The IoT Ready Platform
Over the last couple months, in between some video coverage for events, I've been writing a series of IoT stories. From the basic What are These "Things”? and IoT Influence on Society to the descriptive IoT Effect on Applications and the IoT Ready Infrastructure. I thought it only fair to share how F5 can play within an IoT infrastructure. Because F5 application services share a common control plane—the F5 platform—we’ve simplified the process of deploying and optimizing IoT application delivery services. With the elastic power of Software Defined Application Services (SDAS), you can rapidly provision IoT application services across the data center and into cloud computing environments, reducing the time and costs associated with deploying new applications and architectures. The beauty of SDAS is that it can provide the global services to direct the IoT devices to the most appropriate data center or hybrid cloud depending on the request, context, and application health. Customers, employees, and the IoT devices themselves receive the most secure and fastest experience possible. F5's high-performance services fabric supports traditional and emerging underlay networks. It can deployed a top traditional IP and VLAN-based networks, works with SDN overlay networks using NVGRE or VXLAN (as well as a variety of less well-known overlay protocols) and integrates with SDN network fabrics such as those from Cisco/Insieme, Arista and BigSwitch among others. Hardware, Software or Cloud The services fabric model enables consolidation of services onto a common platform that can be deployed on hardware, software or in the cloud. This reduces operational overhead by standardizing management as well as deployment processes to support continuous delivery efforts. By sharing service resources and leveraging fine-grained multi-tenancy, the cost of individual services is dramatically reduced, enabling all IoT applications - regardless of size - to take advantage of services that are beneficial to their security, reliability and performance. The F5 platform: Provides the network security to protect against inbound attacks Offloads SSL to improve the performance of the application servers Not only understands the application but also know when it is having problems Ensures not only the best end user experience but also quick and efficient data replication F5 Cloud solutions can automate and orchestrate the deployment of IoT application delivery services across both traditional and cloud infrastructures while also managing the dynamic redirection of workloads to the most suitable location. These application delivery services ensure predictable IoT experiences, replicated security policy, and workload agility. F5 BIG-IQ™ Cloud can federate management of F5 BIG-IP® solutions across both traditional and cloud infrastructures, helping organizations deploy and manage IoT delivery services in a fast, consistent, and repeatable manner, regardless of the underlying infrastructure. In addition, BIG-IQ Cloud integrates or interfaces with existing cloud orchestration engines such as VMware vCloud Director to streamline the overall process of deploying applications. Extend, Scale - and Secure F5 Cloud solutions offer a rapid Application Delivery Network provisioning solution, drastically reducing the lead times for expanding IoT delivery capabilities across data centers, be they private or public. As a result, organizations can efficiently: Extend data centers to the cloud to support IoT deployments Scale IoT applications beyond the data center when required. Secure and accelerate IoT connections to the cloud For maintenance situations, organizations no longer need to manually redirect traffic by configuring applications. Instead, IoT applications are proactively redirected to an alternate data center prior to maintenance. For continuous DDoS protection, F5 Silverline DDoS Protection is a service delivered via the F5 Silverline cloud-based platform that provides detection and mitigation to stop even the largest of volumetric DDoS attacks from reaching your IoT network. The BIG-IP platform is application and location agnostic, meaning the type of application or where the application lives really does not matter. As long as you tell the BIG-IP platform where to find the IoT application, the BIG-IP platform will deliver it. Bringing it all together, F5 Synthesis enables cloud and application providers as well as mobile network operators the architectural framework necessary to ensure the performance, reliability and security of IoT applications. Connected devices are here