BIG-IP High Availability with Azure Route Server

Failover via BGP and Azure Route Server is a fast and reliable way to achieve High Availability in Azure. Broadly speaking, there’s a few common ways to achieve High Availability in Azure, where 2 ...
Published Nov 05, 2024
Version 1.0
cloud
MichaelOLeary's avatar
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I'm a Solution Architect at F5. Over the years I've become an expert in Kubernetes and cloud architectures. I publish articles and blog posts to share as much knowledge as possible. I love hanging out with colleagues and customers, so reach out any time!
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Nikoolayy1's avatar
Nikoolayy1
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Jan 26, 2026

MichaelOLeary​  to the rescue !

 

Before there was design with floating IP addresses  " K62454350: Using floating-ip address for BGP configuration. " (the article seems gone now) but I think in newer versions the BGP peering option with the two devices in HA and even the standby advertising the active one as next is the path forward ? 

 

For environments like Azure this may not be an option gARP needs to be send from the F5 device that now has the floating IP or the CF plugin to be used but for private clouds that support gARP with MAC masquerade for faster failover this could be another option.

  • MichaelOLeary's avatar
    MichaelOLeary
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    Jan 26, 2026

    Hello Nikoolayy1​ , so nice to hear from you.

    In my experience, most Azure customers use Azure LB or CFE. But if you do choose to use BGP, that's an option like you said. Personally, I didn't see the article you are talking about before it went away, but in Azure, I don't like to use a Floating IP (because to move that IP requires CFE).

    I don't think a customer should configure iBGP between the BIG-IP devices unless they are intending an Active/Active setup, but in this article I walked through iBGP between devices. I think if it was Active/Standby, I would just set up eBPG between the BIG-IP devices and Azure.
    I'm very open to feedback on this article. I've only done it a few times, because most customers end up using Azure LB. 

    • Nikoolayy1's avatar
      Nikoolayy1
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      Jan 26, 2026

      I am not working on Azure I am just using this as a basis for the config MichaelOLeary​ . I commented under 

      BIG-IP BGP Routing Protocol Configuration And Use Cases | DevCentral that you gave as a link.

       

      My idea is if I need to configure iBGP between the F5 devices themselves to advertise the Floating ip as next hop from the two devices at the same time as only one of the two F5 devices will answer on that IP on layer 2 or just one BIG-IP will do the advertisement for the floating IP ? 

      • MichaelOLeary's avatar
        MichaelOLeary
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        Jan 26, 2026

        I think it would be best not to use iBGP between F5 devices if you are in Active/Standby state and have a floating IP. For exactly the reason you mention.