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Roman_80473's avatar
Roman_80473
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Jan 05, 2011

How to find out if f5 server is an active or stand-alone?

Hi folks,

 

 

I'm new to iControl and need to figure out how do I, using iControl API, check if an F5 server I'm connecting to, is in fact, an active or a stand-by one. We have active/stand-by pair of BIG-IP servers, so that one can only make changes to an active server, and use an Enterprise Manager to push changes out via config sync.

 

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

Thank you, Roman
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  • Roman_80473's avatar
    Roman_80473
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Jan 06, 2011
    Hi Sam,

     

     

    It did help, thank you. One last question although a little off topic: is there a way to configure F5 servers to be active/active (instead of active/standby) with some kind of replication between them? This way, all the changes (new pools, members, etc) created on one server will automatically be replicated on another?

     

     

    Thank you,

     

    Roman
  • Russell_Moore_8's avatar
    Russell_Moore_8
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Jan 06, 2011
    Posted By Roman on 01/06/2011 07:25 AM

     

    Hi Sam,

     

     

    It did help, thank you. One last question although a little off topic: is there a way to configure F5 servers to be active/active (instead of active/standby) with some kind of replication between them? This way, all the changes (new pools, members, etc) created on one server will automatically be replicated on another?

     

     

    Thank you,

     

    Roman

     

    Roman,

     

     

    LTMs support active/active directly but you must assign which VIP is normally active on which LTM and if one fails then all VIPs are active on the last system. This isn't a "recommended" configuration as it can often mean you have more work load than any single LTM can handle and you would have a false sense of redundancy.

     

     

    Now, if you don't want to replicate the VIPS/Virtuals but have the pools/other data replicated you would have to write a custom script to do so.

     

     

    I haven't seen a script that does this but creating one would be trivial I think.

     

     

    As long as you keep the virtuals named the same across both units you would simply suck down the configuration for node A, identify matching VIPs on node B, and copy node As pools/members into node B for that VIP.