Weblogic JSessionID Persistence
Problem this snippet solves: Contributed by: unRuleY, Summarized by: deb Note: The previous version of this iRule contained escaped newlines following the session command, which in versions 10.0 - 10.2.0 causes TMM to core as documented in CR135937 / SOL11427. This was fixed in 10.2.1. See this related Codeshare example for details on how to take advantage of session replication on the WebLogic servers with targeted node failover in an iRule. Provides persistence on the jsessionid value found in either the URI or a cookie. When a request is received, the iRule first looks for a "jsessionid" cookie, and if not found, for a "jsessionid" parameter in the requested URI. If either is found, a persistence record is created if it doesn't already exist, or followed if it does. If neither is found, the request is load balanced according to the load balancing method applied to the virtual server and persisted based on the client's IP address. In order to ensure the second and subsequent requests follow the first, LTM must create a persistence record indicating the pool member to which the first request was load balanced. If the server is setting the jsessionid in a cookie, the persistence key value may be extracted from the server response to create the persistence record. If the server is setting the jsessionid in the URLs, source address persistence with a short timeout is recommended to track the original destination until the jsessionid is sent. How to use this snippet: To ensure a new persistence record is followed when a request is re-load balanced in a client-side Keep-Alive connection, apply a OneConnect profile to the virtual server. The iRule assumes the jsessionid is in upper case when used as a cookie name. If this isn't the case, please update the example. To persist on jsessionid, create the iRule below and create a custom Universal persistence profile, with Match Across Services enabled, that uses the iRule. Then use this custom Universal persistence profile as the Default Persistence profile on your Virtual Server. Applying a Fallback Persistence profile of type Source Address Affinity with a host mask and a short timeout (the default source_addr persistence profile will do the trick) to your Virtual Server is also recommended. Attention, if you are running firmware 11.0 - 11.2.1 and enabled "Match Across Services"! There is a bug inside. SOL14061 This iRule requires LTM v10. or higher. Code : when HTTP_REQUEST { # Log details for the request set log_prefix "[IP::client_addr]:[TCP::client_port]" log local0. "$log_prefix: Request to [HTTP::uri] with cookie: [HTTP::cookie value JSESSIONID]" # Check if there is a JSESSIONID cookie if { [HTTP::cookie "JSESSIONID"] ne "" }{ # Persist off of the cookie value with a timeout of 1 hour (3600 seconds) persist uie [string tolower [HTTP::cookie "JSESSIONID"]] 3600 # Log that we're using the cookie value for persistence and the persistence key if it exists. log local0. "$log_prefix: Used persistence record from cookie. Existing key? [persist lookup uie [string tolower [HTTP::cookie "JSESSIONID"]]]" } else { # Parse the jsessionid from the path. The jsessionid, when included in the URI, is in the path, # not the query string: /path/to/file.ext;jsessionid=1234?param=value set jsess [findstr [string tolower [HTTP::path]] "jsessionid=" 11] # Use the jsessionid from the path for persisting with a timeout of 1 hour (3600 seconds) if { $jsess != "" } { persist uie $jsess 3600 # Log that we're using the path jessionid for persistence and the persistence key if it exists. log local0. "$log_prefix: Used persistence record from path: [persist lookup uie $jsess]" } } } when HTTP_RESPONSE { # Check if there is a jsessionid cookie in the response if { [HTTP::cookie "JSESSIONID"] ne "" }{ # Persist off of the cookie value with a timeout of 1 hour (3600 seconds) persist add uie [string tolower [HTTP::cookie "JSESSIONID"]] 3600 log local0. "$log_prefix: Added persistence record from cookie: [persist lookup uie [string tolower [HTTP::cookie "JSESSIONID"]]]" } }A Method for the Madness: Meet HTTP QUERY
Note to the reader: I saw a headline on the new QUERY method and in a quick read didn't really understand the need, so I did a deep dive with Claude to understand the method itself, then followed with the larger infrastructure, security, and operational impacts for the implementation transitional period. This article is a summary of that session and co-authored by Claude. Every REST API grows a POST /search endpoint sooner or later — not because POST is the right tool for reading data, but because GET can't carry a body and your filter JSON stopped fitting in the URL years ago. The IETF closed that gap. On 15 June 2026 the RFC Editor published RFC 10008, "The HTTP QUERY Method" — a 24-page Proposed Standard on the IETF Standards Track. It's the first genuinely new HTTP method since PATCH landed as RFC 5789 in 2010, a 16-year gap. QUERY gives you the one thing GET and POST each refuse to provide: a safe, idempotent, cacheable request that carries a body. The TL;DR What it is: QUERY is a new, IANA-registered HTTP method that is safe and idempotent like GET, but carries a request body like POST. The body defines the query. Why it exists: GET is semantically correct for reads but forces the query into the URL (length limits, encoding pain, logging/bookmarking leakage). POST /search carries a body but lies to the infrastructure — nothing in the protocol signals the request is read-only, so caches, retry logic, and proxies can't treat it as one. QUERY is the missing middle. What's new on the wire: Nothing special. Any existing HTTP/1.1 or HTTP/2 connection carries it today. The friction is at every layer that has opinions about methods. The security headline: "Safe" is a promise about intent, not a guarantee about payloads. QUERY bodies need POST-level inspection, cache keys must include the full body (or you get cache poisoning), CSRF checks still apply to any endpoint with side effects, and method allowlists written before June 2026 don't know QUERY exists. Where support stands (mid-2026): Node.js has parsed QUERY since early 2024; OpenAPI 3.2 documents it; browsers can send it via fetch()/XHR but don't yet cache it; declarative HTML forms fall back to GET and drop the body; Spring hasn't shipped support. Treat it as production-ready for server-to-server, early-stage for browser-facing traffic. What to do: Don't rip out POST /search. QUERY sits alongside GET and POST — migrate gradually, and confirm every infrastructure layer handles it deliberately before real traffic arrives. The two-tool problem For as long as most of us have built APIs, reading data from a server meant choosing between two imperfect tools. GET has exactly the semantics you want for reads: safe (no state change expected), idempotent, and cacheable. The catch is that GET has no generally defined semantics for a request body — core HTTP semantics (RFC 9110 §9.3.1) even warn that a body on a GET can lead implementations to reject the request or treat it as a request-smuggling attempt. So the query has to go in the URL, and that runs into hard walls: URL length limits vary per proxy, load balancer, and server, and you discover the smallest one in the chain at runtime. RFC 9110 only recommends supporting URIs of at least ~8,000 octets, and that's a