BIG-IP Next – Introduction to the Blueprints API
If you have ever attempted to automate the BIG-IP configuration, you are probably familiar with F5’s AS3 extension. Although AS3 is supported in BIG-IP Next, there is another API that might be the better option if you haven’t started your migration journey up until now. This is called the Blueprints API. In this article, I want to show you how to use it to automate your applications with AS3. Overview When you use the BIG-IP Next GUI, you instantly see the benefits of having a centrally managed configuration across all your BIG-IP instances. The steps to create an application service in the GUI now have a siloed setup where you define 4 main sections separately: Application Properties Virtual Server Properties Pool Properties Deployment Properties Each one of these sections allows you to adjust areas of your application service while still having a way to manage configurations across multiple BIG-IP instances. In other words, you can define one pool under the pool properties, but still have different pool members under the deployment properties for each of your BIG-IP instances. This creates a centrally managed application service that does not require the exact same configuration in each environment. When you perform these tasks in the GUI, BIG-IP Next is generating its own API calls internally. It takes each of your configuration items outlined in the 4 sections above and defines the application service as a Blueprint. This Blueprint is then used to modify anything about the configuration/deployment moving forward. If you aren’t a fan of using a GUI and you are trying to automate, this same exact API is exposed to you as well. This means we get to use the same centrally managed configuration in our API calls. It also means that we can easily automate existing application services by simply using the API to manage them moving forward. So what does this Blueprint API look like? Below is sample JSON used to create a Blueprint called “bobs-blueprint”: { "name":"bobs-blueprint", "set_name": "Examples", "template_name": "http", "parameters": { "application_description": "", "application_name": "bobs-blueprint", "enable_Global_Resiliency": false, "pools": [ { "loadBalancingMode": "round-robin", "monitorType": [ "http" ], "poolName": "juice", "servicePort": 8080 } ], "virtuals": [ { "FastL4_TOS": 0, "FastL4_idleTimeout": 600, "FastL4_looseClose": true, "FastL4_looseInitialization": true, "FastL4_pvaAcceleration": "full", "FastL4_pvaDynamicClientPackets": 1, "FastL4_pvaDynamicServerPackets": 0, "FastL4_resetOnTimeout": true, "FastL4_tcpCloseTimeout": 43200, "FastL4_tcpHandshakeTimeout": 43200, "InspectionServicesEnum": [], "TCP_idle_timeout": 60, "UDP_idle_timeout": 60, "ciphers": "DEFAULT", "ciphers_server": "DEFAULT", "enable_Access": false, "enable_FastL4": false, "enable_FastL4_DSR": false, "enable_HTTP2_Profile": false, "enable_HTTP_Profile": false, "enable_InspectionServices": false, "enable_SsloPolicy": false, "enable_TCP_Profile": false, "enable_TLS_Client": false, "enable_TLS_Server": false, "enable_UDP_Profile": false, "enable_WAF": false, "enable_iRules": false, "enable_mirroring": true, "enable_snat": true, "iRulesEnum": [], "multiCertificatesEnum": [], "perRequestAccessPolicyEnum": "", "pool": "juice", "snat_addresses": [], "snat_automap": true, "tls_c_1_1": false, "tls_c_1_2": true, "tls_c_1_3": false, "tls_s_1_2": true, "tls_s_1_3": false, "trustCACertificate": "", "virtualName": "bobs-vs", "virtualPort": 80 } ] } } As you can see, the structure of this JSON is siloed in a very similar way to the GUI: Note: For those readers who are wondering where the Deployment section is, that is handled in a separate API call after the blueprint has been created. I’ll discuss that in more detail later. In the sections below, I’ll review a few of the API endpoints you can use with some steps on how to perform the following common tasks: Viewing an existing Blueprint Creating a new Blueprint Deploying a Blueprint Viewing an Existing Blueprint Before we start creating a new Blueprint from scratch, it is probably a good idea to explain how we can view a list of our current Blueprints. To do so, we simply make a GET request to the following API endpoint: GET https://{{bigip_next_cm_mgmt_ip}}/api/v1/spaces/default/appsvcs/blueprints This will return a list of every Blueprint created by the GUI and/or API. Below is an example output: { "_embedded": { "appsvcs": [ { "_links": { "self": { "href": "/api/v1/spaces/default/appsvcs/blueprints//3f2ef264-cf09-45c8-a925-f2c8fccf09f6" } }, "created": "2024-06-25T13:32:22.160399Z", "deployments": [ { "id": "1e5f9c06-8800-4ab7-ad5e-648d55b83b68", "instance_id": "ce179e66-b075-4068-bc4e-8e212954da49", "target": { "address": "10.2.1.3" }, "parameters": { "pools": [ { "isServicePool": false, "poolMembers": [ { "address": "10.1.3.100", "name": "old" }, { "address": "10.2.3.100", "name": "new" } ], "poolName": "juice" } ], "virtuals": [ { "allow_networks": [], "enable_allow_networks": false, "virtualAddress": "10.2.2.11", "virtualName": "juice-shop" } ] }, "last_successful_deploy_time": "2024-06-25T17:46:00.193649Z", "modified": "2024-06-25T17:46:00.193649Z", "last_record": { "id": "cb6a06a1-c66d-41c3-a747-9a27b101a0f1", "task_id": "6a65642d-810b-4194-9693-91a15f6d1ef0", "created_application_path": "/applications/tenantSrLEVevFQnWwXT90590F3USQ/juice-shop", "start_time": "2024-06-25T17:45:55.392732Z", "end_time": "2024-06-25T17:46:00.193649Z", "status": "completed" } }, { "id": "001e14e8-7900-482a-bdd4-aca35967a5cc", "instance_id": "0546acf5-3b88-422d-a948-28bbf0973212", "target": { "address": "10.2.1.4" }, "parameters": { "pools": [ { "isServicePool": false, "poolMembers": [ { "address": "10.1.3.100", "name": "old" }, { "address": "10.2.3.100", "name": "new" } ], "poolName": "juice" } ], "virtuals": [ { "allow_networks": [], "enable_allow_networks": false, "virtualAddress": "10.2.2.12", "virtualName": "juice-shop" } ] }, "last_successful_deploy_time": "2024-06-25T17:46:07.94836Z", "modified": "2024-06-25T17:46:07.94836Z", "last_record": { "id": "8a8a29be-e56b-4ef1-bf6a-92f7ccc9e9b7", "task_id": "0632cc18-9f0f-4a5e-875a-0d769b02e19b", "created_application_path": "/applications/tenantSrLEVevFQnWwXT90590F3USQ/juice-shop", "start_time": "2024-06-25T17:45:55.406377Z", "end_time": "2024-06-25T17:46:07.94836Z", "status": "completed" } } ], "deployments_count": { "total": 2, "completed": 2 }, "description": "", "fqdn": "", "gslb_enabled": false, "id": "3f2ef264-cf09-45c8-a925-f2c8fccf09f6", "modified": "2024-06-25T17:32:09.174243Z", "name": "juice-shop", "set_name": "Examples", "successful_instances": 