F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Score9 out of 10

44 Reviews and Ratings

What is F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?

F5 Networks provides BIG-IP Access Policy Manager as an identity and access solution which can be deployed as a standalone solution or as an add-on to F5 Networks' flagship BIG-IP TLM or F5 Advanced WAF applications.

Categories & Use Cases

AES 256-bit Encryption
Utilizes Advanced Encryption Standard with a 256-bit key to secure data and communication, ensuring high levels of confidentiality and protection against cyber threats.
Category average: 9.3
Kill Switch
Automatically disconnects the device from the internet if the VPN connection drops unexpectedly, preventing data leaks and exposure of sensitive information.
Category average: 9.1
Split Tunneling
Permits users to route some of their device's traffic through the VPN while allowing other traffic to access the internet directly, optimizing performance and efficiency.
Category average: 8.9

Simultaneous Connections
Allows users to connect multiple devices to the VPN service under a single subscription, ensuring all devices are protected concurrently.
Category average: 8.7
IP Address Masking
Conceals the user's actual IP address and replaces it with a virtual IP address, enhancing anonymity and preventing tracking of online activities.
Category average: 8.8
No-Logs Policy
Ensures that the VPN provider does not store or track users' online activities, guaranteeing privacy and anonymity while using the service.
Category average: 8.3

Most Frequent Users

Top 3 industries using F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM).

Based on HG Insights installation data

View all Reviews

#1 most frequent

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

30.5%

83 installations of 272

#2 most frequent

Finance and Insurance

12.9%

35 installations of 272

#3 most frequent

Information

9.2%

25 installations of 272

Pros

Robust user access and authentication management
Effective authentication and federation capabilities
Comprehensive access policy management with granular control

Cons

Policy Access module interface is perceived as outdated and cumbersome
Complexity of initial implementation
Challenges with ongoing management and configuration

Verified User

Team Lead (501-1000 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Very often I work outside the office location or working from home, and we(our organisation)used F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) for our VPN connection to access our corporate network ,systems and data. With F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM), its easy to establish the VPN connection and knowing that any sensitive systems or data we access, is well secured and safe.

Pros

Endpoint Posture Checking
APM triggers secondary authentication
Able to see what connections are made and the logs

Cons

At the moment I don’t find any areas for improvement, as its already doing a great job.

Usability

Other Software Used

ServiceNow IT Service Management, CyberArk Privileged Access Management, Tenable Nessus

Verified User

Engineer in Finance and Accounting (1001-5000 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

For our organization, F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is Good, initial setup little bit difficult for us.

Pros

SSL VPN
Performance
good connectivity

Cons

initial configuration
documentation on setup
troubleshooting procedure and process in public data

Return on Investment

Performance is good
patching requires downtime - negative
Initial config is hard

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Ivanti Connect Secure

Other Software Used

Ivanti Connect Secure, Cisco AnyConnect

Doug Spear View profile

Sr. IT Infrastructure Analyst in Information Technology at Southern Company (10,001+ employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Primarily for policy management and ingress from the Internet for Citrix clients and MS Exchange

Pros

Policy management
federation

Cons

Policy Access module feels outdated
Needs checks and balances between authentication methods and their usage within policy, it can be easily confusing and lots of clicking back and forth

Return on Investment

It's an added layer of protection that helps us secure ingress into the internal network.

Usability

Other Software Used

Imperva Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Shaurav Bista

Inf Engineer Staff in Information Technology at LQTC (10,001+ employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

In our organization, we use F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) for various authentication, in house IDP, Federation IDP Chaining.

Pros

authentication
Logs
SAMl

Cons

integrated Gen AI to build irules/apm

Return on Investment

ROI
Security

Usability

Alternatives Considered

NetScaler

Other Software Used

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM), Okta, SecureAuth IdP

Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology (10,001+ employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use BIG-IP Access Policy Manager for a couple different use cases within our organization. We use it both for providing all employees within the company secure VPN access to company resources while working remote. We also use it to provide a more heavily secured webtop for very specific high-security applications within certain segments of our network that need to be more controlled.

Pros

Simple pushing of updates out to user workstations
Easy to add new tiles to our webtop for new resources
Ease of use of the Edge Client is a big point of satisfaction with users

Cons

CCU Licenses are limited by device and are not shared between APM devices
User sessions are not stored globally, so persistence can be an issue with users all over the world
Configuration can get complicated when split up between multiple sites

Return on Investment

Simplified our approach to company-wide VPN solutions greatly by allowing us to use a single product instead of multiple products like we had before
Can handle 15000-20000 users at once with no issues
Was able to configure to support users travelling with 4G connections on their laptops and accommodate constant changing IP addresses

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Cisco AnyConnect and Zscaler Private Access

Ivanti Connect Secure

NetScaler

Zscaler Private Access

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

What is F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)?

Categories & Use Cases