Virtual Servers template?

Hello All,

Is there a way to create a Virtual Servers "template" with predefined settings on a Big IP F5 load balancer? We create VS almost every day for our clients and would help if we could setup a VS from a template to make our life a bit easier.

application delivery

BIG-IP

Dario_Garrido

Jun 18, 2019

You can use CLI to create the VS (replace "<...>" fields with the correct value).

tmsh create ltm virtual <VS_NAME> \
destination <VS_IP>:443 \
profiles add { tcp http_20 <CLIENTSSL_PROFILE> } \
vlans replace-all-with { Internal Web } vlans-enabled \
snatpool Prod \
pool Webfarm_pool \
persist replace-all-with { cookie_20 } \
rules { httpTest_irule1 httpTest_irule2 httpTest_irule3 }

Finally you have to save the config from running-config to startup-config.

tmsh save sys config

KR,

Dario.

7 Replies

Dario_Garrido
Noctilucent
Jun 11, 2019
The concept "VS template" in F5 is known as iApp. I give you some doc.
https://clouddocs.f5.com/api/iapps/
https://devcentral.f5.com/s/articles/understanding-iapps-18224

Another way to standardize your deployments is to use Ansible that gives you the ability to create templates that you could apply in your environment later on. Some doc.
https://clouddocs.f5.com/products/orchestration/ansible/devel/

KR,
Dario.
MihirP1129
Nimbostratus
Jun 11, 2019
Thanks for that. Is there a easy way where I could take an exisiting Virtual server setup and convert into an iApp?
- Dario_Garrido
  Noctilucent
  Jun 11, 2019
  You can take the HTTP iApp template and try to rewrite those part that you would like to customise.
  https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K98001873
  
  KR,
  Dario.
  - Dario_Garrido
    Noctilucent
    Jun 11, 2019
    BTW, I share with you a list of other supported iApps
    https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K13422
    
    You can find the last version of each one in F5 downloads.
MihirP1129
Nimbostratus
Jun 17, 2019
Thanks Dario for all the information and links. There is too much information and unfortunately I'm not a programmer.

Could someone assist in helping me with creating a simple iApp template to deploy Virtual Servers that contains the following settings? I would greatly appreciate it.

[General Properties]

Name of the virtual server (**user input**)
Type: Standard
Source: 0.0.0.0/0
Destination: Type HOST
Address (**IP user input**)
Service Port: 443 HTTPS
Syncookie Status: Off
State: Enabled

[Configuration (BASIC) all the other options should be set to DEFAULT settings]

Protocol: TCP
HTTP Profile: http_20
SSL Profile (Client): (**user input**)
VLAN and Tunnel Traffic: Enabled on...
VLAN and Tunnels : Internal
Web
Source Address Translation: SNAT
SNAT Pool: Prod

[Content Rewrite]

Rewrite Profile: None
HTML Profile: None

[Acceleration]

Rate class: None
OneConnect Profile: None
NTLM Conn Pool: None
HTTP Compression Profile: None
Web Acceleration Profile: None
SPDY Profile: None

[Load Balancing]

Default Pool: Webfarm_pool
Default Persistence Profile: cookie_20
Fallback Persistence Profile: None

[iRules]

httpTest_irule1
httpTest_irule2
httpTest_irule3

Dario_Garrido

Noctilucent

Jun 18, 2019

You can use CLI to create the VS (replace "<...>" fields with the correct value).

tmsh create ltm virtual <VS_NAME> \
destination <VS_IP>:443 \
profiles add { tcp http_20 <CLIENTSSL_PROFILE> } \
vlans replace-all-with { Internal Web } vlans-enabled \
snatpool Prod \
pool Webfarm_pool \
persist replace-all-with { cookie_20 } \
rules { httpTest_irule1 httpTest_irule2 httpTest_irule3 }

Finally you have to save the config from running-config to startup-config.