floor, not a promise. Some data is awkward to encode in a URI at all. Request URIs get logged, bookmarked, and dropped into Referer headers and analytics. And a nested filter object with arrays and boolean logic becomes an unreadable, fragile query string. POST fixes the body problem and creates a semantic one. A POST can create a record, update state, trigger a job, submit a form, or just run a search — and the HTTP layer can't tell which. Your application knows POST /search is read-only, but that's a private agreement between the server and the humans who wrote it. The caches, proxies, retry logic, CORS, gateways, and WAFs in the middle only see "POST," so they treat it as unsafe: not cacheable, not auto-retryable. Even a 200 OK doesn't tell them whether state changed. What QUERY actually does QUERY is the obvious hybrid: body support from POST, safe-and-idempotent semantics from GET. QUERY /users HTTP/1.1 Host: example.org Content-Type: application/json { "role": "admin", "status": "active", "sort": "name", "page": 1 } Because the method is declared safe and idempotent — and IANA-registered as such — the infrastructure can finally reason about it. A dropped QUERY can be automatically retried or restarted without worrying about partial state changes. Responses are cacheable. And the request finally tells the truth about what it's doing. A few spec details worth knowing: No new status codes, no new content types. QUERY reuses the existing vocabulary. A missing media type earns a 400; an unsupported one earns a 415; a syntactically valid query that can't be processed (say, correct SQL against a nonexistent table) earns a 422. Accept-Query for discovery. A response header a resource uses to advertise QUERY support and the media types it accepts, so clients can discover support instead of trial-and-erroring into a 405 Method Not Allowed. Cache key includes the body. This is the whole trick that makes a body-carrying request cacheable — and, as we'll see, the whole security footgun. A URI escape hatch. The server can respond to a QUERY with a Location / Content-Location header, assigning a stable URI to the query and its result, so clients can GET that URI afterward. This restores bookmarking and sharing, which you lose when the condition moves from the URL into the body. The name, for the curious: early drafts used SEARCH, borrowed from the WebDAV family (alongside PROPFIND and REPORT). The working group settled on QUERY because it maps cleanly to the URI's query component and describes a generic safe-read operation rather than implying one specific use case. The security implications most coverage skips Here's the part that matters more than the protocol itself. QUERY is well specified; the surrounding security assumptions are what need a second look. For nearly three decades, developers and security teams have built applications, APIs, WAFs, proxies, and tooling around a fixed set of verbs — GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH, HEAD, OPTIONS. A new one that behaves like a GET/POST hybrid breaks assumptions baked into all of those layers. 1. "Safe" describes intent, not payload This is the single most important thing to internalize. The safe designation means the client is not requesting a state change. It says nothing about whether the body is malicious. A QUERY body can carry SQL injection, XSS, command injection, or an oversized payload just as easily as a POST body can. Any WAF/IDS rule set that inspects POST bodies for these patterns must apply the same coverage to QUERY — SQLi, XSS, and command-injection inspection, plus request size limits. Give QUERY POST-level scrutiny at the body, even while trusting its read-only semantics for caching and retries. Treating "safe" as "harmless" is the mistake that turns a clean protocol upgrade into an open door. 2. Cache poisoning and cache deception QUERY is explicitly cacheable, and RFC 10008's cache model requires the cache key to incorporate the request body. That's non-negotiable, because otherwise two different queries to the same URL would collide. The risk: a cache that hashes or normalizes the body incorrectly — or normalizes it differently than the origin processes it — can return the wrong response on a false-positive key match. That's cache poisoning (an attacker plants a response that later gets served to victims) and cache deception (a victim's sensitive response gets cached under a key an attacker can retrieve) in one bug class. It's the same underlying failure as the GitHub Actions cache-poisoning attacks — the cache key doesn't capture the full request — just at a different layer of the stack. Any cache you enable for QUERY needs an explicit audit of how it derives keys from the body. Worth noting: as of mid-2026, current Chrome and Firefox send QUERY but don't cache repeated identical QUERYs yet. So browser-side caching is unimplemented rather than solved — the poisoning surface today lives in your CDN, reverse proxy, and API gateway. 3. The CSRF trap Because QUERY is labeled "safe," it's tempting to exclude it from CSRF protection the way you might exclude GET. Don't. The safe designation is a semantic promise, not an enforcement mechanism. If any endpoint accepts QUERY and has any side effect — logging that mutates state, a search that also writes an audit record, a "read" that lazily provisions something — it must remain covered by CSRF checks regardless of the method's designation. Middleware that method-matches on POST|PUT|DELETE|PATCH will silently skip QUERY. Extend it explicitly. 4. Method allowlists and request-smuggling flags Most WAFs, API gateways, and load balancers enforce method allowlists written as literal sets — and those written before June 2026 don't mention QUERY. Two failure modes result, and they pull in opposite directions: Reject: strict setups drop QUERY as an unknown verb, and your rollout silently fails at the edge. Pass through uninspected: looser setups forward QUERY but skip the body inspection they apply to POST — the worst outcome, an inspection blind spot. There's also a genuine request-smuggling dimension. Many enterprise WAFs flag non-standard verbs as protocol anomalies or smuggling vectors, precisely because inconsistent method handling across a proxy chain is how desync attacks start. If your CDN, WAF, and origin disagree about whether QUERY is valid — or one preserves the body while another strips it — you've created exactly the kind of parsing inconsistency smuggling exploits. On AWS, for example, CloudFront must be explicitly configured to forward QUERY with its body, and AWS WAF Core Rule Sets need QUERY deliberately whitelisted rather than caught by anomaly rules. The fix everywhere is the same: make QUERY a deliberate decision at every hop, not an accident. For penetration testers, the flip side is a fresh request type worth throwing at filters tuned for the usual suspects. Rules that catch a POST-body payload may not fire on the identical payload sent via QUERY. 5. Content-Type must be enforced, not sniffed RFC 10008 requires rejecting requests whose Content-Type is missing or inconsistent with the body, and explicitly forbids content sniffing — a server may not guess the media type and override a missing or wrong one. If you accept application/json, parse it as JSON; if you use a custom query DSL, define its media type and advertise it via Accept-Query. Leave this vague and you've simply carried the implicit, undocumented conventions of the POST /search era onto a shiny new method — with the added risk that a lenient parser and a strict one in your chain disagree about what the body means. 