Config copy from physical to virtual F5

What we want to eventually do is nightly replicate the config from the physical F5 to the virtual F5 in our Disaster Recovery center. Is there a best way to do this for our version of the F5 software?

when restoring ucs, if bigip host name is different (from the one in ucs), only share configuration will be restored. if you want to restore full configuration, you have to change host name first.

sol11318: Backing up and restoring BIG-IP configuration files (10.x)

http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/11000/300/sol11318.html

also, there is rma option to not restore bigip.license.

root@ve10(Active)(tmos) load sys ucs ?
Options:
  rma  Load full configuration from a UCS file except license file. This command mostly is for RMA use.

sol12880: Configuring a replacement BIG-IP device after a Return Materials Authorization

http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/12000/800/sol12880.html

if restoring fails, reload configuration (e.g. tmsh load sys config) will show what wrong is. so, you can fix it and try to reload again.

What we want to eventually do is nightly replicate the config from the physical F5 to the virtual F5 in our Disaster Recovery center. Is there a best way to do this for our version of the F5 software?

when restoring ucs, if bigip host name is different (from the one in ucs), only share configuration will be restored. if you want to restore full configuration, you have to change host name first.

sol11318: Backing up and restoring BIG-IP configuration files (10.x)

http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/11000/300/sol11318.html

also, there is rma option to not restore bigip.license.

root@ve10(Active)(tmos) load sys ucs ?
Options:
  rma  Load full configuration from a UCS file except license file. This command mostly is for RMA use.

sol12880: Configuring a replacement BIG-IP device after a Return Materials Authorization

http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/12000/800/sol12880.html

if restoring fails, reload configuration (e.g. tmsh load sys config) will show what wrong is. so, you can fix it and try to reload again.

Hi Dev Central again,

 

I took these steps, but the virtual F5 still is having trouble taking the physical F5 config.

 

changed hostname to match the physical F5:

bigpipe system hostname F5Primary.printhosting.com

 

running other commands:

[root@F5Primary:INOPERATIVE] config tmsh load /sys ucs /shared/config_nightly.ucs rma

 

Processing UCS file: /shared/config_nightly.ucs

 

Installing full UCS (10.2.3) data, excluding license file.

 

Saving active configuration...

 

The hostname is set to F5Primary.printhosting.com

 

Extracting manifest: /shared/config_nightly.ucs

 

Product : BIG-IP

 

Version : 10.2.3

 

Hostname: F5Primary.printhosting.com

 

Installing --full-- configuration on host F5Primary.printhosting.com

 

Installing configuration...

 

Post-processing...

 

WARNING: There were one or more errors detected during installation.

 

Check the error messages and take the proper actions if needed.

 

ERROR: UCS installation failed.

 

Operation aborted.

 

The configuration has been restored...

 

Tried the command to see what went wrong:

[root@F5Primary:Offline] config tmsh load sys config

 

Reading configuration from /config/low_profile_base.conf.

 

Reading configuration from /defaults/config_base.conf.

 

Reading configuration from /config/bigip_sys.conf.

 

Reading configuration from /config/bigip_base.conf.

 

Reading configuration from /usr/share/monitors/base_monitors.conf.

 

Reading configuration from /config/profile_base.conf.

 

Reading configuration from /config/daemon.conf.

 

Reading configuration from /config/bigip.conf.

 

Reading configuration from /config/bigip_local.conf.

 

Loading the configuration ...

 

BIGpipe interface creation error:

 

01070318:3: The requested media for interface 1.1 is invalid.

 

[root@F5Primary:Offline] config

 

I can see my config seemed to make it in /config/bigip.conf ok, but when i load the web interface, i'm not seeing any of my config.

 

Not sure why it fails with interface 1.1 since that interface exists on both units.

 

Thanks everyone

 

Keith

 

01070318:3: The requested media for interface 1.1 is invalid.

 

i understand the error is saying media setting of interface 1.1 in /config/bigip_base.conf is not valid in virtual edition. what we should do is to remove that setting and reload configuration again.

 

Thanks Nitass. I see that our backup is a .ucs file that is actually a compressed tar file. I tried to untar/gunzip it, and i can see the bigip_base.conf file has the following:

 

interface 1.1 {

 

media fixed 1000baseT full

 

disable

 

}

 

So, i removed that media fixed 1000baseT full settings from the physical F5 through the GUI (i set them to auto), backed up the ucs again, and then tried to import it on the virtual F5 again. However, still seeing that same error:

 

BIGpipe interface creation error:

 

01070318:3: The requested media for interface 1.1 is invalid.

 

Here's a snip from the bigip_base.conf for the physical F5:

mgmt 10.33.50.23 {

 

netmask 255.255.255.0

 

}

 

mgmt route default inet {

 

gateway 10.33.50.1

 

}

 

interface 1.1 {

 

disable

 

}

 

interface 1.2 {

 

disable

 

}

 

interface 1.3 {

 

disable

 

}

 

interface 1.4 {

 

disable

 

}

 

interface 1.5 {

 

disable

 

}

 

interface 1.6 {

 

disable

 

}

 

interface 1.7 {

 

disable

 

}

 

interface 1.8 {

 

disable

 

}

 

interface 2.2 {

 

disable

 

}

 

interface mgmt {

 

media fixed 100baseTX full

 

}

 

stp instance 0 {

 

Here's a snip from the virtual F5 bigip_base.conf file:

mgmt 10.33.50.222 {

 

netmask 255.255.255.0

 

}

 

mgmt route default inet {

 

gateway 10.33.50.1

 

}

 

interface 1.1 {

 

}

 

interface 1.2 {

 

}

 

interface 1.3 {

 

}

 

stp {

 

config name none

 

}

 

stp instance 0 {

 

I think its working now. I had to remove all the interfaces on the virtual F5's bigip_base.conf that did not exist on the physical (1.4-1.8) as well as the two fiber interfaces (2.1 & 2.2). Also had to replace any references to our fiber interface that we use with trunking to all vlans (2.1) to 1.3 regular interface on the virtual F5.

 

I can now see my config on the web gui.

 

thanks!

 

Hello,

I have the same frustration. But the error is different:

[root@ns2:Active:Standalone] ucs  tmsh load sys config
Loading system configuration...
/defaults/app_template_base.conf
/defaults/config_base.conf
/config/low_profile_base.conf
/defaults/wam_base.conf
/usr/share/monitors/base_monitors.conf
/config/daemon.conf
/config/profile_base.conf
/defaults/fullarmor_gpo_base.conf
/defaults/classification_base.conf
Loading configuration...
/config/bigip_base.conf
/config/bigip_user.conf
/config/bigip.conf
**01070712:3: Caught configuration exception (0), Failed: name(/Common/dtca.key) No     copy in trash-bin                             to restore from. -    sys/validation/FileObject.cpp, line 3067.**
Unexpected Error: Loading configuration process failed.

Do I need to delete the dtca.key? I have a physical HA (active-standby) BIG IP with LTM+GTM+APM, but I need to restore the Active BIG-IP .ucs file into a virtual BIG IP.

I issued the command: tmsh load sys ucs ACTIVE-BIGIP.ucs no-license no-platform-check

Thanks in advance.

Lewis

01070712:3: Caught configuration exception (0), Failed: name(/Common/dtca.key) No copy in trash-bin to restore from sys/validation/FileObject.cpp, line 3067.

 

can you try?

 

sol13030: Forcing the mcpd process to reload the BIG-IP configuration

 

http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/13000/000/sol13030.html