps | 7.2, 7.1, 7.0, 6.5, 6.2 RTM and SP1 |
| EM VE 3.1.1 | Determined by host and guest resource allocation, not license | Not supported |
- Licenses are available for throughput of 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 3 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps.
- 10 Gbps max throughput requires SR-IOV.
- All versions of BIG-IP VE support SR-IOV and TSO.
Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV)¶
F5 has verified support for the following Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV) versions with the following versions of BIG-IP VE:
| BIG-IP VE version | Maximum throughput | Nutanix AHV Version |
|---|---|---|
| 17.1.X | 10 Gbps | AOS 5.20.4.5 and AOS 6.5 LTS |
| 16.1.X | 10 Gbps | AOS 5.20.4.5 and AOS 6.5 LTS |
| 15.1.3+ | 10 Gbps | AOS 5.20.4.5 and AOS 6.5 LTS |
Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor hardware platforms are KVM-based, and MUST meet these KVM system requirements.
Note: The NX-3060-(1 block, 4 nodes) is tested and compatible for deploying BIG-IP VE on Nutanix. However, VE deployment is supported on any host that meets the minimum hardware requirements.
Caution
Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor hardware platforms are subject to change without F5’s knowledge.
Cloud Platforms¶
F5 recommends at least 2 vCPU and 4 GB memory. For each additional vCPU, add at least 2 GB of memory. Provisioning modules and installing iControl Lx extensions (for example, AS3, DO, TS, FAST, CFE and SSLO) also requires more resources. See System requirements for BIG-IP VE modules and individual extensions for more details.
Important
The All/Better/Best license type for all cloud platforms originally offered ASM/AWAF or APM modules. The offerings for this license type have changed (and are deprecated) for BIG-IP VE versions 16.1.2.1+, 15.1.5.1+, and 14.1.4.5+. The new All/Better/Best or Best-Plus license type offers Advanced Web Application Firewall (AWAF), IP Intelligence (IPI), and Threat Campaigns (TC) solutions for these later versions of BIG-IP VE.
F5 BIG-IP Image Generator Tool¶
F5 BIG-IP Image Generator Tool creates custom images from the .ISO file for F5 BIG-IP VE releases or for hot-fixes that are not available on all the public cloud marketplaces and deploy unpublished versions of VE to the Public Cloud (using BYOL only). This tool is community-supported, and you can install it from BIG-IP Image Generator Tool - GitHub. Although the F5 BIG-IP Image Generator Tool is community-supported, the VE instances deployed from the images generated by this tool are supported by F5 Support.
You can use the Image Generator Tool for the following versions of BIG-IP:
- 13.1.0.2+ (except Alibaba)
- 14.X and 14.1.0.3+ (for Alibaba ONLY)
- 15.X
- 16.X
For complete details, consult this topic.
Caution
The Image Generator tool has reached end of software development (EoSD) and is no longer supported with active updates. F5 will not provide software fixes (hotfixes) or consulting services for a version that has reached the EoSD milestone. For details, consult the K5903 article.
Amazon Web Services¶
F5 supports these versions of BIG-IP VE in AWS and AWS-China:
- 17.1.1.3, 17.1.1.1, 17.1.0.3, 17.1.1
- 16.1.4.3, 16.1.4.2, 16.1.4.1
- 15.1.10.4, 15.1.10.3, 15.1.10.2
Note
Due to critical apache vulnerabilities, BIG-IP versions earlier than the above listed versions are deprecated. For more information, refer to K000137353.
