DevCentral News articles

AppWorld LATAM 2026 - "Write Your First iRule" Contest

heo — Fri, 22 May 2026 01:03:13 GMT

The iRules from Las Vegas and Berlin showcased incredible expertise. For this third iRules Contest, we're shifting focus to encouragement and education for the theme:

"Write Your First iRule" Community Contest.

We're challenging DevCentral community members attending AppWorld LATAM 2026 to design and build an iRule in a welcoming environment. Whether you are a first time iRules writer, or finding your footing, we can't wait to see what you create.

(And don’t worry, it doesn't have to be your literal first iRule ever. It's the spirit of trying something new that counts.)

The Challenge

Plan out and write an iRule that tackles a use-case for BIG-IP's capabilities. You can:

Create a new iRule
Reimagine existing codeshare iRules from DevCentral
Adapt a 20-lines-or-less iRule from the GitHub iRules Toolbox

We value your fresh perspective and newer eyes. As this is a learning opportunity, we also encourage having fun with it.

Prizes

The submissions will be judged for category awards. All participants receive an exclusive contest t-shirt.

Place	Prize
Category Awards	$200/each
Technical Excellence Award	$500
Participation	t-shirt

What Makes for a Winning Entry?

The 100-point scale judging criteria for submissions is defined below across four categories:

Technical Excellence (25 points)

Is it well-built and production ready? Consider

Works correctly
Performance-conscious (efficient, minimal resource impact)
Follows security best practices
Clean, readable code

User Impact (25 points)

Would you and other users actually use this? Consider:

Solves a real operational problem or technical need need
Practical applicability and potential adoption
Clear business value
Thorough documentation

Innovation & Creativity (25 points)

Does this solution show original thinking? Consider:

Fresh perspective on common challenges
Unique approach solving a modern problem
Does it inspire collaboration and progress?

Theme & Alignment (25 points)

Does this iRule reflect your learnings from AppWorld LATAM 2026 and community resources? Consider:

Applying the knowledge and skills you've learned
Approachable to other new iRules writers
Shows your effort to try something new to you

Important Dates

Contest Opens: June 8th, 2026 at 12:00am Pacific Time

Submission Deadline: July 31st, 2026 at 11:59pm Pacific Time

Winners Announced: August 14th, 2026

How to Enter

The contest is open to all F5 partners, customers, and DevCentral members registered for and in attendance at the contest at AppWorld LATAM 2026, except as described in the Official Rules. Please see the Official Rules for complete terms, including conditions for participation and eligibility.
Sign up for DevCentral and join the Community Contests group. Find Hannah or Buu at the Community area if you need any assistance.
Build and submit before 11:59pm Pacific Time JULY 31, 2026. Edit your draft entry as much as you like, but once you submit, that’s what we’ll review. Here an example entry pinned at the top of the Contest Entries page you should follow. Make sure to add these tags to your entry: "appworld 2026", "latam", and "irules" as shown on that example. IMPORTANT - You need to join the Contests group to submit your entry.

New to iRules?

Perfect! We welcome participants at all skill levels. If you’re just getting started, check out our Getting Started with iRules: Basic Concepts guide. This contest is a great opportunity to learn by doing. Feel free to bring your favorite colleagues and AI buddies to help craft your entry.

Final Thoughts

Post any and all of your contest-related questions in comments below.

The iRules Contest has a rich history of surfacing creative solutions from the community. Approaching problems differently inspires some of the best ideas we've seen. We're looking forward to seeing and celebrating what you build.

Learn it. Build it. Share it.

See you at AppWorld LATAM 2026!

Announcing the first F5 NGINX Commercial Long-Term Support release

seanm-nginx — Wed, 13 May 2026 17:14:12 GMT

Today, we’re introducing a major change in how NGINX delivers software to enterprise customers: the first F5 NGINX Commercial Long-Term Support (LTS) release.

Due to 2026's intensifying threat landscape, platform teams are under increasing pressure to keep critical infrastructure secure while minimizing operational disruption. Frequent upgrades, short support timelines, and constantly evolving features make that challenge harder than it needs to be. NGINX recognizes this burden. For the first time, NGINX customers can choose an annual, feature frozen release with three years of guaranteed support, while continuing to access rapid innovation through frequent Continuous Releases (CRs).