to stay—forcing us to move forward into this brave new world where almost everything generates data traffic. While there’s much to consider, proactively addressing these challenges and adopting new approaches for enabling an IoT-ready network will help organizations chart a clearer course toward success. An IoT-ready environment enables IT to begin taking advantage of this societal shift without a wholesale rip-and-replace of existing technology. It also provides the breathing room IT needs to ensure that the coming rush of connected devices does not cripple the infrastructure. This process ensures benefits will be realized without compromising on the operational governance required to ensure availability and security of IoT network, data, and application resources. It also means IT can manage IoT services instead than boxes. However an IoT ready infrastructure is constructed, it is a transformational journey for both IT and the business. It is not something that should be taken lightly or without a long-term strategy in place. When done properly, F5-powered IoT ready infrastructure can bring significant benefits to an organization and its people. ps Related: The Digital Dress Code Is IoT Hype For Real? What are These "Things”? IoT Influence on Society IoT Effect on Applications CloudExpo 2014: The DNS of Things Intelligent DNS Animated Whiteboard The Internet of Me, Myself & I Technorati Tags: f5,iot,things,sensors,silverline,big-ip,scale,sdas,synthesis,infrastructure Connect with Peter: Connect with F5:F5 Animated Whiteboards
F5 Animated Whiteboards offer a quick, visual story to some of today's technology challenges and how we can help solve those headaches. Our latest covers Next Generation IPS and how SSL encryption of applications is becoming the norm. SSL ensures the integrity and privacy of transactions, but poses a visibility problem for IPS systems. This lack of visibility means attackers can evade IPS by encrypting their transmissions within SSL. Learn how F5's intelligent ADC combined with next-generation IPS provides a solution that eliminates dangerous blind spots. ps Other F5 Animated Whiteboards F5 Enterprise Mobility Gateway Animated Whiteboard Intelligent DNS Animated Whiteboard F5 VoLTE Animated Whiteboard F5 Secure Web Gateway Whiteboard F5 DDoS Animated Whiteboard SSL Animated Whiteboard Application Availability Between Hybrid Data Centers Multi-Tenancy for the High Performance Services Fabric Animated Whiteboard Technorati Tags: f5,big-ip,security,whiteboard,video,synthesis,silva Connect with Peter: Connect with F5:
Live Developer Q&A: Cisco ACI and F5 Synthesis – Under the Hood [End of Life]
The F5 and Cisco APIC integration based on the device package and iWorkflow is End Of Life. The latest integration is based on the Cisco AppCenter named ‘F5 ACI ServiceCenter’. Visit https://f5.com/cisco for updated information on the integration. Tuesday June 16th marked the first of a kind with representatives of both Cisco and F5 jointly participating in a Live Developer Q&A – how far we’ve come since the days of rivalry to now, working as closely aligned allies. For those who missed it, the format of the event involved taking questions from our respective developer communities–F5 DevCentral and Cisco DevNet–and presenting them to our panelists for discussion, debate and deliberation. I, the humble moderator, had the pleasure of being accompanied by greatness in the forms of F5 Senior Principal Software Engineer, Alain Roy, and Cisco Director of Technical Marketing, Ranga Rao. In addition to the panelists we had F5’s Chase Abbot and Cisco’s Harry Petty, both industry veterans and fast typists, tending to the live chat session to answer additional questions real-time. A small sample of the questions answered included: What is F5 Synthesis? Does ACI have the capacity to support ALL F5 modules? What are the recommended software releases for BIG-IP and APIC to integrate? What is the recommended best practices for deployment? …and MANY more. There’s already a great deal of resources available on the integration and, as promised during the event, you can find those resources here: Overviews F5 Solution Overview Cisco Solution Overview Alliance Pages F5 alliance page for Cisco Cisco alliance page for F5 Networks Integration White Paper's Automate Application Deployment with F5 Local Traffic Manager and Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure White Paper Cisco Nexus 9000 NXOS mode with F5 design white paper Cisco Design Guide: F5 BIG-IP: Workload Migration from Traditional Networks to Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure Last, but not least, the sponsors of the event, our respective developer communities: F5 DevCentral Cisco DevNet If you did miss it, I highly recommend you take a look at the recording of the event, which can be found here.F5 optimaliseert applicaties met Cisco’s ACI architectuur [End of Life]
