Forum Discussion

ShawnFre_259195's avatar
ShawnFre_259195
Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
Apr 04, 2017

Is it possible to rename interfaces on BIGIP Virtual Edition? Other network interface questions.

Hello, I have created a KVM based VM of BIGIP 12.0.0 using the Virtual Edition qcow2 file downloaded here which I am using to do development work on. The problem is the interfaces that are created are all numbered 1.x. (ie. 1.1 through 1.8) The ucs file that I am exporting from our 5250 has not only interfaces 1.1 through 1.4 but also 2.1 through 2.8.

 

Question 1: Is there any way to force the VM's interface names so that we can directly export ucs files from the physical 5250's so they can be imported without unpacking and manipulating the /config/bigip_base.conf and other files to accommodate the Virtual Edition's interface names? I've tried configuring the interfaces on the VM with different pci slots, multiple interfaces on the same pci slot with multifunction turned on, different domains and different busses. None of this altered the naming of the interfaces.

 

Question 2: What is the maximum number of interfaces on the Virtual Edition VM's? I can only seem to get three interfaces but we utilize all 16 interfaces on the physical 5250's. Is it possible to add more than 10?

 

Question 3: What is the proper terminology for the type of interfaces I am referring to? The physical interfaces appear to be in ethX format, what does F5 refer to these 1.x, 2.x, etc. interface names as? Virtual interfaces? I'm trying to associate these interfaces to something I'm more familiar in working with but I cannot seem to find where or how these interfaces are created.

 

Thank you.

 

Shawn

 

BIG-IP
devops
edition
interface
LTM
names
virtual
vm
  • gsharri's avatar
    gsharri
    Icon for Altostratus rankAltostratus
    Apr 06, 2017

    BIG-IP Virtual Edition 12.1.0 and Linux KVM: Setup manual says this:

     

    Virtual machine network interfaces

    When you deploy BIG-IP® VE, a specific number of virtual network interfaces (vNICs) are available.

     

    For KVM, three virtual NICs are required, at a minimum. More NICs are required if the high availability option is configured.

     

    Each virtual machine can have a maximum of 10 NICs. You can deploy these as either:

     

    A management interface and 9 dataplane interfaces, orA management interface, 8 dataplane interfaces, and an HA interface.

     

    I know of no way to change VE interface numbering. The behavior I have experienced with VMware and Hyper-V is that bigip VE automatically numbers its interfaces based on the order the virtual NICs are assigned to the VM in the hypervisor so that the first virtual nic becomes the mgmt interface, the second nic is 1.1, etc..