Manual Chapter :
Implementing Low-Latency Electronic Trading Functionality
Applies To:
Show Versions
BIG-IP AAM
- 14.1.5, 14.1.4, 14.1.3, 14.1.2, 14.1.0, 14.0.1, 14.0.0
BIG-IP APM
- 14.1.5, 14.1.4, 14.1.3, 14.1.2, 14.1.0, 14.0.1, 14.0.0
BIG-IP Analytics
- 14.1.5, 14.1.4, 14.1.3, 14.1.2, 14.1.0, 14.0.1, 14.0.0
BIG-IP Link Controller
- 14.1.5, 14.1.4, 14.1.3, 14.1.2, 14.1.0, 14.0.1, 14.0.0
BIG-IP LTM
- 14.1.5, 14.1.4, 14.1.3, 14.1.2, 14.1.0, 14.0.1, 14.0.0
BIG-IP PEM
- 14.1.5, 14.1.4, 14.1.3, 14.1.2, 14.1.0, 14.0.1, 14.0.0
BIG-IP AFM
- 14.1.5, 14.1.4, 14.1.3, 14.1.2, 14.1.0, 14.0.1, 14.0.0
BIG-IP DNS
- 14.1.5, 14.1.4, 14.1.3, 14.1.2, 14.1.0, 14.0.1, 14.0.0
BIG-IP ASM
- 14.1.5, 14.1.4, 14.1.3, 14.1.2, 14.1.0, 14.0.1, 14.0.0
Implementing Low-Latency Electronic Trading Functionality
Overview: Configuring the BIG-IP system for low-latency electronic trading
You can configure the BIG-IP® system to manage traffic for low-latency
electronic trading. The BIG-IP system optimizes Financial Information eXchange (FIX) protocol
connections to achieve predictable latency and jitter, a critical aspect of successful
low-latency electronic trading. When you acquire a special license, you can use the FastL4
profile to optimize the necessary connections, and use the Packet Velocity™
ASIC (PVA) to minimize any latency and deliver high performance L4 throughput without software
acceleration.
About FIX features with low latency
The PVA hardware does not examine the FIX packets that stream through it, so FIX-profile
features such as parsing and tag substitution are not supported with low-latency.
About induced latency for FIX connections
Induced latency
, which is the latency realized after a FIX connection is
established, typically has a duration of approximately 10 µsecs or less.About using TCP protocol for FIX clients and servers
The PVA only supports the TCP protocol, which requires FIX clients and servers to establish
TCP connections. When creating a virtual server to manage the traffic for low-latency electronic
trading, you must specify the TCP protocol setting.
About using low-latency electronic trading with HSRP or VRRP
You can use low-latency electronic trading in a Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) or Virtual
Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) environment, with a last-hop pool configured with a single
pool member to maintain acceleration flows. When using low-latency electronic trading in an
HSRP or VRRP environment, you must set the db variable
tmlhpnomemberaction
to 2
, enabling the BIG-IP® system to only route the client traffic back through a pool member
defined in the last hop pool. Additionally, in this configuration, the system can respond to
client traffic that originates from an address other than an address defined in the last hop
pool.Example
For example, consider the following configuration.
- Router 1 has an IP address of10.1.1.251.
- Router 2 has an IP address of10.1.1.252.
- Last-hop pool member has a virtual IP address of10.1.1.254.
In this example, you create a last-hop pool with a single pool member that is assigned with a
virtual IP address of
10.1.1.254
. You can then use the following tmsh
command to set the db variable tmlhpnomemberaction
to
2
.
tmsh modify /sys db tm.lhpnomemberaction value 2
Typically, you will want to use a transparent monitor on the last-hop
pool.
Task summary
for low latency electronic trading
There are several tasks you can perform to implement low-latency electronic trading.
Licensing low-latency electronic trading functionality
In order to use a BIG-IP system to manage low-latency
electronic trading functionality, you must first acquire a specific license. The license
must enable both of the following features:
- Advanced LTM Protocols
- FIX Low Latency
Please contact your F5 Networks support representative to
acquire the necessary license.
Creating a virtual server for low-latency electronic trading
After you create a server pool, profile(s), and (optionally) iRule, you need to
create a virtual server that references those components.
- On the Main tab, click.The Virtual Server List screen opens.
- ClickCreate.The New Virtual Server screen opens.
- In theNamefield, type a unique name for the virtual server.
- From theTypelist, selectPerformance (Layer 4).
- In theDestination Address/Maskfield, type the IP address in CIDR format. This is the address to which the FIX clients send their FIX transmissions.The supported format is address/prefix, where the prefix length is in bits. For example, an IPv4 address/prefix is10.0.0.1or10.0.0.0/24, and an IPv6 address/prefix isffe1::0020/64or2001:ed8:77b5:2:10:10:100:42/64. When you use an IPv4 address without specifying a prefix, the BIG-IP system automatically uses a/32prefix.The IP address you type must be available and not in the loopback network.
- From theConfigurationlist, selectAdvanced.
- From theProtocollist, selectTCP.
- From theProtocol Profile (Client)list, select the custom Fast L4 profile you defined for low-latency FIX trading.
- Go to theFIX Profilelist and select the custom FIX profile you defined for low-latency trading.
- For theAddress Translationsetting, clear theEnabledcheck box to implement direct server return (DSR) functionality.
- For thePort Translationsetting, clear theEnabledcheck box.Clearing theEnabledcheck box disables network address translation (NAT) functionality. If you require NAT, you must select theEnabledcheck box.
- In the Resources area of the screen, from theDefault Poollist, select the pool name for FIX streams.This pool is for streams that do not match your iRule(s).
- For theiRulessetting, from theAvailablelist, select the name of the iRule that you created for the Late Binding feature and move it to theEnabledlist.The iRule enables load balancing based on the Layer-7 (FIX) fields at the head of each stream.
- ClickFinished.
The virtual server is configured to use the specified Fast L4 profile and pool. If a
client initiates a FIX connection with this virtual server, the connection uses the Fast
L4 (ePVA) hardware.
Implementation result
This implementation configures a BIG-IP® system to manage low-latency
electronic trading functionality, optimizing the system for predictable latency and jitter.
Clients who send FIX packets to the virtual server's Destination address all receive this
low-latency service.