F5 Networks White Papers

SNMP: Simplified

08 Apr 2008 07:00:00 EST

The Simple Network Management Protocol defines a method for managing devices that connect to IP networks. The "simple" in SNMP refers to the requirements for a managed device, not the protocol. This white paper defines the history, frequently used terms, and implementation of SNMP.

Disaster Recovery: Not Just Planning for the Worst

14 Mar 2008 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper describes how businesses can use F5 Networks' BIG-IP GTM to leverage all the benefits of their secondary site in an active-active configuration to holistically manage their applications across multiple site. It also describes how you can use the BIG-IP Link Controller to maintain ISP link connectivity and WANJet to accelerate site-to-site data replication across the WAN

F5 and the 8 Ways to Virtualization

14 Mar 2008 07:00:00 EST

F5 pioneered the concept of breaking up data center virtualization technologies into eight unique categories within the data center. Any virtualization products or technologies implemented in the data center will fall into one of these eight categories. With this paper, F5 discusses how it has implemented these same technologies within its own product line, helping enterprises get closer to achieving their goal of a implementing a complete Virtual Data Center with F5's Application Delivery Networking products.

Clustered Multiprocessing: Changing the Rules of the Performance Game

23 Jan 2008 07:00:00 EST

Because improvements in practical computer power lag far behind these exponential hardware improvements, the key to maintaining processor performance has become multiprocessor or multicore design. This White Paper details how the Clustered Multiprocessor (CMP) from F5, in combination with TMOS, provides customers with scalability, extensibility, adaptability, and manageability.

VIPRION: The Cost of Management

22 Jan 2008 07:00:00 EST

The new F5 VIPRION chassis brings not only performance and capabilities beyond today's demands, but also creates cost efficiencies that will appeal to accountants and management everywhere. This White Paper highlights some unexpected savings that the deployment of the VIPRION system brings to the table.

The Fundamentals of HTTP

17 Jan 2008 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper shows how understanding HTTP, and how these headers control behavior of web-based applications, can lead to better end-user performance, as well as making it easier to choose an application acceleration solution that addresses the shortcomings of HTTP and browser-based solutions.

IPv6-101: Introduction

06 Nov 2007 07:00:00 EST

As the use of IPv6 within the Internet grows, the basic concept of IP address configuration and use becomes critical to all organizations. This White Paper gives a detailed introduction to IPv6.

Application Delivery Security: Integrated "Any App" Security

05 Nov 2007 07:00:00 EST

There are many unique challenges and pieces to application security that most devices today aren't able to provide. Most enterprises still want to provide application security with just a Web Application Firewall, ignoring the rest of the application security puzzle or leaving those duties to existing security appliances and controls. This White Paper describes application security, and discusses integrated security for any application.

Introduction to the Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP)

05 Nov 2007 07:00:00 EST

The intent of this paper is to familiarize the reader with both the vision and need for SCTP. While it currently has a very limited use, its capabilities will soon prove too tempting, and SCTP adoption will grow quickly. Within IMS architecture, SCTP provides the call signaling over IP. The key benefits of SCTP, multi-homing and multi-streaming, will allow development of numerous new devices which include the ability to support and carry this new protocol

Applied Application Security - Positive and Negative Efficiency

16 Oct 2007 07:00:00 EST

After many years of purely negative security provided by anti-virus scanners, IDS/IPS, and antispam engines, it's refreshing to hear that the positive security model - the basis for tried and true security devices like network firewalls and ACLs - is coming back in vogue. This White Paper discusses positive and negative security models and Web Application Firewalls.

SQL Injection Evasion Detection

08 Oct 2007 07:00:00 EST

The detection of SQL injection attacks has primarily been accomplished through pattern matching techniques against signatures and keywords known to be malicious. Until recently, this technique has been successful. Now attackers are hiding their malicious intent in a variety of ways to escape detection. This White Paper discusses SQL Injection attacks, and how BIG-IP Application Security Manager technology can help prevent them.

