Scaling Mobile InfrastructuresWith BIG-IP

2

F5 Highlights of November 16 News

New F5 BIG-IP release enables service providers to transparently scale and grow mobile services

 • Support for DIAMETER and RADIUS protocols – New traffic profiles and monitors for

RADIUS and Diameter

 • Fast Failover – When combined with new monitors and carrier-grade hardware can

significantly reduce downtime

 • IPv6 Gateway – Gives carriers the ability to leverage the scalability of IPv6 for all their mobile

devices, while still connecting to legacy IPv4 networks

 • Total traffic control with iRules – Allows system integrators to integrate BIG-IP into the rest

of their total solution; providing advanced, customized traffic management, such as policy-based traffic steering

• PB 200 Blades for VIPRION system –To help carriers manage their massive, revenue-generating traffic, F5 offers new blades for VIPRION that provide the throughput needed today and tomorrow

3

Data Growth Creates New Challenges

• 4G and LTE development • IPv4 address depletion• Traffic volumes stressing network hardware• Uptime is even more critical

4

Mobile Scaling Issues3G growth is causing AAA infrastructure to be overloaded

GGSN

AAA Server

Single TCP connection with Diameter traffic

Problem

AAA servers are overloaded• Replacing with larger server or

segmenting the network is expensive• Downtime to billing systems = revenue

loss. Single point of failure• Traditional HTTP load balancers can’t

manage RADIUS/Diameter traffic

GGSN – Gateway GPRS Support Node

5

BIG-IP Offers Unique Scaling for AAAMessage switching allows L7 decisions

GGSN – Gateway GPRS Support Node

BIG-IP

AAA Servers

BIG-IP splits single TCP connection

GGSN

Solution

Scaling and HA for Diameter and RADIUS

• Add servers to pool without disruption• Improve uptime with advanced, in-

band health monitoring• Only single-box, high performance

solution for AAA scaling

6

Traditional Firewalls Do Not ScaleIPv4 address depletion is driving NAT solutions

Private IPs Public IPsNAT

Problem

Need carrier-grade NAT solution• Replacing with larger firewall is

expensive and time consuming• Doesn’t require advanced firewall rules• No path to scale in the future

Limited to 100,000

concurrent connections

7

NAT at Carrier Speeds with VIPRIONAt 1/5 the cost of traditional firewalls

Private IPs Public IPsNAT

Solution

Scalable NAT solution• Add blades as needed, up to 32 million

concurrent connections• Simple iRule on BIG-IP• Implemented at 1/5 the cost of

comparable firewall• Provides IPv6 Gateway

Handles 8 million connections per

blade

8

Why do Mobile Operators Need BIG-IP?

BIG-IP helps service providers

• Deploy and scale new services

• Manage large traffic volumes

• Reduce downtime

• Control traffic according to business demands