How to get a F5 BIG-IP VE Developer Lab License
(applies to BIG-IP TMOS Edition)
To assist operational teams 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, and you are in either Canada or the US 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, log into my.f5.com (separate login from DevCentral), navigate down to the Downloads card under the Support Resources section of the page. Select BIG-IP from the product group family and then the current version of BIG-IP.
You will be presented with a list of options, at the bottom, select the Virtual-Edition option that has the following descriptions:
- For VMware Fusion or Workstation or ESX/i: Image fileset for VMware ESX/i Server
- For Microsoft HyperV: Image fileset for Microsoft Hyper-V
- KVM RHEL/CentoOS: Image file set for KVM Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS
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 for development or lab environments. Similar to driving a tank, use your best judgement.
- Deploying F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition on VMware Fusion
- Deploying F5 BIG-IP in Microsoft Azure for Developers
- Deploying F5 BIG-IP in AWS for Developers
- Deploying F5 BIG-IP in Windows Server Hyper-V for Developers
- Deploying F5 BIG-IP in VMware vCloud Director and ESX for Developers
152 Comments
Stephan_Schwar1Nimbostratus
I receive the same error, for a couple of months already.
The CDW website used to be available, I'm guessing it might be some GeoIP blocklist (at least I'm unable to access the site from various Dutch ISP's).
Our F5 vendor doesn't sell these licenses, since they tell us the effort it takes, costs them money.
It shouldn't be so hard to acquire these licenses.
- Chase_Abbott
Admin
Hey Kees;
You still have magic for non-US users in this regards?
Hey Chase,
Yes I do.
Cheers,
Kees
- Stephan_Schwar1
I'd still like to know how non-US users can obtain a LAB license.
Kind regards,
Stephan Schwarz
drop me an email at kees@kees4ip.nl and we can try to work out the details.
Cheers,
Kees
MarcosThe links are not working, the server is saying that I don't have permission.
- Chase_Abbott
It seems CDW now blocks non-North American countries from even viewing the links now. This is a new and very uncustomer-centric attitude and I've raised this issue up within F5 to find out why CDW is doing this. Especially since it's trivial to bypass with VPN or TOR-based browsing.
- Marcos
this license support v13 and v12 ?
- Chase_Abbott
The current Developer Lab license does support the latest releases yes, including v14. If you have access to a vendor in your area, you can request and purchase this license from them directly.
mat_barrieIs it actually possible to buy this license in the APAC region? All the listed VARs on the F5 website for our region are not actually resellers (they're MSPs) or they just plain literally don't exist. All the distributors won't touch you unless you're a partner, which you can't do unless you're a large company or have existing distributor relationships (chicken and the egg). It seems to me that the lab edition is literally the most useless offer in the history of useless offers because you can't actually buy it.