What's New in 9.4.2: XML Firewall Features

08 Oct 2007 07:00:00 EST

The introduction of BIG-IP Application Security Manager (ASM) version 9.4.2 marks a major step forward. This White Paper describes the new version of ASM and its new XML firewall features.

XSS Evasion-Trying to hide in the all-concealing torchlight

08 Oct 2007 07:00:00 EST

Any site that stores data is at risk for exploitation. However, these interactive sites are a healthy breeding ground for attacks that attempt to use the data storage capabilities to reach a wide audience for the purpose of spreading malicious code and enticing users to share sensitive information. This White Paper discusses XSS attacks, and how BIG-IP Application Security Manager technology can help prevent them.

The SIP High Availability and Reliability Paradigm

14 Sep 2007 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper defines high availability and reliability in SIP-based services and discusses techniques of designing and building reliable SIP networks

Session Initiated Protocol (SIP): A Five-Function Protocol

14 Sep 2007 07:00:00 EST

The key to SIP is that it provides only five functions: user location, user availability, user capabilities, session setup, and session management. This White Paper defines SIP and discusses these five functions

RTSP: One of the Foundations of Convergence

14 Sep 2007 07:00:00 EST

Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) is a foundation for the current convergence of communications. This White Paper discusses RTSP, and the BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) RTSP proxy service

Introduction to the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS): IMS Basic Concepts and Terminology

21 Sep 2007 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper is written to achieve two main goals: to explain the basic vision/need for the IMS architecture and to give the reader a high-level understanding of how it works. In the end, the overarching goal is to help educate the reader on this burgeoning and powerful technology change

IMS Ready, and Raring to Go!

21 Sep 2007 07:00:00 EST

By extending the capabilities of the F5 suite of products to include pre-built support of the core IMS needs, F5 is positioned to bring the same ease of design, deployment, and management to IMS that we have in enterprise architectures for more than a decade. This White Paper discusses how F5 provides security, performance, and availability to IP networks

Building the Next Generation Network Bridge: From Today's Network to the Future

21 Sep 2007 07:00:00 EST

The modern SP needs tools and technology to help them start deploying NGN services today on their existing networks with a mindful-eye toward tomorrow. This White Paper describes how F5 Networks provides these tools and technologies and is already a major contributor to many existing SP networks providing cutting-edge technology

Web Acceleration 2.0: Now No One Has to Wait

20 Sep 2007 07:00:00 EST

The demand for (and benefits of) web-based interfaces combined with an increasingly mobile and distributed workforce has exposed inefficiencies inherent in the browser, the network and its protocols, and the data center. These inefficiencies create performance problems for applications that continue to be magnified by emerging technologies like Web 2.0 and SOA. This White Paper details how F5's approach to Application Delivery Networking eliminates the bottlenecks inherent in browsers, in the network, and in the data

Virtualization Defined - Eight Different Ways

16 Aug 2007 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper focuses on virtualization as it pertains to the data center. Before considering any type of data center virtualization, it's important to define what technology or category of service you're trying to virtualize. This White Paper describes eight different categories of virtualization so readers thoroughly understand the differences (and similarities) between the definitions of virtualization

Load Balancing 101: Nuts and Bolts

16 Aug 2007 07:00:00 EST

The pervasiveness of load balancing technology does not mean it is universally understood, nor is it typically discussed other than from a basic, network-centric viewpoint. This White Paper thoroughly explains load balancing and strips away some of the mystery and magic from basic load balancing practices

Load Balancing 101: The Evolution to Application Delivery Controllers

07 Aug 2007 07:00:00 EST

One of the unfortunate effects of the continued evolution of the load balancer into today's application delivery controller (ADC) is that it is often too easy to forget the basic problem for which load balancers were originally created-producing highly available, scalable, and predictable application services. This White Paper describes the Evolution of load balancing devices to Application Delivery Controllers

Security Implications of the Virtualized Data Center

23 May 2007 07:00:00 EST

The concepts behind application and operation system virtualization are not new concepts, they have been around long before server appliances and desktop PCs were readily available in our daily vocabulary. The recent rate of virtualization adoption however, especially that of software operating system virtualization, has grown exponentially in the past few years. This White Paper describes some of the security implications of the virtual datacenter