Why we introduced LTS 

Modern application environments, especially Kubernetes and API-driven platforms, demand both reliability and velocity. Until now, achieving that balance has often required trade-offs; frequent upgrades, shorter support windows, or unclear lifecycle expectations. The new NGINX LTS track eliminates those tradeoffs for production environments that value long-term stability. 

What is in the first LTS Release

The inaugural NGINX LTS release launches with F5 NGINX Plus. F5 NGINX Ingress Controller is expected to be added shortly after launch, with F5 WAF for NGINX and NGINX as a Service planned for the back half of the calendar year, followed by additional NGINX components.

A clear support lifecycle model

Each NGINX LTS release is supported for 36 months from General Availability and includes critical and high-security fixes, stability bug fixes, maintained third‑party dependencies, and full technical support. LTS releases are feature-frozen to protect production stability. 

Dual Lane Release Model

Long‑Term Support (LTS)

Annual, feature‑frozen releases designed for production environments. Each LTS is supported for three years with security patches, stability fixes, and full technical support.

Continuous Releases (CR)

Regular releases that deliver new features and improvements throughout the year. Only the latest CR is supported, and fixes are delivered by upgrading forward.

Versioning Model

The versioning format follows this structure:

Examples:

LTS Patch Release:

PLS.37.0.0.1 -> PLS.37.0.1.2

37.0 Stays the same since this is still the same LTS

Patch increments 0 -> 1, a fix has been added

Package increments 1 -> 2, a new build or image is produced

Security Release:

PLS.37.0.1.2 -> PLS.37.0.2.3

A critical CVE was identified

Fixed delivered as another patch release

Same LTS Release is used in this case

Minor Release

PLS.37.1.0.1

Continuous-release version
Bump in minor versions showing new features added

The next continuous-release version would be R37.2.0.1

Major Release

PLS.37.0.0.1 -> PLS.38.0.0.1

Major increment 37 -> 38

New LTS Release

Feature frozen at GA

New 3 year support window

Security without forced upgrades

All supported LTS releases receive timely fixes for critical and high‑severity CVEs, without requiring customers to adopt new features or breaking changes.

Easier planning

Customers can standardize on LTS for production, adopt CR for innovation, and align upgrades with annual planning cycles. 

Getting started

You can begin using the first NGINX LTS release today by deploying LTS images and following updated installation and upgrade guidance in NGINX documentation. 

NGINX Long-Term Support (LTS)

Our commitment

NGINX LTS delivers enterprise‑grade predictability without slowing innovation. Customers can confidently standardize on LTS for production while continuing to adopt new capabilities on their own terms through continuous releases. 

Jeff - May 2026 Featured F5er

Melissa_C — Tue, 12 May 2026 19:03:21 GMT

Welcome to our Featured F5 Series. Our spotlight for May is on , a F5 who is an exceptional contributor to DevCentral!

AppWorld Berlin 2026 – iRules Contest Winning Results

heo — Thu, 07 May 2026 14:20:26 GMT

The second iRules Contest of the year wrapped up at AppWorld Berlin this week.

This contest was looking towards the future, challenging participants to write an iRule that goes beyond BIG-IP’s built-in capabilities. The theme, using WebSockets or the Message Routing Framework, inspired iRules preventing abuse and intrusion.

At the heart of it, we’ve loved the creative innovation of the iRules written for this years’ contests. The AppWorld Berlin iRules Contest submissions were inspiring. Across the board, judges’ feedback on the top contenders shared a common theme: these solutions are interesting. The winning iRules were well-documented, easy to understand, with clear potential value for production use.

Without further ado, we’re proud to announce the winners of the AppWorld Berlin iRules Contest:

Grand Prize Winner - Goerle_dev

Rule: WS-Exfil-Shield: Catching What WAFs Miss After the 101 Handshake

Summary

This iRule addresses gaps in traditional WAFs by extending session-level, behavior-based threat detection to WebSocket traffic using real-time inspection within F5 BIG-IP.

