Forum Discussion

Scott_Carlile_8's avatar
Scott_Carlile_8
Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
Aug 10, 2011

LTM vs. LTM-VE

We are engineering a new DMZ.

 

All network interfaces are 10 Gb.

 

In this network we will have two enclosures with various blade servers and VMs.

 

There are two LTM 8900’s in this environment (connected at 10 Gb).

 

 

All traffic being load balanced into or out of this DMZ (i.e. inter-DMZ) will be handled by the 8900s.

 

 

One of our architects is insisting we should also purchase some LTM-VEs to run on the enclosures, to handle any load balancing within the DMZ (i.e. intra-DMZ).

 

 

I can’t wrap my mind around this design – seems like a waste of money and resources.

 

I would think the 8900s physically attached to the 10 Gb LAN would more than suffice.

 

 

 

Are there any benefits/disadvantages of using LTM-VEs, when you already have a pair of 8900s on the same 10 Gb LAN?

 

 

 

I saw an older post that said LTMs don’t support HA – is that still the case?

 

Thanks,

 

 

Scott

 

config
design
  • johns's avatar
    johns
    Icon for Employee rankEmployee
    Aug 10, 2011
    I would agree with you. Generally speaking, (since I do not know about your exact environment) as long as you can handle the load, the same pair can be used for all traffic management needs, unless there is a specific need to separate certain traffic.
  • hooleylist's avatar
    hooleylist
    Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus
    Aug 10, 2011
    Small correction:

     

     

    LTM VE trial does not support HA. The full VE version does support network failover though.

     

     

    Aaron
  • Bart_18836's avatar
    Bart_18836
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Aug 15, 2011
    Well to be honest LTM-VE-Trial 10.1.0 does support HA. I do have it running in my LAB. You can find full list of not-supported features here : http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/products/big-ip_ltm/releasenotes/product/relnotes_ve_10_1_0.html