The F5 and Cisco APIC integration based on the device package and iWorkflow is End Of Life. The latest integration is based on the Cisco AppCenter named ‘F5 ACI ServiceCenter’. Visit https://f5.com/cisco for updated information on the integration. Geïntegreerde F5-oplossing verbetert Cisco APIC-omgevingen met uitgebreide L2-7 policy controls voor applicatieprestaties, schaal en beveiliging Amsterdam, 17 juni 2014 – F5 heeft een verbetering aangekondigd voor de Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC). De toepassing combineert de Synthesis architectuur en programmeerbare Software Defined Application Services van F5 met de Application Centric Infrastructure van Cisco, zodat applicaties snel, veilig en beschikbaar zijn. F5 en Cisco delen een fabric-gebaseerde aanpak die klanten in staat stelt te kiezen uit fysieke, virtuele en cloud-toepassingen om zo een omgeving te maken die het beste bij de organisatie past. Door de voordelen van de F5 Synthesis- en Cisco ACI-modellen te combineren, kunnen bedrijven veelzijdige, elastische netwerken en applicatieservices opzetten. Op die manier zijn applicaties sneller en succesvoller uit te rollen. Laag 2-7 optimaliseren Klanten kunnen met het F5 Device Package for Cisco APIC applicatie-policies en -benodigdheden configureren in L2-7 fabrics. Dit zorgt ervoor dat applicaties de juiste services en resources krijgen door het hele netwerk, terwijl organisaties ook systemen kunnen automatiseren ten gunste van efficiëntie en kostenbesparingen. Gebruikers met F5-apparatuur kunnen nu policy-gedreven applicatieservices uitrollen binnen laag 2-7 fabrics. Dankzij de integratie kunnen klanten van zowel Cisco als F5 hun operationele kosten significant verminderen, terwijl beveiliging, beschikbaarheid en performance gewaarborgd blijft. F5’s BIG IP-oplossingen zijn ook specifiek gericht op het toevoegen van L4-7 multi-tenant mogelijkheden aan Cisco ACI-omgevingen. Daarnaast zorgt F5’s DevCentral community voor innovatie rondom de gezamenlijke toepassingen. Programmeerbaarheid ter vergroting van intelligentie F5’s oplossingen zijn vergaand programmeerbaar en voorzien van technologieën als iApps, iRules, iCall en iControl. Hiermee is applicatieverkeer te programmeren en te automatiseren. Klanten zijn in staat L4-7 application delivery-services te beheren en direct aan te sturen via Cisco APIC en door BIG IP, terwijl APIC voorziet in L2-3 benodigdheden. De integratie maakt het toevoegen en aansturen van diensten mogelijk die veel verder gaan dan load balancing, zoals optimalisatie, toegang, firewall en andere security-services. Dankzij de ScaleN-technologie van F5 kunnen klanten multi-tenant oplossingen in hun datacenters uitrollen, gebruikmakend van route-domeinen, F5 virtual appliances en virtual Clustered Multiprocessing. Doordat voor elke tenant applicatie de L4-7 policies zijn te configureren, hebben gebruikers meer zeggenschap over hoe resources worden ingezet om SDN te ondersteunen. Hierdoor hoeven IT-teams niet langer specifieke apparaten of resources toe te wijzen aan individuele applicaties, terwijl services nog wel steeds te isoleren zijn voor compliancy of andere business-behoeften. Gerelateerd nieuws - F5’s Technology Alliance with Cisco - F5’s Cisco ACE Migration Solution - F5 Support for Cisco’s OpFlex Open Policy Framework - F5 Reference Architecture for Next-Generation Intrusion Prevention Systems Overige informatie ten aanzien van F5 en Cisco ACI/APIC - Operationalizing the Network with Cisco ACI and F5 Synthesis – Solution Profile - Device Packages: Integrating F5 Synthesis with Cisco APIC – F5 DevCentral Blog - Cisco ACI-themed Press ReleaseA Living Architecture