2, "template_name": "http", "tenant_name": "tenantSrLEVevFQnWwXT90590F3USQ", "type": "FAST" } ] }, "_links": { "self": { "href": "/api/v1/spaces/default/appsvcs/blueprints/" } }, "count": 1, "total": 1 } In the example above, I only have one Blueprint in my BIG-IP Next CM instance. If we look deeper into the output, we can start to see some detail around the configuration parameters as well as the deployment parameters for each BIG-IP. There is also an ID field in the JSON that we can use to reference a specific Blueprint. In the example above, we have: "id": "3f2ef264-cf09-45c8-a925-f2c8fccf09f6" This is important because as we start to modify, deploy, or delete our existing blueprints, we will need this ID to be able to make changes. We can also use this ID to view more detail on a specific Blueprint rather than an entire list of all Blueprints. To do so, we simply follow make a request to the endpoint below: GET https://{{bigip_next_cm_mgmt_ip}}/api/v1/spaces/default/appsvcs/blueprints/{{Blueprint_id}} In our example, this would be: GET https://{{bigip_next_cm_mgmt_ip}}/api/v1/spaces/default/appsvcs/blueprints/3f2ef264-cf09-45c8-a925-f2c8fccf09f6 The output from this API call provides robust detail on the Blueprint. It is probably too much detail to paste in an article like this, but there are some examples here if interested: https://clouddocs.f5.com/products/bigip-next/mgmt-api/latest/ApiReferences/bigip_public_api_ref/r_openapi-next.html#tag/Application-Services/operation/GetApplicationByID Viewing a Blueprint like this can provide us with the latest configuration of our application service so that we can ensure we are using the most up-to-date files. It also can provide us with some templates/example configurations that we can use to create new application services moving forward. Creating a new Blueprint Now that we have a pretty good understanding of the JSON structure and we know how to view some examples of Blueprints that have already been created, we can simply use them as a reference and create our own Blueprint from scratch. The basic format for creating a new Blueprint is below: { "name": <blueprint_name>, "set_name": <template_set> "template_name": <template_name>, "parameters": { "application_description": <simple_description>, "application_name": <blueprint_name>, "enable_Global_Resiliency": false, "pools": [ { <pool_configuration_parameters> } ], "virtuals": [ { <virtual_server_configuration parameters> } ] } } More detail on each of the variable values below: <blueprint_name> - This is the name you choose for your blueprint. I generally recommend this name be the same in both the “name” field and the “application_name” field which is why in the JSON above you’ll see this in both. <template_set> - This is going to be the template set containing your FAST template. If you are using the default templates provided to you, this value would be “Examples” <template_name> - This is the specific FAST template you are going to use for the configuration. If you are using the default template provided to you, this value would be “http” <simple_description> - This can be any short description you would like to use for your application service. <pool_configuration_parameters> - This will be the list of parameters that you are going to define for your pool. You do not have to fill in every single value if the FAST template contains values for that field. <virtual_server_configuration parameters> - This will be the list of parameters that you are going to define for your virtual server. You do not have to fill in every single value if the FAST template contains values for that field. Important Note: When creating your JSON, you will be defining a FAST template to use along with your application service (just like you would in the GUI). This means that you do not have to fill out every value under your pool and virtual server configuration. It will take in the values provided from your FAST template. With our guide above, we can now make a new Blueprint for the “bobs-blueprint” example I referenced earlier: { "name":"bobs-blueprint", "set_name": "Examples", "template_name": "http", "parameters": { "application_description":"This is a test of the blueprints api", "application_name": "bobs-blueprint", "pools": [ { "loadBalancingMode": "round-robin", "monitorType": [ "http" ], "poolName": "juice_pool", "servicePort": 3000 } ], "virtuals": [ { "pool": "juice_pool", "virtualName": "blueprint_vs", "virtualPort": 80 } ] } } As you can see, this is a much more condensed version of the original JSON I had for the example shown in the beginning of this article. Again, this is because we are referencing the FAST template “Examples/http” and taking in those values to configure the rest of the application service. With our newly created JSON, the last step to creating this Blueprint is to send this in a POST request to the following API endpoint: POST https://{{bigip_next_cm_mgmt_ip}}/api/v1/spaces/default/appsvcs/blueprints After sending our POST, you'll notice we are given the "id" of the Blueprint in the response. As mentioned above, we can use this ID to modify, deploy, etc. { "_links": { "self": { "href": "/api/v1/spaces/default/appsvcs/blueprints/9c35a614-65ac-4d18-8082-589ea9bc78d9/deployments" } }, "deployments": [ { "deploymentID": "1a153f44-acaf-4487-81c7-61b8b5498627", "instanceID": "4ef739d1-9ef1-4eb7-a5bb-36c6d1334b16", "status": "pending", "taskID": "518534c8-9368-48dd-b399-94f55e72d5a7", "task_type": "CREATE" }, { "deploymentID": "82ca8d6d-dbfd-43a8-a604-43f170d9f190", "instanceID": "0546acf5-3b88-422d-a948-28bbf0973212", "status": "pending", "taskID": "7ea24157-1412-4963-9560-56fb0ab78d8c", "task_type": "CREATE" } ], "id": "9c35a614-65ac-4d18-8082-589ea9bc78d9" } Now that the Blueprint has been created, we can go into our BIG-IP Next CM GUI and see our newly created application service: You’ll notice that our newly created application service is in Draft mode. This is because we have not deployed the service yet. We’ll discuss that in the next section. Deploying a Blueprint Once we have our Blueprint created, the final step is to configure the deployment. As discussed above, this is done through a separate API Call. The format for a deployment is as follows: { "deployments": [ { "parameters": { "pools": [ { "poolName": <pool_name> "poolMembers": [ { "name": <node1_name>, "address": <node1_ip_address> }, { "name": <node2_name>, "address": <node2_ip_address> } ] } ], "virtuals": [ { "virtualName": <virtual_server_name>, "virtualAddress": <virtual_server_ip_address> } ] }, "target": { "address": <bigip_instance_ip_address> }, "allow_overwrite": true } ] } Keep in mind that some of these values above are referencing names from your Blueprint configuration. These names need to be exactly the same. See below for more detail on each of these values: <pool_name> - This references the pool from your Blueprint. This value must match what was used for “poolName” in the pool configuration of the Blueprint. <node1_name> - This is any name you choose to describe your node in the pool <node1_ip_address> - This is the specific IP address for your node <node2_name> - If you are using more than one node, this would be the name you choose to represent your second node in the pool. This format can repeat for 3 nodes, 4 nodes, etc. <node2_ip_address> - If you are using more than one node, this would be the IP address of your second node. This format can repeat for 3 nodes, 4 nodes, etc. <virtual_server_name> - This references the virtual server from your Blueprint. This value must match what was used for “virtualName” in the virtuals configuration of the Blueprint. <virtual_server_ip_address> - This would be the IP address of the Virtual Server being deployed on the BIG-IP <bigip_instance_ip_address> - This is the IP address of the BIG-IP instance we are deploying to Important Note: If you are deploying the same application to more than one BIG-IP instance, you can include multiple deployment blocks in your API call. Using the format above, we can now create our deployment for “bobs-blueprint”: { "deployments": [ { "parameters": { "pools": [ { "poolName": "juice_pool", "poolMembers": [ { "name": "node1", "address": "10.1.3.100" } ] } ], "virtuals": [ { "virtualName": "blueprint_vs", "virtualAddress": "10.2.2.15" } ] }, "target": { "address": "10.2.1.3" }, "allow_overwrite": true }, { "parameters": { "pools": [ { "poolName": "juice_pool", "poolMembers": [ { "name": "node1", "address": "10.2.3.100" } ] } ], "virtuals": [ { "virtualName": "blueprint_vs", "virtualAddress": "10.2.2.20" } ] }, "target": { "address": "10.2.1.4" }, "allow_overwrite": true } ] } In this example deployment, I am deploying to two separate BIG-IP instances (10.2.1.3 and 10.2.1.4). This is where we can really start to see the value of the Blueprints API. With this structure, I can use the same pool and virtual server setup from our Blueprint, while still using different Virtual Server and Node IP addresses for the deployment at each instance. All of this is done with one API call. The final step is to send this in a POST request to our deployments endpoint. The endpoint is very similar to viewing a blueprint as it uses our same Blueprint ID. See the format below: POST https://{{bigip_next_cm_mgmt_ip}}/api/v1/spaces/default/appsvcs/blueprints/{{Blueprint_id}}/deployments Using the ID from the response we received after creating our example blueprint, our endpoint would be: POST https://{{bigip_next_cm_mgmt_ip}}/api/v1/spaces/default/appsvcs/blueprints/9c35a614-65ac-4d18-8082-589ea9bc78d9/deployments After sending our POST, we can go back to the BIG-IP Next CM GUI and see our application service is no longer considered a Draft. If we click into the application service, we’ll see our two deployments are up and healthy: Conclusion Hopefully after reading this article, you can see the value of using the Blueprints API for your automation. I think as an alternative to other automation methods, this can provide benefits such as: Same centrally managed format/structure as GUI created applications Since the BIG-IP Next CM GUI is already creating these JSON files under the hood, we can easily automate existing applications by using the Blueprints API for them moving forward Deployments are handled separately from your application configuration You can deploy your application service to multiple BIG-IP instances at once Combining the Blueprints API with FAST templates allows you make application on-boarding much more streamlined. If you liked this article and are looking for more information our our Blueprints API, please visit the API documentation here: https://clouddocs.f5.com/products/bigip-next/mgmt-api/latest/ApiReferences/bigip_public_api_ref/r_openapi-next.html#tag/Application-Services/operation/GetAllApplicationsService Discovery in F5 Distributed Cloud - Architecture Options
The F5 Distributed Cloud (XC) Virtual Edition (VE) Customer Edge (CE) platform can be deployed within your data center or cloud environment. It can perform service discovery for services in your Kubernetes (K8s) clusters. Why do Service discovery? Service discovery is important in systems that change and move around, like microservices architectures. It helps find and connect services automatically. Instead of hard coding network locations, service discovery makes sure that services can easily find and communicate with each other, even when they scale or change locations. This improves scalability, resilience, and simplifies managing services in complex environments like Kubernetes or cloud infrastructures. By reducing manual intervention, service discovery enhances the overall efficiency and reliability of application deployments. The F5 Distributed Cloud (XC) CE can use the native kube-apiserver, or Consul, to query for services as they come online enabling admins to reference these discovered services. These services become XC origin pool definitions and can then be published locally through a proxy (http load balancer) on the CE itself or via our Global Application Delivery Network (ADN) - (Regional Edge Deployment). The F5 XC Load Balancer does more than just balance packets. It offers a set of SAAS security services that are easy to use. Customers can have a globally redundant layer of security while serving content from private K8’s clusters. This write-up covers two distinct service discovery architecture options available with XC. Secure K8s Gateway (VE CE) Kubernetes Sitetype Customer Edge (K8s sitetype CE) Depending on your service discovery use-case you may end up with one of these two options or both as they are not mutually exclusive. The first option of using the CE as a Secure K8s Gateway, may be the easier option for folks not particularly versed with the nuances of Kubernetes. Architecture 1:Virtual Edition Customer Edge (VE CE) If a picture is worth a thousand words then a working lab environment is worth a million. This repo walks through an entire Secure K8s GW setup and will leave you with a config that could easily be expanded upon. You can quickly build a PoC and start getting familiar with these modern app capabilities by using these tools. The readme includes details on how to use everything