F5 Automated Backups - The Right Way

Hi all,

 

Often I've been scouring the devcentral fora and codeshares to find that one piece of handywork that will drastically simplify my automated backup needs on F5 devices. Based on the works of Jason Rahm in his post "Third Time's the Charm: BIG-IP Backups Simplified with iCall" on the 26th of June 2013, I went ahead and created my own iApp that pretty much provides the answers for all my backup-needs.

Here's a feature list of this iApp:

  • It allows you to choose between both UCS or SCF as backup-types. (whilst providing ample warnings about SCF not being a very good restore-option due to the incompleteness in some cases)
  • It allows you to provide a passphrase for the UCS archives (the standard GUI also does this, so the iApp should too)
  • It allows you to not include the private keys (same thing: standard GUI does it, so the iApp does it too)
  • It allows you to set a Backup Schedule for every X minutes/hours/days/weeks/months or a custom selection of days in the week
  • It allows you to set the exact time, minute of the hour, day of the week or day of the month when the backup should be performed (depending on the usefulness with regards to the schedule type)
  • It allows you to transfer the backup files to external devices using 4 different protocols, next to providing local storage on the device itself
    • SCP (username/private key without password)
    • SFTP (username/private key without password)
    • FTP (username/password)
    • SMB (using smbclient, with username/password)
    • Local Storage (/var/local/ucs or /var/local/scf)
  • It stores all passwords and private keys in a secure fashion: encrypted by the master key of the unit (f5mku), rendering it safe to store the backups, including the credentials off-box
  • It has a configurable automatic pruning function for the Local Storage option, so the disk doesn't fill up (i.e. keep last X backup files)
  • It allows you to configure the filename using the date/time wildcards from the tcl [clock] command, as well as providing a variable to include the hostname
  • It requires only the WebGUI to establish the configuration you desire
  • It allows you to disable the processes for automated backup, without you having to remove the Application Service or losing any previously entered settings
  • For the external shellscripts it automatically generates, the credentials are stored in encrypted form (using the master key)
  • It allows you to no longer be required to make modifications on the linux command line to get your automated backups running after an RMA or restore operation
  • It cleans up after itself, which means there are no extraneous shellscripts or status files lingering around after the scripts execute

I wasn't able to upload the iApp template to this article, so I threw it on pastebin: http://pastebin.com/YbDj3eMN

 

Enjoy!

Thomas Schockaert

Published Mar 13, 2014
Version 1.0
archive
automated
availability
backup
cloud
deployment
devops
iApps
iCall
management
  • Daniel_Tavernie's avatar
    Daniel_Tavernie
    Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus
    Dec 01, 2018

    @Nyam, I did quite a bit of testing on v11.6 so I would expect it to work. Please give it a try and let me know if you run into any issues. The more details you can provide about the issues the better, and I will try to fix anything you come across.

     

    After you import the new template it will show up with a new name and you will have to change the template in the application service (iApp) you have configured right now. Or you can deploy a new application service with the new template.

     

  • tabernarious_11's avatar
    tabernarious_11
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Nov 30, 2018

    @Nyam, Are you using the latest v3.1.9 iApp? Which mode are you using (local, scp/sftp, ftp, or smb)?

     

  • Nyam_220167's avatar
    Nyam_220167
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Nov 30, 2018

    Hello, Backup's are not happening on Standby unit it HA setup. Is there anything we need to tweek to make it work?

     

  • remosser_365878's avatar
    remosser_365878
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Oct 04, 2018

    Thanks so much for your help! That worked like a champ. I basically set the backup schedule to kick off a few minutes after making the day and time changes and the archive kicked off without any issues or errors. The new pruning check is also working as expected, per your explanation. Thanks again!

     

  • tabernarious_11's avatar
    tabernarious_11
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Oct 03, 2018

    @remosser, You will have to edit the template and reimport. The following is for v3.1.4:

    1. Open the template in a text editor (not in the F5 GUI).
    2. Rename the template (not the text file) by finding line 68 and changing 
      f5.automated_backup.v3.1.4
      to 
      f5.automated_backup.v3.1.4_pruning_600
      or something.
    3. Then find line 483 (or near) which should be 
      interval 60 \
      and change 
      60
      to however many seconds you want.
    4. Import the template to the F5 which should show up as a new template (with the new name you set).
    5. Open your iApp configuration, change the template, and redeploy. You may need to set the Frequency to 
      Disabled
      , finish, then go back and set the Frequency back to your desired values. I can't remember what exactly needs to be done to cause the iCall scripts to be regenerated.