Ansible with F5

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1

Hi,

I need to know what automated tasks that can be achieved by ansible with the BigIP either for LTM or ASM and what is needed actually to integrate f5 with ansible server.

Thanks

2

Hello f10,

Yes, Ansible works very well with BIG-IP. There are two main approaches:

  1. Imperative: the f5networks.f5_modules collection. You create or modify each object step by step, with one module per object. For example:

  • LTM: bigip_node, bigip_pool, bigip_pool_member, bigip_virtual_server, bigip_monitor_http, bigip_profile_client_ssl, bigip_irule, bigip_ssl_certificate / bigip_ssl_key

  • ASM/AWAF: bigip_asm_policy_import, bigip_asm_policy_manage, bigip_asm_policy_fetch (to import, activate, or export policies)

  • Operations: bigip_config (save config), bigip_ucs_fetch (backups), bigip_command (tmsh commands), bigip_software_install, bigip_device_info (inventory/facts)

  1. Declarative: the f5networks.f5_bigip collection with AS3 (and DO/TS)

You describe the final state of the application in a single JSON declaration (AS3), and one REST API call creates all the objects: virtual server, pool, monitors, profiles, and even the WAF policy attachment. This is idempotent and easier to manage as code (Git, CI/CD). Declarative Onboarding (DO) covers the base system config (VLANs, self IPs, DNS, NTP), and Telemetry Streaming (TS) covers sending metrics and logs.

F5 has good docs and examples on clouddocs.f5.com (Ansible and AS3 sections).

Also, a small suggestion: this thread is in the User Groups / DevCentral Connects area. Technical questions like this get more visibility in the Technical Forums, where more people from the community can answer.

Note: I used IA for help to translate.

Best regards,

Quiroman81