Data group list

Data groups are text-based dictionaries, lists of key-value pairs, that reside *somewhere* on the BIG-IP. They can be in the configuration file (bigip.conf), or a separate file in the filesystem (generally in /var/class). Data groups cannot be on a separate machine. There are, however, methods to read information from remote locations, but the methods used depend on how and when you need the information. For example, if you need data from a remote server (potentially not the hosting web server) in real-time, as in during the client request or server response, you can use a sideband call in v11 or HTTP::request/HTTP::retry in v10. If you don't need the information in real-time, you can use an external monitor and a shell script (bash, cURL, Perl, etc.) to do your bidding.