6. The logging trade-off is real but not free Moving search conditions out of the URL and into the body is a genuine privacy win: URIs persist in access logs, analytics, browser history, Referer headers, and bookmarks, and sensitive selectors don't belong there. But if your API gateway or application logs request bodies — many do, for debugging — those conditions end up recorded anyway, now in a place your log-redaction rules may not cover. You haven't eliminated the leak; you've relocated it. Audit body logging and redaction on QUERY endpoints as deliberately as you'd audit URL logging. 7. CORS preflight is mandatory QUERY is not on the CORS-safelisted method list, so browser JavaScript must send an OPTIONS preflight before any cross-origin QUERY. Test how your actual edge and application stack handles that preflight flow — a misconfigured CORS policy that reflexively allows a new method, or one that blocks the preflight, will either over-permit or silently break browser clients. 8. Observability blind spots Dashboards, log parsers, rate-limit buckets, and SIEM detection rules keyed on method names will bucket QUERY as "unknown" or drop it entirely. During the transition, flag QUERY traffic for visibility — a Sigma-style rule that surfaces QUERY requests so you can confirm they're expected — and tune it to your known-good clients as adoption grows. The goal is deliberate awareness during the transition, not a permanent alert. Where support actually stands A method this fundamental gets adopted layer by layer, and that's normal. The honest picture as of early July 2026: Node.js — parses QUERY at the HTTP layer, and has since early 2024, ahead of standardization. OpenAPI 3.2 — has a place to document QUERY operations. Browsers — fetch(url, { method: 'QUERY', body }) and XHR work (QUERY is neither forbidden nor normalized away), but neither Chrome nor Firefox caches QUERY responses yet, and declarative <form method="query"> falls back to GET and drops the body. Mozilla and WebKit standards positions are in progress. Spring — close, but hasn't shipped support. CDNs — Cloudflare and Akamai co-authored the RFC, so edge support may well arrive before framework integrations. Combined with the cache-key caveat, that means your edge may understand QUERY before your app does — plan accordingly. The practical read: solid for server-to-server APIs and backend services today; early-stage for public browser-facing traffic. A general adoption checklist QUERY is a semantically clean upgrade path, not a replacement. Existing POST /search endpoints keep working; migrate gradually. Before QUERY traffic shows up against your applications, confirm each layer treats it deliberately: Edge / CDN — Confirm your CDN is configured to recognize QUERY and forward it to the origin with its body intact, not discard the payload. WAF / API gateway — Add QUERY to method allowlists explicitly. Apply POST-level body inspection (SQLi, XSS, command injection) and size limits. Make sure anomaly/smuggling rules don't flag it by accident, and that no hop strips the body. Cache layer — Verify cache keys are built from the full request body, not just the URL and headers. Audit body normalization for false-positive collisions before enabling QUERY caching. CSRF middleware — Extend coverage to QUERY on any endpoint with side effects. Don't let a "safe" designation exclude it from protection. Content-Type handling — Enforce a required, consistent Content-Type; reject missing or mismatched types; never content-sniff. Advertise supported types via Accept-Query. Logging & redaction — Confirm request-body logging on QUERY endpoints is covered by the same redaction rules you'd apply to sensitive URL parameters. CORS — If browser clients are in scope, test the OPTIONS preflight flow end to end. Confirm your policy neither over-permits nor blocks the new method. Client tooling — Confirm the SDKs and HTTP libraries your consumers use support QUERY, and plan a POST-fallback path (or the Accept-Query discovery flow) for those that don't. Observability — Update method-keyed dashboards, rate limiters, and SIEM rules to recognize QUERY. Add a detection rule to surface QUERY traffic during rollout, tuned to known-good clients. Get those nine right and QUERY is exactly what the web has been missing for 16 years: a request that finally tells the truth about what it's doing. Skip them, and you've handed every layer of your stack a verb it doesn't understand.F5 BIG-IP Multi-Site Dashboard
Code is community submitted, community supported, and recognized as ‘Use At Your Own Risk’. A comprehensive real-time monitoring dashboard for F5 BIG-IP Application Delivery Controllers featuring multi-site support, DNS hostname resolution, member state tracking, and advanced filtering capabilities. A 170KB modular JavaScript application runs entirely in your browser, served directly from the F5's high-speed operational dataplane. One or more sites operate as Dashboard Front-Ends serving the dashboard interface (HTML, JavaScript, CSS) via iFiles, while other sites operate as API Hosts providing pool data through optimized JSON-based dashboard API calls. This provides unified visibility across multiple sites from a single interface without requiring even a read-only account on any of the BIG-IPs, allowing you to switch between locations and see consistent pool, member, and health status data with almost no latency and very little overhead. Think of it as an extension of the F5 GUI: near real-time state tracking, DNS hostname resolution (if configured), advanced search/filtering, and the ability to see exactly what changed and when. It gives application teams and operations teams direct visibility into application pool state without needing to wait for answers from F5 engineers, eliminating the organizational bottleneck that slows down troubleshooting when every minute counts. https://github.com/hauptem/F5-Multisite-DashboardF5OS using Ansible Linux Shell with remote users as iCall replacement(works with banner as well).