Detection operates in two stages; an initial timing-based heuristic is followed by payload validation using AI. Malicious actors are either blocked or routed to a honeypot for isolation and further observation.

This iRule closes the gap that openly documented by major WAF vendors, post-handshake Websocket blind spot, with a practical, SIEM-ready enforcement.

2nd Place - Injeyan_Kostas

Rule: WS-Shield: WebSocket Abuse Detection & Adaptive Enforcement Gateway

Summary

This iRule addresses securing WebSocket traffic by enabling real-time, behavior-based enforcement in F5 BIG-IP to proportionally mitigate abusive patterns without application changes.

It introduces a behavioral enforcement engine designed to secure WebSocket traffic with adaptive, real-time mitigation without requiring application changes.

Rather than relying on static thresholds, the system dynamically responds to behavior. Clean traffic naturally recovers, while abusive patterns escalate through enforcement tiers until they are cut off. This allows it to detect subtle, persistent attacks that traditional rate limiting often misses.

In testing, the iRule identified and disconnected a bot sending repetitive payloads every half second, without triggering a rate threshold.

The iRule adds an extensible, behavior-driven security layer that enables adaptable defenses with minimal investment, despite optional external dependencies.

3rd Place - Robb-Fr

Rule: Generic iRule Based on Datagroup Parsing

Summary

This iRule addresses the complexity of migrating large numbers of Apache virtual hosts by centralizing flexible traffic routing and redirection logic within F5 BIG-IP using simple, extensible datagroups.

It turns input into a simple form into a datagroup entry that CREATES iRULES for things like redirects, pools, error pages, rewrites, and more. This iRule is accessible to a wide range of F5 practitioners, as F5 expertise is not required. There are no direct iRule edits, and no way for them to break the device.

This iRule lowers operational friction by enabling non-NetOps teams to manage complex traffic flows, improving agility during large-scale migrations.

Category Awards

The 20 Lines or Less Award - Kai_Wilke

In honor of Colin Walker - short on lines, long on legend. The scroll bar never stood a chance.

Rule: SUPER-WEBSOCKET-HANDSHAKE-LOGGER™® (SWHL) iRule

The Layered Defense Award - ChristianEssel

For elegant use of nested virtual servers to solve problems the apps won't.

Rule: Layered Virtual ICAP Scanning Solution

Gratitude

A big thank you to all contestants who participated in the AppWorld Berlin iRules Contest. Your creativity, innovation, and willingness to share your ideas continue to push the community forward.

Thank you to our judges:

Thank you to the DevCentral community. We learn together, grow together, and inspire each other every day.

What's Next?

Innovation and Creativity have been a key part of the contest rubric. We’re leaning into it, too. As we plan more contests for the year, we’re looking beyond iRules, with potential to expand to all programmability. The future is coming for us all; let’s greet it and move forward together.

AppWorld Berlin iRules Contest!

JRahm — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 16:07:05 GMT

Jonathan - March 2026 Featured Member

Melissa_C — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 22:39:05 GMT

Welcome to our Featured Member series. This months spotlight is on Jonathan, a spectacular contributor to our community!

F5 partners with Chainguard to offer NGINX Plus in security-hardened containers

jgardner — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 17:36:36 GMT

Cloud-native applications demand container images that are both efficient and secure. To help enterprises meet these expectations, F5 NGINX is partnering with Chainguard to deliver NGINX within their Commercial Builds ecosystem.

F5 has long been synonymous with scalable, reliable application delivery and security solutions. Partnering with Chainguard allows us to extend this trust into the world of secure container images.

F5 NGINX Plus is available in Chainguard-built containers, enabling organizations to simplify security and compliance while focusing on what matters most: running their applications with confidence.

Delivering software in containers requires consistency across security, compliance, and operational reliability—areas where traditional methods, like distributing binaries, fall short by creating inefficiencies and manual maintenance burdens.

Chainguard takes the complexity out of container management with secure, hardened images that minimize vulnerabilities and accelerate compliance processes. This collaboration empowers F5 NGINX Plus users to deploy production-ready images effortlessly, providing peace of mind and improved operational efficiency.

