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Dan_123791's avatar
Dan_123791
Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
May 09, 2013

using iControl to mange change releases

Hi,

 

 

I'm supporting an F5 in a test / dev environment which will need to be synched to a live environment on an ad hoc basis. I have a number of configurations which I need to keep specific to my test environment (virtual servers which have been added to simulate other devices on live, licensing, node addresses). It has been suggested that I may use iControl to achieve this, but I am very new to F5 (was under the impression I'd just be looking after iRules and Access policies) and this seems way down the rabbit hole for me.

 

Please advise,

 

1) Is iControl the correct way to be doing this?

 

2) Is iControl part of the standard F5 setup or is it something that will need to be purchased as an add-on?

 

3) What are some easy first steps I could take to getting acquainted with iControl (simple command line or BIG-IP web interface stuff to get my feet wet)

 

4) I tried using "tmsh load sys config file bigip.conf" to see if that would work but it came back with an error (even though I was using the exact bigip.conf unedited produced using "tmsh save sys config", so then I tried using tmsh load sys config file bigip_user.conf and can no longer putty into that server at all)

 

Thanks

 

dev
devops
iControl
  • Jonathan_Scholi's avatar
    Jonathan_Scholi
    May 10, 2013
    1) If you don't use iControl, the only (potentially automated) alternative I can think of would be to ssh in and run scripts or tmsh commands to accomplish what you need. I think iControl is likely to be the least painful.

     

     

    2) iControl is part of the standard F5 setup.

     

     

    3) Take a look at: https://devcentral.f5.com/wiki/iControl.HomePage.ashx. Pick an example that's read-only to play with.

     

     

    4) Try getting in through a console cable.
  • Jonathan_Scholi's avatar
    Jonathan_Scholi
    Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus
    May 10, 2013
    1) If you don't use iControl, the only (potentially automated) alternative I can think of would be to ssh in and run scripts or tmsh commands to accomplish what you need. I think iControl is likely to be the least painful.

     

     

    2) iControl is part of the standard F5 setup.

     

     

    3) Take a look at: https://devcentral.f5.com/wiki/iControl.HomePage.ashx. Pick an example that's read-only to play with.

     

     

    4) Try getting in through a console cable.
  • Dan_123791's avatar
    Dan_123791
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    May 14, 2013
    Thanks - looks like the BIG-ip devices are also preloaded with the necessary perl modules... now... just have to learn perl :|