Forum Discussion

mshoaib's avatar
mshoaib
Icon for Altocumulus rankAltocumulus
Sep 18, 2024

Adding New BigIP Units Using Free CPUs on i7800 (LB13 & LB14) to an existing HA Pair

Hello,

We have a pair of i7800 devices, each running two guests with the following configuration:

i7800 Unit 1: LB09 & LB11
i7800 Unit 2: LB10 & LB12

 

Current Setup:

LB09 & LB10: These are part of a High Availability (HA) pair, running in an Active/Active configuration.
LB11 & LB12: Similarly, these two guests are also in an HA pair, running in Active/Active mode.
Each LBx unit is utilizing 6 CPUs (which is the maximum allowed per guest).

 




The i7800 comes with 14 CPUs total, so there are 2 unused CPUs per unit (not allocated to any guest).

 

Questions:

  • Can we bring up new BigIP units (LB13 & LB14) using the 2 free CPUs on each i7800 unit?
  • Can these new units join the existing HA pair of LB11 & LB12 and sync configuration to each other?
  • Can the new Units serve their own traffic groups ( as shown below in the diagram ) ?
  • Is there any potential limitation or issue with utilizing the remaining CPUs for this purpose?
  • Will i7800 run out of memory or go low in memory ?

 

Goal:

  • Offload 20% of the traffic (a handful of VIPs) to the newly created LB13 & LB14 units.
  • All LBxx ( 11,12,13 & 14 ) should back each other up and sync configuration across

     

    Thank you for any assistance 

 

  • Hi mshoaib,

     

    About your questions:

     

    • Can we bring up new BigIP units (LB13 & LB14) using the 2 free CPUs on each i7800 unit? Yes it´s possible, this link shows you the Possible vCPU allocation per guest per slot/appliance  https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K14218 
    •  
    • Can these new units join the existing HA pair of LB11 & LB12 and sync configuration to each other? Yes, it´s possible, but in the case of the fail of the nodes LB11 & LB12 with 6 CPUs, is possible new LB13 & LB14 in the traffic group can´t support the load with only 2 CPU.
    • Can the new Units serve their own traffic groups ( as shown below in the diagram ) ? Yes, you can select the preferred device to run the traffic, and the failover order in case something fails.
    • Is there any potential limitation or issue with utilizing the remaining CPUs for this purpose? No, the VCMP is a virtualization platform so you can use all the resources available, take in mind that the system has its exclusive CPUs to run the F5-VCMP system.
    • Will i7800 run out of memory or go low in memory ?No, the same answer as the last one for this topic.

     

    About your goals.

    • Offload 20% of the traffic (a handful of VIPs) to the newly created LB13 & LB14 units. In my opinion is better if you deploy the new devices without introducing them to the existing traffic group, and then you can migrate the applications to these new devices.
    • All LBxx ( 11,12,13 & 14 ) should back each other up and sync configuration across. As I mentioned, in the case of a failure in nodes 11,12, the load couldn´t be supported for nodes 13 and 14.

    Hope it works.

    • mshoaib's avatar
      mshoaib
      Icon for Altocumulus rankAltocumulus

      Thank you Sebastiansierra for the detail response.

      As you mentioned, vCMP has dedicated CPUs for running the system. Do you think the two CPUs shown after the initial 12 are the ones reserved for vCMP? Another user also mentioned that the i7800 model supports only 12 CPUs, rather than 14.

      • Hi mshoaib,

         

        The VCMP Guest menu only shows you the available CPU to be deployed, so you can create a new VCMP guest without worrying because these devices are designed to run 1 vcmp guest with 1, 2, 4, or 6 CPU and a maximum of 12 VCMP guest, please review this article

         

        https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K14218

         

        In the case you open a support case, they probably redirect you to the same article.

  • Hi mshoaib,

     

    To my understanding i7800 supports only 12 vCPU not 14 vCPU, as per written in f5 Documentation.

    Can you please check again and share the vCMP host , and number of vCPU supported, is it 12 or is it 14.

