BIG-IP Next under Proxmox

In my lab, I'm running Proxmox instead of other virtualization software. Installation is similar to the documentation for VMware here:

https://clouddocs.f5.com/bigip-next/latest/install/cm_install_vmware.html

I was able to setup BIG-IP Next CentralManager as well as BIG-IP Next instances.

Start by downloading the images from here:

https://my.f5.com/manage/s/downloads

I chose the OVA formats for each.

Group BIG-IP_Next

Product Line: Central Manager (CM)

Version: 20.1

File: BIG-IP-Next-CentralManager-20.1.0-0.8.112.ova

Then on your proxmox instance, unpack the ova file with tar for example:

mkdir CentralManager
cd CentralManager
tar xvf ../BIG-IP-Next-CentralManager-20.1.0-0.8.112.ova
qm importovf 1100 BIG-IP-Next-CentralManager-20.1.0-0.8.112.ovf local-zfs
qm set 1100 -net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0

I'm using my local-zfs as storage and assigning the vm number 1100. You may want to change one or both of those. The import takes a long time as it's importing 350G of storage! For some reason the OVF import does not create a network interface on my setup, so I add that after the import.

You may also want to change the SCSI controller to virtio SCSI as it's a bit more efficient.

Next start the VM up from the web interface to Proxmox. It will take a while to boot. Once it does it will show the IPv4 and IPv6 address (if enabled) on the console. In my setup, I assign a static dhcp address to the node here, and then reboot again. Note: it appears that CM does NOT support DUID and/or dhcpv6. You can login on the console or ssh into the box using admin/admin and proceed as in the VMware docs.

Note: you will need samba or nfs "External Storage" or setup will fail. The "Share Path" needs to start with a "/".

Once CM setup is complete, or while you're waiting for it to do so, download:

Group: BIG-IP_Next

Product Line: Virtual Edition (VE)

Version: 20.1

File: BIG-IP-Next-20.1.0-2.279.0+0.0.75.ova

unpack it as above:

mkdir Next
cd Nex
tar xvf ../BIG-IP-Next-20.1.0-2.279.0+0.0.75.ova
qm importovf 1100 BIG-IP-Next-20.1.0-2.279.0+0.0.75.ovf local-zfs
qm set 1101 -net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0

Again, you might want to use a vm id of other then 1101 and/or storage other than local-zfs. This takes less time as it's only importing 80G of data. Again, for me, no network interfaces were created, so I create two. If you have different subnets, you may want your first interface on your management network and the second on a traffic network. I then assign a static address in DHCP and reboot again. When I create both network interfaces, the services on port 5443 don't seem to start up.

As above, you may also want to change the SCSI controller to virtio SCSI as it's a bit more efficient.

After the system boots, the instructions say to login as admin. This did NOT work for me. Instead, I use curl to change the admin credentials:

curl  -kX PUT https://next-ip:5443/api/v1/me \
-u admin:admin \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"currentPassword": "admin", "newPassword": "Welcome123!"}'

On my.f5.com request a license for BIP-IP Next, copy the JWT and paste it in to activate the license.

Now that I've re-installed everything, I can't get the license to take again, so it might be a one-time-use.