tmsh2iapp iApp generator // automate in minutes with easily generated iApps

[ulises_113044]

Problem this snippet solves:

Advantages of using iApps for automation instead of plain ansible, plain REST calls, etc...

• When deploying configurations as iApps the configurations are self-contained, that is: on delete all objects created by the iApp are automatically deleted and there will be no stale configurations left

• iApps can be deployed with ansiblle, REST, etc... configurations just become easier to deploy because regardless the configuration size only two calls are quired: one call to import the template (if it is not already in the BIG-IP) and one to create an instance of the iApp.

• tmsh2iapp allows creation of iApps that contain base configs too (ie: L1/L2/L3 network elements including non floating ones) which can be sync'ed in HA configurations seamlessly.

Main characteristics of tmsh2iapp

• Allows creating an iApp using a declarative tmsh-like syntax (these are called .t2i files)
• It has been used with LTM, ASM (limited support in v12 full support in v13+), APM, AFM and PEM modules.
• Baseline .t2i files can be created easily with the BIG-IP GUI
• Helps deploying the iApp by creating sample Ansible roles & playbooks, Heat templates and iWorkflow JSON files
• Input varialbles can be JSON lists (ie: multiple-choice/multiple-select survey variables in Ansible Tower)
• Can easily create iApps that contain base configurations (self-IPs, VLANs, etc...) that can be deployed in a BIG-IP cluster and config-sync'ed assigning per-BIG-IP values appropiately.
• It can be used in any computer with perl installed -- including the BIG-IP
• It supports passing parameters as JSON lists (useful for handling multiple-choice/multiple-select survey variables in Ansible Tower or any other YAML based automation)
• It is not BIG-IP version specific but it is being tested with BIG-IP 11.6-13.1
• Supports route-domains and partitions
• Supports LTM policies
• Options available to beautify the GUI allowing specifying field text width, validators, and single and multi-selector which lists that can be static or dynamically populated at run time.
• It allows importing (from external files or URL) the following configuration objects:

• apache-ssl-cert SSL certificates management
• asm-policy ASM policies
• browser-capabilities-db browser capabilities DB file management
• dashboard-viewset
• data-group External Data Group files management
• device-capabilities-db Device capabilities DB file management
• external-monitor External Monitor files management
• ifile iFile files management
• lwtunneltbl LW4o6 table files management
• ssl-cert SSL certificates management
• ssl-csr SSL Certificate Signing Request
• ssl-key SSL certificate keys management

How to use this snippet:

Visit the project's page and wiki in https://github.com/f5devcentral/f5-tmsh2iapp

Code :

https://github.com/f5devcentral/f5-tmsh2iapp

[ulises_113044]

Sep 28 - New feature and fixes release

• Included support for local variables which allows easy creation of iApps that contain base configurations that are not sync'ed but require per BIG-IP variables. A typical example are non-floating self-IPs.
• There was an issue that some times produced different (and wrong) iApps with a given .t2i. Existing iApps that work properly don't need to be regenerated.
• .t2i files that contain comments are no longer ignored

The two fixes have been found thanks to a new semi-automated regression testing that I'm now running on this tool.

[ulises_113044]

New feature release

Like any other iApp, the iApps created by tmsh2iapp can be deployed in any partition. By default iApp's objects are created in the //. This allows having several instances of the same iApp in the same partition.

I had a request of optionally implementing a different behavior. The next two features allow iApp's objects to be created by default in /. In other words: without a per-iApp folder. Therefore when using this option it will not be possible to create two instances of the same iApp in the same partition but several instances in several partitions will be still possible.

Features:

• Implemented "nofolder" and "nofolder-disable-strict-updates" options
• Implemented @partition variable for some corner cases of iApps created with "nofolder" options

[ulises_113044]

I wanted to share with you a new release of tmsh2iapp which has got relevant new features over the last months:

• It now supports all LTM, ASM, APM, AFM and PEM modules.

• Yes, the tool is also able to import ASM policies specifying an external file or URL. For referencing an ASM policy no special BIG-IP version is required. For importing an external ASM policy it requires fixes for ID693694 and ID675232 and ideally ID721717.

• Yes, the tool is able to generate APM policies.

• The tool got it's first contribution to this Open Source project! tmsh2iapp already supported routing domains and partitions but Colin Stubbs provided enhanced support for detecting the partition’s default routing domain and create pool member’s nodes more appropriately.

• The tool got other minor fixes and features including automated testing with ansible. Check out the wiki for more details

If you are using the tool It would be great to hear from you. Please let me know if you have any questions.

• I also would like to thank Akin Okon for his great work making native ASM support possible.

[ulises_113044]

New release with two new features:

• Allow input variables to be a JSON list. This is useful for Ansible Tower surveys or any other YAML/JSON based automation.

• Dump all variables values in /var/tmp/scriptd.out before execution

[ulises_113044]

New release with a new feature for improved GUI usability:

• Added GUI selection lists. These lists can be static (at iApp template creation time) or dynamic (at run time). Single, Single editable and multi selection options available. This is done by means of @apl attribute, see the T2I syntax page and T2I examples page for details. Minimal changes required to add this feature to existing .t2i files.