How to get a F5 BIG-IP VE Developer Lab License

(applies to BIG-IP TMOS Edition)

To assist DevOps teams improve their development for the BIG-IP platform, F5 offers a low cost

developer lab license. This license can be purchased from your authorized F5 vendor. If you do not have an F5 vendor, you can purchase a lab license online:

Once completed, the order is sent to F5 for fulfillment and your license will be delivered shortly after via e-mail. F5 is investigating ways to improve this process.

To download the BIG-IP Virtual Edition, please log into downloads.f5.com (separate login from DevCentral), and navigate to your appropriate virtual edition, example:

For VMware Fusion or Workstation or ESX/i: BIGIP-16.1.2-0.0.18.ALL-vmware.ova
For Microsoft HyperV: BIGIP-16.1.2-0.0.18.ALL.vhd.zip
KVM RHEL/CentoOS: BIGIP-16.1.2-0.0.18.ALL.qcow2.zip

Note: There are also 1 Slot versions of the above images where a 2nd boot partition is not needed for in-place upgrades. These images include _1SLOT- to the image name instead of ALL.

The below guides will help get you started with F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition to develop for VMWare Fusion, AWS, Azure, VMware, or Microsoft Hyper-V. These guides follow standard practices for installing in production environments and performance recommendations change based on lower use/non-critical needs fo Dev/Lab environments. Similar to driving a tank, use your best judgement.

Note: F5 Support maintains authoritative Azure, AWS, Hyper-V, and ESX/vCloud installation documentation. VMware Fusion is not an official F5-supported hypervisor so DevCentral publishes the Fusion guide with the help of our Field Systems Engineering teams.

Updated May 14, 2024

Version 3.0