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Forum Discussion

Frank_30530's avatar
Frank_30530
Icon for Altocumulus rankAltocumulus
Mar 28, 2017

Difference between Performance Layer 4 and IP Forwarding (L3) Virtual Server?

I noticed that when I create a Performance Layer 4 VS and do NOT attach a pool to that virtual, this VS behaves similar to an IP Forwarding (L3) VS... (i.e., it will just forward traffic based on th...
application delivery
BIG-IP
LTM
Soda_Cup_148395's avatar
Soda_Cup_148395
Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
Mar 28, 2017

A layer 4 virtual server will allow you to apply and iRule that can perform actions at layer 4 events, like matching against destination port numbers.

 

Both servers will forward the initial SYN to its destination without waiting for the handshake to complete on the frontend. Using these profiles the f5 is effectively routing.

 

Frank_30530's avatar
Frank_30530
Icon for Altocumulus rankAltocumulus
Mar 28, 2017

Thanks for the answer.

 

I know that you can do a lot more with Performance L4 VS, and I found out that both VS seem to be effectively routing (L3) traffic on a packet-per-packet basis.

 

However, are both L3 and L4 vS definitions indeed equal, or are there some 'hidden' (subtle) differences that I did not notice?...