BIG-IP Virtual Edition (VE) is supported on the following platforms. (This document was formerly named Virtual Edition and Supported Hypervisors Matrix.)
BIG-IP VE supports all F5 modules. These modules are LTM, AFM, APM, ASM, AAM, BIG-IP DNS (formerly GTM), Secure Web Gateway Services, IP Intelligence Services, PEM, and Carrier-Grade NAT (CGNAT).
Hypervisors
VMware ESX, ESXi, and vCloud Director
F5 supports these versions of BIG-IP VE on VMware.
Important
ESXi 6.7 Update 2 is not yet supported. For more information, see this solution article.
| BIG-IP VE version | Maximum throughput | ESXi version | vCloud Director version |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14.1.0 | 40 Gbps | 6.0 and later | No longer supported |
| 14.0.0, 13.1.1, 13.1.0, 13.0.0 HF3 |
40 Gbps: ESXi 6.0 and later 10 Gbps: ESXi 5.5 and later |
5.5 and later | All 5.x versions later than 5.5 |
| 13.0.0 * | 10 Gbps | 5.1 and later | All 5.x versions later than 5.5 |
| 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0, 12.0.0 | 10 Gbps | 5.1 and later | All 5.x versions later than 5.5 |
| 11.6.3, 11.6.2, 11.6.1 | 10 Gbps | 5.0 and later | All 5.x versions later than 5.5 |
| 11.5.5, 11.5.4, 11.5.3, 11.5.2, 11.5.1 | 10 Gbps | 5.0 and later | All 5.x versions later than 5.5 |
* For vCloud Director, 13.0.0 HF2 is the last supported version.
- Licenses are available for throughputs of 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 3 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps. For throughput higher than 10 Gbps, high performance licenses are available.
- 10 Gbps throughput and higher require SR-IOV.
- All versions of BIG-IP VE support SR-IOV and TSO, except BIG-IP VE version 11.6.1 and prior, running on ESXi 5.0.
- vCloud Director supports TSO only (no SR-IOV).
Linux KVM, Xen Project, and OpenStack
F5 supports these versions of BIG-IP VE on Linux.
Supported Linux distributions are: CentOS/RHEL 6.3 and later, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and later, Debian 7.2 and later.
F5 supports upgrades that are backward compatible with these versions.
| BIG-IP VE version | Maximum throughput |
|---|---|
| 14.1.0, 14.0.0, 13.1.1, 13.1.0, 13.0.0 HF3 |
40 Gbps - KVM on CentOS/RHEL 6.3 and later 10 Gbps - all others |
| 13.0.0 | 10 Gbps |
| 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0, 12.0.0 | 10 Gbps |
| 11.6.3, 11.6.2, 11.6.1 | 10 Gbps |
| 11.5.5, 11.5.4, 11.5.3, 11.5.2, 11.5.1 | 10 Gbps |
- Licenses are available for throughputs of 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 3 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps. For throughput higher than 10 Gbps, high performance licenses are available.
- For maximum performance, use SR-IOV.
- F5 supports Red Hat OpenStack Platform version 9 and later, for versions of KVM running on any of the supported Linux distributions.
Microsoft Hyper-V
F5 supports these versions of BIG-IP VE on Microsoft Hyper-V.
| BIG-IP VE version | Maximum throughput | Windows versions |
|---|---|---|
| 14.1.0, 14.0.0, 13.1.1, 13.1.0, 13.0.0 | 3 Gbps | Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Update 1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 |
| 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0, 12.0.0 | 3 Gbps | Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Update 1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 |
| 11.6.3, 11.6.2, 11.6.1 | 3 Gbps | Windows Server 2012 R2 and Update 1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 |
| 11.5.5, 11.5.4, 11.5.3, 11.5.2, 11.5.1 HF1 | 3 Gbps | Windows Server 2012 R2 and Update 1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 |
- Licenses are available for throughputs of 3 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps.
Citrix Hypervisor (formerly Citrix XenServer)
F5 supports these versions of BIG-IP VE on Citrix Hypervisor.
Note
14.1.0 is the last BIG-IP VE release for Citrix Hypervisor.
| BIG-IP VE version | Maximum throughput | Citrix XenServer versions |
|---|---|---|
| 14.1.0, 14.0.0, 13.1.1, 13.1.0, 13.0.0 | 10 Gbps | 7.2, 7.1, 7.0, 6.5, 6.2 RTM and SP1 |
| 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0, 12.0.0 | 10 Gbps | 7.1, 7.0, 6.5, 6.2 RTM and SP1 |
| 11.6.3, 11.6.2, 11.6.1 | 10 Gbps | 7.1, 7.0, 6.5, 6.2 RTM and SP1 |
| 11.5.5, 11.5.4, 11.5.3, 11.5.2, 11.5.1 | 10 Gbps | 7.1, 7.0, 6.5, 6.2 RTM and SP1 |
| EM VE 3.1.1 | Determined by host and guest resource allocation, not license | Not supported |
- Licenses are available for throughputs of 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 3 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps.
