As the virtualization boom continues, many practitioners are looking to expand beyond the server and into other aspects of their architecture. Their intent is simple: if server virtualization provides such flexible and simple deployment, then virtualizing other aspects of the network should provide even more flexibility and simplicity; you could run an entire application segment, including switches, routers and firewalls all with the confines of a single physical hardware device. Moving that application segment to a new datacenter or backup facility would be as simple as copying files. Consequently, many manufacturers of network and application delivery equipment have rushed virtual versions of their products to market; some completely replacing their physical counterparts and others providing scaled down virtual versions in order to have a product, but not one that cannibalizes their traditional product sales.
Unfortunately, many of these offerings were developed simply in the face of virtualization hype and little thought seems to have been put into exactly how these devices would or should work, where it might make sense to use a virtual appliance in lieu of a physical one or when a physical appliance still makes the most sense. There are certainly many cases where virtual instances of physical appliances make perfect sense: development and testing labs, for training purposes and even for proof-of-concept deployments for new projects. All of these situations can be vastly improved by the ease of deployment, lower cost and flexibility offered by virtual solutions, but there is still a lot of debate about their place in realm of production deployment.
I have to say – and I have said it before – I am not a great fan of the ‘virtual appliance’ model for delivering enterprise management software. Specifically, I have ongoing concerns about how these software appliances break compliance, security, and other important management and policy requirements. – Andi Mann,Virtual Appliances – More Risk than Reward?, October 29, 2009.
Of course this doesn’t even take into account that many physical appliances started out on general computing hardware and evolved over years to include special purpose silicon and other unique hardware in order to achieve the speed an performance required by today’s applications; many of which simply aren’t available to virtual incarnations.
It seems that there is definitely a place in the enterprise for virtual versions of network and application delivery appliances, but there are some basic requirements that must be met. The virtual version must be completely compatible with its physical counterparts and have essentially the same capabilities—this makes it easy to use virtual instances in dev/test and move configuration files in bulk to their physical counterparts in production; the corollary being that virtual versions are still likely to be compliments to their physical brethren, not wholesale replacements. Finally, given the constantly changing needs of the environments mostly likely to benefit from virtual appliances, there needs to be a great deal of flexibility and leeway in licensing that meets this need.
F5 recently announced availability of a free trial version of its new virtual appliance, the BIG-IP® Local Traffic Manager™ (LTM™) Virtual Edition (VE). This virtual version of F5’s flagship application delivery control helps address the immediate needs of customers while not eliminating their existing appliance investment or relegating them to only basic functionality; giving customers a choice of the how these devices best fit within their environment.
Developers can now easily work directly with the services provided by the LTM while developing applications, integrating iRules and iControl components to take advantage of centralized network services. These components can be easily moved with the applications directly into production because the LTM VE is an integrated component of the overall application delivery network, not simply a one-off solution. This includes free access to the support portal and resources on DevCentral to make it easier to break the traditional barriers between development and the network.
While application architects and developers don’t necessarily care about the final implementation of ADC services, they require a flexible infrastructure that can easily be integrated into the application development and deployment process, and can adapt quickly to business operations and opportunities. Soft ADCs give customers the flexibility to deploy ADCs in whole new ways to test, develop, and integrate more tightly into an overall Enterprise Cloud Architecture. - Mark Fabbi, VP and Distinguished Analyst at Gartner
In addition, F5 is now offering free BIG-IP LTM web-based training as a flexible learning tool to help users get the most from F5 solutions. This makes the LTM VE a perfect vehicle for development, testing and proof-of-concept use, particularly with organizations who may be unfamiliar with the benefits and breadth of services offered in today’s application delivery solutions. It also minimizes the cost of education and training for organization standardizing on F5 technology.
This is simply the first step towards an overall Enterprise Cloud Architecture strategy that began back in 2007 with the introduction of F5’s unique Clustered Multiprocessing (CMP) technology. This strategy and vision was recently bolstered by the new BIG-IP Edge Gateway™ and BIG-IP Access Policy Manager™ products, which can serve as application access control points for internal and external enterprise cloud services. These solutions simplify and unify application access control while ensuring high levels of quality of service. Tight integration between physical appliances that can provide consistent, reliable control, virtual appliances which can easily be moved between datacenters and cloud peering-points and advanced services which ensure the availability, security and performance of applications is a critical component of future cloud development.
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Support for BIG-IP LTM VE
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