F5 Distributed Cloud Customer Edge Sites: Deploy rapidly and easily to most platforms and providers
Businesses need secure, reliable, and scalable infrastructure to manage their network edge effectively. Secure Mesh Site v2 (SMSv2) on F5 Distributed Cloud brings a robust, next-generation approach to deploying Customer Edge (CE) devices, enabling organizations to streamline operations, boost resilience, and ensure secure communications across distributed environments.
Using SMSv2 to deploy CE’s at edge locations in hybrid and multicloud environments significantly reduces the number of clicks and the time it takes to get new sites online. Distributed Cloud supports the following on-prem hypervisors, virtualized platforms, and public cloud providers for rapidly deploying CE images:
VMWare, AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI, Nutanix, OpenStack, Equinix, Baremetal, KVM, and OpenShift Virtualization
To use SMSv2 you’ll need to have the Distributed Cloud service and an account. In the Distributed Cloud Console, navigate to the Multi-Cloud Network Connect workspace, then go to Site Management > Secure Mesh Sites v2. Now Add Secure Mesh Site, give the site a name and choose your provider. All remaining options can be used as-is with the default values, and can be changed as needed to meet your organization’s networking and business requirements.
Demo
The following video overview shows how to use Distributed Cloud to deploy CE's on VMware, RedHat OpenShift Virtualization, and Nutanix, using the new SMSv2 capability.
Comprehensive Resources and Guides
For a deeper dive, comprehensive guides and materials are available at F5 DevCentral. These resources provide step-by-step instructions and best practices for deploying and managing app delivery and security in hybrid environments.
The following guides provide step-by-step details for using SMSv2 to deploy CE’s.
VMware
Setup Example #2: https://github.com/f5devcentral/f5-xc-terraform-examples/blob/main/workflow-guides/application-delivery-security/workload/workload-deployments-on-vmware.rst
Nutanix
OpenShift Virtualization
Azure
Looking at the larger picture, using Distributed Cloud to expand or migrate apps across platforms has never been easier.
The following technical articles illustrate how Distributed Cloud can leverage multiple platforms and providers to expand and migrate applications hosted in many locations and on a mix of platforms.
Distributed Cloud for App Delivery & Security for Hybrid Environments
App Migration across Heterogeneous Environments using F5 Distributed Cloud
Conclusion
By leveraging SMSv2, businesses can enjoy enhanced network scalability, minimized downtime through intelligent failover, and advanced security protocols designed to protect critical data in transit. Whether deploying in multi-cloud, hybrid, or edge-driven architectures, SMSv2 delivers the adaptability, performance, and security necessary to meet the demands of today’s digital-first enterprises.
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