Applies To:
Show Versions
BIG-IP APM
- 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0
Creating Optimized Application Tunnels
What is an optimized application?
An optimized application is a set of compression characteristics that are applied to traffic flowing from the network access client to a specific IP address, network, or host, on a specified port or range of ports. An optimized tunnel provides a TCP Layer 4 connection to an application. You can configure optimized applications separately from the standard TCP Layer 3 network access tunnel specified on the Network Settings page.
Optimized application tunnels take precedence over standard network access tunnels, so for specified destinations, an optimized connection is established, whether the network access tunnel is enabled or not. In cases where optimized application tunnels have overlapping addresses or ranges, tunnels are prioritized in the following order:
- An address definition with a more specific network mask takes precedence.
- An address definition with a scope defined by a more specific subnet takes precedence.
- A tunnel defined by a host name takes precedence over a tunnel defined by an IP address.
- A tunnel defined by a host name takes precedence over a tunnel defined by a host name with a wildcard. For example, web.siterequest.com takes precedence over *.siterequest.com.
- A tunnel defined by a host name with a wildcard takes precedence over a tunnel defined by a network address. For example, *.siterequest.com takes precedence over 1.2.3.4/16.
- For equivalent tunnels with different port ranges, the tunnel with a smaller port range takes precedence. For example, web.siterequest.com:21-22 takes precedence over web.siterequest.com:21-30.
Configuring an optimized application on a network access tunnel
Optimized application settings
Use the following settings to configure an optimized application.
| Setting | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Optimized Application | Basic/Advanced | Select Basic to show only destination and port settings, and Advanced to show optimization settings for the application destination. |
| Destination Type: Host Name | Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) | Select this option to apply optimization to a specific named host. Specify a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the destination. |
| Destination Type: IP Address | IP Address | Select this option to apply optimization to a host at a specific IP address. Specify an IP address for the destination. This can be an IPv4 or IPv6 address. |
| Destination Network | Network IP address and network mask | Select this option to apply optimization to a network. Specify a network IP address and subnet mask for the destination. This can be an IPv4 or IPv6 address. |
| Port(s) | Specific numeric port, list selection, or port range | You can specify a single port on which to optimize traffic, or select Port Range to specify an inclusive range. If you optimize traffic on a single port, you can type a port number, or you can select an application from the list of common applications to add the appropriate port, for example, FTP. |
| Deflate | Enabled/Disabled | Enable or disable Deflate compression. Deflate compression uses the least CPU resources, but compresses the least effectively. |
| LZO | Enabled/Disabled | Enable or disable LZO compression. LZO compression offers a balance between CPU resources and compression ratio, compressing more than Deflate compression, but with less CPU resources than Bzip2. |
| Bzip2 | Enabled/Disabled | Enable or disable bzip2 compression. Bzip2 compression uses the most CPU resources, but compresses the most effectively. |