and what functions the various tools provide. It's all shell script and yaml so it's very easy to read through these and understand what's going on. https://github.com/dober-man/ve-ce-secure-k8s-gw This repo is designed to automate the deployment and configuration of a secure Kubernetes Gateway in the F5 Distributed Cloud (F5 XC) environment. It provides scripts and YAML configurations to set up secure communication, networking policies, and infrastructure components required to establish a secure gateway in a Kubernetes cluster. The readme file also documents the pre-reqs but you will at a minimum need an XC tenant, an XC Virtual Edition CE and an Ubuntu 22.04 server. If you do not have an XC tenant or VE CE, reach out to your local F5 Account team. Please use the issues feature of Github to report any discrepancies with the builds or documentation. Architecture 2:Kubernetes Sitetype Customer Edge (K8s sitetype CE) In this architecture, the entire CE runs as a service within the cluster. This model is going to require a bit more fundamental knowledge of Kubernetes and more tightly integrates with the cluster. You can quickly build a PoC and start getting familiar with these modern app capabilities by using this repo. https://github.com/dober-man/k8s-sitetype-ce This repo is focused on automating the deployment of the k8s-sitetype CE in a Kubernetes cluster. It provides scripts to simplify the process of setting up a secure site gateway for handling network traffic between cloud environments, on-premises infrastructure, and edge locations. The readme file documents the pre-reqs, but you will at a minimum need an XC tenant and an Ubuntu 22.04 server. If you do not have an XC tenant, reach out to your local F5 Account team. Please use the issues feature of Github to report any discrepancies with the builds or documentation. Summary - F5 Distributed Cloud offers a number of Kubernetes integration options for service discovery but also offers several other capabilities including Virtual K8s (Namespace as a Service) and Managed K8s which will be covered in future articles. Please feel free to drop a like or leave a comment below.Seamless App Connectivity with F5 and Nutanix Cloud Services
Modern enterprise networks face the challenge of connecting diverse cloud services and partner ecosystems, expanding routing domains and distributed application connections. As network complexity grows, the need to onboard applications quickly become paramount despite intricate networking operations. Automation tools like Ansible help manage network and security devices. But it is still hard to connect distributed applications across new systems like clouds and Kubernetes. This article explores F5 Distributed Cloud Services (XC), which facilitates intent-based application-to-application connectivity across varied infrastructures. Expanding and increasingly sophisticated enterprise networks Traditional data center networks typically rely on VLAN-isolated architectures with firewall ACLs for intra-network security. With digital transformation and cloud migrations, new systems work with existing networks. They move from VLANs to labels and namespaces like Kubernetes and Red Hat OpenShift. Future trends point to increased edge computing adoption, further complicating network infrastructures. Managing these complexities raises costs due to design, implementation, and testing impacts of network changes. Network infrastructure is becoming more complex due to factors such as increased NAT settings, routing adjustments, added ACLs, and the need to remove duplicate IP addresses when integrating new and existing networks. This growing complexity drives up the costs of design, implementation, and testing, amplifying the impact of network changes A typical network uses firewalls to control access between VLANs or isolated networks based on security policies. Access lists (ACLs) are organized by source and destination applications or clients. The order of ACLs is important because shorter prefixes can override longer ones. In some cases, ACLs exceed 10,000 lines, making it difficult to identify which rules impact application connectivity. As a result, ACLs for discontinued applications often remain in the firewall configuration, posing potential security risks. However, refactoring ACLs requires significant effort and testing. F5 XC addresses the ACL issue by managing all application connectivity across on-premises, data centers, and clouds. Its load balancer connects applications through VLANs, VPCs, and other networks. Each load balancer has its own application control and associated ACLs, ensuring changes to one load balancer don’t affect others. When an application is discontinued, its load balancer is deleted, preventing leftover configurations and reducing security risks. SNAT/DNAT is commonly used to resolve IP conflicts, but it reduces observability since each NAT table between the client and application must be referenced. ACL implementations vary across router/firewall vendors—some apply filters before NAT, others after. Logs may follow this behavior, making IP address normalization difficult. Pre-NAT IP addresses must be managed across the entire network, adding complexity and increasing costs. F5 XC simplifies distributed load balancing by terminating client sessions and forwarding them to endpoints. Clients and endpoints only need IP reachability to the CE interface. The load balancer can use a VIP for client access, but global management isn't required, as the client-side network sets it. It provides clear source/destination data, making application access easy to track without managing NAT IP addresses. F5 Distributed Cloud MCN/Network as a Service F5XC offers an all-in-one software package for networking and security, managed through a single console with intent-based configuration. This eliminates the need for separate appliance setups. Furthermore, firewall, load balancer, WAF changes, and function updates are done via SDN without causing downtime. The F5 XC Customer Edge (CE) works across physical appliances, VMs, containers, and clouds, creating overlay tunnels between CEs. Acting as an application gateway, it isolatesrouting domains and terminates L3 routing, while maintaining best practices for cloud, Kubernetes, and on-prem networks. This simplifies physical network configurations, speeding up provisioning and reducing costs. How CE works in enterprise network This design is straightforward: CEs are deployed in the cloud and the user’s data center. In this example, the data center CE connects four networks: Underlay network for CE-to-CE connectivity