Introduction to SSL Offloading in F5

--> Every web server is efficient for processing SSL traffic but how efficiently they can handle is a question.

--> HTTPS requests are more processor intensive compared to HTTP requests, often on the magnitude of at least 10 times slower than normal HTTP requests.

-->The main purpose of Web Servers to serve pages quickly, if they start processing SSL traffic they tend to lose their efficiency. 

--> SSL offloading removes the need of a Web server processing burden of encrypting and/or decrypting traffic sent via SSL.

--> In simple terms SSL Offloading converts external HTTPS traffic into normal HTTP traffic so that your web servers don't need to process SSL traffic. 

--> A device is placed in between the Client-Server connection processes every SSL request. In this case, F5 Loadbalancer is an example of a device that plays this role.

--> The F5 Load balancer decrypts the client's request before sending it to the web server, then encrypts the server's connection before sending it back to the client.




--> This method is called 'Offload' because SSL processing is done entirely by F5 Load Balancer, which results in a web server resource saving. 

--> In this way, the web server can use its resources to process information that is really relevant to your applications.

--> The only prerequisite which is, We need SSL Cert for the domain you are trying to implement SSL offloading 

--> Implementing the SSL Offload concept in F5 Load Balancer gives another advantage. In addition to removing the SSL processing load from servers, F5 Load Balancer becomes a certificate manager/centralizer. 

--> Since, we can have all the certificates loaded in the balancer, creating a single point for administering them.

--> F5 SSL offload and acceleration removes all the bottlenecks—including concurrent users, bulk throughput, and new transactions per second along with supporting certificates up to 4096-bits—for secure, wire-speed processing.

-->  A fully loaded F5 VIPRION® chassis is the most powerful SSL-offloading engine on the market today. Along with the F5 BIG-IP LTM Virtual Edition (VE), these platforms provide a powerful solution to the SSL challenge.

Ref : F5

Md.Kareemoddin

CCIE # 54759

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