Link Controller v12.1 Link Creation error. no reply from big3d

Hello, i am trying to create my virtual lab for link controller. Right now i am emulating two ISP links with another BIGIP with LTM on top, with two self ip on different networks.

My link controller is another BigIP VE v12.1 with LC provisioned only. Behind the LC i have one server to emulate the backend servers. This is the scenario

BIGIP LTM 2 links and one virtual server 0.0.0.0/0 forwarding on the two ISP links vlans>

Link Controller with two selfip on different net to connect to the "ISPs" and one internal vlan for server>

Backend servers

Right now i was able to test the outbound traffic on my Link Controller (Default GW pool= The two ISP links) My problem comes when, following the LC configuration guide v11 (page 27), i create the links but i get an error: first it says that the link must have an associated data center.

Estrange, there is no GTM-DC configuration in LC. I know there is a know bug, sol9715, but its supposed to be solved on version 12.Also i have checked this sol13761 and my LC has one vlan per ISP link. So i decided it to bypass it by creating the Datacenter via cli ""tmsh create datacenter main" and now i am able to create links (monitors BIGIP_link and snmp_link, as per the instructions of the admin guide). But they do not come up, they are offline (I have tested connectivity and is fine. Even i have changed the monitor to icmp). It says "no reply from big3d: timeout"

After this i configured one VS on the same subnet as the self ip of the first ISP, just to be sure, and still the same problem.

PS: i have also check if the auto-discover option is enabled.

Can anybody guide me through it?

Thanks

application delivery

BIG-IP

BIG-IP DNS

15 Replies

IanB
Employee
Sep 06, 2016
Link Controller (LC) is a subnet of the larger GTM product (now known as BigIP DNS), and as such, it depends on a basic GTM configuration, which includes a data center (as you found out), and at least one GTM server object pointing to a self-ip on itself. It it through this tcp connection that it talks to (itself) via the big3d process, which runs all the probes

You'll need to create the gtm server object in tmsh, as there's no GUI method to do it.

create gtm server lc datacenter main addresses add {x.x.x.x}

Where x.x.x.x is a self-ip on the link controller that has an allow-service setting that permits connections to tcp/4353 (iQuery)
Javier_124486
Nimbostratus
Sep 07, 2016
Hello,Thank you. My device is not in USA, i am working in did refer to that SOL but my pool and wideIp does not work with any load balanced method beside round robin, so this SOL does not apply. In any case, i did apply the workaround explained there, but still the same result.
Javier_124486
Nimbostratus
Sep 07, 2016
Hello,Thank you. My device is not in USA, so in theory i should be eligible to apply the sol. I am working with the solution you refer, but my pool and wideIp does not work with any load balanced method beside round robin, so this SOL does not apply. In any case, i did apply the workaround explained there, but still the same result.
- IanB
  Employee
  Sep 09, 2016
  Strange. I've tried to reproduce this in my lab but the gtm pool members show green. Perhaps I've not set it up the same way as you have, or my license is slightly different.
  
  Can you provide your gtm (lc) configuration ?
  
  Alternatively, open a support case, so that we can take a proper look at the qkview and license details.
- Javier_124486
  Nimbostratus
  Feb 27, 2017
  That monitor is pinging Google's DNS server through the object to be monitored (The ISP links). F5's labeled then as Path Check monitors.
  
  About the ISP links. Forget about the "Gateway ICMP", you are just injecting more noise to the network since the "WAN-monitor is also pinging indirectly your ISP links. I do recommend you to take it out from the ISP links. Second, the BiIp_Link doesn't need to point to 8.8.8.8. This is weird. Please assign the default BigIP_link monitor that comes pre-defined with GTM. If you customized the pre-defined one (the parent), which is something that is highly not encouraged, delete 8.8.8.8 from it or create a new one (select BigIP link as pattern and click on create without modifying anything else).
  
  I've attached a few captures from my own lab. Follow this process. First configure the pool of ISP and the monitor -In your case WAN monitor-. Second associated that pool as default gateway. Third create a GTM Server object and defined as address both F5's selfIps that connect with your ISP links routers. Last, if it's not created yet, create two links objects in GTM and associated to them "BigIP_link"monitor (Plain or regular monitor, not modified. This monitor will retrieve the status of the Default Gateway pool if the ip address match).
  