(AI Made picture so don't take it as 100% truth) In F5OS 1.8.0 and up remote users can automatically enter the Linux Shell if they have the correct remote group parameters and if this is system level enabled as shown in https://clouddocs.f5.com/training/community/rseries-training/html/rseries_security.html#superuser-role The superuser role if enabled can still trigger F5OS commands with "f5sh" that is similar to "tmsh" in TMOS and described in https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000148922 . Code version: The code was tested on F5OS 1.8.4 rSeries 5900 Ansible Example without banner: --- - name: Restart docker container hosts: f5os gather_facts: no vars: container_name: tcpdumpd_manager tasks: - name: Restart the specified docker container ansible.builtin.shell: | docker restart {{ container_name }} become: false args: executable: /bin/bash Cronjobs also can be edited through shell Ansible playbook for scheduling transferred scripts. - name: Add cron job ansible.builtin.shell: | (crontab -l 2>/dev/null | grep -Fv '/opt/check_service.sh'; \ echo '*/5 * * * * /opt/check_service.sh') | crontab - become: false args: executable: /bin/bash Great Ansible F5OS automation article with cool examples that even has file transfer for transferring script file to the F5OS: Five Ways to Automate F5OS with Ansible: A Practical Guide | DevCentral Ansible Example with banner: The F5OS ssh banner is inserted between the username and password and that breaks the shell module as I did found out. I suspect that Ansible uses the PEXPECT Python package that spans SSH session and it is similar to TCL EXPECT and most people dealing with iRules will find this interesting. You need to add sudo in-front of each command. - name: Restart container hosts: localhost gather_facts: false tasks: - name: Run docker command ansible.builtin.expect: command: >- ssh -tt -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o ConnectTimeout=10 -o ServerAliveInterval=5 -o ServerAliveCountMax=2 {{ ansible_user }}@{{ ansible_host }} responses: '(?i)password:': {{ ansible_pass }} '(?m)\$\s*$': "sudo docker restart {{ container_name }}\nexit\n" timeout: 20 echo: true delegate_to: localhost register: out Also SCP file transfer can be done through the EXPEC module. From Linux bash you can use f5sh to trigger F5OS commands. Examples are f5sh "show interface" and to chain commands f5sh "config; vlan 500; commit; exit" . If you just write f5sh, you will enter the F5os from the Linux. This is like tmsh for TMOS. Summary! This is great feature. TMOS also has cronjobs but after upgrade the cronjob is lost but not on F5OS, this is why icall scripts still are better for TMOS Tenants. iCall has the option to be triggered by logs and that in F5OS will be harder as it will need a bash script that is sitting as a background process as to monitor the logs and a cronjob can check if the script is still running as a device reboot will cause the script to stop running. The script can be transferred and started the way I have shown with RESTCONF REST-API with Ansible/AWX as the best option.Advanced WAF IP Exceptions Manager
This solution introduces a dedicated Python-based GUI tool for managing IP whitelist exceptions in F5 BIG-IP Advanced WAF policies. The tool was developed to simplify a common operational workflow: searching WAF policies, adding IP or CIDR-based exceptions, checking whether an IP already exists across policies, deleting outdated exceptions, applying policy changes, and tracking actions through an activity log. The solution is especially useful in large environments where manual exception handling can create operational overhead, inconsistent policy configuration, or audit challenges. It demonstrates how focused automation can deliver practical value without requiring a large orchestration platform or full CI/CD pipeline.BIG-IP Report
Problem this snippet solves: Overview This is a script which will generate a report of the BIG-IP LTM configuration on all your load balancers making it easy to find information and get a comprehensive overview of virtual servers and pools connected to them. This information is used to relay information to NOC and developers to give them insight in where things are located and to be able to plan patching and deploys. I also use it myself as a quick way get information or gather data used as a foundation for RFC's, ie get a list of all external virtual servers without compression profiles. The script has been running on 13 pairs of load balancers, indexing over 1200 virtual servers for several years now and the report is widely used across the company and by many companies and governments across the world. It's easy to setup and use and only requires auditor (read-only) permissions on your devices. Demo/Preview Interactive demo http://loadbalancing.se/bigipreportdemo/ Screen shots The main report: The device overview: Certificate details: How to use this snippet: Installation instructions BigipReport REST This is the only branch we're updating since middle of 2020 and it supports 12.x and upwards. Downloads: https://github.com/net-utilities/BigIPReport/releases Documentation, installation instructions and troubleshooting: https://net-utilities.github.io/BigIPReport/ BIG-IP Report (Legacy) Older version of the report that only runs on Windows and is depending on a Powershell plugin originally written by Joe Pruitt (F5). The documentation for this will stay on loadbalancing.se. BIG-IP Report (only download this if you have v10 devices): https://github.com/net-utilities/BigIPReport/releases/download/v5.8.0/bigipreport-5.4.0-beta.zip iControl Snapin https://github.com/net-utilities/BigIPReport/releases/download/v5.8.0/f5-icontrol.zip Got issues/problems/feedback? Still have issues? Drop a comment below. We usually reply quite fast. Any bugs found, issues detected or ideas contributed makes the report better for everyone, so it's always appreciated. --- Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/7JJvPMYahA Tested this on versions: 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 (probably works on later versions too)Intent-Based Load Balancing for AI Traffic on BIG-IP
Intent-Based Load Balancing is a native BIG-IP AI Gateway project that routes OpenAI-compatible traffic based on user intent, Virtual Keys, routing policy, and backend model configuration. It uses iApps LX, iRules, iRules LX, and BIG-IP LTM pools to classify, route, block, or locally respond to AI requests without requiring an external control-plane service.
Automating TLS Certificates in Kubernetes with cert-manager and F5 Distributed Cloud DNS
Introduction If you run workloads in Kubernetes or Open Shift, you've almost certainly dealt with TLS certificates. You need them everywhere — Ingress controllers, internal services, mutual TLS between microservices, and API gateways. Managing them by hand is error-prone and doesn't scale: certificates expire silently, rotation is forgotten, and the person who originally created the wildcard cert is now working somewhere else. cert-manager solves this elegantly. It's a Kubernetes-native certificate controller that automates the issuance, renewal, and management of TLS certificates. It speaks ACME — the same protocol Let's Encrypt uses — but ACME is a standard, not a Let's Encrypt exclusive. You can point cert-manager at: Let's Encrypt (free, public, widely trusted) ZeroSSL, Buypass, Google Trust Services — other public CAs supporting ACME Step CA / HashiCorp Vault / Smallstep — for private PKI running inside your infrastructure Any commercial CA that has implemented an ACME endpoint This means the same workflow, the same Kubernetes manifests, and the same tooling can back both your public-facing services and your internal, corporate-signed certificates. One operator to rule them all. Why DNS-01 Challenge? ACME offers multiple ways to prove you own a domain. The most common is the HTTP-01 challenge, where the ACME server checks a well-known URL on your domain. It works well, but has limitations: The endpoint must be publicly reachable on port 80 It cannot issue wildcard certificates (*.example.com) The DNS-01 challenge takes a different approach: cert-manager (via a solver webhook) creates a _acme-challenge.example.com TXT record in your DNS zone. The ACME server checks for this record. Once verified, the TXT record is cleaned up automatically. Benefits: Works behind firewalls — no inbound HTTP needed Supports wildcard certificates — a single *.example.com certificate covers all subdomains Fully automated — the webhook handles record creation and deletion If your DNS is managed by F5 Distributed Cloud (F5 XC), you can now wire this entire flow together with the open-source cert-manager-webhook-f5xc solver. Architecture Overview Here's what happens when cert-manager issues a certificate using the F5 XC webhook: Developer applies Certificate manifest ▼ cert-manager creates Order + Challenge ▼ cert-manager calls webhook (DNS-01 solver) ▼ Webhook calls F5 XC DNS API → Creates TXT record: _acme-challenge.example.com ▼ ACME server (Let's Encrypt / other) validates the TXT record ▼ Webhook cleans up the TXT record ▼ cert-manager stores the issued certificate in a Kubernetes Secret The webhook runs as a standard Kubernetes Deployment inside your cluster, registered with cert-manager via a ValidatingWebhookConfiguration. It receives solver calls from cert-manager and translates them into F5 XC DNS API calls using an API token you provide as a Kubernetes Secret. Prerequisites Before we start, make sure you have the following in place: A Kubernetes cluster (1.21+) cert-manager installed (v1.14+) kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/latest/download/cert-manager.yaml Helm 3.8+ An F5 Distributed Cloud tenant with DNS management enabled Your domain's DNS zone managed in F5 XC F5 XC credentials for DNS API access — either an API Token or a Client Certificate (P12); see Step 1 below for details Least privilege note: The service account or user whose credentials you use must have permission to manage DNS records. As of the time of writing, the built-in role f5xc-dns-management-admin is sufficient. Avoid using tenant-admin or other overly broad roles — the webhook only needs to create and delete TXT records in your DNS zone. Step 1: Prepare F5 XC Credentials The webhook supports two authentication methods against the F5 XC DNS API: an API Token or a Client Certificate (P12). Both are stored as a Kubernetes Secret in the cert-manager namespace. Obtaining credentials in F5 XC Console Regardless of which method you choose, the service account must have sufficient permissions to manage DNS records. Follow the least-privilege principle: In the F5 XC Console, navigate to Account Settings → Administration. Create a dedicated service credential under IAM and assign it the f5xc-dns-management-admin role in the system namespace — this is the minimum required role as of the time of writing and grants access to DNS Zone Management without unnecessary privileges elsewhere in the tenant. Or use an existing account privileges under Personal Management credentials. Generate the credentials of your preferred type (API Token or API Certificate) Option A: API Token (simpler, recommended for most setups) Take the API Token obtained from the F5XC console and use it with the following command kubectl create secret generic f5xc-api-token \ --namespace cert-manager \ --from-literal=token=<YOUR_F5XC_API_TOKEN> Option B: Client Certificate (P12) F5 XC also supports certificate-based authentication using a P12 (PKCS#12) client certificate, which may be preferred in environments. Use the certificate and password generated in the previous step and store it as a Secret: kubectl create secret generic f5xc-client-cert \ --namespace cert-manager \ --from-file=certificate.p12=<PATH_TO_YOUR.p12> \ --from-literal=password=<P12_PASSWORD> Refer to the webhook documentation for the exact certificateSecretRef fields to use in the solver config when choosing this method. Verify the secret was created: kubectl get secret f5xc-api-token -n cert-manager Step 2: Install the Webhook via Helm The chart is published as an OCI artifact on GitHub Container Registry. Install it into the cert-manager namespace: helm install cert-manager-webhook-f5xc \ oci://ghcr.io/wenkow/charts/cert-manager-webhook-f5xc \ --namespace cert-managerbaba Check the rollout: kubectl rollout status \ deployment cert-manager-webhook-f5xc \ -n cert-manager kubectl get pods -n cert-manager Step 3: Configure a ClusterIssuer A ClusterIssuer tells cert-manager which ACME server to use and how to solve challenges. Here we're pointing it at Let's Encrypt production and configuring the F5 XC DNS-01 solver. Note on groupName: The field appears twice in the YAML below and serves different purposes. At the webhook level, it's a fixed identifier (acme.f5xc.io) that tells cert-manager which registered webhook to call. Inside config, it's the RRSet group name within your F5 XC DNS zone — a logical container for DNS records created by the webhook. You can choose any name; F5 XC will create the group if it doesn't exist. clusterissuer.yaml: apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1 kind: ClusterIssuer metadata: name: letsencrypt-f5xc-prod spec: acme: email: [email protected] server: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory privateKeySecretRef: name: letsencrypt-f5xc-prod-account-key solvers: - dns01: webhook: # Fixed identifier — tells cert-manager which webhook to call groupName: acme.f5xc.io solverName: f5xc config: # Your F5 XC tenant name (subdomain part of your console URL) tenantName: my-tenant # RRSet group name in F5 XC DNS zone groupName: "cert-manager" # ttl: 120 # optional, default is 120 seconds apiTokenSecretRef: name: f5xc-api-token key: token # If using certificate-based auth instead of a token, replace # apiTokenSecretRef with certificateSecretRef — see webhook docs. Apply it: kubectl apply -f clusterissuer.yaml Verify it's ready: kubectl get clusterissuer letsencrypt-f5xc-prod Step 4: Request a Certificate Now the fun part. Create a Certificate resource. Note that we're requesting both the apex domain and a wildcard — something that's only possible with DNS-01. certificate.yaml: apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1 kind: Certificate metadata: name: example-tls namespace: default spec: secretName: example-tls issuerRef: name: letsencrypt-f5xc-prod kind: ClusterIssuer dnsNames: - example.com - "*.example.com" Apply it: kubectl apply -f certificate.yaml Step 5: Watch the Certificate Lifecycle This is where it gets satisfying to watch. cert-manager creates an Order, which spawns one or more Challenge objects. Each Challenge triggers the F5 XC webhook to create a DNS TXT record. Watch Certificate status kubectl get certificate example-tls -n default -w Inspect the Order kubectl get orders -n default kubectl describe order example-tls-1-3552197254 -n default Status: Authorizations: Challenges: Token: <token> Type: dns-01 URL: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/chall/... Identifier: example.com Initial State: valid URL: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/authz/... Wildcard: true Challenges: Token: <token> Type: dns-01 URL: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/chall/... Identifier: example.com Initial State: valid URL: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/authz/... Wildcard: false Certificate: REDACTED Finalize URL: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/finalize/... State: valid URL: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/order/... Events: Type Reason Age From Message ---- ------ ---- ---- ------- Normal Complete 8m37s cert-manager-orders Order completed successfully Inspect the Challenges before it's done kubectl get challenges -n