F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management - Short Review

Overview of F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management

F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management is a comprehensive solution designed to streamline and unify the management of F5 BIG-IP devices and their associated services. This platform provides a single, centralized point of control for managing both physical and virtual F5 devices, as well as the various modules and services that run on them.

Key Features and Functionality

Centralized Management

BIG-IQ allows administrators to manage the entire lifecycle of F5 BIG-IP devices from a single console. This includes discovering, upgrading, deploying policy changes, managing licenses, and performing backups and restorations, all without the need to log into individual devices.

Multi-Device and Multi-Module Support

The platform supports a wide range of F5 modules, including:

• BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)
• BIG-IP Application Security Manager (ASM)
• BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)
• BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
• F5 Secure Web Gateway Services
• BIG-IP DNS
• F5 SSL Orchestrator
• F5 Advanced Web Application Firewall (WAF)
• F5 DDoS Hybrid Defender

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

BIG-IQ features highly customizable RBAC, enabling fine-grained control over who can view, edit, and deploy services and policies. This allows security and application teams to manage their own application services independently, using predefined roles and permissions or custom configurations. Integration with external authentication systems like Active Directory, TACACS , RADIUS, and LDAP is also supported.

Policy and Configuration Management

Administrators can centrally apply and manage policies across all F5 devices, reducing the risk of human error and policy inconsistencies. BIG-IQ also supports the creation, visibility, and management of application templates, facilitating the quick deployment and replication of applications.

Certificate and License Management

The platform automates certificate lifecycle management, including discovery, renewal, and deployment of SSL certificates across F5 devices, web servers, and proxy servers. It also manages licenses for BIG-IP Virtual Editions (VEs) and other devices, ensuring compliance and preventing outages due to expired certificates or licenses.

Analytics, Logging, and Reporting

BIG-IQ provides detailed analytics, logging, and reporting capabilities to monitor the health, performance, and availability of F5 application delivery and security services. It aggregates statistics from BIG-IP devices, both locally and in the cloud, offering extensive visibility into application and device performance.

Application Centric Management

The platform includes an “Application Centric Management” feature, which offers a service catalog of application templates for BIG-IP LTM configurations. This allows for the rapid deployment and replication of applications, supporting the “Per Application” ADC model and full management of Per-App VEs.

Scalability and High Availability

BIG-IQ can manage up to 1,200 devices in a single instance, making it highly scalable for large enterprises. It also supports high-availability configurations with automatic failover, ensuring continuous operation and minimizing downtime.

Integration and Automation

The platform is API-driven, allowing integration with third-party tools such as security incident and event management (SIEM) and security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) systems. This enables automated workflows and enhanced security management.

In summary, F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management is a powerful tool that simplifies the management of F5 BIG-IP devices and services, enhancing application delivery, security, and compliance across diverse environments, including data centers and cloud deployments.