on 24-May-2016 15:30
The f5-aws-migrate.py is a Python 2.7 script that automates the migration of an existing BIG-IP instance to a new instance using a different BIG-IP image in AWS while keeping all configurations identical.
For a primer on F5 in AWS, check out these three excellent articles written by Chris Mutzel:
F5 in AWS Part 1 - AWS Networking Basics
F5 in AWS Part 2 - Running BIG-IP in an EC2 Virtual Private Cloud
F5 in AWS Part 3 - Advanced Topologies and More on Highly Available Services
As discussed in the article F5 in AWS Part 2, there are two ways you can run BIG-IP in AWS: subscription (hourly or annual subscriptions) or bring your own license (BYOL). You might be running a BIG-IP instance in AWS on an hourly subscription and then decide to convert to an annual subscription instead. Or you might decide to convert the BIG-IP subscription instance to a BYOL instance instead after obtaining a F5 software license. To achieve this conversion (prior to the script) you must manually create a new BIG-IP instance with either an annual subscription or a F5 software license.
Additionally, you may want to move BIG-IP instances for other reasons. For example, if you are trying to perform a complete mitigation on a BIG-IP instance impacted by CVE-2016-2084. According to the following Security Advisory on AskF5, a new BIG-IP instance needs to be created to replace the vulnerable instance (SOL 11772107: BIG-IP and BIG-IQ cloud image vulnerability CVE-2016-2084 has more information on this vulnerability).
The challenge with any of these scenarios is ensuring the new BIG-IP instance has the identical configuration as the old instance being migrated. This involves two major tasks.
The result is a new instance created from the selected BIG-IP image with identical configuration as the old terminated instance.
Performing all of these steps manually can be tedious and error prone.
A solution automating the two major tasks described above is now available. F5 has created a Python 2.7 script, f5-aws-migrate.py, which automates the migration of one BIG-IP instance to another instance in AWS for the two types of BIG-IP images available on the AWS Marketplace. The script begins by gathering a BIG-IP UCS file and polling AWS to gather instance configuration details. It then terminates the original instance and launches a new, identical instance using the AMI image you specify. Finally, the script performs automated licensing and installs the UCS file from the original instance with a no-license flag to avoid overwriting the new license. The script can also perform complete BIG-IP mitigation steps for CVE-2016-2084.
For more information, and to download the software see the ReadMe file on our F5 DevCentral Github repositoryhttps://github.com/f5devcentral/f5-aws-migrate