2026 F5 DevCentral MVP Announcement
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: Aswin_mk Austin_Geraci boneyard neeeewbie CA_Valli Daniel_Wolf Enes_Afsin_Al whisperer Jim_Schwartzme1 JoseLabra JoshBecigneul Juergen_Mang Kai_Wilke KeesvandenBos Injeyan_Kostas m_dun Mayur_Sutare Michael_Saleem mihaic zamroni777 Mohamed_Ahmed_Kansoh Amine_Kadimi Niels_van_Sluis Nikoolayy1 P_Kueppers Patrik_Jonsson Philip_Jonsson PhatANhappy F5_Design_Engineer Samir ScottE Sebastiansierra Sherouk lnxgeek Tofunmi tysmith Paulius 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.
F5 partners with Chainguard to offer NGINX Plus in security-hardened containers
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!
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.Win Big in Vegas: The iRules Contest is back with $5k on the line at AppWorld 2026
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!F5 AppWorld 2026 Registration - early bird pricing.
Join us March 10–12 at Fontainebleau Las Vegas and Meet the Moment at F5 AppWorld 2026. Connect with your community and explore how the F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform gives you control without compromise. Over three days you will experience inspiring keynotes, learn new approaches in breakouts, deepen your skills in hands-on labs, and connect with peers, F5 leaders, and partners. Register early and save: Conference pass: $499 Conference pass + F5 Academy labs: $899 Team pass: 4 for the price of 3 Take advantage of early bird pricing and register today! We look forward to seeing you in Vegas. Your DevCentral Team. --- ** Early bird pricing expires Feb 13, 2026.
