F5 NGINX has announced a new subscription option that adds enterprise-level capabilities and support to the hugely popular NGINX Open Source web server, which currently powers over 400 million websites. The Open Source Subscription1 is a bundle that includes enterprise support to navigate regulatory requirements, enterprise features to address a wide range of traffic management and identity use cases, as well as fleet management for risk reduction via simplified NGINX administration.
“NGINX Open Source is so popular because it’s known for being stable, lightweight, and the developer’s Swiss army knife. Whether you need a web server, reverse proxy, API gateway, Ingress controller, or cache, NGINX – which is lightweight enough to be installed from a floppy disk – has you covered. However, there was one thing NGINX Open Source users kept telling us is missing: enterprise support. This is why we expect our subscription option to have a big and immediate impact across the world,” said Jenn Gile, Head of Product Marketing, NGINX.
One of the main benefits of bringing enterprise support into the mix is the ability to initiate timely patches and fixes. Open Source Subscription customers get immediate access to patches and fixes, proactive notifications of CVEs, and more, including:
- Security patches in the latest mainline and stable releases
- Critical bug fixes in the latest mainline release
- Non-critical bug fixes in the latest or a future mainline release
With the Open Source Subscription, NGINX Open Source instances can meet any organization’s OSS software requirements by demonstrating due diligence, traceability, and compliance with relevant regulations – especially when it comes to security aspects. The Open Source Subscription grants direct access to F5’s team of security experts to ensure configs stay confidential.
The Open Source Subscription also provides direct access to NGINX Plus at no added cost. Organizations can now choose when to use NGINX Open Source or NGINX Plus based on specific business needs. NGINX Plus handles advanced use cases and provides out-of-the-box capabilities for load balancing, API gateway, Ingress controller, and more. Many current F5 customers use NGINX Plus for business-critical apps and APIs that have stringent requirements related to uptime, availability, security, and identity.
Finally, the Open Source Subscription includes NGINX Management Suite Instance Manager, which enables you to centrally inventory all NGINX Open Source, NGINX Plus, and NGINX App Protect WAF instances to ease configuring, securing, and monitoring your NGINX fleet. In addition, Instance Manager provides events and metrics data that helps to collect valuable NGINX metrics and then forward them to commonly used monitoring, visibility, and alerting tools via API. In addition, you can get unique, curated insights into the protection of your apps and APIs, such as when NGINX App Protect is added.