     

    Please refer:

    https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K14218

     

    https://wtit.com/f5-resources/vcmp-guest-memory-cpu-core-allocation-matrix/

    Please mark it as solution in case if you feel your query has been responded and saved your time and giving pointers toward resolving your issue, as it will help other to use your query scenario to solve their similar issue.

     

    Best Regards,

    F5 Design Engineer

     

    • mshoaib's avatar
      mshoaib
      Icon for Altocumulus rankAltocumulus

      hi F5_Design_Engineer  ... appreciate your response.

       

      I reviewed the KB article, but it seems to contradict the actual device configuration. Please see the screenshot below, which shows a total of 14 CPUs.

       

    • mshoaib's avatar
      mshoaib
      Icon for Altocumulus rankAltocumulus

      it seems that only 12 CPUs are actively in use, as indicated by the 'blue' color showing their usage.

      the guest named 'Guest-1212' is assigned 2 CPUs but isn't currently running.

      however, if you check the 'Cores Per Guest' column, the total does add up to 14 CPUs, doesn't it?

  • Yes this is very clear, thanks for the clear screenshot. I am checking.

     

    Can you run ,check on you i7800 how many CPU, as if you run below i can see only 12 cpu starting from 0-11

     

    Can you share the output of the following commands, 

    Make sure you remove all your serial numbers or any other information for privacy like device names or any IP, from all the outputs before posting your device details.

     

    root@(i7800-F5-IA)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)# show sys cpu  all

    Sys::System CPU Information
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    System CPU Usage(%)  Current  Average  Max(since 09/26/24 00:49:41)
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    Utilization                7        7                            16

    -----------------------------------------------------------------
    Sys::Host CPUs
    -----------------------------------------------------------------
    Host: 0

    CPU: 0 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      -                     (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)       -
      User                          4           4           4   77.6M
      Niced                         0           0           0    8.3K
      System                        1           1           1   27.8M
      Idle                         93          93          93    1.4G
      Irq                           0           0           0       0
      Softirq                       0           0           0   95.2K
      Iowait                        0           0           0  140.0K
      Stolen                        0           0           0       0
      Util% (last 5 sec)            -           -           -       5

    CPU: 1 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      -                     (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)       -
      User                          9          11          11  137.4M
      Niced                         0           0           0  329.1K
      System                        1           0           1   10.1M
      Idle                         90          88          87    1.4G
      Irq                           0           0           0       0
      Softirq                       0           0           0   72.6K
      Iowait                        0           0           0  546.5K
      Stolen                        0           0           0       0
      Util% (last 5 sec)            -           -           -       9

    CPU: 2 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      -                     (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)       -
      User                          4           4           4   72.3M
      Niced                         0           0           0   12.0K
      System                        1           1           1   25.9M
      Idle                         93          93          93    1.4G
      Irq                           0           0           0       0
      Softirq                       0           0           0   12.6K
      Iowait                        0           0           0  187.1K
      Stolen                        0           0           0       0
      Util% (last 5 sec)            -           -           -       5

    CPU: 3 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      -                     (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)       -
      User                         18          12          14  166.4M
      Niced                         0           0           0  233.0K
      System                        1           0           1   16.3M
      Idle                         78          85          83    1.4G
      Irq                           0           0           0       0
      Softirq                       0           0           0   76.9K
      Iowait                        0           0           0  446.5K
      Stolen                        0           0           0       0
      Util% (last 5 sec)            -           -           -      19

    CPU: 4 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      -                     (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)       -
      User                          5           4           4   85.4M
      Niced                         0           0           0    1.9K
      System                        2           2           2   32.3M
      Idle                         93          94          94    1.4G
      Irq                           0           0           0       0
      Softirq                       0           0           0   11.8K
      Iowait                        0           0           0  195.8K
      Stolen                        0           0           0       0
      Util% (last 5 sec)            -           -           -       7

    CPU: 5 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      -                     (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)       -
      User                         14          11          11  151.4M
      Niced                         0           0           0  314.3K
      System                        0           0           0   22.4M
      Idle                         84          87          87    1.4G
      Irq                           0           0           0       0
      Softirq                       0           0           0   88.8K
      Iowait                        0           0           0    1.6M
      Stolen                        0           0           0       0
      Util% (last 5 sec)            -           -           -      15