F5 recommends these instance types for BIG-IP VE:
| AWS instance type | LTM/DNS (Good) | All (Better/Best/Best-Plus) |
|---|---|---|
| t3.medium, t3.large (13.1.1 and later) | X # | X # |
| t2.medium, t2.large | X ^ | X ^ |
| m3.medium | X ^ | |
| m3.large, m3.xlarge | X | X |
| m3.2xlarge | X | X * |
| m4.large, m4.xlarge | X | X |
| m4.2xlarge, m4.4xlarge, m4.10xlarge, m4.16xlarge | X | X * |
| m5n.large, m5n.xlarge, m5n.2xlarge (13.1.1 and later) | X # | X # |
| m5.large, m5.xlarge, m5.2xlarge (13.1.1 and later) | X | X |
| m5.4xlarge (13.1.1 and later) | X | X * |
| m5.12xlarge | X | X * |
| m5.24xlarge (Advanced WAF 3 Gbps and BYOL-specific license types only) | X | X |
| m6i.32xlarge, m6i.24xlarge, m6i.16xlarge, m6i.12xlarge, m6i.8xlarge, m6i.4xlarge, m6i.2xlarge, m6i.xlarge, and m6i.large | X | X |
| c3.large (Advanced WAF 25/200Mbps 16.1.0 and later) | X | |
| c3.xlarge, c3.2xlarge | X | X |
| c3.4xlarge, c3.8xlarge | X | X * |
| c4.xlarge, c4.2xlarge | X | X |
| c4.4xlarge, c4.8xlarge | X | X * |
| c5.large, c5.xlarge, c5.2xlarge (13.1.1 and later) | X | X |
| c5.4xlarge (13.1.1 and later) | X | X * |
| c5.9xlarge (13.1.1. and later) | X | X * |
| c5.18xlarge (Advanced WAF 3 Gbps and BYOL-specific license types only) | X | X |
| c5n.2xlarge, c5n.4xlarge (13.1.1. and later) | X | X |
| c5n.9xlarge, c5n.18xlarge (13.1.1. and later for 20 Gbps throughput with LTM) | X | X |
| c5a.16xlarge, c5a.2xlarge, c5a.4xlarge, c5a.large (14.1.4 and later, 15.1.3 and later, and 16.1 and later) | X | X |
| c5d.xlarge, c5d.2xlarge, c5d.4xlarge | X | X |
| c6i.large, c6i.xlarge, c6i.2xlarge, c6i.4xlarge, c6i.8xlarge (13.1.1. and later) | X | X * |
| c6i.12xlarge, c6i.16xlarge, c6i.24xlarge, and c6i.32xlargee (13.1.1. and later) | X | X |
| cc2.8xlarge | X | X |
| r4.large, r4.xlarge, r4.2xlarge (BYOL-specific license types and F5 Per-App-VE images only) | X | X |
| r5.large, r5.xlarge, r5.2xlarge, r5.4xlarge, r5.8xlarge, r5.12xlarge, r5.16xlarge | X | X |
| r6i.xlarge, r6i.2xlarge, r6i.4xlarge, r6i.8xlarge and r6i.16xlarge | X | X |
| c6i.xlarge, c6i.2xlarge, c6i.4xlarge, c6i.8xlarge and c6i.16xlarge | X | X |
| c6in.xlarge, c6in.2xlarge, c6in.4xlarge, c6in.8xlarge and c6in.16xlarge | X | X |
| m6i.xlarge, m6i.2xlarge, m6i.4xlarge, m6i.8xlarge and m6i.16xlarge | X | X |
| m6in.xlarge, m6in.2xlarge, m6in.4xlarge, m6in.8xlarge and m6in.16xlarge | X | X |
| c7i.xlarge, c7i.2xlarge, c7i.4xlarge, c7i.8xlarge and c7i.16xlarge | X | X |
| m7i.xlarge, m7i.2xlarge, m7i.4xlarge, m7i.8xlarge and m7i.16xlarge | X | X |
| r7i.xlarge, r7i.2xlarge, r7i.4xlarge, r7i.8xlarge and r7i.16xlarge | X | X |
Important
F5 has validated the deployment of VE on AWS Outposts Racks that support instance types as validated in the AWS instances table. As part of this validation, F5 has confirmed that F5 BIG-IP Cloud Failover Extension (CFE) works as expected for the assignment of secondary IP addresses, routes in Outposts deployed subnets, local routes, and customer-owned Ips. F5 CFE on Outposts has the same IAM and S3 requirements as CFE running in the region, including access to region-based S3 resources. If you require no data be stored outside of AWS Outposts, then non-HA deployments are supported.
