F5 BIG-IP software from Seattle-based F5 Networks is a load balancing and application protection solution suite available on cloud or via virtual editions, on a subscription or perpetual licensing basis.
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Infoblox DDI (BloxOne)
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Infoblox DDI consolidate DNS, DHCP and IP address management into a single platform, deployed on-site and managed from a common console.
Definitely in larger environments, more mature organizations that obviously have the budget to spend and want best in class. Where it struggles is those organizations that don't have the funding and money to spend on it and need more basic functionality. So I'd say that's smaller customers we've worked with and kind of mid-market. They tend to get scared when they get the quotes. Also we've had some struggles with account team consistency. So for the sales team, just a lot of turnover and a lot of missteps on customer calls.
Infoblox DDI is an excellent alternative for Microsoft DHCP. It is a much more robust solution. It can also do DNS for your entire environment. However, if you are an AD environment, you will still need Microsoft DNS servers. The IPAM functionality is excellent for keeping track of your IP addresses.
The great thing is the IP address management that's happening. When you set up the network it's very easy and you don't have to keep on configuring everything together. Again, it's very streamlined and it's one of the biggest players there in the market for this work.
Well, not necessarily the features. I find that we have to change our processes in order to kind of match what F5 BIG-IP does. And it's not a bad thing, it's just that a lot of my engineers want to do it their way, not they F5 BIG-IP way.
It's not difficult to understand the parts of application configurations and features. Setting up new virtual servers with multiple profiles, certificates, and nodes is easy for new users through the web interface, which also translates to programability in scripts, DevOps, or other configuration management use-cases. Users from different backgrounds such as networking and infrastructure can use F5 BIG-IP, while users who are familiar with API calls can easily configure objects without needing to understand the platform at all.
It's generally easy to navigate through all of the menus. It's also very powerful in that there are many options available for configuration, allowing one to take advantage of IP address management tools. This tool is definitely a leader in the space, and provided you have the budget, is a very good investment. The team that uses it will appreciate the tool.
On the occasions when we've had to engage f5 support, they have been great. They have always resolved our issues quickly and been easy to work with and professional. The reason I give them a 10 out of 10, however, is because when we've had issues that have crossed over between the f5 BIG-IP, our Cisco switches, and our Microsoft IIS server the f5 support representatives have been extremely knowledgeable about every product and device involved and have been able to troubleshoot end-to-end without having to engage other vendors.
Infoblox DDI supports services across hybrid platforms and the capability to switch from appliances to VMs has added to the mobility of the applications. Setting up two grids(Internal and external) helps manage and segment the network in scopes of DNS and DHCP and apply firewall security policies over our external caching grid members.
I would say from a security perspective, because I manage security, availability is sort of the key area for us and making sure that is properly handled through BIG-IP, that is the biggest business success, I would say from the product perspective.
