Forum Discussion
samstep
Aug 11, 2009Cirrocumulus
Derek,
Your question on cases where you would have a legitimate case of an HA pair configured WITHOUT a floating IP is better suited for a different forum such as the Advanced Config/Design forum on DevCentral.
Even though your backend servers don't have BIG-IP as a default gateway in a typical load-balancing scenario the return packets must go via the BIG-IP(using SNAT Automap for example) in order for the response packets to reach the client (and BIG-IP to manipulate/compress the response if required).
nPath routing (returning packets from backend servers bypassing the BIG-IP) is only applicable in specific cases ( see https://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/products/big-ip_ltm/manuals/product/ltm_sol_guide_943/sol_npath.html )
Sam