Cloud application network (VPC/VNET) Branch office network Data center application network The data center CE connects the branch office and application networks to their respective VRFs, while the cloud CE links the cloud network to a VRF. The application runs on VLAN 100 (192.168.1.1) in the data center, while clients are in the branch office. The load balancer configuration is as follows: Load balancer: Branch office VRF Domain: ent-app1.com Endpoint (Origin pool): Onpre-VLAN100 VRF, 192.168.1.1 Clients access "ent-app1.com," which resolves to a VIP or CE interface address. The CE identifies the application’s location, and since the endpoint is in the same CE within the Onpre-VLAN100 VRF, it sets the source IP as the CE and forwards traffic to 192.168.1.1. Next, the application is migrated to the cloud. The CE facilitates this transition from on-premises to the cloud by specifying the endpoint. The load balancer configuration is as follows: Load Balancer: Branch Office VRF Domain: ent-app1.com Endpoint (Origin Pool): AWS-VPC VRF, 10.0.0.1 When traffic arrives at the CE from a client in the branch office, the CE in the data center forwards the traffic to the CE on AWS through an overlay tunnel. The only configuration change required is updating the endpoint via the console. There is no need to modify the firewall, switch, or router in the underlay network. Kubernetes networking is unique because it abstracts IP addresses. Applications use FQDNs instead of IP addresses and are isolated by namespace or label. When accessing the external network, Kubernetes uses SNAT to map the IP address to that of the Kubernetes node, masking the source of the traffic. CE can run as a pod within a Kubernetes namespace. Combining a CE on Kubernetes with a CE on-premises offers flexible external access to Kubernetes applications without complex configurations like Multus. F5XC simplifies connectivity by providing a common configuration for linking Kubernetes to on-premises and cloud environments via a load balancer. The load balancer configuration is as follows: Load Balancer: Kubernetes Domain: ent-app1.com Endpoint (Origin Pool): Onprem-vlan100 VRF, 192.168.1.1 / AWS-VPC VRF, 10.0.0.1 * Related blog https://community.f5.com/kb/technicalarticles/multi-cluster-multi-cloud-networking-for-k8s-with-f5-distributed-cloud-%E2%80%93-archite/307125 Load balancer observability The Load Balancer in F5XC offers advanced observability features, including end-to-end network latency, L7 request logs, and API visualization. It automatically aggregates data from various logs and metrics, (see below). You can also generate API graphs from the aggregated data. This allows users to identify which APIs are in use and create policies to block unnecessary ones. Demo movie The video demonstration shows how F5 XC connects applications across different environments, including VM, Kubernetes, on-premises, and cloud. CE delivers both L3 and L7 connectivity across these environments. Conclusion F5 Distributed Cloud Services (F5XC) simplifies enterprise networking by integrating applications seamlessly across VMs, Kubernetes, on-premises, and cloud environments. By minimizing physical network modifications and leveraging best practices from diverse infrastructure systems, F5XC enables efficient, scalable, and secure application connectivity. Key Benefits: - Simplified physical network design - Network as a Service for seamless application communication and visibility - Integration with new networking paradigms like Kubernetes and SASE Looking Ahead As new networking systems emerge, F5XC remains adaptable, leveraging APIs for self-service network configurations and enabling future-ready enterprise networks.
Use Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) for GSLB Pool Member with F5 DNS
Normally, we define a specific IP (and port) to be used as GSLB pool member. This article provides a custom configuration to be able to use Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) as GSLB pool member--with all GSLB features like health-check monitoring, load balancing method, persistence, etc. Despite GSLB as a mechanism to distribute traffic across datacenters having reached years of age, it has not become less relevant this recent years. The fact that internet infrastructure still rely heavily on DNS technology means GSLB is continuously used due to is lightweight nature and smooth integration. When using F5 DNS as GSLB solution, usually we are dealing with LTM and its VS as GSLB server and pool member respectively. Sometimes, we will add a non-LTM node as a generic server to provide inter-DC load balancing capability. Either way, we will end up with a pair of IP and port to represent the application, in which we sent a health-check against. Due to the trend of public cloud and CDN, there is a need to use FQDN as GSLB pool member (instead of IP and port pair). Some of us may immediately think of using a CNAME-type GSLB pool to accommodate this. However, there is a limitation in which BIG-IP requires a CNAME-type GSLB pool to use a wideIP-type pool member, in which we will end up with an IP and port pair (again!) We can use "static target", but there is "side-effect" where the pool member will always consider available (which then triggers the question why we need to use GSLB in the first place!). Additionally, F5 BIG-IP TMUI accepts FQDN input when we configure GSLB server and pool member. However, it will immediately translate to IP based on configured DNS. Thus, this is not the solution we are looking for Now this is where F5’s BIG-IP power (a.k.a programmability) comes into play. Enter the realm of customization... We all love customization, but at the same time do not want that to be overly complicated so that life becomes harder on day-2 🙃. Thus, the key is to use some customization, but simple enough to avoid unnecessary complication. Here is one idea to solve our FQDN as GSLB pool problem above The customized configuration object includes 1. External health-check monitor: Dynamically resolve DNS to translate FQDN into IP address Perform health-check monitoring against current IP address Result is used to determine GSLB pool member availability status 2. DNS iRules: Check #1: Checks if GSLB pool attached to wideIP contains only FQDN-type member (e.g. other pool referring to LTM VS is also attached to the wideIP) If false, do nothing (let DNS response refer to LTM VS) Otherwise, perform check #2 Check #2: Checks current health-check status of requested domain name If FQDN is up, modify DNS response to return current IP of FQDN Otherwise, perform fallback action as requirement (e.g. return empty response, return static IP, use fallback pool, etc.) 3. Internal Datagroup: Store current IP of FQDN, updated according to health-check interval Datagroup record value contains current IP if health-check success. Otherwise, the value contains empty data Here are some of the codes, where configured; wideIP is gslb.test.com, while GSLB pool member FQDN is arcadia.f5poc.id 1. External health-check monitor config gtm monitor external gslb_external_monitor { defaults-from external destination *:* interval 10 probe-timeout 5 run /Common/gslb_external_monitor_script timeout 120 #define FQDN here user-defined fqdn arcadia.f5poc.id } External health-check monitor script #!