default kubectl describe challenge example-tls-<1234567890> -n default Verify the Issued Certificate kubectl get secret example-tls -n default -o jsonpath='{.data.tls\.crt}' \ | base64 -d | openssl x509 -noout -text | grep -E "Subject:|DNS:|Not After" Not After : Aug 19 19:22:31 2026 GMT Subject: CN = example.com DNS:*.example.com, DNS:example.com Both the apex domain and the wildcard are covered by a single certificate. Using a Custom or Internal ACME Server One of the most powerful aspects of this setup is that the ACME server is completely configurable. If you run an internal CA — for example HashiCorp Vault with the ACME secrets engine, or Step CA — just change the server field in your ClusterIssuer: spec: acme: email: [email protected] server: https://vault.internal.example.com/v1/pki/acme/directory # or # server: https://step-ca.internal.example.com/acme/acme/directory The webhook doesn't care which ACME server you use — it only handles the DNS side of the challenge. This makes the setup equally useful for: Internet-facing services using Let's Encrypt Internal services using a corporate CA Mixed environments where different ClusterIssuer objects point to different CAs, all sharing the same F5 XC DNS solver Troubleshooting Tips Challenge stays in pending for a long time Check the webhook logs for API errors: kubectl logs -n cert-manager -l app=cert-manager-webhook-f5xc --tail=50 READY: False on ClusterIssuer Usually means cert-manager couldn't register an ACME account. Check that the email field is valid and the ACME server URL is reachable. TXT record not appearing in F5 XC - Verify that the credentials you stored in the Secret have the right DNS permissions. In F5 XC Console, check that the service account has the f5xc-dns-management-admin role (or equivalent). API token permission issues will typically surface as 403 Forbidden errors in the webhook logs. Summary The cert-manager-webhook-f5xc project closes the loop between F5 Distributed Cloud DNS and the Kubernetes-native certificate management ecosystem. With a few manifests and a Helm install, you get: Fully automated certificate issuance and renewal — no manual interventions, no expiry surprises Wildcard certificate support out of the box via DNS-01 ACME provider flexibility — works with Let's Encrypt, commercial CAs, or your internal PKI Clean Kubernetes-native UX — certificates are just resources; the entire lifecycle is observable with standard kubectl commands The webhook is open source, available on GitHub and packaged on Artifact Hub. Contributions and feedback are welcome. Related Resources cert-manager documentation cert-manager DNS01 webhook reference F5 Distributed Cloud DNS Management docs GitHub: Wenkow/cert-manager-webhook-f5xc Artifact Hub: cert-manager-webhook-f5xcRadware config translation
Problem this snippet solves: This is a simple Python script that translates Radware text configuration file and outputs as config snippet and certificate files. $ ./rad2f5 Usage: rad2f5 <filename> [partition] Example: ./rad2f5 radwareconfig.txt MyPartition Using partition /MyPartition/ IP routes:46 Non-floating IP interfaces:26 Floating IP interfaces:19 Monitors:349 Virtual Servers:430 Pools:152 Certificates: 31 SSL profiles: 17 WARNING! Found L7 Regular Expression at "appdirector l7 farm-selection method-table setCreate l7Rule-Redirect" Layer 7 rules:12 Layer 7 policies:4 !! Copy all certificate files to BIG-IP /var/tmp and use load_certs.sh to load !! # Configuration #--------------------------------------# ltm policy /MyPartition/l7rule-Redirect { controls { forwarding } requires { http } rules { Redirect { actions { 0 { forward select pool SORRYPOOL } } ordinal 1 } } net route /MyPartition/10.20.30.40_32 { network 10.20.30.40/32 gateway 10.1.1.1 } How to use this snippet: This includes translation of routes and non-floating self-IPs, monitors, pools, virtual servers, certificates, SSL profiles and some layer 7 rules. To install, either download the file attached here, extract and run it or use pip: pip install rad2f5 To load the configuration to the f5 device, output to a file eg ./rad2f5 filename>newcfg.txt , remove the statistics header from the file with a text editor, upload the file into /var/tmp on the BIG-IP and test loading with tmsh load sys config merge file /var/tmp/<filename> verify . Fix any issues and load with tmsh load sys config merge file /var/tmp/<filename> The script will also output the certificates and keys which should be uploaded to the BIG-IP /var/tmp directory and run file check_certs.sh and load_certs.sh to check and load the certs and keys. Works with Python v2 and v3. If you want something to be added then message me with details of the text and i will try to add it. Feel free to add or change anything Code : #!/usr/bin/env python # v1.1 14/3/2018 Deal with lack of text in monitors ( line 157 ) # v2 3/1/2019 Updated after changes suggested by Avinash Piare # v3 6/11/2019 Updated to deal with \\r\n at the end of the line # v3.1 6/11/2019 Minor changes to handle VS names with spaces # 3.4 18/4/2020 Fixed minor issues # Peter White 6/11/2019 # usage ./rad2f5 [partition] import sys import re import textwrap import ipaddress print ("Running with Python v" + sys.version) # Set debug to true to output the workings of the script ie the arrays etc debug = False def parse_options(options): # Function to split options and return a dict containing option and value # Example: -pl 27 -v 123 -pa 172.28.1.234 # Return: { 'pl':'27', 'v':'123', 'pa':'172.28.1.234' } output = dict() # Deal with non-quotes eg -b 12345 for r in re.finditer(r'-(\w{1,3}) (\S+)',options): output[r.group(1)] = r.group(2) # Deal with quotes eg -u "User Name" for v in re.finditer(r'-(\w{1,3}) (".+")',options): output[v.group(1)] = v.group(2) return output def splitvars(vars): # Split a string on | and then =, return a dict of ABC=XYZ # eg HDR=User-Agent|TKN=Googlebot-Video/1.0|TMATCH=EQ| # Return is { 'HDR':'User-Agent','TKN': 'Googlebot-Video/1.0', 'TMATCH': 'EQ' } vlist = vars.split("|") o = {} for v in vlist: if v == '': continue w = v.split("=") if len(w) > 1: o[w[0]] = w[1] else: o[w[0]] = '' return o def array_add(a,d): # Function to safely add to an array #global a if not len(a): a = [ d ] else: a.append( d ) return a def setup_pools(name): global pools if not name in pools: pools[name] = { 'destinations': [], 'member-disabled': [], 'member-ids': [], 'priority-group': [] } else: if not 'destinations' in pools[name]: pools[name]['destinations'] = [] if not 'member-disabled' in pools[name]: pools[name]['member-disabled'] = [] if not 'member-ids' in pools[name]: pools[name]['member-ids'] = [] if not 'priority-group' in pools[name]: pools[name]['priority-group'] = [] def getVsFromPool(poolname): # This retrieves the names of virtual servers that use a specific pool global farm2vs if poolname in farm2vs: return farm2vs[poolname] else: return False def is_ipv6(ip): if ':' in ip: return True else: return False # Check there is an argument given if not len(sys.argv) > 1: exit("Usage: rad2f5 [partition]") if len(sys.argv) > 2: # Second command-line variable is the partition partition = "/" + sys.argv[2] + "/" print ("Using partition " + partition) else: partition = "/Common/" # Check input file fh = open(sys.argv[1],"r") if not fh: exit("Cannot open file " + argv[1]) rawfile = fh.read() # v2 # Remove any instances of slash at the end of line # eg health-monitoring check create\ # HC_DNS -id 5 -m DNS -p 53 -a \ #HOST=ns.domain.com|ADDR=1.1.1.1| -d 2.2.2.2 #file = re.sub('^security certificate table\\\\\n','',rawfile) file = re.sub('\\\\\n','',rawfile) file = re.sub('\\\\\r\n','',file) ################ LACP trunks ########################## # # # ############################################################# #net linkaggr trunks set T-1 -lap G-13,G-14 -lam Manual -lat Fast -law 3 -laa 32767 trunks = {} for r in re.finditer(r'net linkaggr trunks set (\S+) (.