** Version is also supported in AWS-China.
# Greater network bandwidth/performance than previous instance types, due to a new network driver, ENA.
^ Recommended for 25 and 200 Mbps only.
* Instances F5 has confirmed (tested) with running ASM/AWAF or APM modules.
- BYOL (Bring Your Own License) production licenses are available for maximum throughput speeds of 20 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 3 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps.
- Single NIC configuration supports maximum throughput of 1 Gbps.
- Throughput depends on a variety of factors, including AWS instance type and region, the configuration of BIG-IP (whether it’s processing internal or external traffic), whether you have a single NIC or multiple NICs, whether you are using AWS cluster and enhanced networking, etc.
- Choose an image with 2 boot locations if you expect to upgrade BIG-IP VE in the future. If you do not need room to upgrade (if you intend to create a new instance when a new version of BIG-IP VE is released), choose an image with 1 boot location.
- BIG-IP VE supports AWS CloudHSM.
- BIG-IP VE is supported on AWS GovCloud and on the AWS Marketplace for the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC).
- BIG-IP VE latest releases for 14.1.x, 15.1.x, and 16.1.x are supported on the AWS Marketplace for Carahsoft.
Microsoft Azure¶
F5 supports these versions of BIG-IP VE in Azure *:
- 17.1.1.3, 17.1.1.1, 17.1.0.3, 17.1.1
- 16.1.4.3, 16.1.4.2, 16.1.4.1
- 15.1.10.4, 15.1.10.3, 15.1.10.2
Note
Due to critical apache vulnerabilities, BIG-IP versions earlier than the above listed versions are deprecated. For more information, refer to K000137353.
* Support for Azure China has NOT been validated.
Important
Only the latest version of BIG-IP VE is available in the Azure Marketplace. For older versions, see F5 Downloads page.
F5 recommends these instance types for BIG-IP VE.
Tip
F5 recommends you perform additional testing within your environment to ensure the performance and capacity requirements meet your needs. Consult the Azure documentation for complete sizing information.
| Azure instance | LTM/DNS (Good) | All (Better/Best/Best-Plus) |
|---|---|---|
| Standard_D11 | X | |
| Standard_DS1_v2 | X | |
| Standard_DS2_v2 | X | |
| Standard_DS11_v2 | X | |
| Standard_A2_v2 | X | |
| Standard_A1 | X | |
| Standard_A4 | X | X |
| Standard_A6 | X | X |
| Standard_D4 | X | X |
| Standard_DS3 | X | X |
| Standard_DS3_v2 | X | X |
| Standard_DS12_v2 | X | X |
| Standard_DS13_v2 | X | X |
| Standard_DS14_v2 | X | X |
| Standard_A7 | X | X ** |
| Standard_DS4_v2 | X | X ** |
| Standard_DS5_v2 | X ^ | X ** |
| Standard_Fs_v2 Series | X | X ** |
| Standard_D_v4 Series | X | X ** |
| Standard_Ds_v4 Series | X | X ** |
| Standard_E_v4 Series | X | X ** |
| Standard_Es_v4 Series | X | X ** |
| Standard_D_v5 Series | X | X ** |
| Standard_Ds_v5 Series | X | X ** |
| Standard_E_v5 Series | X | X ** |
| Standard_Es_v5 Series | X | X ** |
** Instances F5 has confirmed (tested) with running ASM/AWAF or APM modules.
^ Recommended for achieving 10G LTM throughput with accelerated networking enabled, 15.0 later versions, and at least 8 CPUs.
| License Type | Description |
|---|---|
| PAYG (Pay as You Grow) | Production licenses are available for maximum throughput speeds of 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps. |
| BYOL (Bring Your Own License) | Production licenses are available for maximum throughput speeds of 20 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 3 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps. |
- Single NIC configuration supports maximum throughput of 1 Gbps.
- Throughput depends on a variety of factors, including Azure instance type and region, the configuration of BIG-IP (whether it’s processing internal or external traffic), whether you have a single NIC or multiple NICs, whether you are using Azure accelerated networking, etc.