You often hear people say, 'oh, this is a living document,' to indicate that the information is continually updated or edited to reflect changes that may occur during the life of the document. Your infrastructure is also living and dynamic. You make changes, updates or upgrades to address the ever changing requirements of your employees, web visitors, customers, partners, networks, applications and anything else tied to your systems. This is also true for F5's Reference Architectures. They too are living architectures. F5's Reference Architectures are the proof-points or customer scenarios that drive Synthesis to your data center and beyond. When we initially built out these RA's, we knew that they'd be continuously updated to not only reflect new BIG-IP functionality but also show new solutions to the changing challenges IT faces daily. We've recently updated the Intelligent DNS Scale Reference Architecture to include more security (DNSSEC) and to address the highly hybrid nature of enterprise infrastructures with Distributed DNS. F5’s end-to-end Intelligent DNS Scale reference architecture enables organizations to build a strong DNS foundation that maximizes the use of resources and increases service management, while remaining agile enough to support both existing and future network architectures, devices, and applications. It also provides a more intelligent way to respond and scale to DNS queries and takes into account a variety of network conditions and situations to distribute user application requests and application services based on business policies, data center conditions, network conditions, and application performance. It ensures that your customers—and your employees—can access your critical web, application, and database services whenever they need them. In this latest DNS RA rev, DNSSEC can protect your DNS infrastructure, including cloud deployments, from cache poisoning attacks and domain hijacks. With DNSSEC support, you can digitally sign and encrypt your DNS query responses. This enables the resolver to determine the authenticity of the response, preventing DNS hijacking and cache poisoning. Also included is Distributed DNS. Meaning, all the DNS solution goodness also applies to cloud deployments or infrastructures where DNS is distributed. Organizations can replicate their high performance DNS infrastructure in almost any environment. Organizations may have Cloud DNS for disaster recovery/business continuity or even a Cloud DNS service with signed DNSSEC zones. F5 DNS Services enhanced AXFR support offers zone transfers from BIG-IP to any DNS service allowing organizations to replicate DNS in physical, virtual, and cloud environments. The DNS replication service can be sent to other BIG-IPs or other general DNS servers in Data Centers/Clouds that are closest to the users. In addition, Organizations can send users to a site that will give them the best experience. F5 DNS Services uses a range of load balancing methods and intelligent monitoring for each specific app and user. Traffic is routed according to your business policies and current network and user conditions. F5 DNS Services includes an accurate, granular geolocation database, giving you control of traffic distribution based on user location. DNS helps make the internet work and we often do not think of it until we cannot connect to some resource. With the Internet of Nouns (or Things if you like) hot on our heels, I think Port 53 will continue to be a critically important piece of the internet puzzle. ps Related: Intelligent DNS Scale Resources F5 Synthesis DNS Reimagined keeps your Business Online DNS Does the Job The DNS of Things DNS Doldrums The Internet of Things and DNS Technorati Tags: f5,big-ip,dns,reference architecture,dnssec,iot,things,name_resolution,silva,security,cloud,synthesis Connect with Peter: Connect with F5:
F5 Synthesis und SDN – gemeinsam schnell
Synthesis steht hier bei F5 schon seit dem Launch im letzten Jahr ganz oben auf der Agenda und im Zuge des MWC haben wir die nächste Etappe eingeläutet. Immer wieder kommt die Frage auf, wie sich die Synthesis Architektur zu SDN (Software-Defined Networking) verhält. Wahrscheinlich erinnern Sie sich daran, dass SDN unvermeidlich geworden war, da die IT die Servicegeschwindigkeit im Netzwerk erhöhen musste, um der Entwicklung (Agilität) und dem Betrieb (DevOps) zu entsprechen. Das „Netzwerk“ hatte bis zur Einführung von SDN kein Äquivalent dazu. Ein Manko blieb: SDN beantwortet nicht die Servicegeschwindigkeit auf den Layern 4-7, also den Applikations-Schichten, wo Load Balancing, Beschleunigungs-, Zugangs- und Identitätsservices passieren. Das hat vor allem technische Gründe, da sich das Netzwerk gabelt und SDN nicht Zugriff auf alle Ebenen hat. Im Prinzip gibt es im Netzwerk ja mit den Layern 2-3 für Switching und Routing und den Layern 4-7 als Services Fabric eigentlich zwei Netzwerke. Darüber hinaus steht Administratoren neben physischen Lösungen auch die Option der Virtualisierung zur Verfügung. Eine Möglichkeit, die Layer für Applikationen in die SDN-Architektur mit einzubeziehen, ist Service Chaining. Diese Option funktioniert auch recht gut, wenn es darum geht, den Datenpfad hin zu den Application Services zu verlängern, sie löst aber nicht die