Complete F5 Automated Backup Solution

This is now available on GitHub! Please look here for the latest version, and submit any bugs or questions as an "Issue" on GitHub:

 

https://github.com/tabernarious/f5-automated-backup-iapp

 

As a BACKUP, look in the DevCentral CodeShare. This MAY NOT HAVE THE LATEST VERSION:

 

https://devcentral.f5.com/s/articles/f5-iapp-automated-backup-1114

 

I needed to troubleshoot an issue and ended up rolling in many of the proposed and posted fixes into a new iApp.

 

 iApp VERSIONS (From what I gathered perusing DevCentral)
 ~v2.0  - 20140312 - Initially posted releases (v11.4.0-11.6.x? compatibility). (Developed/posted by Thomas Schockaert)
 v2.1.1 - 20160916 - Retooled SMB upload from smbclient to "mount -t cifs" (v12.1+ compatibility). (Developed/posted by MAG)
 v2.2.1 - 20171214 - Allowed multiple instances of iApp by leveraging $tmsh::app_name to create unique object names. (Developed by Daniel Tavernier/tabernarious)
 v2.2.2 - 20171214 - Added "/" to "mount -t cifs" command and clarified/expanded help for SMB (CIFS) Destination Parameters. (Developed by Daniel Tavernier/tabernarious)
 v2.2.3 - 20171214 - Set many fields to "required" and set reasonable default values to prevent loading/configuration errors. Expanded help regarding private keys. (Developed by Daniel Tavernier/tabernarious)
 v2.2.4 - 20171214 - Added fix to force FTP to use binary upload. (Copied code posted by Roy van Dongen, posted by Daniel Tavernier/tabernarious)
 v2.2.4a - 20171215 - Added items to FUTURE list.
 v2.2.5 - 20171228 - Added notes about special characters in passwords. Added Deployment Information and ConfigSync sections. (Developed by Daniel Tavernier/tabernarious)
 v2.2.5a - 20180117 - Added items to FUTURE list.
 v2.2.5b4 - 20180118 - Moved encrypted values for SMB/CIFS to shell script which eliminates ConfigSync issues. Fixed long-password issue by using "-A" with openssl so that base64 encoded strings are written and read as a single line. (Developed by Daniel Tavernier/tabernarious)
 v2.2.5b4+ - 20180118 - Refining changes to SMB/CIFS and replicating to other remote copy types. (Developed by Daniel Tavernier/tabernarious)
 v3.0.0 - 20180124 - (Developed by Daniel Tavernier/tabernarious)
                   - Eliminated ConfigSync issues and removed ConfigSync notes section. (Encrypted values now in $script instead of local file.)
                   - Passwords now have no length limits. (Using "-A" with openssl which reads/writes base64 encoded strings as a single line.)
                   - Added $script error checking for all remote backup types. (Using 'catch' to prevent tcl errors when $script aborts.)
                   - Backup files are cleaned up after $script error due to new error checking.
                   - Added logging. (Run logs sent to '/var/log/ltm' via logger command which is compatible with BIG-IP Remote Logging configuration (syslog). Run logs AND errors sent to '/var/tmp/scriptd.out'. Errors may include plain-text passwords which should not be in /var/log/ltm or syslog.)
                   - Added custom cipher option for SCP.
                   - Added StrictHostKeyChecking=no option.
                   - Combined SCP and SFTP because they are both using SCP to perform the remote copy.
 v3.1.0 - 20180201 - (Developed by Daniel Tavernier/tabernarious)
                   - Removed "app-service none" from iCall objects. The iCall objects are now created as part of the Application Service (iApp) and are properly cleaned up if the iApp is redeployed or deleted.
                   - Reasonably tested on 11.5.4 HF2 (SMB worked fine using "mount -t cifs") and altered requires-bigip-version-min to match.
                   - Fixing error regarding "script did not successfully complete: (can't read "::destination_parameters__protocol_enable": no such variable" by encompassing most of the "implementation" in a block that first checks $::backup_schedule__frequency_select for "Disable".
                   - Added default value to "filename format".
                   - Changed UCS default value for $backup_file_name_extension to ".ucs" and added $fname_noext.
                   - Removed old SFTP sections and references (now handled through SCP/SFTP).
                   - Adjusted logging: added "sleep 1" to ensure proper logging; added $backup_directory to log message.
                   - Adjusted some help messages.

@tabernarious

Excellent job with the changelog included in the file. I love it! Thank you for compiling this and your work to improve this iApp.

Question, would you be willing to move this over to a GitHub repository for storing the code and tracking changes? This would also provide an issue tracker to make it easier for individuals to find a bug or resolution to a problem. I would be willing to help you maintain this.

If you'd like to chat about this you can DM on Twitter @tmurray_pro or find me in the F5 User Group Slack team at https://bit.ly/F5Slack

Thanks again!

@tabernarious - Sorry for the delay, I was "watching" this thread and must have missed the change notification. Thank you for the update and posting of V3.0.0.

Thanks again.

@Troy Murray, I created a Git repository for this iApp which contains my latest release (v3.1.0). I would welcome your collaboration. You can also find me on Twitter @tabernarious.

https://github.com/tabernarious/f5-automated-backup-iapp

@tabernarious This is excellent news! I've starred the repo and forked it on GitHub.

Thanks Thomas for this excellent script. Is there a way you can add on the script to send email when the backup job is completed or failed.

@Fiseha, The latest version (v3.x) (look in the comments for a link) includes logging to /var/log/ltm which will send to syslog. The easiest way to configure email alerts would be to have your syslog/reporting server send the email when it sees the relevant log message(s). There are other ways to get the F5 to send email directly but it’s very custom and I would not recommended it.

Hi Thomas, I installed your iApp on many BIG-IP but this time it causse a problem one my box (BIG-IP v.13.1.1.4) :it's impossible to do an IApps "reconfigure". The web interface stays on "Loading... Receiving configuration data from your device." I've opened a Service Request and F5 ingeneer told the problem was du to your iApps : "Here are the analysis of our engineering service:

 

sys application service /Common/F5-BACKUP.app/F5-BACKUP { device-group /Common/device-group-failover-8bdec2e304ac inherited-devicegroup true inherited-traffic-group true template /Common/ <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< traffic-group /Common/traffic-group-1

 

The scriptd process coredumped and restarted while it was processing the automated backaup. Automated backup has been executed by iApp, which has not been created by F5 Networks and can be found on DevCentral: https://devcentral.f5.com/s/articles/complete-f5-automated-backup-solution. The script runs everyday at 11:30 and backup files are created under /var/local/ucs (e.g., bigip-1.local_20170922.ucs). The size of the UCS files is about 36 GB.

 

The scriptd died by SIGABRT, due to socket/IO error while it was communicating with mcpd."

 

I've uninstalled the backup iApps but still got the issue. May you help me ?

 

Céline

 

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