- 10 Gbps max throughput requires SR-IOV.
- All versions of BIG-IP VE support SR-IOV and TSO.
Cloud Platforms
Amazon Web Services
F5 supports these versions of BIG-IP VE in AWS:
- 14.1.0, 14.0.0
- 13.1.1, 13.1.0.2 - 13.1.0.7, 13.0.0
- 12.1.4, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0, 12.0.0
- 11.6.2, 11.5.4, 11.5.1
F5 recommends at least 2 vCPU and 4 GB memory. For each additional vCPU, add at least 2 GB of memory.
F5 recommends these instance types for BIG-IP VE.
| AWS instance type | LTM/DNS (Good) | All (Better/Best) |
|---|---|---|
| t2.medium, t2.large | X ^ | X ^ |
| m3.medium | X ^ | |
| m3.large | X | X |
| m3.2xlarge | X | X * |
| m4.large, m4.xlarge | X | X |
| m4.2xlarge, m4.4xlarge, m4.10xlarge | X | X * |
| m5.large, m5.xlarge, m5.2xlarge (13.1.1 and later) | X | X |
| m5.4xlarge (13.1.1 and later) | X | X * |
| m5.12xlarge | X | X * |
| c3.xlarge, c3.2xlarge | X | X |
| c3.4xlarge, c3.8xlarge | X | X * |
| c4.xlarge, c4.2xlarge | X | X |
| c4.4xlarge, c4.8xlarge | X | X * |
| c5.large, c5.xlarge, c5.2xlarge (13.1.1 and later) | X | X |
| c5.4xlarge (13.1.1 and later) | X | X * |
| c5.9xlarge | X | X * |
| c5n.2xlarge, c5n.4xlarge (for 20 Gbps throughput) | X | X |
^ Recommended for 25 and 200 Mbps only.
* Recommended if you are running ASM or APM.
- BYOL (Bring Your Own License) production licenses are available for maximum throughput speeds of 20 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 3 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps (11.5.1 and later). Hourly/annual licenses are not available for 20, 10, and 3 Gbps.
- Throughput depends on a variety of factors, including AWS instance type and region, the configuration of BIG-IP (whether it’s processing internal or external traffic), whether you are using AWS cluster and enhanced networking, etc.
- Choose an image with 2 boot locations if you expect to upgrade BIG-IP VE in the future. If you do not need room to upgrade (if you intend to create a new instance when a new version of BIG-IP VE is released), choose an image with 1 boot location.
- BIG-IP VE supports AWS CloudHSM.
- BIG-IP VE is supported on AWS GovCloud and on the AWS Marketplace for the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC).
Microsoft Azure
F5 supports these versions of BIG-IP VE in Azure:
- 14.1.0, 14.0.0
- 13.1.1, 13.1.0.2 - 13.1.0.7, 13.0.0
- 12.1.4, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0, 12.0.0
Important: Only the latest version of BIG-IP VE is available in the Azure Marketplace. For older versions, see http://downloads.f5.com.
F5 recommends at least 2 vCPU and 4 GB memory. For each additional vCPU, add at least 2 GB of memory.
F5 recommends these instance types for BIG-IP VE. F5 also supports instance types with similar vCPU and memory.
| Azure instance | LTM/DNS (Good) | All (Better/Best) |
|---|---|---|
| Standard_D11 | X | |
| Standard_DS2_v2 | X | |
| Standard_DS11_v2 | X | |
| Standard_A4 | X | X |
| Standard_A6 | X | X |
| Standard_D4 | X | X |
| Standard_DS3 | X | X |
| Standard_DS3_v2 | X | X |
| Standard_DS12_v2 | X | X |
| Standard_A7 | X | X * |
| Standard_DS4_v2 | X | X * |
| Standard_DS5_v2 | X | X * |
| Standard_DS13_v2 | X | X * |
* Recommended if you are running ASM or APM.
- Production licenses support throughput speeds of up to 3 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps.
- Choose an image with 2 boot locations if you expect to upgrade BIG-IP VE in the future. If you do not need room to upgrade (if you intend to create a new instance when a new version of BIG-IP VE is released), choose an image with 1 boot location.
- BIG-IP VE 13.1.0.2 and later with a BYOL license is supported in Azure Stack.
Google Cloud Platform
F5 supports BIG-IP VE version 13.1.1, 13.1.0.2, and 13.0.0 HF3 on Google Cloud Platform.
- Production licenses are available for maximum throughput speeds of 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps.
- When you deploy BIG-IP VE, choose at least 2 vCPU and 4 GB memory. For each additional vCPU, add at least 2 GB of memory.
Note: Because of this requirement, the n1-highcpu instance types are not supported.
Alibaba Cloud
F5 supports BIG-IP VE version 14.1.0.1 on Alibaba Cloud.
- Production licenses are available for maximum throughput speeds of 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 1 Gbps, 200 Mbps, or 25 Mbps.
- When you deploy BIG-IP VE, choose at least 2 vCPU and 4 GB memory. For each additional vCPU, add at least 2 GB of memory.
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