Improving End-User Performance by Eliminating HTTP Chattiness

01 Apr 2007 07:00:00 EST

Web application delays caused by network latency cannot be fixed by increasing bandwidth or increasing server capacity. This White Paper shows how F5's WebAccelerator solves this problem with its Intelligent Browser Referencing (IBR) technology, which is a group of capabilities that eliminates the need for the browser to download repetitive or duplicate data, and ensures the best use of bandwidth by controlling browser behavior

Aligning Application Infrastructure With Business Through Service Oriented Application Delivery

01 Mar 2007 07:00:00 EST

One of SOA's primary goals is to align IT with the business. F5's BIG-IP can and does assist in aligning IT with the business by enabling agility, mitigating risk, and encouraging reuse. As part of the IT infrastructure, these devices can improve overall performance, enhance security, and offload tasks from both servers and developers, providing quantifiable benefits over alternative solutions

Effective Disaster Recovery Planning Using F5 Application Acceleration and EMC SRDF

01 Mar 2007 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper addresses the performance needs of a disaster recovery plan, and the common barriers to achieving success. It also addresses the performance gains that can be achieved by combining the F5 WANJet application acceleration solution with the EMC Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) family of remote storage replication solutions

The Impact of AJAX on the Network

01 Mar 2007 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper discusses the impact that AJAX has on the Network, and how an application delivery controller, such as the BIG-IP LTM system, combined with an application firewall address the network, server, and security issues that will certainly arise with increased deployment of these new web-oriented rich applications

SOA: Challenges and Solutions

01 Mar 2007 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper, by Lori MacVittie, a Technical Marketing Manager for Application Services at F5, discusses the challenges faced by current SOA initiatives and and goes into detail of how Application Delivery Controllers can provide solutions to these challenges

SSL VPN for Secure Wireless LAN Access

01 Mar 2007 07:00:00 EST

If you are currently using an SSL VPN solution for remote access, you already have a robust wireless access solution in place. This White Paper describes the benefits of using an existing SSL VPN solution for secure wireless LAN access.

Effective Disaster Recovery Planning Using F5 Application Acceleration and Double-Take Solutions

01 Feb 2007 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper addresses the increased performance needs of a disaster recovery plan, and the common barriers to achieving success. It also addresses the performance gains that can be achieved by combining a F5 WANJet application acceleration solution with Double-Take replication solutions from Double-Take Software

Updated: Unified Application Infrastructure Services

01 Feb 2007 07:00:00 EST

While it is important to understand the numerous benefits F5's BIG-IP application delivery networking products bring to an organization, such as high availability, improving application performance, optimizing infrastructure, and providing unique application security, the goal of this White Paper is to explore a more fundamental business and technical problem plaguing today's organizations and how BIG-IP, specifically version 9.4 and the 8800 platform, solves it

Enhanced Messaging Security: Slicing Spam and Other Threats At The Network Edge

01 Jan 2007 07:00:00 EST

The volume and sophistication of attacks that threaten business email networks and systems are growing at exponential rates. This White Paper describes the current types of email threats, why the exponential growth in email volume poses significant challenges for the corporate network infrastructure, and how adding a messaging security layer at the network edge addresses these challenges and significantly strengthens an overall messaging security solution

TMOS Secure Development and Implementation

01 Jan 2007 07:00:00 EST

TMOS - the foundation and architecture for F5's application delivery controllers running on the BIG-IP platform - brings a wealth of security to existing application delivery networks. But before the secure implementation of TMOS can be discussed, the question is often asked "How is TMOS itself secured?" This White Paper, by Alan Murphy, a Technical Marketing Manager of Security at F5, provides the answer

Achieving PCI Compliance Using F5 Products

01 Nov 2006 07:00:00 EST

In Dec of 2004, Visa and MasterCard joined forces to simplify compliance for merchants and payment processors with the jointly-developed, 12-point PCI standard. This White Paper discusses how F5 Networks helps with the 6 core areas and 10 of the 12 requirements

Myth of Bandwidth and Application Performance

01 Nov 2006 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper sheds light on the issues affecting application performance in the wide area, and gives IT managers the knowledge required to design strategic enterprise application acceleration and deployment solutions.