+)',file): name = r.group(1) options = parse_options(r.group(2)) if 'lap' in options: # Manage interfaces ints = options['lap'].split(',') trunks[name] = { 'interfaces': ints } print ("LACP trunks:" + str(len(trunks))) if debug: print('DEBUG LACP trunks: ' + str(trunks)) ################ IP routes ########################## # # # ############################################################# routes = {} for r in re.finditer(r'net route table create (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) (\S+)',file): if r.group(1) == '0.0.0.0': name = 'default' else: name = r.group(1) + "_" + r.group(2) routes[name] = { 'network': r.group(1), 'mask': r.group(2), 'gateway': r.group(3), 'interface': r.group(4)} print ("IP routes:" + str(len(routes))) if debug: print('DEBUG routes: ' + str(routes)) ################ Non-floating self-IPs ############### # # # # ############################################################# selfIpNonFloating = {} for s in re.finditer(r'net ip-interface create (\S+) (\S+) (.+)',file): output = { 'interface': s.group(2) } opts = parse_options(s.group(3)) if 'pl' in opts: output['mask'] = opts['pl'] if 'v' in opts: output['vlan'] = opts['v'] if 'pa' in opts: output['peerAddress'] = opts['pa'] selfIpNonFloating[s.group(1)] = output print ("Non-floating IP interfaces:" + str(len(selfIpNonFloating))) if debug: print("DEBUG non-floating IPs: " + str(selfIpNonFloating)) ################ Floating self-IPs ################### # # # ############################################################# selfIpFloating = {} for s in re.finditer(r'redundancy vrrp virtual-routers create (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) (.+)',file): output = { 'version': s.group(1),'interface': s.group(3), 'ipAddresses': []} opts = parse_options(s.group(4)) #if 'as' in opts: # Enabled - assume all are enabled if 'pip' in opts: output['peerIpAddress'] = opts['pip'] selfIpFloating[s.group(2)] = output # Retrieve IP addresses for Floating self-IPs # for s in re.finditer(r'redundancy vrrp associated-ip create (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) (\S+)',file): selfIpFloating[s.group(2)]['ipAddresses'] = array_add(selfIpFloating[s.group(2)]['ipAddresses'],s.group(4)) print ("Floating IP interfaces:" + str(len(selfIpFloating))) if debug: print("DEBUG Floating IPs: " + str(selfIpFloating)) ################ Monitors ########################### # # -m XYZ is the monitor type may or may not be present ( not present for icmp type ) # -id is the monitor ID, -p is the port, -d is the destination # ############################################################# monitors = {} for m in re.finditer(r'health-monitoring check create (\S+) (.+)',file): output = { 'name': m.group(1) } opts = parse_options(m.group(2)) if 'id' in opts: id = opts['id'] else: print ("No ID for monitor " + m.group(1)) continue if 'm' in opts: output['type'] = opts['m'] else: output['type'] = 'icmp' if 'a' in opts: output['text'] = opts['a'] else: # Added in v2 output['text'] = '' if 'p' in opts: output['port'] = opts['p'] else: output['port'] = '' monitors[id] = output print ("Monitors:" + str(len(monitors))) if debug: print("DEBUG Monitors:" + str(monitors)) ################ Virtual Servers ##################### # # 0 = name, 1= IP, 2=protocol, 3=port, 4=source 5=options # -ta = type, -ht = http policy, -fn = pool name, -sl = ssl profile name, -ipt = translation? # -po = policy name # ############################################################# farm2vs = {} virtuals = {} snatPools = {} for v in re.finditer(r'appdirector l4-policy table create (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) (.*)',file): # Puke if VS has quotes if v.group(1).startswith('"'): name = v.group(1).strip('"').replace(' ','_') + v.group(2).strip('"').replace(' ','_') address,protocol,port = v.group(3),v.group(4),v.group(5) source = v.group(6).split(' ')[0] options = ' '.join(v.group(6).split(' ')[1:]) else: name,address,protocol,port,source,options = v.group(1),v.group(2),v.group(3),v.group(4),v.group(5),v.group(6) opts = parse_options(options) # Get rid of ICMP virtual servers if protocol == 'ICMP': continue print ("Name " + name + " has quotes, address: " + address + " protocol: " + protocol) if port == 'Any': port = '0' output = {'source': source, 'destination': address + ":" + port, 'protocol': protocol, 'port': port } if 'fn' in opts: output['pool'] = opts['fn'] if not opts['fn'] in farm2vs: farm2vs[opts['fn']] = [] farm2vs[opts['fn']].append(name) output['port'] = port if 'po' in opts: output['policy'] = opts['po'] if 'ipt' in opts: output['snat'] = 'snatpool_' + opts['ipt'] if not 'snatpool_' + opts['ipt'] in snatPools: #Create snatpool snatPools['snatpool_' + opts['ipt']] = { 'members': [opts['ipt']] } # Set the correct profiles profiles = [] # Layer 4 if protocol == "TCP" or protocol == "UDP": profiles.append(protocol.lower()) else: profiles.append('ipother') # http if port == '80' or port == '8080': profiles.append('http') profiles.append('oneconnect') # ftp if port == '21': profiles.append('ftp') # RADIUS if port == '1812' or port == '1813': profiles.append('radius') # SSL if 'sl' in opts: profiles.append(opts['sl']) profiles.append('http') profiles.append('oneconnect') output['profiles'] = profiles # virtuals[name] = output print ("Virtual Servers:" + str(len(virtuals))) if debug: print("DEBUG Virtual Servers:" + str(virtuals)) #print("DEBUG Farm to VS Mapping:" + str(farm2vs)) ################ Pools ############################### # # Pools config options are distributed across multiple tables # This sets the global config such as load balancing algorithm # -dm This sets the distribution method. cyclic = Round Robin, Fewest Number of Users = least conn, Weighted Cyclic = ratio, Response Time = fastest # -as this is the admin state # -cm is the checking method ie monitor # -at is the activation time ############################################################# pools = {} for p in re.finditer(r'appdirector farm table setCreate (\S+) (.*)',file): name = p.group(1) setup_pools(name) opts = parse_options(p.group(2)) output = {} # Admin state output['poolDisabled'] = False if 'as' in opts: if opts['as'] == 'Disabled': output['poolDisabled'] = True # Deal with distribution methods method = 'round-robin' if 'dm' in opts: if opts['dm'] == '"Fewest Number of Users"': method = 'least-conn' elif opts['dm'] == 'Hashing': method = 'hash' else: method = 'round-robin' output['lbMethod'] = method if 'at' in opts: output['slowRamp'] = opts['at'] pools[name] = output # This sets the pool members # 0=name, 1=node, 2=node address, 3=node port, 4=? -id =id -sd ? -as admin state eg Disable, -om operation mode eg Backup ( fallback server ), -rt backup server address 0.0.0.0 for p in re.finditer(r'appdirector farm server table create (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) (\S+) (.