Memory: 12 GB or more

All licensable module-combinations may be run on platforms with 12 GB or more of memory, and on VE and vCMP guests provisioned with 12 GB or more of memory.

Memory: 8 GB

The following guidelines apply to the BIG-IP 2000s, 2200s, 3900, 6900 platforms, to the VIPRION B4100 and B4100N platforms, and to VE guests configured with 8 GB of memory. (A vCMP guest provisioned with 8 GB of memory has less than 8 GB of memory actually available and thus does not fit in this category.)

• No more than three modules should be provisioned together.
• On the 2000s and 2200s, Application Acceleration Manager (AAM) can be provisioned with only one other module.
• Note that Global Traffic Manager (GTM) and Link Controller (LC) do not count toward the module-combination limit.

Memory: Less than 8 GB and more than 4 GB

The following guidelines apply to platforms, and to VE and vCMP guests provisioned with less than 8 GB and more than 4 GB of memory. (A vCMP guest provisioned with 8 GB of memory has less than 8 GB of memory actually available and thus fits in this category).

• No more than three modules (not including AAM) should be provisioned together.
• Application Acceleration Manager (AAM) cannot be provisioned with any other module; AAM can only be provisioned standalone.
• Note that GTM and LC do not count toward the module-combination limit.
• Analytics (AVR) counts towards the two module-combination limit (for platforms with less than 6.25 GB of memory).

Memory: 4 GB or less

The following guidelines apply to the BIG-IP 1600 and 3600 platforms, and to VE and vCMP guests provisioned with 4 GB or less of memory.

• No more than two modules may be configured together.
• AAM should not be provisioned, except as Dedicated.

VIPRION and vCMP caching and deduplication requirements

Application Acceleration Manager (AAM) supports the following functionality when configuring vCMP and VIPRION platforms.

• AAM does not support disk-based caching functionality on vCMP platforms. AAM requires memory-based caching when configuring it to run on vCMP platforms.
• AAM supports disk-based caching functionality on VIPRION chassis or blades.
• AAM does not support deduplication functionality on vCMP platforms, or VIPRION chassis or blades.

vCMP memory provisioning calculations

The amount of memory provisioned to a vCMP guest is calculated using the following formula: (platform_memory - 3 GB) x (cpus_assigned_to_guest / total_cpus).

As an example, for the B2100 with two guests, provisioned memory calculates as: (16-3) x (2/4) ~= 6.5 GB.

For certain platforms, the vCMP host can allocate a single core to a vCMP guest. However, because a single-core guest has relatively small amounts of CPU resources and allocated memory, F5 supports only the following products or product combinations for a single-core guest:

• BIG-IP LTM standalone only
• BIG-IP GTM standalone only
• BIG-IP LTM and GTM combination only

Global Traffic Menu Changes

In previous releases, in the Configuration utility of the BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager, the Global Traffic menu was a top-level menu on the Main tab. With this release, the Global Traffic menu has been changed to the GSLB menu and placed under the top-level DNS menu. The purpose of this change is to illustrate that global server load balancing is a subset of the DNS features that are available on the BIG-IP system. This is important, because F5 Networks will be offering expanded DNS features in the future.

DNS Zone Replaces DNS Express Zone

In previous releases, in the Configuration utility of the BIG-IP system, you could create a DNS Express zone to utilize the DNS Express engine. With this release, the DNS Express zone has been renamed to DNS zone, and the configuration options for this object have changed. This change allows you to use one zone object to manage multiple features for each zone. For example, you can create a DNS zone and configure it to use the DNS Express engine by selecting an authoritative DNS server from which the BIG-IP system receives zone transfers for the zone. Additionally, you can specify DNS nameservers that are zone transfer clients for the zone. Alternatively, you can create a DNS zone proxy using the DNS zone.

DNS Cache and DNS64

You can now create a DNS profile where the DNS Cache field is Enabled and a resolver DNS cache is associated with the profile and the DSN IPv6 to IPv4 is set Secondary or Immediate. With this configuration, if a AAAA record request does not return a response, then the system makes an A record request and rewrites the A record response to a AAAA record and sends the response to the client.

DNS Cache and Local Zones

With this release, you can add a local zone to a transparent, resolver, or validating resolver DNS cache. You do this when you want the BIG-IP system to resolve queries, for small local zones, with authoritative responses.

DNS Cache and Forward Zones

With this release, you can add a forward zone to resolver or validating resolver DNS cache. You do this when you want the BIG-IP system to forward DNS queries that match the forward zones to specific nameservers, which resolve the query when the cache does not contain a response.

GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) Monitor

You can now add a GTP monitor to the BIG-IP GTM system configuration. This monitor operates over the UDP protocol and supports GTP protocol versions 1 and 2. It sends a GTP Echo Request to a target and requires a well-formed GTP Echo Reply before marking the target as Up.

DNS Express and NAPTR Queries

The DNS Express engine now returns A, AAAA, and SRV records in the Additional section of a DNS response in response to a NAPTR query.

New iRule Command: DNS::scrape

A new LTM DNS iRule command was added to the BIG-IP system in this release. You can use the DNS::scrape command in the DNS_REQUEST and DNS_RESPONSE events for a virtual server with an associated DNS profile. You can use this command to parse the information in a DNS message based on user supplied arguments.

DNS Express and Zone Transfers

In previous releases, you could perform a zone transfer from a DNS Server to the BIG-IP system. With this release, additionally, zones that are transferred into DNS Express can notify other secondary DNS servers using AXFR NOTIFY. The DNS Express engine also supports TSIG keys for zones.

Maximized Enterprise Application Delivery Value

Good

Provides intelligent local traffic management for increased operational efficiency and peak network performance of applications.

Better

Good plus enhanced network security, global server load balancing, and advanced application delivery optimization.

Best

Better plus advanced access management and total application security. Delivers the ultimate in security, performance, and availability for your applications and network.

Upgrading from version 10.1.0 (or later) or 11.x

When you upgrade from version 10.1.0 (or later) or 11.x software, you use the Software Management screens in the Configuration utility to complete these steps. To open the Software Management screens, in the navigation pane of the Configuration utility, expand System, and click Software Management. For information about using the Software Management screens, see the online help.

Upgrading from versions earlier than 10.1.0

You cannot roll forward a configuration directly to this version from BIG-IP version 4.x, or from BIG-IP versions 9.0.x through 9.6.x. You must be running version 10.1.0 software. For details about upgrading to those versions, see the release notes for the associated release.

Automatic firmware upgrades

If this version includes new firmware for your specific hardware platform, after you install and activate this version, the system might reboot additional times to perform all necessary firmware upgrades.

Additional resources

You can find additional support resources and technical documentation through a variety of sources.

• The F5 Networks Technical Support web site: http://www.f5.com/support/
• The AskF5 web site: http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us.html
• The F5 DevCentral web site: http://devcentral.f5.com/
• AskF5 TechNews

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