F5 Security Solutions for Messaging Systems

01 Sep 2006 07:00:00 EST

With F5, organizations can provide employees with reliable and secure access to email, from wherever they are, no matter what type of device they're using. This White Paper provides an overview of how F5 solutions can help make your email more secure, allowing employees to rely on email that is efficiently delivered, with minimal latency times and a dramatic improvement in performance.

Using F5's iRules to Prevent Your Web Site From Being Phished

01 Sep 2006 07:00:00 EST

Phishing scams have become a sad fact of life - but developers can stop them, with a little help from F5's BIG-IP system and iRules. This White Paper describes a new iRule designed to help stop phishing in its tracks

Identifying and Caching Dynamic Web Applications

01 Sep 2006 07:00:00 EST

Deploying dynamic web applications in the enterprise offers significant benefits, but users may well experience unpredictable application performance. One cause of poor performance is server overload, which results from greater application usage and content complexity. This White Paper describes how the F5 WebAccelerator solves this key issue with its Dynamic Caching technology

TMOS: Redefining the Solution

01 Aug 2006 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper details F5's TMOS architecture, a collection of real-time features and functions, purpose-built and designed as a full-proxy solution with the power and performance required in today's network infrastructure

IPv6 - Bridging the Gap to Tomorrow

01 Aug 2006 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper describes how the BIG-IP LTM system can operate as an IPv4 to IPv6 gateway; operating identically in either environment, and within mixed environments. This capability is ideal for organizations that are either actively planning for or anticipating an IPv4 to IPv6 transition

Unified Access and Application Delivery Methodology

01 Jul 2006 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper discusses the concept of Unified Access Control or Network Admission Control within the information security and network architecture industries. It defines the depth and breadth of the pitfalls with current architectures and how new solutions may solve them

Rolling out SSL-VPN Service

01 Jun 2006 07:00:00 EST

Typically, service providers offer infrastructure services, such as site-to-site connectivity and data center hosting. In addition to this, they are always exploring new opportunities to offer managed services to corporate customers. This White Paper, by Dr. Prasad Raja, shows how several Service Provider drawbacks can be overcome when using F5's FirePass SSL VPN product, and elaborates on FirePass deployment in various service provider networks

F5 FirePass Endpoint Security

01 Apr 2006 07:00:00 EST

As SSL VPN technology becomes more mainstream and organizations extend their internal infrastructures to users who are not necessarily employees, Endpoint security has become an increasing concern. Allowing an infected device access onto the network is just as bad as allowing an invalid user to access proprietary internal information. This White Paper describes the FirePass SSL VPN device's comprehensive Endpoint Security, and the host of ways it prevents infected PCs, hosts, or users from connecting to the network, through pre and post login checks, protected resources, and much more

A Unified Approach for Securing Wireless, Remote, and Internal LAN Access

01 Apr 2006 07:00:00 EST

The F5 universal access approach is based on F5's FirePass product, Secure Sockets Layer Virtual Private Network (SSL VPN), which is integrated with F5's BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager. This integration establishes F5 as the only vendor in the industry that can unify and centralize security and access control for remote, wireless LAN (WLAN), and Local Area Network (LAN) users, while scaling to meet the throughput requirements for unified access

Offloading Remote Authentication for Servers

01 Apr 2006 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper details F5's Advanced Client Authentication software module. This module, for use with the BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager, provides client authentication of HTTP and other traffic types for a variety of authentication schemes, including LDAP, Radius, TACAS, SSL, and OCSP