    CPU: 6 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      -                     (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)       -
      User                          4           4           4   80.8M
      Niced                         0           0           0    4.8K
      System                        2           2           1   29.3M
      Idle                         93          93          93    1.4G
      Irq                           0           0           0       0
      Softirq                       0           0           0   10.5K
      Iowait                        0           0           0  213.3K
      Stolen                        0           0           0       0
      Util% (last 5 sec)            -           -           -       5

    CPU: 7 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      -                     (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)       -
      User                         20          12          12  135.0M
      Niced                         0           0           0  359.9K
      System                        0           0           0   10.8M
      Idle                         79          87          87    1.4G
      Irq                           0           0           0       0
      Softirq                       0           0           0   88.2K
      Iowait                        0           0           0  702.9K
      Stolen                        0           0           0       0
      Util% (last 5 sec)            -           -           -      20

    CPU: 8 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      -                     (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)       -
      User                          0           0           0  192.9K
      Niced                         0           0           0       0
      System                        0           0           0    4.9M
      Idle                         99          99          99    1.5G
      Irq                           0           0           0       0
      Softirq                       0           0           0     867
      Iowait                        0           0           0   14.8K
      Stolen                        0           0           0       0
      Util% (last 5 sec)            -           -           -       1

    CPU: 9 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      -                     (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)       -
      User                          7           5           5   63.8M
      Niced                         0           0           0  735.9K
      System                        1           1           1    7.5M
      Idle                         92          93          94    1.5G
      Irq                           0           0           0       0
      Softirq                       0           0           0  180.9K
      Iowait                        0           0           0  962.7K
      Stolen                        0           0           0       0
      Util% (last 5 sec)            -           -           -       8

    CPU: 10 (clock ticks)  Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      -                     (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)       -
      User                          0           0           0      15
      Niced                         0           0           0       0
      System                        0           0           0    1.9M
      Idle                        100         100         100    1.5G
      Irq                           0           0           0       0
      Softirq                       0           0           0    1.6K
      Iowait                        0           0           0   25.2K
      Stolen                        0           0           0       0
      Util% (last 5 sec)            -           -           -       0

    CPU: 11 (clock ticks)  Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      -                     (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)   (avg/sec)       -
      User                          6           6           5   58.1M
      Niced                         1           0           0    2.4M
      System                        2           1           1    8.6M
      Idle                         91          92          94    1.5G
      Irq                           0           0           0       0
      Softirq                       0           0           0  179.7K
      Iowait                        0           0           0    1.0M
      Stolen                        0           0           0       0
      Util% (last 5 sec)            -           -           -       8

    (END)

     

    In BASH mode run the following , in my i7800 i can see same 12 CPU, 0-11 as above command output.

     

    [root@i7800-F5-IA:Active:Standalone] ~ #  ~ # tmctl cpu_info_stat -s 'cpu_id,five_sec_avg.ratio'
    cpu_id five_sec_avg.ratio
    ------ ------------------
         0                  6
         1                 22
         2                 11
         3                 55
         4                  7
         5                 15
         6                  5
         7                 11
         8                  1
         9                  8
        10                  0
        11                  9

     

    In TMSH mode run the following

    root@(i7800-F5-IA)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)# show sys hardware

    Sys::Hardware
    Appliance Fan Status
      Index  Status
      1      up
      2      up
      3      up
      4      up
      5      up
      6      up
      7      up
      8      up
      9      up
      10     up
      11     up
      12     up

    Humidity Status
      Index  Relative Humidity(%)
      1      52

    Appliance Information
      Maximum MAC Count  3
      Registration Key   -

    Appliance Power Supply Status
      Index  Status  Current
      1      up      AC
      2      up      AC

    Inlet Temperature Status
      Index  Lo Limit(C)  Temp(degC)  Hi Limit(C)  Location
      1      0            19          45           Chassis Inlet 2

    Hardware Version Information
      Name        HD1
      Type        physical-disk
      Model       SAMSUNG MZ7KM480HMHQ-00005
      Parameters  --                --
                  SerialNumber      XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
                  Size              447.13G
                  Firmware Version  GXM5104Q
                  Media Type        SSD


