Does disabling the VIP disable all the related settings, for example ARP ? Meaning, if the VIP is disabled will the arping for the VIP stop and get removed from the ARP table ?
I am NOT referring to disabling the Virtual service. I specifically mean the VIP(Virtual IP Address).
Hi,
Disabling a virtual server will NOT stop the BIG-IP from replying to ICMP or ARP. If you wanted this behaviour then you would have to disable ICMP echo and ARP on the virtual address.
You can control whether the virtual address sends responses to Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) and Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) requests. Disabling a virtual server prevents the virtual server from accepting new connections, but the virtual address may still advertise through Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) and respond to Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo packets. A disabled virtual server, even a deleted virtual server, continues to process existing connections.
Ref: myF5
Hi, as stated in the question I am referring to disabling the VIP(virtual IP address), not the virtual service.
hello and thank you for your response. As stated in the question I am referring to disabling the VIP(Virtual IP Address), not the virtual service.
Hi,
Thanks for the clarification.
If I am understanding you correctly then, you would be applying the following TMSH command to disable the virtual-address
modify ltm virtual-address <VIP> enabled no
If this is the case, then this command stops any virtual servers on this virtual address from accepting NEW connections, but it will accept EXISTING connections and will still continue respond to ARP requests and ICMP echo requests.
In order for the BIG-IP to also stop responding to ARP requests and ICMP echo requests for this VIP, you would also need to apply:
modify ltm virtual-address <VIP> arp disabled
modify ltm virtual-address <VIP> icmp-echo disabled
The configuration object that controls the the availability of the virtual IP address is the “Virtual Address”. This because a Virtual Address can be used by other configuration objects other than a single “Virtual Server”. Disabling the virtual server may not stop the the response to ICMP echo request, ARP, and neighbor discovery.
There can be multiple virtual servers using the same virtual address. Example: One virtual server with TCP port 80 responding with HTTP to HTTPS redirects to the same virtual IP address. A second virtual server with the same virtual address with TCP port 443 to respond to the refirected HTTP requests.
Disabling a virtual server should only disable any responses sent to the combination of the virtual address and the service port.
Disabling a virtual server does not disable shared configuration objects used by the virtual server: iRules, protocol profiles, local traffic policy, ASM policy, APM policy, etc…