Commitments and Contingencies	3 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]
Commitments and Contingencies	Commitments and Contingencies Guarantees and Product Warranties In the normal course of business to facilitate sales of its products, the Company indemnifies other parties, including customers, resellers, lessors, and parties to other transactions with the Company, with respect to certain matters. The Company has agreed to hold the other party harmless against losses arising from a breach of representations or covenants, or out of intellectual property infringement or other claims made against certain parties. These agreements may limit the time within which an indemnification claim can be made and the amount of the claim. The Company has entered into indemnification agreements with its officers and directors and certain other employees, and the Company’s bylaws contain similar indemnification obligations to the Company’s agents. It is not possible to determine the maximum potential amount under these indemnification agreements due to the limited history of prior indemnification claims and the unique facts and circumstances involved in each particular agreement. The Company generally offers warranties of one year for hardware for those customers without service contracts, with the option of purchasing additional warranty coverage in yearly increments. The Company accrues for warranty costs as part of its cost of sales based on associated material product costs and technical support labor costs. Accrued warranty costs as of December 31, 2017 and September 30, 2017 were not considered material. Commitments As of December 31, 2017, the Company’s principal commitments consisted of obligations outstanding under operating leases. The Company leases its facilities under operating leases that expire at various dates through 2033. There have been no material changes in the Company's lease obligations compared to those discussed in Note 7 to its annual consolidated financial statements. The Company currently has arrangements with contract manufacturers and other suppliers for the manufacturing of its products. The arrangement with the primary contract manufacturer allows them to procure component inventory on the Company’s behalf based on a rolling production forecast provided by the Company. The Company is obligated to the purchase of component inventory that the contract manufacturer procures in accordance with the forecast, unless it gives notice of order cancellation in advance of applicable lead times. There have been no material changes in the Company's inventory purchase obligations compared to those discussed in Note 7 to its annual consolidated financial statements. Legal Proceedings On April 4, 2016, the Company sued Radware, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington accusing Radware of infringing three other Company patents. The Company’s complaint seeks a jury trial and an unspecified amount of monetary damages, as well as interest, costs, and injunctive relief. Radware moved to dismiss the allegations of one patent but the motion was denied. Radware has also filed a counterclaim separately asserting that the Company is infringing U.S. patent no. 9,231,853, another ISP link load balancing patent related to the patents involved in the California litigation. The Company has denied infringement. The parties have also filed petitions for inter partes reviews on all four patents in the litigation. On May 25, 2017, the parties stipulated to transfer in the wake of the Supreme Court’s TC Heartland decision, and the court transferred the case to the Northern District of California on June 5, 2017. All of the inter partes review petitions filed by Radware have been completely denied: Radware’s IPR2017-00654 and IPR2017-00653 as to the Company ’413 patent were denied on July 31, 2017; Radware’s IPR2017-1185 and IPR2017-1187 as to the Company ’955 patent were denied on October 11, 2017; and Radware’s IPR2017-01249 as to the Company ’278 patent was denied on October 23, 2017. The Company’s IPR2017-00124 as to the ’853 patent was instituted in part (claims 1, 2, 4-15, 17-24) and denied in part (claims 3 and 16) on April 27, 2017. The Court has stayed litigation relating to Radware’s ‘853 counterclaims pending the outcome of the Company’s IPR but allowed discovery to proceed with respect to F5’s claims of infringement. In addition to the above referenced matters, the Company is subject to legal proceedings, claims, and litigation arising in the ordinary course of business, including intellectual property litigation. Management believes that the Company has meritorious defenses to the allegations made in its pending cases and intends to vigorously defend these lawsuits; however, the Company is unable currently to determine the ultimate outcome of these or similar matters or the potential exposure to loss, if any. There are many uncertainties associated with any litigation and these actions or other third-party claims against the Company may cause it to incur costly litigation and/or substantial settlement charges that could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. The Company records an accrual for loss contingencies for legal proceedings when it believes that an unfavorable outcome is both (a) probable and (b) the amount or range of any possible loss is reasonably estimable. The Company has not recorded an accrual for loss contingencies associated with the legal proceedings or the investigations discussed above.