Optimize WAN and LAN Application Performance with TCP Express

01 Apr 2006 07:00:00 EST

F5's BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager provides a state-of-the-art TCP/IP stack that delivers dramatic WAN and LAN application performance improvements for real-world networks. This highly optimized TCP/IP stack, called TCP Express, combines cutting-edge TCP/IP techniques and improvements in the latest RFCs with numerous improvements and extensions developed by F5 to minimize the effect of congestion and packet loss and recovery

WANJet CIFS Acceleration

01 Mar 2006 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper describes how F5's WANJet device can dramatically accelerate CIFS transactions. Each WANJet appliance has a deep understanding of the CIFS protocol and can therefore act on behalf of a CIFS client and server to make the interaction between the two much more efficient

WANJet Transparent Data Reduction

01 Mar 2006 07:00:00 EST

The F5 WANJet product uses Transparent Data Reduction (TDR) technology to address bandwidth challenges. This White Paper explains how WANJet, using TDR, delivers LAN-like application performance over the WAN, accelerating file transfer, email, client server applications, data replication, and others while delivering predictable, fast performance for all WAN users

Data Center Virtualization Q and A

01 Mar 2006 07:00:00 EST

This is a question and answer session with Erik Giesa, VP of Product Management and Marketing, on the topic of Data Center Virtualization

Securing Your Enterprise Applications with the BIG-IP

01 Jan 2006 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper describes how the BIG-IP system provides a holistic and integrated approach to securing your network and applications against potential application-level and network-level threats and attacks

Understanding Advanced Data Compression

01 Jan 2006 07:00:00 EST

Nearly all WAN optimization appliances leverage advanced compression routines to improve application performance. At a high level, they all store and leverage previously transferred network data to achieve high compression ratios. When examined further though, how they achieve these gains, and their resulting limitations, varies widely. This White Paper describes how F5's WANJet and TDR technology improves application performance

WANJet in Data Replication Environments

01 Jan 2006 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper explains how WANJet, leveraging its Session Matrix Architecture and utilizing technologies such as SpeedArray and Transparent Data Reduction, solves problems prevalent in the deployment of Data Replication, Redundancy, Wide Area File Services, and Backup/Restore Applications

Performance Solution for Document Distribution

01 Jan 2006 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper describes the benefits of the F5 WebAccelerator for document distribution. The WebAccelerator is the only acceleration solution that resolves all document repository network access problems, whether local or remote, regardless of the enterprise environment

Bandwidth Management for Peer-to-Peer Applications

01 Jan 2006 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper describes how you can use F5 BIG-IP iRules and the Rate Shaping feature of the BIG-IP LTM system to identify different types of traffic for individualized control that can return double-digit capacity without spending a dime on additional bandwidth

Conquering Multi-Homed ISP Link Challenges with the BIG-IP Link Controller

01 Jan 2006 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper explores the challenges that businesses face when deploying a multi-homed network and how the BIG-IP Link Controller provides a cost effective solution to not only manage availability, but also to optimize the performance of ISP connectivity in an operationally efficient manner

Keeping Up with Multi-Service Applications with the BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager

01 Jan 2006 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper describes how F5's BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager can solve the challenges of a multi-service application infrastructure to provide maximum availability, reduce infrastructure costs and management overhead, and improve application performance for a superior end-user experience

The Impact of Web Services on the Network

01 Jan 2006 07:00:00 EST

Web services are definitely going to tax your network infrastructure. In the rush toward realizing the benefits of a Service Oriented Architecture via Web services, enterprise architects and developers must factor in the role the network plays in the successful delivery of Web services. This White Paper shows how F5 products can help reduce the burden of Web services on the network

Securing Business Information: An Expert Advises on Evaluating the New Risks and Structuring Your Defenses

01 Nov 2005 07:00:00 EST

Information security is no longer an afterthought in the development of technical solutions to business problems; it has now become the top concern of senior management and technologists alike in the development and operation of those technology solutions. This White Paper, by John Pironti (CISA, CISM, CISSP) discusses ways of ensuring your valuable business information is secure

Sorting Through the Hype of Ubiquitous Secure Remote Access and SSL VPNs

01 Nov 2005 07:00:00 EST

The reasons to investigate, and probably to deploy, an SSL-based VPN are numerous and compelling. They provide easier deployment and ongoing management, more reliable and consistent connections regardless of originating network and a host of new tools to help you provide more robust and appropriate security. All of this drives the numbers of lower TCO and quicker ROI-things the business, and you, should really be concerned with.