operativen Herausforderungen, deren Lösung jedoch ausschlaggebend für eine Geschwindigkeitserhöhung ist. Jedoch ist genau dieser Teil – der Einsatz, die Bereitstellung, das Monitoring sowie das Management – für die Erhöhung der Geschwindigkeit entscheidend. Service Chaining konzentriert sich lediglich darauf, dass Applikationsdaten den richtigen Weg von und zu Application Services finden, es geht also eher um den Prozess, nicht um den Betrieb. SDN reicht also nicht aus, um die Geschwindigkeit im gesamten Rechenzentrum zu verbessern. Und genau an dieser Stelle (also bei den Layern 4-7) kommt F5 Synthesis ins Spiel. Wir ersetzen SDN nicht. Wir bieten auch keine alternative Architektur. Synthesis ist vollständig komplementär zu SDN und arbeitet sogar mit vielen Architekturen, die oftmals unter „SDN“ geführt werden, sowie mit traditionellen Modellen zusammen. F5 möchte Datenwegelemente einführen, die das Application-Protokoll aufnehmen (BIG-IP, LineRate, etc.) und die programmierten Regeln ausführen, die von einer zentralen Kontrollebene aus gepusht werden (BIG-IQ), also ein Modell mit zentralisierter Kontrolle und dezentraler Ausführung. Das hört sich kompliziert an, vereinfacht aber die Verwaltung im Netzwerk enorm. Schließlich ist das Ergebnis der Verbindung beider Technologien eine umfassende, dynamische, software-definierte Architektur für das Rechenzentrum, die Geschwindigkeitsherausforderungen im gesamten Netzwerk (also Layer 2-7) löst. SDN automatisiert und orchestriert das Netzwerk und überführt die richtigen Daten in das Synthesis Hochleistungs-Modell, das dann macht, was es am besten kann: Die Application Services einsetzen, die entscheidend dazu beitragen, dass Apps schnell, sicher und zuverlässig ausgeführt werden können. Zu Service Chaining kommen Orchestrierungsintegration (zum Beispiel mit VMwares NSX) sowie Netzwerkintegration (wie beim gemeinsamen Projekt von F5, Arista und VMware) dazu. Wir integrieren mit führenden SDN-Architekturen und Partnern wie Cisco/Insieme, VMware, HP, Arista, Dell und Big Switch. Wir sind bei allen relevanten Organisationen zur Standardisierung dabei, um weitere Wege zu finden, das Netzwerk und Application Services in SDN-Architekturen zu integrieren. SDN bestätigt, an was wir bei F5 immer geglaubt haben: Netzwerke müssen dynamisch, Services erweiterbar und programmierbar, und alle Layer so beweglich sein wie das Geschäft, das sie unterstützen..F5 Synthesis: The Reference Architectures
The next-generation App-Focused, Solution Driven model for supporting all of your business applications. Your business uses countless applications in a given day. At F5, we built a reputation as an industry leader by helping organizations deliver the most secure, fast, and reliable applications to anyone anywhere at any time. Our pioneering focus on application services gives us a unique advantage in designing the solutions that drive business forward. F5 Synthesis isn’t built on new products and features. It’s built on comprehensive solutions. We took a big-picture look at the trends affecting businesses today—from security to mobility to performance and beyond—and designed architectures that pull together specific device, network and application scenarios to help you better identify and understand which solutions meet your network needs. The F5 Synthesis ™ architectural vision helps customer improve service velocity and accelerate time to market through automated provisioning and intelligent service orchestration of application services. The F5 Synthesis elastic, high-performance services fabric reduces the cost and complexity of deploying software defined application services ™ (SDAS ™ ) across all types of systems and environments, including software defined networks (SDN), virtual infrastructures, and cloud. F5’s prescriptive reference architectures, optimized licensing models, and deployment options give organizations the tools to align services with user and business expectations for applications, overcoming persistent IT challenges around availability, optimization, security, and mobility. Here are the Architectural overview videos of the F5 Synthesis Reference Architectures ps Related: f5 Synthesis F5 Introduces Synthesis Architecture F5 Synthesis: Software Defined Application Services F5 Synthesis: The Time is Right F5's Partner Ecosystem Supports Synthesis F5 and Cisco: Application-Centric from Top to Bottom and End to End When Applications Drive the Network F5 Synthesis Aims To Fill SDN Gap F5 Introduces Synthesis App Delivery Architecture for Cloud, Data Center Technorati Tags: synthesis,sdas,big-ip,f5,video,reference architecture Connect with Peter: Connect with F5:It is All About the Application
