F5 and VMware
Any app, any device, any cloud.
VMware provides the digital foundation that runs, manages, secures, and connects applications in a multi-device and multi-cloud world. F5 integrates with VMware to deliver consistent security and performance for apps running across VMware cloud on AWS, end-user computing, and software-defined data center environments—in other words, the anywhere enterprise.
WHY F5 APP SERVICES ON VMWARE?
Maximize the benefits of your hybrid cloud with F5 services that follow Apps anywhere, so you can:
- Accelerate and expand app migration to the VMware Cloud on AWS.
- Ensure consistent application services across multi-site, hybrid-cloud data centers.
- Configure, deploy, and automate F5 directly from integrated automation tools like the VMware vRealize Automation Suite, Ansible, Terraform, etc.
- Deliver scalability and security for large virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environments.
IMPLEMENTATION GUIDES
F5 BIG-IP VMware NSX for vSphere (NSX-v) and F5 BIG-IP Design Guide
VMware Horizon View (BIG-IP v11, 12, 13: LTM, APM, AFM)
F5 BIG-IP APM proxy with VMware Workspace One
F5 integration modules for vRealize
F5 LTM with VMware Workspace One Identity Manager
Load Balancing VMware Unified Access Gateway Servers Implementation Guide
F5 and VMware: Top customer outcomes
MIGRATING APPS TO VMWARE CLOUD ON AWS
CONFIGURE, DEPLOY AND AUTOMATE F5 WITH VREALIZE
SECURITY AND AUTHENTICATION FOR END USERS
MIGRATING APPS TO VMWARE CLOUD ON AWS
CHALLENGE
Business-critical apps require consistent protection, identity, access, and availability when moving between VMware-based, on-premises environments and public cloud environments. Common challenges include:
- Multi-site, hybrid-cloud data centers make it difficult authenticate the right users to the right resources.
- Enabling third-party access to an application means managing access for all the users and devices that use the app.
- SQL injections, L7 DDoS attacks, and unknown security threats threaten web applications.
- Business-critical applications must maintain consistent uptime and resiliency SLA’s when moving to the cloud.
SOLUTIONS
App identity: Identity federation and Single Sign-On (SSO), F5 Access Policy Manager (APM), BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM).
App access: Secure access (SSL VPN) to VMware
Cloud on AWS (VMC) for employees, contractors, and partners.
App protection: BIG-IP Virtual Edition and F5 Advanced WAF.
App availability: Local and BIG-IP DNS and SSL offload and intercept.
OUTCOMES
- Consistent policy management across applications and VMC using F5’s policy builder engine .
- Streamlined access through federation and SSO across applications, including the ability to redirect traffic with context-aware, user-, and device-based rules.
- Increased availability by deploying F5 into multiple VMC regions.
- Consistent SLAs and business continuity across clouds.
CONFIGURE, DEPLOY AND AUTOMATE F5 WITH VREALIZE
CHALLENGE
Customers often create custom orchestration workflows for application delivery control that require separate workstreams from separate IT groups, resulting in isolated pockets of automation—pockets that aren’t easily managed and deployed by vRealize Automation.
SOLUTION
SovLabs vRealize Automation Extensibility Module for F5 (Bring F5 BIG-IP onto the vRA Blueprint Canvas.)
OUTCOMES
- Easily and prescriptively extend VMware vRA and Cloud Automation Services for F5 BIG-IP.
- Configure and deploy BIG-IP directly from vRealize Automation with a single click via self-service.
- Create optional custom naming policies for BIG-IP VIPs/pools, IPAM integrations for BIG-IP VIP assignment, and DNS registration that customers can manage themselves without any custom coding.
SECURITY AND AUTHENTICATION FOR END USERS
CHALLENGE
Users demand access to their applications, from any device, anywhere. With this growth in app delivery requirements, infrastructure and methodologies must match availability requirements while providing a secure and scalable solution. And that solution must perform consistently across different types of cloud data center platforms.
SOLUTION
F5 BIG-IP and VMware Workspace ONE: Identity federation and Single Sign-On (SSO), F5 Access Policy Manager (APM), BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM), F5 DNS.Identity Federation and Single Sign-On (SSO), F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM), F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM).
OUTCOMES
- Increased performance, availability, business continuity, and disaster recovery for Horizon and Workspace ONE
- Intelligent local and global server load balancing for multi-site/multi-pod projects
- Unified global access to resources from a single URL and Workspace ONE catalog, including legacy workloads
- Enhanced authentication for both on-premises and cloud-based services (such as Mobile SSO, Kerberos, SAML, etc.)
- Supports large-scale concurrent sessions and network throughput with minimal hardware
- Secure gateway services for both VMware Horizon and Citrix resources