/bin/sh pidfile="/var/run/$MONITOR_NAME.$1..$2.pid" if [ -f $pidfile ] then kill -9 -`cat $pidfile` > /dev/null 2>&1 fi echo "$$" > $pidfile # Obtain current IP for the FQDN resolv=`dig +short ${fqdn}` # The actual monitoring action here curl -fIs -k https://${fqdn}/ --resolve ${fqdn}:443:${resolv} | grep -i HTTP 2>&1 > /dev/null status=$? if [ $status -eq 0 ] then # Actions when health-check success rm -f $pidfile tmsh modify ltm data-group internal fqdn { records replace-all-with { $fqdn { data $resolv } } } echo "sending monitor to ${fqdn} ${resolv} with result OK" | logger -p local0.info echo "up" else # Actions when health-check fails tmsh modify ltm data-group internal fqdn { records replace-all-with { $fqdn { } } } echo "sending monitor to ${fqdn} ${resolv} with result NOK" | logger -p local0.info fi rm -f $pidfile 2. DNS iRules when DNS_REQUEST { set qname [DNS::question name] # Obtain current IP for the FQDN set currentip [class match -value $qname equals fqdn] } when DNS_RESPONSE { set rname [getfield [lindex [split [DNS::answer]] 4] "\}" 1 ] #Check if return is IP address of specially encoded FQDN IP, 10.10.10.10 in this example if {$rname eq "10.10.10.10" }{ #Response is only from pool with external monitor, meaning no other pool is attached to wideIP if {$currentip ne ""}{ #Current FQDN health-check success DNS::answer clear # Use current IP to construct DNS answer section DNS::answer insert "[DNS::question name]. 123 [DNS::question class] [DNS::question type] $currentip" } else { #Current FQDN health-check failed #Define action to be performed here DNS::answer clear } } } 3. Internal Datagroup ltm data-group internal fqdn { records { # Define FQDN as record name arcadia.f5poc.id { # Record data contains IP, where this will be continuously updated by external monitoring script data 158.140.176.219 } } type string } *GSLB virtual server configuration Some testing The resolve will follow whichever current IP address for the FQDN. If a returning CNAME response is required, you can do so by modifying DNS irules above. The logic and code are open to any improvement, so leave your suggestions in the comments if you have any. Thanks!Advanced WAF v16.0 - Declarative API
Since v15.1 (in draft), F5® BIG-IP® Advanced WAF™ canimport Declarative WAF policy in JSON format. The F5® BIG-IP® Advanced Web Application Firewall (Advanced WAF) security policies can be deployed using the declarative JSON format, facilitating easy integration into a CI/CD pipeline. The declarative policies are extracted from a source control system, for example Git, and imported into the BIG-IP. Using the provided declarative policy templates, you can modify the necessary parameters, save the JSON file, and import the updated security policy into your BIG-IP devices. The declarative policy copies the content of the template and adds the adjustments and modifications on to it. The templates therefore allow you to concentrate only on the specific settings that need to be adapted for the specific application that the policy protects. ThisDeclarative WAF JSON policyis similar toNGINX App Protect policy. You can find more information on theDeclarative Policyhere : NAP :https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-app-protect/policy/ Adv. WAF :https://techdocs.f5.com/en-us/bigip-15-1-0/big-ip-declarative-security-policy.html Audience This guide is written for IT professionals who need to automate their WAF policy and are familiar with Advanced WAF configuration. These IT professionals can fill a variety of roles: SecOps deploying and maintaining WAF policy in Advanced WAF DevOps deploying applications in modern environment and willing to integrate Advanced WAF in their CI/CD pipeline F5 partners who sell technology or create implementation documentation This article covershow to PUSH/PULL a declarative WAF policy in Advanced WAF: With Postman With AS3 Table of contents Upload Policy in BIG-IP Check the import Apply the policy OpenAPI Spec File import AS3 declaration CI/CD integration Find the Policy-ID Update an existing policy Video demonstration First of all, you need aJSON WAF policy, as below : { "policy": { "name": "policy-api-arcadia", "description": "Arcadia API", "template": { "name": "POLICY_TEMPLATE_API_SECURITY" }, "enforcementMode": "blocking", "server-technologies": [ { "serverTechnologyName": "MySQL" }, { "serverTechnologyName": "Unix/Linux" }, { "serverTechnologyName": "MongoDB" } ], "signature-settings": { "signatureStaging": false }, "policy-builder": { "learnOnlyFromNonBotTraffic": false } } } 1. Upload Policy in BIG-IP There are 2 options to upload a JSON file into the BIG-IP: 1.1 Either youPUSHthe file into the BIG-IP and you IMPORT IT OR 1.2 the BIG-IPPULLthe file froma repository (and the IMPORT is included)<- BEST option 1.1PUSH JSON file into the BIG-IP The call is below. As you can notice, it requires a 'Content-Range' header. And the value is 0-(filesize-1)/filesize. In the example below, the file size is 662 bytes. This is not easy to integrate in a CICD pipeline, so we created the PULL method instead of the PUSH (in v16.0) curl --location --request POST 'https://10.1.1.12/mgmt/tm/asm/file-transfer/uploads/policy-api.json' \ --header 'Content-Range: 0-661/662' \ --header 'Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --data-binary '@/C:/Users/user/Desktop/policy-api.json' At this stage,the policy is still a filein the BIG-IP file system. We need toimportit into Adv. WAF. To do so, the next call is required. This call import the file "policy-api.json" uploaded previously. AnCREATEthe policy /Common/policy-api-arcadia curl --location --request POST 'https://10.1.1.12/mgmt/tm/asm/tasks/import-policy/' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/javascript' \ --header 'Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=' \ --data-raw '{ "filename":"policy-api.json", "policy": { "fullPath":"/Common/policy-api-arcadia" } }' 1.2PULL