- Choose an image with 2 boot locations if you expect to upgrade BIG-IP VE in the future. If you do not need room to upgrade (if you intend to create a new instance when a new version of BIG-IP VE is released), choose an image with 1 boot location.
- BIG-IP VE 13.1.0.2 and later with a BYOL license is supported in Azure Stack.
- BIG-IP VE versions 13.1.1.4, and 14.1.2 support Dv3-series and Dsv3-series instance types in Azure.
- BIG-IP VE 15.X supports Accelerated Networking (SR-IOV) on multi-NIC BIG-IPs for higher performance and lower latency. For more information, consult F5 BIG-IP VE for Azure.
Google Cloud Platform¶
F5 supports the following BIG-IP VE versions on Google Cloud Platform:
- 17.1.1.3, 17.1.1.1, 17.1.0.3, 17.1.1
- 16.1.4.3, 16.1.4.2, 16.1.4.1
- 15.1.10.4, 15.1.10.3, 15.1.10.2
Note
Due to critical apache vulnerabilities, BIG-IP versions earlier than the above listed versions are deprecated. For more information, refer to K000137353.
F5 recommends the following minimum Google Cloud instance types. You can use larger instance types; for example, 8 CPU. However, you must maintain that the CPU-to-memory ratio is sufficient (2 GB of memory for every CPU added).
Tip
When you deploy BIG-IP VE, choose at least 2 vCPU and 4 GB memory. For each additional vCPU, add at least 2 GB of memory. Because of this requirement, the e or n[1-2] + highcpu instance types are NOT supported.
| Series+Machine Family | Minimum Instance Type | LTM/DNS (Good) | All (Better/Best/Best-Plus) |
|---|---|---|---|
| E2 GENERAL-PURPOSE |
|
X | X |
| N2 GENERAL-PURPOSE |
|
X | X |
| N2D GENERAL-PURPOSE |
|
X | X |
| N1 GENERAL-PURPOSE |
|
X | X |
| C2 COMPUTE-OPTIMIZED |
|
X | X |
| C2D COMPUTE-OPTIMIZED |
|
X | X |
| M1 MEMORY-OPTIMIZED |
|
X | X |
| License Type | Description |
|---|---|
| PAYG (Pay as You Grow) | Production licenses are available for maximum throughput speeds of 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps. |
| BYOL (Bring Your Own License) | Production licenses are available for maximum throughput speeds of 20 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 3 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps. |
Alibaba Cloud¶
F5 supports the following BIG-IP VE versions on Alibaba Cloud:
- 17.1.1.3, 17.1.1.1, 17.1.0.3, 17.1.1
- 16.1.4.3, 16.1.4.2, 16.1.4.1
- 15.1.10.4, 15.1.10.3, 15.1.10.2
Note
Due to critical apache vulnerabilities, BIG-IP versions earlier than the above listed versions are deprecated. For more information, refer to K000137353.
The following apply:
- PAYG production licenses are available for maximum throughput speeds of 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps.
- When you deploy BIG-IP VE, choose at least 2 vCPU and 4 GB memory. For each additional vCPU, add at least 2 GB of memory.
Important
Currently, the c5/6 and g5/6 instance types for multi-NIC deployments are NOT supported.
* With the exception of BYOL All 1 boot.
** AWF offering
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)¶
F5 supports BIG-IP VE version 13.1.0.4 and later on OCI.
BYOL licenses are available for maximum throughput speeds of 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 3 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps.
BYOL High Performance VE licenses are available for throughput speeds beyond 10 Gbps.
To achieve speeds beyond 10Gbps, use SR-IOV VNICs on the OCI Shape. BIG-IP v15.1.4.1 and later supports SR-IOV on the VM.Standard.E3.Flex shapes using Mellanox (MT28800) ConnectX-5 VNICs.
Note
OCI rate limits network bandwidth on shapes based on OCPU count. OCI requires 40 OCPU to achieve 40 Gbps, due to OCI rate limits.
Up to 40 Gbps is possible with SR-IOV VNICs using the VM.Standard.E3.Flex shape with 40 OCPUs.