Commitments and Contingencies

Guarantees and Product Warranties

In the normal course of business to facilitate sales of its products, the Company indemnifies other parties, including customers, resellers, lessors, and parties to other transactions with the Company, with respect to certain matters. The Company has agreed to hold the other party harmless against losses arising from a breach of representations or covenants, or out of intellectual property infringement or other claims made against certain parties. These agreements may limit the time within which an indemnification claim can be made and the amount of the claim. The Company has entered into indemnification agreements with its officers and directors and certain other employees, and the Company’s bylaws contain similar indemnification obligations to the Company’s agents. It is not possible to determine the maximum potential amount under these indemnification agreements due to the limited history of prior indemnification claims and the unique facts and circumstances involved in each particular agreement.

The Company generally offers warranties of one year for hardware for those customers without service contracts, with the option of purchasing additional warranty coverage in yearly increments. The Company accrues for warranty costs as part of its cost of sales based on associated material product costs and technical support labor costs. Accrued warranty costs as of December 31, 2017 and September 30, 2017 were not considered material.

Commitments

As of December 31, 2017, the Company’s principal commitments consisted of obligations outstanding under operating leases. The Company leases its facilities under operating leases that expire at various dates through 2033. There have been no material changes in the Company's lease obligations compared to those discussed in Note 7 to its annual consolidated financial statements.

The Company currently has arrangements with contract manufacturers and other suppliers for the manufacturing of its products. The arrangement with the primary contract manufacturer allows them to procure component inventory on the Company’s behalf based on a rolling production forecast provided by the Company. The Company is obligated to the purchase of component inventory that the contract manufacturer procures in accordance with the forecast, unless it gives notice of order cancellation in advance of applicable lead times. There have been no material changes in the Company's inventory purchase obligations compared to those discussed in Note 7 to its annual consolidated financial statements.

Legal Proceedings

On April 4, 2016, the Company sued Radware, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington accusing Radware of infringing three other Company patents. The Company’s complaint seeks a jury trial and an unspecified amount of monetary damages, as well as interest, costs, and injunctive relief. Radware moved to dismiss the allegations of one patent but the motion was denied. Radware has also filed a counterclaim separately asserting that the Company is infringing U.S. patent no. 9,231,853, another ISP link load balancing patent related to the patents involved in the California litigation. The Company has denied infringement. The parties have also filed petitions for inter partes reviews on all four patents in the litigation. On May 25, 2017, the parties stipulated to transfer in the wake of the Supreme Court’s TC Heartland decision, and the court transferred the case to the Northern District of California on June 5, 2017. All of the inter partes review petitions filed by Radware have been completely denied: Radware’s IPR2017-00654 and IPR2017-00653 as to the Company ’413 patent were denied on July 31, 2017; Radware’s IPR2017-1185 and IPR2017-1187 as to the Company ’955 patent were denied on October 11, 2017; and Radware’s IPR2017-01249 as to the Company ’278 patent was denied on October 23, 2017. The Company’s IPR2017-00124 as to the ’853 patent was instituted in part (claims 1, 2, 4-15, 17-24) and denied in part (claims 3 and 16) on April 27, 2017. The Court has stayed litigation relating to Radware’s ‘853 counterclaims pending the outcome of the Company’s IPR but allowed discovery to proceed with respect to F5’s claims of infringement.

In addition to the above referenced matters, the Company is subject to legal proceedings, claims, and litigation arising in the ordinary course of business, including intellectual property litigation. Management believes that the Company has meritorious defenses to the allegations made in its pending cases and intends to vigorously defend these lawsuits; however, the Company is unable currently to determine the ultimate outcome of these or similar matters or the potential exposure to loss, if any. There are many uncertainties associated with any litigation and these actions or other third-party claims against the Company may cause it to incur costly litigation and/or substantial settlement charges that could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

The Company records an accrual for loss contingencies for legal proceedings when it believes that an unfavorable outcome is both (a) probable and (b) the amount or range of any possible loss is reasonably estimable. The Company has not recorded an accrual for loss contingencies associated with the legal proceedings or the investigations discussed above.