Getting Started with BIG-IP Next: Adding Instances to Central Manager

Thus far in the series we've introduced the concepts of BIG-IP Next at a high level and we've worked our way through installing Central Manager and instances on VMware platforms. If this article is your first to review, you can get caught up in the series articles listed below. 

In this article, I will show you how to add a created BIG-IP Next Instance to Central Manager. Creating them via a provider like VMware vSphere will be covered in a later article.

Adding Instances in Central Manager

Log in to Central Manager.

Click on Manage Instances.

If this is the first instance, click the Start Adding Instances button under No Instances.

If this is your first time adding an instance in a shared Central Manager and there are already instances, click the + Add button toward the right just above the list of instances.

I've already created my Next instance, so I fill in my IP address (you might use an FQDN) and click connect.

Supply the credentials you created on the instance during setup and click submit.

On this page, you'll create a username and password that Central Manager will use to manage the instance directly. Since I didn't license my instance at setup, it shows inactive here. I'll license the instance in the next article. Once your credentials are set, click Add Instance.

A notification dialog with pop up informing you that by adding the instance, Central Manager will own this instance. Implied but not stated, that means the credentials you created on the instance directly will be deactivated. Click add to continue.

And congrats! You should now have a healthy managed instance in your My Instances listing on Central Manager.

If you licensed your instance during setup, your work is done! If you didn't, proceed to the next article on licensing a BIG-IP Next Instance.