Why Chainguard Commercial Builds?

Chainguard Commercial Builds introduces a modern model for packaging commercial software.

We work directly with Chainguard, who packages and maintains our commercial software in the Chainguard Factory – a secure, SLSA Level 3-compliant system, designed to deliver minimal attack surface, zero CVEs, full provenance, SBOMs, and predictable vulnerability response.

This partnership means we can deliver the security, compliance, and ease of use our customers demand while letting Chainguard handle the burden of securely building and maintaining container images with the latest dependencies – so you can have wall-to-wall coverage across your stack.

Why NGINX Plus?

NGINX Plus powers scalable application delivery through advanced proxying, load balancing, API gateway, and caching features. It offers dynamic configuration updates, robust observability, and integrated security tools, making it ideal for modern architectures.

Now delivered with Chainguard images, NGINX Plus combines its core capabilities with enterprise-grade security and compliance features.

F5 NGINX in F5’s Application Delivery & Security Platform

NGINX One is part of F5’s Application Delivery & Security Platform. It helps organizations deliver, improve, and secure new applications and APIs. This platform is a unified solution designed to ensure reliable performance, robust security, and seamless scalability for applications deployed across cloud, hybrid, and edge architectures. NGINX Plus, a key component of NGINX One, adds features to open-source NGINX that are designed for enterprise-grade performance, scalability, and security.

Better Deployment, Reduced Overhead

NGINX Plus packaged in Chainguard images provides:

Minimal attack surfaces

Zero CVEs and complete provenance

Built-in SBOMs for compliance

FIPS readiness and fast vulnerability remediation

This partnership simplifies deployments, reduces operational work, and helps teams unlock NGINX Plus’s full performance.

Get Started

NGINX Plus with Chainguard images is available now. Learn more here.

NGINX Plus documentation can be found here.

F5 AppWorld 2026 Las Vegas - iRules Contest Winners!

JRahm — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 23:49:43 GMT

Grand Prize Winner - Injeyan_Kostas

Rule: LLM Prompt Injection Detection & Enforcement

Summary

This iRule addresses the emerging threat of prompt injection attacks on AI APIs by implementing a real-time detection engine within the F5 BIG-IP platform. This iRule operates entirely within the data plane, requiring no backend changes, and enforces a configurable security policy to prevent malicious content from reaching language models. By utilizing a multi-layer scoring system and managing patterns externally, it allows security teams to fine-tune detection and adjust thresholds dynamically.

2nd Place - Marcio_G & svs

Rule: AI Token Limit Enforcement

Summary

This iRule addresses the critical challenge of resource control in on-premise AI inference services by enforcing token budgets per user and role. By leveraging BIG-IP LTM iRules, it validates JWTs to extract user and role information, applying role-based token limits before requests reach the inference service. This ensures that organizations can manage and protect their AI infrastructure from uncontrolled usage without requiring additional modules or external gateways.

3rd Place - Daniel_Wolf

Rule: JSON-query'ish meta language for iRules

Summary

This iRule addresses the complexity and inefficiency of JSON parsing in F5's BIG-IP iRules by introducing a framework that simplifies the process. It provides a set of procedures, [call json_get] and [call json_set], which allow developers to efficiently slice information in and out of JSON data structures with a clear and concise syntax. This approach not only reduces the need for deep JSON schema knowledge but also improves performance by approximately 20% per JSON request.

Category Awards

The (Don’t) Socket To Me Award - mcabral10

Because not every AI agent deserves a socket to speak into.Rule: Rate limiting WebSocket messages for Agents

The Rogue Bot Throttle Jockey Award - TimRiker

Wrangling distributed egress so your edge doesn't have to beg.

Rule: AI/Bot Traffic Throttling iRule (UA Substring + IP Range Mapping)

The Don't Lose the Thread Award - Antonio__LR_Mex & rod_b

Session affinity for the age of streaming intelligence.

Rule: LLM Streaming Session Pinning for WebSocket AI Gateways

The 20 Lines or Less Award - BeCur

In honor of Colin Walker - short on lines, long on legend. The scroll bar never stood a chance.