We live in an ADHD world. Lately, everything we do is interrupt driven. When my pocket buzzes, I check my phone to read the latest message. Or, I may access my social media applications to see my friends’ updates and send a quick response, making their smart devices buzz and beep. Smartphones along with global availability and accessibility have created an environment where we are continuously reacting and responding to the latest stimulus. People are constantly looking for new applications to allow them to access correctly formatted information while adding their relevant input, in real time. This creates a conundrum for the communications service providers (CSPs). They need to find ways to deliver new and continuously changing services to their subscribers. These services need to be built and inserted into the network architecture creating disruption. At the same time, they need a stable and manageable network infrastructure to reliably deliver these services. Lack of access to a service is just as bad as not having built it. Leave No Application Behind CSPs have been struggling with this lack of flexibility in their latest network models. They are implementing value-added services (VAS) to optimize their network performance, generate new revenue streams, and enhance customer quality of experience (QoE). At the same time, they are expanding and enhancing their 4G LTE networks. It is hard for them to add, remove, and modify services and functions within their static network architectures. Lately, CSPs have been discussing software-defined networks (SDN) and more recently, network functions virtualization (NFV) to create a more flexible and dynamic infrastructure to deliver enhanced and evolving services. These technologies are designed virtualize or decouple services from the underlying infrastructure. While SDN is focused on the network infrastructure, the layer 2-4 aspects of the architecture, NFV is poised to virtualize LTE services such as the PGW, MME, or x-CSCF and functions like firewall, load balancing, and DPI through common off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and virtualized services that can reside on this hardware as a software-based solution. Application Delivery Requires an Application-Aware Framework F5 Synthesis™ is about enabling network architectures to deliver application services in today’s environment. F5 Synthesis is a new architectural vision for delivering a flexible high performance service framework. It provides elasticity and resiliency combined with intelligent services orchestration and a simplified business model produces an architecture to support today’s evolving network environments. Application delivery has grown to encompass security, availability, identity verification and access control, cloud services, and performance management. F5 Synthesis depends on a high performance services fabric designed for the delivery of these context-aware services - F5® Software Defined Application Services™ (SDAS). SDAS leverages F5 technologies and innovations to deliver virtualization, abstraction, programmability, and orchestration of application delivery services for all applications. SDAS enables a context-aware elastic environment creating an ecosystem where applications and the delivery of their services are no longer constrained by physical or geographical limitations. As long as the framework is in place, services can be scaled and enabled as needed to meet demand requirements over time, in real time. It is All Coming Together Orchestration of these services is essential to the enablement of SDAS as it relates to SDN and NFV. The continuous and reliable delivery of applications requires a programmable and automated intelligence to analyze and provision the ecosystem. F5 Synthesis delivers programmability to enable the integration of tools from F5 and other ecosystem partners such as cloud providers and orchestration engines through open APIs. F5 Synthesis provides value in many aspects of the service provider model. F5 Synthesis facilitates increased service velocity, bringing applications and services to market quicker. Automation and orchestration is provided to enable services for any application. There is a lower operational risk through the standardization and simplification of the network and application delivery environment. Finally, the solution offers reduced operational and capital costs by leveraging COTS hardware and a unified ecosystem. F5 Synthesis is the next generation framework for next generation application delivery.