Filling the Security Gap Between the Network and Applications

01 Sep 2005 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper by Mark Bourchard, CISSP, sets out to answer the following questions: When is a web application firewall appropriate? What are the most significant criteria for selecting such a product? How should web application firewalls be deployed?

SSL VPN for Secure Wireless LAN Access

01 Sep 2005 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper details how F5's FirePass controller enables enterprises to provide secure, reliable and intuitive remote access to corporate applications and data using standard web browser technology, without the headaches associated with time-consuming client software installation and configuration, or changes to server-side applications.

WebAccelerator Technical Overview

01 Sep 2005 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper introduces a new method for maximizing the performance of web pages, applications, and portals delivered to intranets, the Internet and extranet users, with a device aptly named the F5 WebAccelerator.

Application Firewalls

01 Aug 2005 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper provides an overview of F5's Application Security Manager (ASM), an Application Firewall, and how it protects applications from hackers and other malicious attacks, and enforces granular security policies to protect web applications, as well as confidential information from both random and targeted application security attacks

HIPAA Security Compliance and F5 Solutions

01 Aug 2005 07:00:00 EST

HIPAA, The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, requires healthcare organizations to take added precautions to ensure the security of their networks and the privacy of patient data. This White Paper provides an overview of HIPAA security compliance, explores how companies can mitigate their security risks and adapt a strong HIPAA compliant posture using F5 products, illustrates how F5 products map to specific HIPAA security rules, and explores some of the key reasons F5 products are unique in their ability to provide companies with a simple means to allow compliance with HIPAA

Web Application Vulnerabilities and Avoiding Application Exposure

01 Aug 2005 07:00:00 EST

Companies today are moving more and more of their mission-critical applications and data into web browsers. This paper explores some of the underlying reasons for the emerging vulnerabilities in web applications, illustrates some of the ways hackers commonly exploit them, and suggests a few ways in which companies can mitigate their risks

The BIG-IP System With Intelligent Compression

01 Aug 2005 07:00:00 EST

Compression technology can provide dramatic application performance improvements. This White Paper discusses the need for compression, the different approaches to compression available in the market today, and how F5's BIG-IP system provides organizations with a powerful way to optimize their bandwidth intelligently while accelerating the delivery of their applications

Application Optimization Over the WAN

01 May 2005 07:00:00 EST

The BIG-IP LTM system contains targeted and specialized optimizations which leverage F5's unique WAN, LAN and data acceleration technologies. This allows the BIG-IP system to deliver unmatched optimization, packet loss recovery, and a more intelligent intermediation between suboptimal servers and clients. This White Paper details the extensive real world testing that prove the benefits that F5 brings to applications and web sites over the Internet

Service-Oriented Architecture: A Meta Group White Paper

01 Feb 2005 07:00:00 EST

This Meta Group White Paper describes how new approaches to application delivery - such as service-oriented architectures, peer-to-peer, and grid computing - are radically changing the flow of traffic between points on the network

Addressing Enterprise Remote Access Challenges

01 Nov 2004 07:00:00 EST

This Stratecast Partners (Frost and Sullivan) White Paper introduces and describes the three core components of an enterprise-grade remote access solution - Connectivity, Security, and Performance/Administration. It goes on to describe why these components are essential in an enterprise-grade remote access solution and how SSL VPNs (specifically FirePass), are addressing them

The SIP High Availability and Reliability Paradigm

01 Oct 2004 07:00:00 EST

This White Paper defines high availability and reliability in SIP based services and discusses techniques of designing and building reliable SIP networks with F5 technology. It details how the BIG-IP system, an application delivery networking solution, provides all the necessary building blocks required to achieve total availability and reliability in a SIP enabled network