Management IP Requirement?

The F5 unit has multiple systems. For example, there is a small Linux system called AOM (SCCP in the old times), that you may want to read about.

The main system is layered with multiple systems. The first layer you have the Linux system (CentOS), then you have F5 TMOS (with TMM as the Kernel).

When you use the management IP, CentOS system using the Linux Kernel is handling your access. When you manage via Self IP, TMOS using TMM is handling your access.

If the system has a bug that restarts TMM, or you do some configuration that requires TMM to restart, you will lose the access if you are connected via Self IP. However, if you are connected via management that access will continue to work.

If you restart the unit both management and Self IP will not work during the restart. In that case, you need console access.

There are multiple ways to manage the F5 devices, however, they are not the same.