F5 intros self-service support capabilities and diagnostic tools

href="http://www.ciol.com/Channel-News/News-Reports/F5-Networks-optimizes-Microsoft-Solutions/137180/0/">F5
Networks, the global leader in
Application Delivery Networking (ADN), announced the href="http://www.ciol.com/News/News/News-Reports/F5-Networks-elevates-Anil-Pochiraju-as-MD/141450/0/">
F5 iHealth
system, an exclusive online support service available to F5 customers
and partners designed to proactively improve the performance of
application delivery infrastructures. iHealth is a Web-based
application that provides insight into BIG-IP product deployments
through performance monitoring and automated analysis. It empowers
administrators to identify performance issues, access data for
troubleshooting and remediation, and exchange information with F5
Support teams for analysis.

“With iHealth, customers and partners
can take a comprehensive snapshot of their current infrastructure,
and use it to proactively identify opportunities for performance
improvement or preempt potential challenges,” said Julian Eames,
SVP-Business Operations, F5. “This new offering represents F5's
continued commitment to exceeding customer and partner expectations
for service excellence and providing an enhanced portfolio of
self-service options for our extensive installed base,” he said.

Offered as a free Web-based service for
customers and partners with a current services maintenance agreement,
iHealth comprehensively analyzes BIG-IP solution performance and
provides recommendations for improving performance. After gathering
configuration information, iHealth gives users a succinct description
of identified issues along with F5's recommendations for addressing
them. This comprehensive analysis validates current product
configurations against best practices, and displays heuristics data
in an easy-to-understand format based on the familiar BIG-IP
interface. In offering a proactive approach to troubleshooting,
iHealth significantly decreases the time and effort necessary to
diagnose and address technical issues.

Key benefits of the
iHealth system
include:

· Self-Service Capabilities
for Quick Remediation of Performance Issues

Administrators can upload specific
product configurations any time, aiding troubleshooting efforts on a
flexible schedule. The iHealth service analyzes configuration and
performance data, and prioritizes existing performance challenges.
This automated capability leverages F5's years of experience
working with global organizations to provide convenient diagnostic
and remediation information and offer detailed recommendations to
address any issues. These recommendations also include links to the
Ask F5 Knowledge Base for detailed solutions and procedures.

· Proactive Identification of
Potential Application Delivery Challenges

In addition to providing tips for
addressing current challenges, iHealth offers detailed performance
statistics and helps proactively identify potential trouble spots
before they create issues.

By taking a holistic view of the
infrastructure, iHealth quickly identifies opportunities for
performance improvement so action can be taken. It can also alert
users to available upgrades that optimize performance and help assess
the impact of industry or regulatory changes, such as the effect on
SSL performance when migrating from 1024-bit keys to 2048-bit keys.

· More Efficient Collaboration
with F5 Support Professionals

With iHealth, users have a convenient,
accurate method for sharing deployment configuration data with F5
professionals, should opening a support case with F5 be necessary.
iHealth's ability to capture specific details of a particular
deployment significantly reduces the chance of redundancy or human
error in performing diagnostic tasks. iHealth can quickly gather all
relevant information and provide a concise snapshot for support
professionals to work with, helping improve interactions between F5
and its customers and partners, ultimately leading to a swifter
resolution.