Rule: Logging/Blocking possible prompt injection

The Budget Bodyguard Award - Joe Negron

Security hardening for those who write TCL instead of checks.

Rule: Poor Man's WAF for AI API Endpoints

Gratitude

Tnanks to buulam for championing the return of iRules contest, this would not have happened without his grit and tenacity.
Thanks to our judges:
- John_Alam
- Joel_Moses
- Moe_Jartin
- Chris_Miller
- Michael_Waechter
- dennypayne
- Kevin_Stewart
- Austin_Geraci
Thanks to Austin_Geraci and WorldTech IT throwing in an additional $5,000 to the grand prize winner! Amazing!
Thanks to the contestants for giving up their evening to work on AI infrastructure challenges. Inspiring!
Thanks to the F5 leadership team for making events like AppWorld possible.

What's Next?

Stay tuned for future contests, we are not one and done here. Could be iRules specific...or they could expand to include all programmabilty. Can't wait to see what you're going to build next.

2026 F5 DevCentral MVP Announcement

heo — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 17:28:43 GMT

DevCentral exists as a thriving community for, and because of, our members. Every single day, talented people visit with a curiosity and desire to solve problems and share their expertise. This brings technical excellence to us all, and their spirit of generosity is what weaves together our individual threads into the tapestry of a global community. Some individuals stand out, demonstrating an extraordinary commitment.

For over 15 years, DevCentral MVPs have represented the heart and soul of our community and year after year, we are in awe of the way these MVPs cultivate connections, both locally and globally. They are the most active voices, exemplary leaders, and the embodiment of a community-mindset. This dedication deserves credit and the F5 DevCentral MVP award is presented annually to recognize these most outstanding contributors.

We are therefore proud to announce the 2026 F5 DevCentral MVP cohort.
Many continue a legacy of sustained dedication while others are new this year.

Please join us in celebrating our new and returning the 2026 DevCentral MVPs:

Congratulations

Congratulations and thank you to the F5 DevCentral MVPs for your acts of community.
You make us all better.

—

Learn more about the F5 DevCentral MVP program and how to get involved.

Vishnu - March 2026 Featured F5er

Melissa_C — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 21:41:05 GMT

Welcome to our Featured F5 Series where we will be spotlighting the F5ers who contribute to our DevCentral community. To kick this series off we have . Vishnu was nominated by for the contributions he makes to both F5 and DevCentral.

Win Big in Vegas: The iRules Contest is back with $5k on the line at AppWorld 2026

JRahm — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:56:47 GMT

Hey there, community, iRules Contest here...did you miss me? Well I’m back in business, baby, in Vegas, no less!

At AppWorld 2026, we’re challenging DevCentral community members in attendance to design and build innovative iRules that solve real-world problems, improve performance, and enhance customer experiences. Whether you’re a seasoned iRules veteran or just getting started, we can’t wait to see what you create.

Note: participation in this edition of the iRules Contest is limited to AppWorld 2026 attendees. But fear not! We’re hitting the road this year as well.

The Challenge

Plan out and write an iRule that go beyond BIG-IP’s built-in capabilities. Think of the future: the possibilities are wide open. We’ll drop a couple hints leading up to the event, and you’ll have a final hint in your registration swag bag, so keep your eyes peeled. There might even be a hint in an iRules related article to release this week, who knows?

$5,000 to the Grand Prize Winner -- Are You In?

Total prize money is $10,000, with the other $5,000 distributed across 2nd place, 3rd place, and five category awards.

Place	Prize
Grand Prize	$5,000
2nd Place	$2,500
3rd Place	$1,000
Five Category Awards	$300/ea

What Makes for a Winning Entry?

