BIG-IP Upgrade
Modernize today for more secure apps
Upgrade the software on your BIG-IP appliances and Virtual Editions (VEs) to optimize the security, performance, and total cost of ownership.
Complete the form below and we’ll get back to you within two business days to answer any questions you might have.
Why Should I Upgrade My BIG-IP—and What Version Should I Be Running?
Get the most from your BIG-IP investments. Keep your software up to date to ensure you have access to advanced capabilities and higher-quality and more secure releases. At a minimum, we recommend implementing BIG-IP v14.1 across your BIG-IP fleet. BIG-IP v15.1 and the newest v16.1 will reward you with the most advanced BIG-IP functionality, including new protocol support and security capabilities.
Take a look at the release notes below to learn about the added features across the BIG-IP product family in recent versions.
Release notes:
Recent BIG-IP Innovation
Comprehensive App Security
Protect against sophisticated app-layer threats including malicious bots, L7 DoS, API attacks and OWASP Top 10 attacks.
Secure app access
Enforce unified global access controls for users, devices, applications, and APIs to ensure secure, authorized access for both remote and internal employees.
Encrypted traffic visibility
Provide high performance decryption of inbound and outbound SSL/TLS traffic, enabling security inspection to expose threats and prevent attacks.
Automation
Automatically provision and configure BIG-IP with declarative APIs using the CI/CD and automation tools you’re familiar with.
Container Ingress
Optimize and secure your containers and microservices by extending BIG-IP application services.
Scalability and Performance
Optimize user experience and performance through full HTTP/2 proxy support, including native monitoring and session persistence.
Stay on Top of Your BIG-IP Asset Lifecycle
It’s vital to keep track of the key lifecycle dates for your BIG-IP assets—especially End of Software Development (EoSD) and End of Technical Support (EoTS) dates. After EoSD, you won’t be able to receive security patches or software fixes, and after EoTS, you won’t have access to the technical support you might need.
Key lifecycle dates for BIG-IP software versions ›
Key lifecycle dates for BIG-IP appliances ›
Note: Lifecycle information for BIG-IP Virtual Editions is aligned with the version of BIG-IP in use. For BIG-IP versions 11.6.x and 12.1.x, EoSD is May 2021 and EoTS is May 2022.
Why Upgrade BIG-IP Virtual Edition (VE) To Run V15.1 and Up?
Today, companies are increasingly deploying their largest and most essential applications in the cloud.
The most recent BIG-IP VEs offer the latest in speed, scalability, and security, and are closely aligned to your business objectives for the cloud.
Multi-cloud freedom
Deploy across a diverse array of supported cloud environments with consistent services and policies.
Unrivaled performance
Take advantage of acceleration technology, including SR-IOV, advanced NIC adapters, and hardware offloading to deliver greater scalability and blazing-fast user experiences.
Federal-grade encryption
Achieve FIPS 140-2 Level 1, 2, and 3 compliance with an embedded software cryptographic module and integrations with physical HSMs.
Cloud optimization and reduced TCO
Decrease operational costs in the cloud with significantly reduced image size, while leveraging accelerated boot procedures to reduce spin-up time and better accommodate dynamic, auto-scaling architectures.
Cloud-native integration
Augment your cloud apps and environment using native security, automation and telemetry solutions.
Flexible consumption models
Choose from multiple licensing options that align to your preferred purchasing model, including perpetual, utility, subscription, and enterprise licensing agreements.
Need Help Upgrading?
Upgrade the software on your BIG-IP appliances and VEs manually with these easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions, or learn how to automate your upgrades with BIG-IQ or Ansible in this DevCentral video.
If you need additional help planning and executing your upgrade, or performing post-upgrade verification and support, F5 Professional Services can provide expert assistance.
Why Refresh Your Hardware to BIG-IP iSeries?
With digital transformation going mainstream, the application landscape is changing dramatically.
Enterprises and service providers must now address higher traffic growth and frequent app deployments. To meet these challenges, organizations need to leverage the latest software and hardware innovations that enable the new performance, scalability, and agility requirements.
Greater performance
F5 TurboFlex optimization technology offloads specialized functions from the general CPU, resulting in up to twice the price/performance.
Superior security
Innovations in the BIG-IP iSeries platform balance performance, scalability and security. This enables IT to offload SSL processing and deploy comprehensive application delivery and security services anywhere.
Compliance at scale
The F5 BIG-IP hardware systems are FIPS and Common Criteria Certified to enable you to comply with regulatory requirements and get the best protection for all your environments.
Lower TCO
With our next-generation application delivery controller, you can consolidate your older lineup of appliances and take advantage of the superior performance and agility.
Related Resources
Professional Services
Take advantage of F5 Professional Services to plan and execute your migration.
iSeries white paper
Enable performance and agility with the BIG-IP iSeries architecture.
TurboFlex video
Maximize performance where it matters most with F5 BIG-IP TurboFlex performance profiles.
F5 + Intel white paper
F5 accelerates cryptographic processing with Intel QAT.