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        aom
      Type        aom
      Model       F5 BMC
      Parameters  --                   --
                  Active Firmware      8.00
                  Backup Firmware      8.00
                  Boot loader version  3.02


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        cpld
      Type        cpld
      Model       F5 CPLD
      Parameters  --       --
                  version  0x57


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        cpus
      Type        base-board
      Model       Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1650 v4 @ 3.60GHz
      Parameters  --            --
                  cache size    15360 KB
                  cores         12  (physical:6)
                  cpu MHz       3601.000
                  cpu sockets   1
                  cpu stepping  1


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        hsb_lbb0
      Type        net
      Model       F5 High Speed Bridge LBB device
      Parameters  --       --
                  version  Build: 5.6.9 lab 0

      Name        hsb_lbb1
      Type        net
      Model       F5 High Speed Bridge LBB device
      Parameters  --       --
                  version  Build: 5.6.9 lab 0


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        lcd
      Type        touchscreen
      Model       F5 LCD
      Parameters  --                   --
                  Boot loader version  2.01
                  Firmware version     3.00

      Name        mainboard
      Type        base-board
      Model       F5
      Parameters  --                   --
                  Assembly serial      xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
                  Part number          PCA-xxxx-03 REV A


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        pol_hsb0
      Type        pol
      Model       F5 HSB POL
      Parameters  --       --
                  Version  0.4

      Name        pol_hsb1
      Type        pol
      Model       F5 HSB POL
      Parameters  --       --
                  Version  0.4


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        psu1
      Type        psu
      Model       M1845
      Parameters  --                           --
                  Firmware Revision Floating   9154xxxxxxx-00-00
                  Firmware Revision Primary    91xxxxx1845-12-01
                  Firmware Revision Secondary  91xxxxxx1845-19-01
                  Location                     1
                  Manufacturer                 Murata-PS
                  Revision                     N/A
                  Serial number                xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

      Name        psu2
      Type        psu
      Model       M1845
      Parameters  --                           --
                  Firmware Revision Floating   9154xxxxxxx-00-00
                  Firmware Revision Primary    9151xxxxxx-12-01
                  Firmware Revision Secondary  9157xxxxxx-19-01
                  Location                     2
                  Manufacturer                 Murata-PS
                  Revision                     N/A
                  Serial number                xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        qat-01
      Type        coproc
      Model       Coleto Creek DHxxxxCL Crypto/Compression Coprocessor A0
      Parameters  --       --
                  version  FW: 2.2.0


    Platform
      Name  BIG-IP i7800
      BIOS Revision  OBJ-xxxx-xx BIOS: 5.20.030.0 ME: 6.0.50.1252 05/06/2019
      Base MAC       f4:15:xx:f3:xx:xx
      PVA Version    20

    System Information
      Type                      C118
      Appliance Serial          f5-xxxx-xxxx
      Part Number               5xx-xxxx-03 REV M
      Host Board Serial         pcaxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
      Host Board Part Revision

    root@(i7800-F5-IA)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)# bash
    [root@i7800-F5-IA:Active:Standalone] ~ # tmsh show sys hardware

    Sys::Hardware
    Appliance Fan Status
      Index  Status
      1      up
      2      up
      3      up
      4      up
      5      up
      6      up
      7      up
      8      up
      9      up
      10     up
      11     up
      12     up

    Humidity Status
      Index  Relative Humidity(%)
      1      52

    Appliance Information
      Maximum MAC Count  3
      Registration Key   -

    Appliance Power Supply Status
      Index  Status  Current
      1      up      AC
      2      up      AC

    Inlet Temperature Status
      Index  Lo Limit(C)  Temp(degC)  Hi Limit(C)  Location
      1      0            19          45           Chassis Inlet 2

    Hardware Version Information
      Name        HD1
      Type        physical-disk
      Model       SAMSUNG MZ7KMxxxHMHQ-xxxxx5
      Parameters  --                --
                  SerialNumber      XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
                  Size              447.13G
                  Firmware Version  GXMxxx4Q
                  Media Type        SSD


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        aom
      Type        aom
      Model       F5 BMC
      Parameters  --                   --
                  Active Firmware      8.00
                  Backup Firmware      8.00
                  Boot loader version  3.02


