OpenStack
Enterprises are using OpenStack to build private clouds, and service providers are using OpenStack in Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI) environments to increase agility. While OpenStack Neutron networking services provide basic load balancing functionality, they lack important application delivery features, putting the performance, availability, and security of applications at risk.
With F5 OpenStack integrations, organizations can use F5 BIG-IP Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) in OpenStack cloud environments. BIG-IP ADC provides consistent availability, performance, and security for all applications, across public, private, and hybrid cloud environments. The F5 Private Cloud Solution Package provides a tested and certified solution for deploying F5 services on Red Hat OpenStack Platform, including the necessary BIG-IP ADCs, consulting, and enterprise support.
BENEFITS
Cloud agility
Drive greater agility with automated deployment of comprehensive L4–L7 application delivery networking and security services through OpenStack Heat orchestration templates. Improve time to market with faster deployments by using validated and certified integrations with leading OpenStack distributions, SDN, and orchestration solutions.
Cloud confidence
Deploy production workloads confidently by using open-source libraries for integrating Neutron and Heat templates with the F5 app delivery infrastructure. Customize how application services are configured and deployed in your cloud by leveraging collaboration between F5 and the OpenStack community via an LBaaS driver in Neutron and open source Heat templates on GitHub. This library of Heat templates has been rigorously tested and validated with BIG-IP ADC devices.
DEPLOYMENT SCENARIOS
Multi-Tenant Core Neutron LBaaS service
Neutron Load Balancing-as-a-Service (LBaaS), a core OpenStack networking service, provides standardized load balancing services for application instances. These services include a core subset of functions and features that are common across a wide range of load balancing platforms. F5 provides scalable L4-L7 ADC services for all your cloud tenants, with tested and supported service orchestration that exposes services through the standard APIs used for tenant self-service.
F5 LBaaSv2 plug-in provisions and manages load balancing services on TMOS-based BIG-IP and VIPRION hardware or virtual edition (VE) devices. Purpose-built F5 multi-tenant ADCs enables you to maintain high availability, operational strategic points of control, and network performance for your cloud applications while offloading intensive network and security functions avoiding needless compute resource consumption and virtualized network function sprawl. F5 LBaaS Enhanced Service Definitions takes advantage of LBaaSv2 L7 policy feature to expose F5 unique capabilities.
Single Tenant advanced networking services using Heat orchestration
F5 provides single tenant, advanced app delivery and security network functions through BIG-IP VEs next to your cloud applications. Deployment uses the same infrastructure as code orchestration mechanisms—including Heat templates—used to deploy the cloud applications themselves. When combined with the BIG-IP iApps template system, you can create repeatable application delivery configurations and security policies by passing in the required template and instance-specific values. Implement OpenStack Heat based auto-scaling for advanced functions like web- application firewall. Heat templates enable you to make the ADC deployment part of your application lifecycle. When migrating existing applications into OpenStack you can maintain current application specific policies.
Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure
Communication Service Providers (CSPs) and enterprise network operators migrating to Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) architectures using OpenStack now have the flexibility to optimize new service delivery models and elastic scaling. CSPs can seamlessly integrate F5 virtualized network functions (via BIG-IP VE’s) within existing network architectures, align costs with revenue, and centralize management.
OpenStack Partnerships
F5 has tested and certified its integration with OpenStack distribution platform vendors such as Red Hat and Mirantis, as well as SDN partners Cisco, PLUMgrid, and Nuage. That means you can count on fully supported, validated OpenStack implementations.
Mirantis
Mirantis provides all the software, services, training, and support you need to run a production deployment of OpenStack at scale. F5 has certified the LBaaS plugin on Mirantis OpenStack to simplify the deployment of private clouds.
Red Hat
F5 has partnered with Red Hat to develop, test, and certify a private cloud solution package leveraging LBaaS plug-in to enable you to accelerate your OpenStack deployments. Using iApps, you can provision F5 application delivery services via the console in the Red Hat OpenStack Platform.
How F5 and Red Hat work together >
Accelerate Development and Application Delivery with F5 and Red Hat >
How to Add F5 Application Delivery Services to OpenStack
Advanced F5 application delivery services can be flexibly designed into an OpenStack cloud architecture with a variety of deployment and orchestration options.