Manual Chapter :
Compressing HTTP Responses
Applies To:
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BIG-IP APM
- 17.0.0
BIG-IP Link Controller
- 17.0.0
BIG-IP Analytics
- 17.0.0
BIG-IP LTM
- 17.0.0
BIG-IP PEM
- 17.0.0
BIG-IP AFM
- 17.0.0
BIG-IP DNS
- 17.0.0
BIG-IP ASM
- 17.0.0
Compressing HTTP Responses
Compressing HTTP responses
An optional feature of the BIG-IP system is the system’s ability to off-load HTTP compression tasks from the target server. All of the tasks that you need to configure HTTP compression, as well as the compression software itself, are centralized on the BIG-IP system. The primary way to enable HTTP compression is by configuring an HTTP Compression type of profile and then assigning the profile to a virtual server. This causes the system to compress HTTP content for any responses matching the values that you specify in the
Request-URI
or Content-Type
settings of the HTTP Compression profile.If you want to enable HTTP compression for specific connections, you can write an iRule that specifies the HTTP:compress enable command. Using the BIG-IP system HTTP compression feature, you can include or exclude certain types of URIs or files that you specify. This is useful because some URI or file types might already be compressed. F5 Networks does not recommend using CPU resources to compress already-compressed data because the cost of compressing the data usually outweighs the benefits. Examples of regular expressions that you might want to specify for exclusion are
.*\.pdf
, .*\.gif
, or .*\.html
.Create a customized HTTP compression profile
If you need to adjust the compression settings to optimize compression for your environment, you can modify a custom HTTP compression profile.
- On the Main tab, click .The HTTP Compression profile list screen opens.
- ClickCreate.The New HTTP Compression profile screen opens.
- In theNamefield, type a unique name for the profile.
- From theParent Profilelist, select one of the following profiles:
- httpcompression.
- wan-optimized-compression.
- Select theCustomcheck box.
- Modify the settings, as required.
- ClickFinished.
Creating a virtual server for HTTP compression
You can create a virtual server that uses an HTTP profile with an HTTP compression profile to compress HTTP responses.
- 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.
- For theDestination Address/Masksetting, confirm that theHostbutton is selected, and type the IP address in CIDR format.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.
- In theService Portfield, type80, or selectHTTPfrom the list.
- Selecthttpin theHTTP Profilelist.
- From theHTTP Compression Profilelist, select one of the following profiles:
- httpcompression
- wan-optimized-compression
- A customized profile
- In the Resources area of the screen, from theDefault Poollist, select the relevant pool name.
- ClickFinished.
The virtual server with an HTTP profile configured with an HTTP compression profile appears in the Virtual Server list.
Test the configuration by attempting to pass HTTP traffic through the virtual server. Check to see that the BIG-IP system includes and excludes the responses that you specified in the custom profile, and that the system compresses the data as specified.
