About F5 Load Balancing

The F5 BIG-IP LTM is our statewide load-balancing platform available to all state agencies where applicable.

The F5 load balancers are designed to distribute incoming traffic across multiple servers, effectively acting as a traffic monitor for your applications. Load balancers are a type of ADC, providing advanced features beyond basic load balancing, including security, performance, and application optimization.

What problems it solves

Our F5 service provides a high-availability architecture that delivers seamless access to our ADOA enterprise applications and outbound email relay services. This service can be used by agencies for other forms of load balancing for their applications and networks.

What the Service provides

• Today, our F5 load balancers route Google and Sendgrid email traffic to Google
• Access to ADOA AZ360 applications
• Secure VPN access to the AFIS applications
• Intelligent Traffic Management: Sophisticated algorithms for distributing traffic based on factors such as server health, performance, and user persistence
• Layer 4/7 Load Balancing: Granular control over traffic routing based on network layer information (IP addresses, ports) or application layer content (HTTP headers, URLs)
• Health Monitoring: Continuous monitoring of backend server health with customizable probes to ensure only healthy instances receive traffic
• SSL/TLS Offloading and Management: Centralized management of SSL certificates and decryption/encryption processes to improve server performance and security
   

Benefits of this Service

• High Availability: By monitoring server health, the load balancer can redirect traffic away from unhealthy servers, keeping applications running even if one server fails
• Scalability: Easily add or remove servers to handle traffic fluctuations without disrupting service
• Performance: By distributing traffic efficiently, F5 load balancers help optimize resource utilization and improve application response times
• Security: Provides security features, including SSL offloading, intrusion detection, and application firewalls

 

Billing Unit: N/A (Service is not billed by ASET due to funding from other sources)

Billing Code: 5812

 

Eligible Customers

• All State agencies accessing ADOA Enterprise Applications

Service Prerequisites

• N/A

Scope of Service

• Customers can request assistance or support via the ServiceNow Customer portal. Click on the ADOA-ASET Service Desk. Select Server, then General Server Support. Explain the issue with the F5 service.

Service Commitment

• Response Time: Acceptance of Issue 
  • Critical - Within 1 hour
  • High - Within 4 hours
  • Medium - Low - Within 24 hours
• Resolution Time: Will vary widely based on factors like application type, network conditions, and the specific load balancing algorithm used
  • Critical - 4 hours
  • High - Within 24 hours
  • Medium - Low - Within 72 hours
• Support Time: 8 AM - 5 PM Monday-Friday (after-hours on-call provided on production systems as needed)

Hosted IT Roles and Responsibilities

• Install, configure, and manage appliances 
• Provide patching and firmware updates
• Implement and manage security controls at the infrastructure connectivity level, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and physical security measures
• Purchase and maintain hardware and software licenses
• F5 engineers provide support for consulting with agencies on requests and manage the infrastructure and network administration
• Confirm alignment with the ADOA CooP plan for Disaster communications
• Confirm the contact list and communication plans are up to date
• Complete tabletop exercises annually

Agency Roles and Responsibilities

• Work with ADOA-ASET Cloud Ops on requests requiring statewide load balancing services
• Open a ticket to ADOA-ASET via the ServiceNow tool for F5 services

Disaster Recovery

ADOA-ASET Cloud Ops will keep the Managed Service Provider Disaster Recovery Plan form for each Critical Business Application updated in case of a Disaster Event (bi-annual reviews with agencies).

ADOA will also be responsible for implementing and maintaining the statewide load-balancing appliances as required, in addition to backups and disaster recovery solutions that currently service ADOA Enterprise Applications.

Related Services

• Email Marketing Services Plus - 5596
• Enterprise Workspace Collaboration - 5572
• HRIS AZ360 Applications

How to order this Service

To order this service or for any questions related to it, please reach out to your Engagement Manager.