The 100-point scale judging criteria for submissions is defined below across five categories:

Innovation & Creativity (25 points)

Does this solution show original thinking? Consider:

Novel use of iRule features or creative problem-solving
Fresh perspective on common challenges
Unique approach that stands out from typical solutions

Business Impact (20 points)

Would customers actually use this? Consider:

Solves a real operational problem or customer need
Practical applicability and potential adoption
Clear business value

Technical Excellence (25 points)

Is it well-built and production-ready? Consider:

Works correctly and handles edge cases
Performance-conscious (efficient, minimal resource impact)
Follows security best practices
Clean, readable code

Theme & Requirements Alignment (20 points)

Does it address the contest theme using required technologies (to be announced at the event)? Consider:

Relevance to the specified theme
Effective use of required technology
How well the chosen technology fits the solution

Presentation (10 points)

Can you understand what it does and why it matters? Consider:

Clear explanation of the problem and solution
Quality of demo or presentation
Documentation sufficient to implement

Important Dates

Contest Opens: 6:00PM Pacific Time MARCH 10, 2026
Submission Deadline: 11:59PM Pacific Time MARCH 10, 2026
Winners Announced: MARCH 12, 2026 during general sessions

How to Enter

Register for AppWorld 2026 — You must be a registered attendee
Register for the Contest — Registration will open on the AppWorld event app soon. The contest is open to all f5 partners, customers, and DevCentral members registered for and in attendance at the contest MARCH 10, 2026 at F5 AppWorld 2026, except as described in the Official Rules. Please see the Official Rules for complete terms, including conditions for participation and eligibility.
Build and submit — During the 6-hour window on contest night before 11:59PM. Edit your draft entry as much as you like, but once you submit, that’s what we’ll review. There is an example entry pinned at the top of the Contest Entries page you should follow. Make sure to add these tags to your entry: "appworld 2026", "vegas", and "irules" as shown on that example.
This contest is BYOD. Bring your own device to develop and submit your iRules submission. However, a lab environment in our UDF platform will be provided if you need a development environment to test your code against.

New to iRules?

No problem. We welcome participants at all skill levels. If you’re just getting started, check out our Getting Started with iRules: Basic Concepts guide. This contest is a great opportunity to learn by doing. Also, feel free to bring your favorite AI buddy with you to help craft your entry. The goal is innovation and impact, not syntax expertise.

Questions?

Post any and all of your contest-related questions to the pinned thread in the Contests group on DevCentral. We’ll monitor, but allow for a business day to receive a response leading up to AppWorld.

The iRules Contest has a history of surfacing creative solutions from the community. Some of the best ideas we’ve seen came from people who approached problems differently, and we’re looking forward to seeing what you build this year.

Register. Prepare. Compete.

See you at AppWorld!

Jürgen - February 2026 Featured Member

Melissa_C — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 20:00:00 GMT

Welcome to our Featured Member series. This months spotlight is on Jürgen, one of our amazing MVPs and marvelous contributors.

ICYMI - Steve Wozniak at AppWorld 2026

LiefZimmerman — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 21:46:00 GMT

Dropping a quick note to let you all know that Woz himself
(yes Steve Wozniak) will join us as a keynote speaker at AppWorld26.

You may register here.
'nuff said

Bram - January 2026 Featured Member

Melissa_C — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 20:03:45 GMT

Welcome to our Featured Members Series. We are starting 2026 off with Bram, a wonderful contributor to our community!

F5 Architecture Track Sessions - AppWorld 2026

LiefZimmerman — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 17:22:37 GMT

AppWorld 2026 in Las Vegas introduces a new type of Academy Session: The F5 Architecture Track. Six, two hour sessions provided by some of the most recognizable faces on DevCentral.

Call for Nominations: F5 DevCentral Community MVPs - 2026 Cohort

buulam — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 23:11:37 GMT

Aswin MK - November 2025 Featured Member

Melissa_C — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 22:27:19 GMT

Welcome to our Featured Members Series. This month we are spotlighting Aswin MK, one of our phenomenal MVPs and a wonderful contributor to our community.

F5 Academy at AppWorld 2026

Melissa_C — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 21:53:56 GMT

Quarterly Security Notification October 2025

F5Erin — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 12:56:59 GMT

The QSN for the last quarter of 2025 is October 15th.

Kostas Injeyan - October 2025 Featured Member

Melissa_C — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 19:26:29 GMT

Welcome to our Featured Members Series. This month we are spotlighting Kostas Injeyan, who has been an amazing contributor to the DevCentral Community.

