Identifying the right F5 model for ASP.NET website

There will be many factors you need to consider. You could use a tool such as Piwik or Google analytics, or even Cacti to try and gauge the needed performance.

You should measure statistics in your site as hits per hour, number or percentage connections using SSL. It you make use of slow changing content then you may benefit from caching/compression.

What is your expected growth over say the next few months or year? Do you have any specific needs that may warrant the use of modules like AAM, ASM? Do you have security requirements? Global load balancing?

You could see if f5s performance tools can help: http://www.f5.com/featured/performance-tools/

Lastly, what sort of budget do you have? That will usually dictate the platform you select, I've found.

Hope this helps.

You should measure statistics in your site as hits per hour, number or percentage connections using SS

How though Josh? The only tool that I have natively is Windows performance monitor. Which of the Windows performance monitor can tell me these parameters: * L7 requests per second * L4 connections per second * L4 HTTP requests per second * Included: 4,000 * TPS Maximum: 4,000 TPS

I'd like to work out the technology first then come up with a budget. I'm currently working with a VAR but their in house F5 specialist couldn't get me this information. I'm wondering if there's an F5 solution architect who I can talk to about this. I have been over promised before and have been let down by another load balancer vendor. I want to be thorough this time around.

Thanks.

You should look into the tools from SolarWinds, ManageEngine, or Weblog Expert. One of these coupled with other tools like Cacti, Piwik and so on should be able to get some of the information you need to decide what type of device to procure.

You likely will not be able to determine this information from the built-in Windows tools (alone).

For example, I run a pair of 1600s that routinely handles between 300 and 500 Mbit of traffic for several hundred virtual services. We have larger units too, and they all perform great. They usually run about 40,000 to 70,000 active connections. Even the smallest F5 can do great things.

Talk with your account rep. They should be able to put you in touch with the people who can help determine what sort of unit you need for your needs now, and what you need for your future growth.

You will need to study your application closely to determine the information you need. There is no out of the box solution that will tell you everything.