  My default GW's pool configuration My default gw conf My GTM server within the DC (check the ip address 10.1.20.224, it's in the same network range as my ISP link) The default BigIP_link monitor And the link itself
  
  Hope it's more clear now
- Younes_304324
  Nimbostratus
  Feb 28, 2017
  Hi javier,
  
  thank's for the Lab( very helpful).I have question about the server that you created on the GSLB server: LC1 ->@ 10.1.20.224 is it the Self-IP (wich represent your public address).
Younes_304324
Nimbostratus
Feb 22, 2017
Hi Javier,

I'm having the same problem : no reply from big3d: timeout. I'm configuring GTM/LTM for 2 link ISPs, so did you fixed the problem.

Thank's
- Javier_124486
  Nimbostratus
  Feb 26, 2017
  Hi Younes, if you have GTM is even easier to configure, but that error can come from many different issues. Check the following:
  
  Check that both devices are able to establish a TCP connection on port 4353 on the IP address designated as Server, so you would be able to TS Iquery errors. (You can use netstat or statistics as well to check this. You should be able to see one Green ball for each server ip address -The local GTM one and the remote GTM ip-)
  
  Check that you have properly configured both GTM (in case of two of course) as servers within the datacenter (I know that it seems weird but you need to indicate the GTM which GTM you have on each DC and you do so by declaring them as Server...BigIP standalone or redundant, Ip address....you know).
  
  Check GTM logs and of course check which kind of monitor did you apply to the ISP links? (Check the Default Gateway pool monitor).
  
  I am confident that any of these will either solve it or give us some hint about where the problem is.
  
  Regards and sorry for any TYPO
- Younes_304324
  Nimbostratus
  Feb 26, 2017
  Hi Javier,
  
  thank you for your reply. my issue is : I have a LTM&GTM on the same appliance to load balancing 2 link ISPs. i created nodes, default_gateway_pool, WAN-VS on LTM module and Link on DNS module. My problem is: health monitor all are on status of Blue square ( node, pool, vs) when i checked the node and the health monitor is : checking ( à smal watch timer near the monitor ).
  
  for information am running software version is : 12.0.0
  
  thank's your your help
- Javier_124486
  Nimbostratus
  Feb 26, 2017
  Hi Younes,
  
  Ok, now i may have a better picture. Your problem (The no response from Big3d) might not be GTM but the LTM monitoring system. Just to be sure, if you say that all the LTM objects or some are in blue it means that either there is no monitor assigned to them or that the monitor did not get a valid response yet but did not reach the timeout either. LTM objects are Virtual Server, Nodes and Pool+Pool Members (This also includes the Default gateway pool. In case of dual ISP you have one pool member for each ISP link or router ip and those Pool member become part of the Default Gateway Pool).
  
  So, first check why those monitors are not been able to mark the resources up. To do so you just need to open an SSH session against the F5 device and replicate the monitor to see the server response (EG: If the monitor applied to the resource is ICMP, ping the server. If it's TCP on specific port use telnet for that port. If it's HTTP/s use CURL). If you get a proper server response from those and the monitor is not coming up we will T.S. it later.
  
  Once we have LTM checked, up and running we will move forward to GTM, but first is LTM (GTM will use those objects).
  
  Let me know the outcome.
  
  Have a nice day
Oscar_Ponce_168
Nimbostratus
Mar 24, 2017
Are you found any solution for this problem?. We have the same situation, 3 links, 22 WIP with 6 VS each, round robin load balance, only 2 VS respond, the other 4 VS appear like "Unlicensed (Enabled) - Not Authorized"
- Patrick_Norde
  Nimbostratus
  Dec 14, 2017
  Hi Oscar,
  
  your posting ia already dated some time ago, but I wonder if you found a solution ?
  
  I am having the same problem (Unlicensed (Enabled) - Not Authorized) while performing an implementation for a customer this week. We were using a 30-day trial license, however the BIG-IP is reporting GTM and also LTM as licensed. Version used is 12.1.1, no HF installed yet.
  
  Kind regards, Patrick.