IBM Cloud VPC Gen 2¶
F5 supports the following BIG-IP VE versions on IBM Cloud VPC Gen 2:
- 17.1.1.3, 17.1.1.0, 17.1.0.3, 17.1.0.2, 17.1.0.1, and 17.1.0
- 16.1.4.3, 16.1.4.2, 16.1.4.1, 16.1.4, 16.1.3.5, 16.1.3.4, 16.1.3.3 and 16.1.2.2
- 15.1.10.4, 15.1.10.3, 15.1.10.2, 15.1.9.1, 15.1.8.2, 15.1.8.1 and 15.1.7
Use one of the listed Compute-based Profiles that match your particular BIG-IP VE requirements listed in this K14810 KB article.
As an example, to support a 1 Gbps BEST license, F5 recommends using the cx2-8x16 (8 vCPU, 16GB RAM) IBM instance type.
For image naming recommendations, see the Deploy F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition in IBM Cloud VPC Gen 2 topic.
Tip
F5 supports ALL IBM compute profiles with 4 or less vCPUs. If using 8 vCPUs, F5 recommends only the following compute profiles:
- cx2-8x16
- bx2-8x32
- mx2-8x64-f5
Feature support for BIG-IP Virtual Edition¶
This section tracks features provided by both BIG-IP and hypervisors that are NOT currently supported in BIG-IP Virtual Edition deployed in the public cloud and/or hypervisor environments.
BIG-IP feature support status in Virtual Edition¶
BIG-IP for hardware platforms provide features that are NOT supported in BIG-IP Virtual Edition (VE). The following table tracks support status for these BIG-IP features in versions of BIG-IP VE for use in public cloud and/or hypervisor environments.
Statuses include:
- C-US - Cloud unsupported
- C-S - Cloud supported
- H-US - Hypervisor unsupported
- H-S - Hypervisor supported
| BIG-IP feature | VE 13.1.X | VE 14.1.X | VE 15.1.X | VE 16.1.X | VE 17.X |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F5 Standard_D11 (TDR2, TDR3) | C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
| F5 Bridging protocols: Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP and MSTP) |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
| F5 DNS Response Cache in Hardware | C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
| F5 Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 Level 1 * | C-S H-S |
C-S H-S |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
| F5 Hard-wired failover | C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
| F5 Trunking Protocol, Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) | C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
| F5 Link Controller (LC) | C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
| F5 Memory snapshots | C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
| F5 vmmemctl memory balloon driver | C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
C-US H-US |
Note
- Currently, IPv6 does NOT support failover.
- FIPS-supported versions require an add-on license. See K91841023 for complete FIPS details.
* FIPS 140-2 Level 1 for BIG-IP VE:
- 13.1.1 - VALIDATED support on VMware ESXi, Hyper-V, AWS, and Microsoft Azure
- 14.1.0.3 - VALIDATED support on VMware ESXi, Hyper-V, AWS, and Microsoft Azure
- 14.1.2 - VALIDATED support on VMware ESXi, Hyper-V, KVM, AWS, and Microsoft Azure
- 15.1.2.1+EHF - support validation currently IN PROGRESS on VMware ESXi, Hyper-V, KVM, AWS, and Microsoft Azure
- 16.1.3.1 - support validation currently IN PROGRESS on VMware ESXi, Hyper-V, KVM, AWS, and Microsoft Azure
- 17.1.X - support validation currently PLANNED on VMware ESXi, Hyper-V, KVM, AWS, and Microsoft Azure
Hypervisor feature limitations in BIG-IP VE¶
The following table tracks support status for hypervisor features in versions of BIG-IP Virtual Edition.
Statuses include:
- H-US - Hypervisor unsupported
- H-S - Hypervisor supported
| Hypervisor feature | VE 13.1.X | VE 14.1.X | VE 15.1.X | VE 16.1.X | VE 17.X |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VMware Fault Tolerance technology | H-US | H-US | H-US | H-US | H-US |
| VMware High Availability | H-US | H-US | H-US | H-US | H-US |
| VMware vMotion ** | H-S | H-S | H-S | H-S | H-S |
** VMware vMotion support for BIG-IP VE depends on implementing these configuration best practices.