JSON file from a repository Here, theJSON file is hosted somewhere(in Gitlab or Github ...). And theBIG-IP will pull it. The call is below. As you can notice, the call refers to the remote repo and the body is a JSON payload. Just change the link value with your JSON policy URL. With one call, the policy isPULLEDandIMPORTED. curl --location --request POST 'https://10.1.1.12/mgmt/tm/asm/tasks/import-policy/' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --header 'Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=' \ --data-raw '{ "fileReference": { "link": "http://10.1.20.4/root/as3-waf/-/raw/master/policy-api.json" } }' Asecond versionof this call exists, and refer to the fullPath of the policy.This will allow you to update the policy, from a second version of the JSON file, easily.One call for the creation and the update. As you can notice below, we add the"policy":"fullPath" directive. The value of the "fullPath" is thepartitionand thename of the policyset in the JSON policy file. This method is VERY USEFUL for CI/CD integrations. curl --location --request POST 'https://10.1.1.12/mgmt/tm/asm/tasks/import-policy/' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --header 'Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=' \ --data-raw '{ "fileReference": { "link": "http://10.1.20.4/root/as3-waf/-/raw/master/policy-api.json" }, "policy": { "fullPath":"/Common/policy-api-arcadia" } }' 2. Check the IMPORT Check if the IMPORT worked. To do so, run the next call. curl --location --request GET 'https://10.1.1.12/mgmt/tm/asm/tasks/import-policy/' \ --header 'Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=' \ You should see a 200 OK, with the content below (truncated in this example). Please notice the"status":"COMPLETED". { "kind": "tm:asm:tasks:import-policy:import-policy-taskcollectionstate", "selfLink": "https://localhost/mgmt/tm/asm/tasks/import-policy?ver=16.0.0", "totalItems": 11, "items": [ { "isBase64": false, "executionStartTime": "2020-07-21T15:50:22Z", "status": "COMPLETED", "lastUpdateMicros": 1.595346627e+15, "getPolicyAttributesOnly": false, ... From now, your policy is imported and created in the BIG-IP. You can assign it to a VS as usual (Imperative Call or AS3 Call).But in the next session, I will show you how to create a Service with AS3 including the WAF policy. 3. APPLY the policy As you may know, a WAF policy needs to be applied after each change. This is the call. curl --location --request POST 'https://10.1.1.12/mgmt/tm/asm/tasks/apply-policy/' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --header 'Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=' \ --data-raw '{"policy":{"fullPath":"/Common/policy-api-arcadia"}}' 4. OpenAPI spec file IMPORT As you know,Adv. WAF supports OpenAPI spec (2.0 and 3.0). Now, with the declarative WAF, we can import the OAS file as well. The BEST solution, is toPULL the OAS filefrom a repo. And in most of the customer' projects, it will be the case. In the example below, the OAS file is hosted in SwaggerHub(Github for Swagger files). But the file could reside in a private Gitlab repo for instance. The URL of the projectis :https://app.swaggerhub.com/apis/F5EMEASSA/Arcadia-OAS3/1.0.0-oas3 The URL of the OAS file is :https://api.swaggerhub.com/apis/F5EMEASSA/Arcadia-OAS3/1.0.0-oas3 This swagger file (OpenAPI 3.0 Spec file) includes all the application URL and parameters. What's more, it includes the documentation (for NGINX APIm Dev Portal). Now, it ispretty easy to create a WAF JSON Policy with API Security template, referring to the OAS file. Below, you can notice thenew section "open-api-files"with the link reference to SwaggerHub. And thenew templatePOLICY_TEMPLATE_API_SECURITY. Now, when I upload / import and apply the policy, Adv. WAF will download the OAS file from SwaggerHub and create the policy based on API_Security template. { "policy": { "name": "policy-api-arcadia", "description": "Arcadia API", "template": { "name": "POLICY_TEMPLATE_API_SECURITY" }, "enforcementMode": "blocking", "server-technologies": [ { "serverTechnologyName": "MySQL" }, { "serverTechnologyName": "Unix/Linux" }, { "serverTechnologyName": "MongoDB" } ], "signature-settings": { "signatureStaging": false }, "policy-builder": { "learnOnlyFromNonBotTraffic": false }, "open-api-files": [ { "link": "https://api.swaggerhub.com/apis/F5EMEASSA/Arcadia-OAS3/1.0.0-oas3" } ] } } 5. AS3 declaration Now, it is time to learn how we cando all of these steps in one call with AS3(3.18 minimum). The documentation is here :https://clouddocs.f5.com/products/extensions/f5-appsvcs-extension/latest/declarations/application-security.html?highlight=waf_policy#virtual-service-referencing-an-external-security-policy With thisAS3 declaration, we: Import the WAF policy from a external repo Import the Swagger file (if the WAF policy refers to an OAS file) from an external repo Create the service { "class": "AS3", "action": "deploy", "persist": true, "declaration": { "class": "ADC", "schemaVersion": "3.2.0", "id": "Prod_API_AS3", "API-Prod": { "class": "Tenant", "defaultRouteDomain": 0, "API": { "class": "Application", "template": "generic", "VS_API": { "class": "Service_HTTPS", "remark": "Accepts HTTPS/TLS connections on port 443", "virtualAddresses": ["10.1.10.27"], "redirect80": false, "pool": "pool_NGINX_API_AS3", "policyWAF": { "use": "Arcadia_WAF_API_policy" }, "securityLogProfiles": [{ "bigip": "/Common/Log all requests" }], "profileTCP": { "egress": "wan", "ingress": { "use": "TCP_Profile" } }, "profileHTTP": { "use": "custom_http_profile" }, "serverTLS": { "bigip": "/Common/arcadia_client_ssl" } }, "Arcadia_WAF_API_policy": { "class": "WAF_Policy", "url": "http://10.1.20.4/root/as3-waf-api/-/raw/master/policy-api.json", "ignoreChanges": true }, "pool_NGINX_API_AS3": { "class": "Pool", "monitors": ["http"], "members": [{ "servicePort": 8080, "serverAddresses": ["10.1.20.9"] }] }, "custom_http_profile": { "class": "HTTP_Profile", "xForwardedFor": true }, "TCP_Profile": { "class": "TCP_Profile", "idleTimeout": 60 } } } } } 6. CI/CID integration As you can notice, it is very easy to create a service with a WAF policy pulled from an external repo. So, it is easy to integrate these calls (or the AS3 call) into a CI/CD pipeline. Below, an Ansible playbook example. This playbook run the AS3 call above. That's it :) --- - hosts: bigip connection: local gather_facts: false vars: my_admin: "admin" my_password: "admin" bigip: "10.1.1.12" tasks: - name: Deploy AS3 WebApp uri: url: "https://{{ bigip }}/mgmt/shared/appsvcs/declare" method: POST headers: "Content-Type": "application/json" "Authorization": "Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=" body: "{{ lookup('file','as3.json') }}" body_format: json validate_certs: no status_code: 200 7. FIND the Policy-ID When the policy is created, a Policy-ID is assigned. By default, this ID doesn't appearanywhere. Neither in the GUI, nor in the response after the creation. You have to calculate it or ask for it. This ID is required for several actions in a CI/CD pipeline. 