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

THIS IS THE PART I TRIED TO ORDER: Mfg. Part: F5-BIG-VE-LAB-V16 UNSPSC: 43233204

THIS IS CDW CONFIRMING I'M USING PERSONAL ACCOUNT AND F5 CANCELLED THE ORDER: You’re already set up under consumer, that’s not the issue. From what I’m understanding, this license is only for businesses. They have already cancelled back this order, I’m not sure where to go from here.

Chase, if you process the order, you would go through the same hurdles as I. From CDW perspective, it's F5 that is making the calls. Where do I go from there, cause I can't reach the sales team?

Created a new account at CDW Canada and Company name is optional during checkout if my account I listed as "Personal Use".

Hrm. I created a new account on CDW and stated "personal" use. I just bought the lab edition and the company name was optional on the US site. Order went through no issues. Lemme see what I can screw around with on the Canada site.

Chase, CDW said F5 requires a company name and website; meaning it's up to F5 to accept it or not. I'll reach out CDW again and see if your suggestion will work. I'll keep you posted. And thanks for the quick response.

Hi djeff;

I'm sorry the sales team is incommunicado. Can you copy what you sent to the sales team and send it to us (DevCentral) via the contact form? We'll track down what the issue is there. The company name is there for the support contract but I agree, shouldn't be required. Are you able to use your name as company info "djeff personal copy co." or something?

CDW Canada said F5 requires a company name and website when trying to purchase the Lab edition for myself. I don't want support to be linked to a company, as I might not be working for them tomorrow. About three weeks ago I wrote my concern to the sales team, and a second time a week after, with no response from them. Can a person get the lab edition for himself, without having to give a company and website name? And how long should I wait for the sales team to respond back?

I have to agree with Torinketo.

CDW is a nightmare. I bought a f5 lab license two weeks ago (or at least I thought so). After three days I wondered why nothing is being delivered. So, I asked back to cdwsales who sent me the order confirmation. No answer. Another two days later, I asked again. Again, no answer. Another two days later I wrote to customer relations. Also I used the contact form on the website for sales. No answer. I tried the chat, and after being transferred I just learned that 'there is a problem with the order'. No indication whatsoever about the nature of the order. I was told to contact the sales rep for that order who - suprise! - up to now did not answer.

Overall this is really sad. If it is not possible to order this license, why can't they at least say so and refund the money?

So, please F5 people, could you do something about that?

Thanks Troy! I've updated both links.

The link to the "CDW BIG-IP Virtual Edition Lab License" takes you to a SKU that was discontinued on February 08, 2018. The new version available for purchase would be https://www.cdw.com/product/BIG-IP-Virtual-Edition-Lab-License-v.-16-license-10-Mbps/4699677?enkwrd=BIG-IP+Virtual+Edition+Lab+License+-+license

@MichealRP;

A lab license would not be useful for you in this case. They are sold at current versions so if you were to test say an v11.6 to v13 upgrade, the lab license wouldn't be able to be downgraded.

If I was doing the upgrade test, I would use the new VE production license in a test environment, run the upgrade. Once complete I would call support to release the license from that activated VE serial number so I can perform the upgrade in production. I've never heard of anyone having issues releasing the license from the activated serial and the call took about 5 to 10 minutes in my prior experiences.

The above experience you're referencing could have been lag between the internal license where support release the license but the public validation tool wasn't synced up yet? Not sure, but I do know that you absolutely you can reuse the license on another VE once it's released from the previous instances SN in our license database. It's supported and a common practice for test environments.

As an FYI, not sure how BIG-IQ License Manager (free) would ease this up, but I will write up an article on that feature set soon (using BIG-IQ as a license manager for lab systems) and maybe that would help you?