BIG-IP^® Local Traffic Manager^™

Get fast application delivery and scale your infrastructure on demand

Application delivery delays, inefficiencies, and failures can cost millions in terms of wasted budgets, damage to company reputation, system and application downtime, legal liability, and lost opportunities. Developing and managing a flexible network infrastructure to deploy applications rapidly and reduce IT costs is a top priority for most organizations. This agile infrastructure requires a dynamic data center model in which applications can be delivered quickly and securely, and are highly available.

BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is an Application Delivery Networking system that provides intelligent load balancing and traffic management as well as advanced application security, acceleration, and optimization.

With BIG-IP LTM, you get a full set of unified application infrastructure services that give you total control, vision, and flexibility. With services consolidated in one easy-to-manage device or virtual instance, BIG-IP LTM can help you simplify system management, scale without disruption, and significantly reduce infrastructure and operational costs.

You can choose from a range of devices to meet your specific performance and capacity needs. BIG-IP LTM is also available as a virtual edition for added flexibility in virtual environments.

Rapid deployment

By managing application services rather than individual devices and objects, BIG-IP LTM provides greater visibility and control over application delivery. BIG-IP LTM enhances on-demand IT by ensuring that applications are optimally deployed in hours rather than weeks. This application-centric architecture aligns the network with the applications and adapts application delivery to business needs.

Secure

Use BIG-IP LTM to deliver secure services and applications. Add essential security capabilities including SSL acceleration and offload, network firewall services, DDoS protection, protocol security, cookie encryption, and customized application attack filtering. With BIG-IP LTM, you can eliminate complexity and build a trusted infrastructure to run your business.

Fast

By reducing traffic volumes and minimizing the effect of client connection bottlenecks as well as WAN, LAN, and Internet latency, BIG-IP LTM provides a powerful solution for improving application performance and increasing the capacity of your existing infrastructure.

Available

BIG-IP LTM removes single points of failure and virtualizes the network and applications using industry-leading L7 intelligence. BIG-IP LTM includes rich static and dynamic load balancing methods, including Dynamic Ratio, Least Connections, and Observed Load Balancing. Since BIG-IP LTM tracks dynamic performance levels of servers in a group, it ensures all sites are not only always on, but more scalable and easier to manage than ever before.

BIG-IP LTM Features

Included with BIG-IP LTM are advanced, specialized functions that add significant performance gains, fast deployment, and value as needed.

Fast Cache | Overview

Fast Cache Module targets performance intelligently, on a per-application basis, providing superior flexibility and control.

Intelligent Compression | Overview

The Intelligent Compression Module dramatically reduces the volume of traffic sent to the user.

IPv6 Gateway | Overview

The IPv6 Gateway Module gives you a clear and seamless strategy for staging network migration as IPv6 traffic grows, without wholesale network and application upgrades.

L7 Rate Shaping | Overview

The L7 Rate Shaping Module gives you fine-grained bandwidth control to better handle traffic spikes.

SSL Offload and Acceleration | Overview

SSL Acceleration frees up servers from the difficult task of encrypting and decrypting data secured for privacy reasons.

iApps Templates and iApps Analytics | Overview

F5 iApps is a powerful set of features in the BIG-IP system that can help you deploy 10×–100× faster with 95 percent fewer configuration mistakes.

Software Add-ons

Need even more functionality in your network? The modular BIG-IP system provides a more cost-effective and easy-to-manage solution than adding single-function point products. Software add-ons enable you to incorporate new functionality as your application and business needs change.

Many of these add-on functionalities are also available as standalone devices. See the product datasheets to learn which functions are supported on specific stand-alone devices.

Advanced Client Authentication | Overview

Allows for top-level client authentication of HTTP and other traffic types to LDAP, Radius, TACAS, and other centralized authentication devices. Stops unwanted traffic, reduces management costs, and decreases server and application load.

Access Policy Manager (APM) | Overview

Provides user access control that is secure, context-aware, centralized, and policy-based. Performs and simplifies authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) management directly on the BIG-IP system.

Advanced Routing Module | Overview

Enables the BIG-IP system to share routing information with other devices for better interoperability within the network. Supports diverse routing protocols, including BGP, RIP, and OSPF.

Application Security Manager (ASM) | Overview

An advanced web application firewall that protects critical applications and their data by defending against application-specific attacks that bypass conventional firewalls.

Global Traffic Manager (GTM) | Overview

Automatically routes connections to the closest or best-performing data center in the event of an outage, overload, or other disruption. The result is faster response times for users and optimal use of multiple data centers.

Link Controller | Overview

Prevents costly downtime due to ISP problems or other link failures by automatically switching traffic to alternate ISP connections and ensuring use of the fastest available connection.

Message Security Module | Overview

Extends protection for enterprise email to the edge of the corporate network, stopping up to 70 percent of unwanted email with a powerful and efficient solution integrated into the application delivery network.

Protocol Security Module | Overview

Provides powerful security services for HTTP(s), SMTP, and FTP at BIG-IP system speed. Perfect for environments that require more than L3 and L4 inspection services without deploying a full-featured web application firewall.

WAN Optimization Manager (WOM) | Overview

BIG-IP WOM overcomes network and application issues on the WAN to ensure that application performance, data replication, and disaster recovery requirements are met. BIG-IP WOM can dramatically reduce data replication times and enable more efficient use of your existing bandwidth.

WebAccelerator | Overview

BIG-IP WebAccelerator gives your users an instant improvement in web application performance and helps you reduce costs. By offloading your network and servers, BIG-IP WebAccelerator decreases your spending on additional bandwidth and new hardware.