DevCentral News articles

AppWorld LATAM 2026 - "Write Your First iRule" Contest

The Challenge

Prizes

What Makes for a Winning Entry?

Technical Excellence (25 points)

User Impact (25 points)

Innovation & Creativity (25 points)

Theme & Alignment (25 points)

Important Dates

How to Enter

New to iRules?

Final Thoughts

Learn it. Build it. Share it.

See you at AppWorld LATAM 2026!

Announcing the first F5 NGINX Commercial Long-Term Support release

Why we introduced LTS

What is in the first LTS Release

A clear support lifecycle model

Dual Lane Release Model

Versioning Model

Security without forced upgrades

Easier planning

Getting started

Our commitment

Jeff - May 2026 Featured F5er

AppWorld Berlin 2026 – iRules Contest Winning Results

Grand Prize Winner - Goerle_dev​

Rule: WS-Exfil-Shield: Catching What WAFs Miss After the 101 Handshake

Summary

2nd Place - Injeyan_Kostas​

Rule: WS-Shield: WebSocket Abuse Detection & Adaptive Enforcement Gateway

Summary

3rd Place - Robb-Fr​

Rule: Generic iRule Based on Datagroup Parsing

Summary

Category Awards

The 20 Lines or Less Award - Kai_Wilke​

In honor of Colin Walker - short on lines, long on legend. The scroll bar never stood a chance.

Rule: SUPER-WEBSOCKET-HANDSHAKE-LOGGER™® (SWHL) iRule

The Layered Defense Award - ChristianEssel​

For elegant use of nested virtual servers to solve problems the apps won't.

Rule: Layered Virtual ICAP Scanning Solution

Gratitude

What's Next?

AppWorld Berlin iRules Contest!

Jonathan - March 2026 Featured Member

F5 partners with Chainguard to offer NGINX Plus in security-hardened containers

Why Chainguard Commercial Builds?

Why NGINX Plus?

F5 NGINX in F5’s Application Delivery & Security Platform

Better Deployment, Reduced Overhead

Get Started

F5 AppWorld 2026 Las Vegas - iRules Contest Winners!

Grand Prize Winner - Injeyan_Kostas​

Rule: LLM Prompt Injection Detection & Enforcement

Summary

2nd Place - Marcio_G​ & svs​

Rule: AI Token Limit Enforcement

Summary

3rd Place - Daniel_Wolf​

Rule: JSON-query'ish meta language for iRules

Summary

Category Awards

The (Don’t) Socket To Me Award - mcabral10​

Because not every AI agent deserves a socket to speak into.Rule: Rate limiting WebSocket messages for Agents

The Rogue Bot Throttle Jockey Award - TimRiker​

Wrangling distributed egress so your edge doesn't have to beg.

Rule: AI/Bot Traffic Throttling iRule (UA Substring + IP Range Mapping)

The Don't Lose the Thread Award - Antonio__LR_Mex​ & rod_b​

Session affinity for the age of streaming intelligence.

Rule: LLM Streaming Session Pinning for WebSocket AI Gateways

The 20 Lines or Less Award - BeCur​

In honor of Colin Walker - short on lines, long on legend. The scroll bar never stood a chance.

Rule: Logging/Blocking possible prompt injection

The Budget Bodyguard Award - Joe Negron

Security hardening for those who write TCL instead of checks.

Rule: Poor Man's WAF for AI API Endpoints

Gratitude

What's Next?

Why we introduced LTS 

Grand Prize Winner - Goerle_dev

2nd Place - Injeyan_Kostas

3rd Place - Robb-Fr

The 20 Lines or Less Award - Kai_Wilke

The Layered Defense Award - ChristianEssel

Grand Prize Winner - Injeyan_Kostas

2nd Place - Marcio_G & svs

3rd Place - Daniel_Wolf

The (Don’t) Socket To Me Award - mcabral10

The Rogue Bot Throttle Jockey Award - TimRiker

The Don't Lose the Thread Award - Antonio__LR_Mex & rod_b

The 20 Lines or Less Award - BeCur