F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager for COTS applications protection
February 28, 2025

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager for COTS applications protection

Tim Riker | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Protecting applications before exposing them to the Internet. Often COTS applications.

Pros

  • Using OAuth with a COTS app that does not support it.
  • Integrated with different authentication systems.

Cons

  • JWT tokens process DIES.
  • UI is cumbersome.
  • Replicating configuration to another F5 cluster is time consuming.
  • Again, works well for protecting COTS applications that don't integrate with other corporate solutions
Feature rich but difficult to configure. Some failures have very poor logging. ie: 503 error connecting to "something" without specifying what it's actually trying to connect to.

Do you think F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) delivers good value for the price?

No

Are you happy with F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)'s feature set?

Yes

Did F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) live up to sales and marketing promises?

No

Did implementation of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) go as expected?

No

Would you buy F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) again?

Yes

Works well for protecting COTS applications using Corporate OAuth solution. Configuration is time consuming. Setting up Auth / LDAP / Irule events is difficult. F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager does not include easy native support for different permissions on different paths in the application. Login and error pages are difficult to customize.

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) Feature Ratings

Virtual Private Network
6.0
AES 256-bit Encryption
Not Rated
Kill Switch
5
Multi-Platform Support
8
Split Tunneling
Not Rated
IP Address Masking
7
No-Logs Policy
4
Multiple Server Locations
6
Automatic Wi-Fi Protection
Not Rated
Simultaneous Connections
7
Customer Support Services
5

Using F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

5 - Administrators. Thousands of clients go through the F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager apps.
5 - Same team does BIG-IP LTM and DNS administration.
  • Protect COTS applications
  • Handle authentication for other apps that don't yet do it themselves
  • Protecting BigIPReport
  • Moving from LDAP probably to AD cloud for authorization
Integration with F5 BIG-IP systems that we plan to keep using for a while.

Evaluating F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) and Competitors

Yes - Oracle WAM gateway
  • Integration with Other Systems
We considered using Open Source solutions and I expect we'll revisit that option.

Using F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

ProsCons
Well integrated
Consistent
Feel confident using
Do not like to use
Unnecessarily complex
Difficult to use
Requires technical support
Slow to learn
Cumbersome
Lots to learn
  • Replicating config to other data centers is difficult
  • Many error messages in the logs are unclear
  • JWT renewal process DIES and does not log that it dies
  • Killing active sessions is difficult as it's not easy to find the correct session

Comments

More Reviews of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

  1. Home
  2. Virtual Private Network (VPN) Solutions
  3. F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) Reviews
  4. User Review of F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)