F5 BIG-IP:

o In 1997, F5 launched its first product load balancer called BIG-IP. it was just a basic product.
o Which basically was load balancing module LTM that we know, without all fancy features.
o BIG-IP is platform, it was the hardware appliance, but know it is the hardware & software.
o BIG-IP as framework, where provision modules, which can be LTM or DNS (GTM), or others.
o F5 BIG-IP is family of products covering software & hardware designed around application.
o F5 BIG-IP is family of products covering availability, access control, and security solutions.
o BIG-IP name is interchangeable between F5's software application delivery controller.
o BIG-IP name is interchangeable between F5's software and hardware security products.
o The BIG-IP software can run on hardware or can run in virtualized environments etc.
o There are two primary variations of BIG-IP hardware, single chassis design, or VIPRION.
o Actually, the BIG-IP is just marketing shizz used by F5 to market their load balancers.

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TMOS Traffic Management:
F5 Network’s Traffic Management Operating System (TMOS) is the software foundation for all
of F5’s network or traffic (not data) products; physical or virtual. Traffic flowing through a BIG-
IP system passes through TMOS, an operating system designed and built by F5 provide traffic
management functions. TMOS has its own dedicated CPU, memory, and system bus for access
to peripheral devices. When a TMOS-based device receives packets, everything from the wire
to the system bus, from the networking subsystem to the memory management subsystem are
completely self-contained within TMOS. Linux is never involved or aware of any of it; not even
the Linux kernel.

Administration:
Operational management is a separate component of the BIG-IP system that uses off the shelf
components & software, starting with Linux operating system. The operational management
side of BIG-IP system does not manage traffic, it provides administrative functionality through
the Linux Shell(bash), TMOS Shell (TMSH) and the BIG-IP system's graphical user interface called
the BIG-IP Configuration utility. The Linux system is used for management tasks, such as the
command line or the web GUI only. The reason for this is simple: an operating system which is
ideal for high speed traffic management operations is not ideal as a general-purpose operating
system. So, it makes sense to use a general-purpose operating system for general purpose
tasks, like management, and leave the traffic management to the operating system designed
for that purpose—TMOS.

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The BIG-IP system includes the TMOS Shell (tmsh) that can be used to manage the system from
the command line. You can enter tmsh to configure the BIG-IP system and view statistics and
performance data. tmsh is the shell replacement for BIG-IP’s bigpipe command. TMOS Shell or
TMSH is very nice CLI. It is easy to configure and navigate.

Modules Overview:

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BIG-IP Hardware Platforms:

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BIG-IP LTM:
o F5 Networks started with their flagship product now is known as Local Traffic Manager.
o The Local Traffic Manager, aka LTM, is the most popular module offered on F5 Networks.
o It provide load balancing services between two or more servers in event of system failure.
o Local Traffic Manager is the product that people usually refers when they mean “the F5”.
o When the company started their named their product BIG/IP without all the fancy features.
o In 1997, F5 launched its first product load balancer called BIG-IP. it was just a basic product.
o Real power of LTM is it's Full Proxy, allowing to augment client and server-side connections.
o While making informed load balancing decisions on availability, performance & persistence.
o Load balancers are used to increase capacity (concurrent users) & reliability of applications.
o LTM load balances servers as well as does caching , compression, persistence, many more.
o When you need a load balancer, F5 Local Traffic Manager (LTM) is one of the best choices.
o In fact, F5 is the market leader of segment, and offers a variety of load-balancing products.
o Among them, Local Traffic Manager, is one that distribute traffic to servers within DC.
o Local Traffic Manager modul manages and optimize traffic for network apps and clients.
o F5 LTM uses Virtual Servers & Virtual IPs to configure a load balancing setup for a service.
o LTM doesn’t do any name resolution and assumes a DNS decision has already been made.
o When traffic is directed to LTM traffic flows directly through its’ full proxy architecture.
o LTM is full proxy listen on one port but direct traffic to multiple hosts listening on any port.

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BIG-IP LTM Hardware Details:

Management Ports (MGMT) :

This is the BIG-IP management port. It has default IP address of 192.168.1.245 although you can
change the address. This port is also known as Eth0. Initial and ongoing administrative access.
USB Ports :
There are two USB ports. use this port to connect other devices to BIG-IP. Typically used for
external booting from a CD-ROM or USB memory stick.
Console Port :
This is the BIG-IP console ports. Use this DB9 connector for connecting a serial console.
Failover Port :
This is the failover port. Use this DB9 connector for connecting a redundant system. Serial
(hard-wired) failover port. Not DB9! Can be used in redundant pair configuration only.
Ethernet Ports :
Use these Ethernet ports to connect the BIG-IP to the network as well as to connect both clients
and servers to the BIG-IP. The Ethernet ports are numbered top to bottom and left to right . for
example, the top left port is 1.1 while the port below it is 1.2
Gigabit SFP :
Optical fiber or copper.
Fan Ports :
These are the BIG-IP fan ports.
LCD Panel :
While displaying massages about the status of BIG-IP. For managing the BIG-IP platform without
attaching a console or network cable. For example, can change the management interface
information, set baud rate of the serial port, and reboot. Also displays certain error messages.
Controls of LCD Panel :
These are the controls for the LCD panel using these controls, you can configure a number of
BIG-IP settings. For navigating through the LCD Panel including but not limited to powering
on/off the unit, resetting the unit, clearing alerts.

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