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        cpld
      Type        cpld
      Model       F5 CPLD
      Parameters  --       --
                  version  0x57


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        cpus
      Type        base-board
      Model       Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1650 v4 @ 3.60GHz
      Parameters  --            --
                  cache size    15360 KB
                  cores         12  (physical:6)
                  cpu MHz       3601.000
                  cpu sockets   1
                  cpu stepping  1


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        hsb_lbb0
      Type        net
      Model       F5 High Speed Bridge LBB device
      Parameters  --       --
                  version  Build: 5.6.9 lab 0

      Name        hsb_lbb1
      Type        net
      Model       F5 High Speed Bridge LBB device
      Parameters  --       --
                  version  Build: 5.6.9 lab 0


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        lcd
      Type        touchscreen
      Model       F5 LCD
      Parameters  --                   --
                  Boot loader version  2.01
                  Firmware version     3.00

      Name        mainboard
      Type        base-board
      Model       F5
      Parameters  --                   --
                  Assembly serial      pcaxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
                  Part number          PCA-xxxx-0x REV A


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        pol_hsb0
      Type        pol
      Model       F5 HSB POL
      Parameters  --       --
                  Version  0.4

      Name        pol_hsb1
      Type        pol
      Model       F5 HSB POL
      Parameters  --       --
                  Version  0.4


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        psu1
      Type        psu
      Model       M1845
      Parameters  --                           --
                  Firmware Revision Floating   9154000000-00-00
                  Firmware Revision Primary    9151001845-12-01
                  Firmware Revision Secondary  9157001845-19-01
                  Location                     1
                  Manufacturer                 Murata-PS
                  Revision                     N/A
                  Serial number                Sxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

      Name        psu2
      Type        psu
      Model       M1845
      Parameters  --                           --
                  Firmware Revision Floating   9154000000-00-00
                  Firmware Revision Primary    9151001845-12-01
                  Firmware Revision Secondary  9157001845-19-01
                  Location                     2
                  Manufacturer                 Murata-PS
                  Revision                     N/A
                  Serial number                Sxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


    Hardware Version Information
      Name        qat-01
      Type        coproc
      Model       Coleto Creek DH8955CL Crypto/Compression Coprocessor A0
      Parameters  --       --
                  version  FW: 2.2.0


    Platform
      Name  BIG-IP i7800
      BIOS Revision  OBJ-0645-xx BIOS: 5.20.030.0 ME: 6.0.50.1252 05/06/2019
      Base MAC       f4:xx:xx:f3:xx:00
      PVA Version    20

    System Information
      Type                      C118
      Appliance Serial          f5-xxxx-xxxx
      Part Number               5xxx-xxx3-03 REV M
      Host Board Serial         pcaxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
      Host Board Part Revision


    root@(i7800-F5-IA)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)# list sys
    Options:
      all-properties            current-module            non-default-properties    one-line                  recursive                 |
    Modules:
      application               daemon-log-settings       disk                      ecm                       fpga                      ipfix                     pfman                     software                  url-db
      crypto                    diags                     dynad                     file                      icall                     log-config                sflow                     turboflex
    Components:
      aom                       core                      dns                       ha-group                  log-rotate                management-proxy-config   provision                 snmp                      telemd
      autoscale-group           daemon-ha                 feature-module            httpd                     management-dhcp           management-route          scriptd                   sshd                      ucs
      cluster                   datastor                  folder                    icontrol-soap             management-ip             ntp                       service                   state-mirroring
      config                    db                        global-settings           internal-proxy            management-ovsdb          outbound-smtp             smtp-server               syslog


    root@(i7800-F5-IA)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)# list sys core
    Options:
      all-properties           non-default-properties   one-line                 |
    Properties:
      bigd-action              bigd-manage              bigd-max                 mcpd-action              mcpd-manage              mcpd-max                 retention                tmm-action               tmm-manage               tmm-max                  {


    root@(i7800-F5-IA)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)# list sys core
    sys core {
        bigd-action rotate
        bigd-manage false
        bigd-max 1
        mcpd-action rotate
        mcpd-manage false
        mcpd-max 1
        retention 30
        tmm-action rotate
        tmm-manage false
        tmm-max 1
    }
    root@(i7800-F5-IA)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)# list sys core all-properties
    sys core {
        bigd-action rotate
        bigd-manage false
        bigd-max 1
        mcpd-action rotate
        mcpd-manage false
        mcpd-max 1
        retention 30
        tmm-action rotate
        tmm-manage false
        tmm-max 1
    }
    root@(i7800-F5-IA)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)#

