F5 Advanced WAF Reviews

We use the F5  Web Application firewall to protect our corporate web server. The security of our web is our absolute highest priority.

We've only been using this solution for six months now, so we can't really see any improvement yet.

The most valuable feature is network detection intelligence and the ability to get extra internal access. I don't have knowledge about all the functions but, because it is a fully automatic process, the devices scan a lot of traffic. It is automatically set up to protect our web.

The administrator's user interface and some of the settings can sometimes be very complicated to understand. It would really help if they could be easier and more user-friendly. Perhaps the developers can add a training video that shows users what to do. I am sure it is a good product and you only need some experience to become familiar with it.

Another thing that may need improvement, is upgrading from one version to another. It is good, but it can be faster. 

We've been testing the F5 -BIG-AWF-VE Web Application for six months now and we plan to implement the solution in July.

It is a very stable solution. We currently have three administrators and about 300 users working on it.

The scalability is great because we can change or set this device up for almost everything. We can even extend to other functions and buy new licenses - this product will automatically adapt to these new functions. For example, we can buy a license and F5 will automatically extend to these functions. It is a very simple process to extend functionality to this device. You only need to install the license and configure it.

The technical support is perfect. Our company is a corporate partner, and we can also use services directly from other international support centers.

It was a very difficult decision to find the right solution. We used open source software before to protect our system's open source architecture.
We switched to F5 WAF because, for us, professional services are absolutely necessary. There are other cheaper options on the market, but when you need support, it can sometimes be a problem. 

We've incorporated our partner and he initiated the setup of this device. He used both the manual and the automatic setup options, and then he compared the two options. And now, as we are in production, we choose either automatic setup or manual setup. The automatic setup is quite easy, but the manual setup is complicated. It all depends on what you want from the product.

Our partner was responsible for the initial setup. 

I will rate the product a nine out of ten. 

In general, the web interface is not really catchy. It's very powerful, very customizable, but it doesn't have a very nice GUI interface for a new adopter. For them, they'd have to do a lot of configuring. At least the reporting and monitoring parts, let's say, to be honest, should have a better interface. A few other products have very nice dashboards, out of the box, and F5 is not that friendly to use.

Also, when you buy WAF, you have to buy another module called APM to do authentication. You have to buy another module with an extra license, to have the authentication feature. Other vendors have it interwoven. For example, I don't know if Barracuda has it, but Citrix has it under the same license. So maybe add authentication functionality in the AOS license, and not separate.

I've been using the solutions for 10 years.

The stability is perfect. 10 out of 10. We've not had any trouble with any deployment ever. And they are very big deployments: service providers, TelCos, banking, everywhere. Even on distant parts of the network, we have not had any kind of performance issues. Of course, as long as the sizing is within the appliance performance range. But it never has had a failure in performance or degradation of service or anything like this, as long as the full-time traffic is within the box capability, we've never had an issue.

It's scalable. 

We are a partner for F5, or a system integrator, not the client. So we do the implementation for other companies. I've been working with F5 for more than 10 years, so I know them very well. 

I like them because I like the security solution. They get extra marks compared to other solutions or competitors. There are more features than any other product I can think of. They're always monitoring, and the security features offer more than other, lesser products.

I would rate this solution 10 out of 10.

We are a PPS payment providing services company in banking, so, we are using it for that. We are banking company and we are using it as a web application firewall.

We have an SOC, and for collecting logs we are also using the F5 logs to analyze the securities and events. So having a central log management and F5 really helped us to analyze the security logs. It also helps with blocking the attacks on web applications.

Everything is good about the F5 WAF, except the reporting. It's really difficult to set records from that device, the UI is kind of hard to work with, and the reporting must be improved.

As a suggestion to the F5 company, they have to put in shells to have the next generation WAF. So, instead of buying different modules and different hardware and appliances, they can offer an all-in-one solution for WAF.

The initial setup was was easy to install. Our department wasn't installing it, the infrastructure department installed it, so we gave them the policy that we wanted to use.

Because of the sanctions, we couldn't buy it straight from the US, so we bought it from an Iranian company. They provided us that solution. The company that sold us the device also had some people to consult with us to give us best practices from the previous companies that installed it.

I think it's a good product but the F5 uses shells, so the people who want to work with the device have to be pro in Linux. If they can put everything in the UI so every regular security engineer can work with it, it's fabulous.

I would rate the solution 8 out of 10. We are concerned about the other factors but it's actually not F5 company's fault. The pricing is really high here right now because of the dollar rate but it has nothing to do with the F5, it's because of the sanctions I imagine. At the moment it's a really expensive solution for us, not only F5 but the other appliances. 
If I went to another company, and the other company hired me, I would suggest they use this device. Although we don't have a lot of options to choose from around here.

Our primary use case for this solution is web application security. We deploy this solution on-premises.

We have found the accessibility feature most valuable. For example, the solution is easily accessible on mobile and laptop devices and allows you to send and receive money from anyone.

The delay times on firmware patches and software updates could be better and improved.

We have been using this solution for seven years.

The solution is stable.

The solution is scalable.

The initial setup is complex but easy once you understand the product.

Their pricing is very good for the quality of the product they have delivered in the market. It is a standard licensing cost annually.

We chose this product because we believe it is the best product for us. There are other firewalls in the market, but you always look for the best as a vendor.

We use the F5 Advanced WAF for TicTac on house applications at our Induction University.

One of the most valuable features is the Local Traffic Manager.

The Sandbox integration feature could be improved.

I have been using F5 Advanced WAF for approximately one year.

F5 Advanced WAF is reliable.

The solution is scalable.

We have one customer that has multiple sites that use this solution. They have 24 universities using the clusters.

The technical support is good.

The installation is straightforward.

I am able to do the installation by myself.

There is an annual subscription for this solution.

I would recommend this solution to others that are satisfied with the load balancer provided. If not then they could go to another solution with different load balancers for their needs.

I rate F5 Advanced WAF a nine out of ten.

On-premises