Manual Chapter : Defining Connectivity Options

Applies To:

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BIG-IP APM

  • 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0
Manual Chapter

Defining Connectivity Options

About connectivity profiles and Network Access

A connectivity profile defines connectivity and client settings for a Network Access session.

A connectivity profile contains:

  • Compression settings for network access connections and application tunnels
  • Citrix client settings
  • Virtual servers and DNS-location awareness settings for BIG-IP® Edge Client® for Windows, Mac, and Linux
  • Password caching settings for BIG-IP Edge Client for Windows, Mac, and mobile clients
  • Settings for mobile clients

A connectivity profile is also associated with customizable client download packages for Edge Client for Windows and Edge Client for Mac.

Creating a connectivity profile

You create a connectivity profile to configure client connections for a network access tunnel, application access tunnel, and clients.
  1. On the Main tab, click Access Policy > Secure Connectivity .
    A list of connectivity profiles displays.
  2. Click Add.
    The Create New Connectivity Profile popup screen opens and displays General Settings.
  3. Type a Profile Name for the connectivity profile.
  4. Select a Parent Profile from the list.
    APM® provides a default profile, connectivity.
  5. From the Compression Settings folder, click Network Access and make changes to the network access compression settings.
    The settings specify available compression codecs for server-to-client connections.
    The default settings are displayed in the right pane.
  6. From the Compression Settings folder, click App Tunnel and make changes to the application tunnel compression settings.
    The settings specify available compression codecs for server-to-client connections. By default, compression is enabled, but no codecs are selected in the Available Codecs area.
    The default settings are displayed in the right pane.
  7. Click OK.
    The popup screen closes, and the Connectivity Profile List displays.
To provide functionality with a connectivity profile, you must add the connectivity profile and an access profile to a virtual server.

About connectivity profile compression settings

Compression settings specify the available compression codecs for server-to-client connections. The server compares the available compression types configured in the connectivity profile with the available compression types on the client, and chooses the most effective mutual compression setting.

Connectivity profile general settings

You can configure the following general settings in a connectivity profile.

Profile setting Value Description
Profile Name Text. Text specifying name of the connectivity profile.
Parent Profile A connectivity profile, selected from a list. A profile inherits settings from its parent profile.
FEC Profile A forward error correcting (FEC) profile, selected from a list. A FEC profile applies to a network access tunnel.
Note: FEC profiles might not be available on all BIG-IP® systems.
Description Text. Text description of the connectivity profile.

Connectivity profile network access compression settings

You can configure the following network access compression settings in a connectivity profile.

Setting Value Description
Compression Buffer Size Number of bytes. The default is 4096. Specifies the size of the output buffers containing compressed data.
gzip Compression Level A preset, or a value between 1 and 9. Specifies the degree to which the system compresses the content. Higher compression levels cause the compression process to be slower and the result to be more compressed. The default compression level is 6 - Optimal Compression (Recommended), which provides a balance between level of compression and CPU processing time. You can also select compression level 1 - Least Compression (Fastest), the lowest amount of compression, which requires the least processing time, or 9 - Most Compression (Slowest), the highest level of compression, which requires the most processing time. You can also select a number between 1 and 9.
gzip Memory Level 1-256 kb. Specifies the number of kilobytes of memory that the system uses for internal compression buffers when compressing data. You can select a value between 1 and 256.
gzip Window Size 1-128 kb. Specifies the number of kilobytes in the window size that the system uses when compressing data. You can select a value between 1 and 128.
CPU Saver Selected or cleared. Specifies, when enabled, that the system monitors the percentage of CPU usage and adjusts compression rates automatically when the CPU usage reaches either the High value or the Low Value.
High Percentage Specifies the percentage of CPU usage at which the system starts automatically decreasing the amount of content being compressed, as well as the amount of compression which the system is applying.
Low Percentage Specifies the percentage of CPU usage at which the system resumes content compression at the user-defined rates.

Connectivity profile application tunnel compression settings

You can configure the following application tunnel compression settings in a connectivity profile.

Setting Value Description
Compression Enable or Disable Specifies the available compression codecs for server-to-client connections. The server compares the available compression types configured here, with the available compression types on the client, and chooses the most effective mutual compression setting.
Adaptive Compression Enable or Disable Specifies whether to enable to disable adaptive compression between the client and the server.
Deflate Level From 1 to 9 Specifies a compression level for deflate compression. Higher numbers compress more, at the cost of more processing time.
lzo Enable or Disable Specifies LZO compression. LZO compression offers a balance between CPU resources and compression ratio, compressing more than Deflate compression, but with less CPU resources than Bzip2.
deflate Enable or Disable Specifies deflate compression. Deflate compression uses the least CPU resources, but compresses the least effectively.
bzip2 Enable or Disable Specifies Bzip2 compression. Bzip2 compression uses the most CPU resources, but compresses the most effectively.