     

    HTH

    F5 Design Engineer

    • mshoaib's avatar
      mshoaib
      Icon for Altocumulus rankAltocumulus

      Thank you for the detailed explanation!

      I followed all the suggested commands, and after running them on my system, I can confirm that my setup also shows only "12" CPUs. Your guidance helped me clarify the situation.

      Below is part of the commands output:

      [mshoaib@XXXXXXXXX:Active:Standalone] ~ # tmsh show sys cpu all | grep "CPU:"
      CPU: 0 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      CPU: 1 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      CPU: 2 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      CPU: 3 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      CPU: 4 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      CPU: 5 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      CPU: 6 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      CPU: 7 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      CPU: 8 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      CPU: 9 (clock ticks)   Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      CPU: 10 (clock ticks)  Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      CPU: 11 (clock ticks)  Last 5 sec  Last 1 min  Last 5 min   Total
      [mshoaib@XXXXXXXXX:Active:Standalone] ~ #


      [mshoaib@XXXXXXXXX:Active:Standalone] ~ # tmsh show sys hardware
      ......
      ......
      Hardware Version Information
        Name        cpus
        Type        base-board
        Model       Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1650 v4 @ 3.60GHz
        Parameters  --            --
                    cache size    15360 KB
                    cores         12  (physical:6)
                    cpu MHz       3601.000
                    cpu sockets   1
                    cpu stepping  1

      xxxxxxx

      xxxxxxx

      Platform
        Name  BIG-IP i7800
        BIOS Revision  OBJ-0645-xx BIOS: 5.20.030.0 ME: 6.0.50.1252 05/06/2019
        Base MAC       00:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
        PVA Version    20

      xxxxxxxxx
      xxxxxxxxx

      I plan to remove the "Guest" VM on the unit to address the discrepancy on the GUI.

      • Hi Mshoaib,

        Thanks for the update.

        I would highly recommend not to try to deploy one Guest showing 2 extra vCPU without consulting in F5 TAC by opening a TAC case for your situation about 14 vCPU displaying in GUI, it may cause unexpected results for your 2 other vCMP guest may got crashed or contingency in prod environment can cause further outage.

        As per F5 documentation there are 12 vCPU mentioned every where so in case if you try to add one more vCMP guest showing with available 2 extra vCPU, in case if it fails the F5 TAC may not support your  case based on the documentation.

        I would not recommend to take a change which contains lots of risk.

        You can still open a TAC case before to get a confirmation if its a software glitch or is it possible to use 2 additional vCPU as showing in the GUI, to save the situation.

         

        In My GUI have used 8 vCPU and if i try to create a new vCMP guest the available cores it is showing as 6, that means total 14 vCPU cores in GUI , but i have a production boxes so i cant try making a new vCMP guest which could use remaining 6 vCPU cores, it may crash my i7800 Software/hardware as i face already Hardware crash during OS upgrade from 14.x to 15.x which they said first reboot a box before upgrade a normal plain upgrade and after that try OS upgrade from 14.x to 15.x and it was successful, with no hardware failure on the physical host i7800.

        That all i can share for the moment as we don't have test boxes in test LAB for i7800 so my comments for 14 vCPU showing in GUI will not be a right  as my answer will not be base on real test results whether it will fail or not if i try to use all 14 vCPU instead of 12 vCPU as per the CLI or as per the f5 i7800 documentation for 12 vCPU cores available.

         

        If my replies help you answer your query , could you please mark my reply as solution so that it will be helpful for our blog other viewers.

        Please feel free to reach out to me for any further discussion on this topic any time, and i will be glad to assist you.

         

        HTH

        Best regards,

        F5 Design Engineer.