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Thiyagu_343098's avatar
Thiyagu_343098
Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
Sep 20, 2018

Use of IP forwarding virtual server

Hello Experts, I would like to know indepth of "IP forwarding virtual server". Could you please help me to know 1- In what scenario we have to use "IP forwarding virtual server" 2- what it does with the traffic flow?

 

Regards, Thiyagu

 

application delivery
BIG-IP
LTM
  • Lee_Sutcliffe's avatar
    Lee_Sutcliffe
    Icon for Nacreous rankNacreous
    Sep 20, 2018

    You can use an IP forwarding virtual server to effectively turn your F5 into a router. F5 is a deny by default device, but a Forwarding VS on 0.0.0.0/0 will accept any traffic and forward it to onward destination.

     

    Additionally you can make the forwarding VS only forward traffic that is sourced from a particular network and only forward traffic matching a particular subnet such as 10.10.0.0/16

     

    So for an example, you might want to have a forwarding VS on an interface permitting web servers outbound internet access. Or you might want to allow users to connect through the external interface and be forwarded to web servers in the internal interface.

     

    As for traffic flow, as mentioned before, F5 treats the flow much like a router (especially if loose initiation is configured in the TCP profile) The connection is not proxied like it would be for a traditional (standard VS) so is not terminated on your F5

     

    Further reading can be found here: https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K7595