7.1 Calculate the Policy-ID Wecreated this python script to calculate the Policy-ID. It is an hash from the Policy name (including the partition). For the previous created policy named"/Common/policy-api-arcadia",the policy ID is"Ar5wrwmFRroUYsMA6DuxlQ" Paste this python codein a newwaf-policy-id.pyfile, and run the commandpython waf-policy-id.py "/Common/policy-api-arcadia" Outcome will beThe Policy-ID for /Common/policy-api-arcadia is: Ar5wrwmFRroUYsMA6DuxlQ #!/usr/bin/python from hashlib import md5 import base64 import sys pname = sys.argv[1] print 'The Policy-ID for', sys.argv[1], 'is:', base64.b64encode(md5(pname.encode()).digest()).replace("=", "") 7.2 Retrieve the Policy-ID and fullPath with a REST API call Make this call below, and you will see in the response, all the policy creations. Find yours and collect thePolicyReference directive.The Policy-ID is in the link value "link": "https://localhost/mgmt/tm/asm/policies/Ar5wrwmFRroUYsMA6DuxlQ?ver=16.0.0" You can see as well, at the end of the definition, the "fileReference"referring to the JSON file pulled by the BIG-IP. And please notice the"fullPath", required if you want to update your policy curl --location --request GET 'https://10.1.1.12/mgmt/tm/asm/tasks/import-policy/' \ --header 'Content-Range: 0-601/601' \ --header 'Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=' \ { "isBase64": false, "executionStartTime": "2020-07-22T11:23:42Z", "status": "COMPLETED", "lastUpdateMicros": 1.595417027e+15, "getPolicyAttributesOnly": false, "kind": "tm:asm:tasks:import-policy:import-policy-taskstate", "selfLink": "https://localhost/mgmt/tm/asm/tasks/import-policy/B45J0ySjSJ9y9fsPZ2JNvA?ver=16.0.0", "filename": "", "policyReference": { "link": "https://localhost/mgmt/tm/asm/policies/Ar5wrwmFRroUYsMA6DuxlQ?ver=16.0.0", "fullPath": "/Common/policy-api-arcadia" }, "endTime": "2020-07-22T11:23:47Z", "startTime": "2020-07-22T11:23:42Z", "id": "B45J0ySjSJ9y9fsPZ2JNvA", "retainInheritanceSettings": false, "result": { "policyReference": { "link": "https://localhost/mgmt/tm/asm/policies/Ar5wrwmFRroUYsMA6DuxlQ?ver=16.0.0", "fullPath": "/Common/policy-api-arcadia" }, "message": "The operation was completed successfully. The security policy name is '/Common/policy-api-arcadia'. " }, "fileReference": { "link": "http://10.1.20.4/root/as3-waf/-/raw/master/policy-api.json" } }, 8 UPDATE an existing policy It is pretty easy to update the WAF policy from a new JSON file version. To do so, collect from the previous call7.2 Retrieve the Policy-ID and fullPath with a REST API callthe"Policy" and"fullPath"directive. This is the path of the Policy in the BIG-IP. Then run the call below, same as1.2 PULL JSON file from a repository,but add thePolicy and fullPath directives Don't forget to APPLY this new version of the policy3. APPLY the policy curl --location --request POST 'https://10.1.1.12/mgmt/tm/asm/tasks/import-policy/' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --header 'Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=' \ --data-raw '{ "fileReference": { "link": "http://10.1.20.4/root/as3-waf/-/raw/master/policy-api.json" }, "policy": { "fullPath":"/Common/policy-api-arcadia" } }' TIP : this call, above, can be used in place of the FIRST call when we created the policy "1.2PULL JSON file from a repository". But be careful, the fullPath is the name set in the JSON policy file. The 2 values need to match: "name": "policy-api-arcadia" in the JSON Policy file pulled by the BIG-IP "policy":"fullPath" in the POST call 9 Video demonstration In order to help you to understand how it looks with the BIG-IP, I created this video covering 4 topics explained in this article : The JSON WAF policy Pull the policy from a remote repository Update the WAF policy with a new version of the declarative JSON file Deploy a full service with AS3 and Declarative WAF policy At the end of this video, you will be able to adapt the REST Declarative API calls to your infrastructure, in order to deploy protected services with your CI/CD pipelines. Direct link to the video on DevCentral YouTube channel : https://youtu.be/EDvVwlwEFRwBIG-IP Next Central Manager API with Postman
In my last article I dove into the Central Manager AS3 endpoints with thecURL command. As I was preparing for this one, I thought it would work better as a live stream than a traditional article. Here's the stream you can watch in the replay, and the resources I mentioned on the stream are posted below. Show description: I've been working with the BIG-IP Next API from the API reference and with curl on the command line, and I gotta tell you, as much as I don't love Postman, it's super handy when learning an API. In this episode of DevCentral Connects, I'll download the collection from the Next documentation, get the environment variables set up, and walk through some of the tasks available in the collection to start working with the BIG-IP Next API. Resources BIG-IP Next Articles on DevCentral BIG-IP Next Academy group on DevCentral Embracing AS3: Foundations BIG-IP Next automation: AS3 basics BIG-IP Next automation: Working with the AS3 endpoints 20.0 Postman collection 20.1 Postman collection 20.2 Postman collectionF5 BIG-IP APM with Omnissa Workspace ONE Access
This article discusses the collaboration between Omnissa and F5 to integrate Workspace ONE Access Cloud with F5 Access Policy Manager (APM). Workspace ONE Access unifies applications and desktops into a single, aggregated workspace, allowing employees to access resources from anywhere while simplifying IT administration through fewer management points and flexible access. The deployment of Workspace ONE Access in the cloud centralizes assets, devices, and applications, enabling secure management of users and data. Organizations benefit from instant upgrades without maintenance outages. The document provides detailed instructions for configuring Workspace ONE Access Cloud as an Identity Provider (IDP) in front of F5 APM as a Service Provider (SP), utilizing APM as a gateway for Omnissa Horizon. This integration aims to offer a comprehensive view of the workspace, ensuring robust DMZ security and scalability with the F5 PCoIP/Blast Proxy in conjunction with Omnissa Horizon.