*)',file): name,node,node_address,node_port,node_hostname = p.group(1),p.group(2),p.group(3),p.group(4),p.group(5) opts = parse_options(p.group(6)) setup_pools(name) if node_port == 'None': node_port = '0' pools[name]['destinations'] = array_add(pools[name]['destinations'],node_address + ":" + node_port) # Manage monitor if node_port == '80' or node_port == '8080': monitor = 'http' elif node_port == '443': monitor = 'https' elif node_port == '53': monitor = 'dns' elif node_port == '21': monitor = 'ftp' elif node_port == '0': monitor = 'gateway-icmp' else: monitor = 'tcp' pools[name]['monitor'] = monitor # Retrieve pool member ID if 'id' in opts: pools[name]['member-ids'] = array_add(pools[name]['member-ids'],opts['id']) else: print ("ID not found for pool " + name) # Check if member is disabled if 'as' in opts and opts['as'] == 'Disabled': # This pool member is disabled pools[name]['member-disabled'] = array_add(pools[name]['member-disabled'],True) else: pools[name]['member-disabled'] = array_add(pools[name]['member-disabled'],False) # Check if member is backup ie Priority Groups if 'om' in opts and opts['om'] == 'Backup': pools[name]['priority-group'] = array_add(pools[name]['priority-group'],20) else: pools[name]['priority-group'] = array_add(pools[name]['priority-group'],0) print ("Pools:" + str(len(pools)) ) if debug: print("DEBUG pools: " + str(pools)) ################ SSL certificates ################### # # #Name: certificate_name \ #Type: certificate \ #-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- \ #MIIEcyFCA7agAwIAAgISESFWs9QGF # ############################################################# certs = {} for r in re.finditer(r'Name: (\S+) Type: (\S+) (-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----.+?-----END CERTIFICATE-----)',file): name,type,text = r.group(1),r.group(2),r.group(3) certs[name] = { 'type': type,'text': text.replace(' \\\r\n','') } # Print out to file or something print ("SSL Certificates: " + str(len(certs))) if debug: print("DEBUG certs: " + str(certs)) ################ SSL Keys ################### # # #Name: New_Root_Cert Type: key Passphrase: -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- Proc-Type: 4,ENCRYPTED DEK-Info: [key] [key] -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY----- \ # ############################################################# keys = {} # Keys with passphrase for r in re.finditer(r'Name: (\S+) Type: key Passphrase: (\S+) (-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----.+?-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----)',file): name,passphrase,text = r.group(1),r.group(2),r.group(3) keys[name] = { 'passphrase': passphrase,'text': text.replace(' \\\r\n','') } # Keys without passphrase for r in re.finditer(r'Name: (\S+) Type: key (-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----.+?-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----)',file): name,text = r.group(1),r.group(2) keys[name] = { 'text': text.replace(' \\\r\n','') } print ("SSL Keys: " + str(len(keys))) if debug: print("DEBUG SSL keys: " + str(keys)) ################ SSL profiles ######################## # # -c is cert, -u is ciphers, -t is chain cert, -fv - versions ############################################################## sslProfiles = {} for s in re.finditer(r'^appdirector l4-policy ssl-policy create (\S+) (.+)',file.replace('\\\r\n',''),re.MULTILINE): name = s.group(1) output = {} opts = parse_options(s.group(2)) if 'c' in opts: # Certificate output['certificate'] = opts['c'] if 't' in opts: # Chain cert output['chaincert'] = opts['t'] if 'fv' in opts: # TLS Version output['version'] = opts['fv'] if 'u' in opts: # User-defined Ciphers output['cipher'] = opts['u'] if 'lp' in opts: # ? output['lp'] = opts['lp'] if 'pa' in opts: # ? output['pa'] = opts['pa'] if 'cb' in opts: # ? output['cb'] = opts['cb'] if 'i' in opts: # Backend SSL Cipher -> Values: Low, Medium, High, User Defined output['i'] = opts['i'] if 'bs' in opts: # Backend SSL in use ie serverSSL output['serverssl'] = opts['bs'] sslProfiles[name] = output print ("SSL profiles: " + str(len(sslProfiles))) if debug: print("DEBUG SSL Profiles: " + str(sslProfiles)) ################ SNAT pools ########################## # # Note that this only works for addresses in the same /24 subnet ############################################################# for s in re.finditer(r'appdirector nat client address-range create (\S+) (\S+)',file): name = s.group(1) if sys.version.startswith('2'): start = ipaddress.ip_address(unicode(name,'utf_8')) end = ipaddress.ip_address(unicode(s.group(2),'utf_8')) else: start = ipaddress.ip_address(name) end = ipaddress.ip_address(s.group(2)) current = start ipAddresses = [] while current <= end: ipAddresses.append(str(current)) current += 1 snatPools['snatpool_' + name] = { 'members': ipAddresses } print ("SNAT Pools:" + str(len(snatPools))) if debug: print("DEBUG SNAT Pools: " + str(snatPools)) #################################################################### ################ Layer 7 functions ########################## # # #################################################################### l7rules = { } for r in re.finditer(r'appdirector l7 farm-selection method-table setCreate (\S+) (.+)',file): name = r.group(1) l7rules[name] = { 'match': [], 'action': [] } opts = parse_options(r.group(2)) if 'cm' in opts and opts['cm'] == '"Header Field"' and 'ma' in opts: # This is a rule to insert a header params = splitvars(opts['ma']) if 'HDR' in params and 'TKN' in params: if params['TKN'] == "$Client_IP": params['TKN'] = '[IP::client_addr]' l7rules[name]['action'].append("http-header\ninsert\nname " + params['HDR'] + "\nvalue " + params['TKN']) if 'cm' in opts and opts['cm'] == 'URL' and 'ma' in opts: # This does a match on Host and URL params = splitvars(opts['ma']) if 'HN' in params: l7rules[name]['match'].append("http-host\nhost\nvalues { " + params['HN'] + " }") if 'P' in params: l7rules[name]['match'].append("http-uri\npath\nvalues { " + params['P'] + " }") if 'cm' in opts and opts['cm'] == '"Regular Expression"' and 'ma' in opts: params = splitvars(opts['ma']) if 'EXP' in params and params['EXP'] == '.': # This is a regex which matches everything print ("REGEX: " + name) else: print ("WARNING! Found L7 Regular Expression at \"appdirector l7 farm-selection method-table setCreate " + name + "\". Manually set the match in output config.") # Note that there can be multiple entries ie multiple rules per policy l7policies = {} for p in re.finditer(r'appdirector l7 farm-selection policy-table setCreate (\S+) (\d+) (.+)',file): name = p.group(1) precedence = p.group(2) opts = parse_options(p.group(3)) if 'fn' in opts: farm = opts['fn'] else: farm = '' if 'm1' in opts: rule = opts['m1'] if 'pa' in opts: # Retain HTTP Persistency (PRSST)-If the argument is ON (or undefined), AppDirector maintains HTTP 1.1 # HTTP Redirect To (RDR)-Performs HTTP redirection to the specified name or IP address. # HTTPS Redirect To (RDRS)-AppDirector redirects the HTTP request to the specified name or IP address and modifies the request to a HTTPS request. # Redirection Code (RDRC)-Defines the code to be used for redirection. # RDRC=PRMN stand for Permanent I assume , as in HTTP 301 # SIP Redirect To (RDRSIP)-Performs SIP redirection to the specified name or IP address. params = splitvars(opts['pa']) if 'RDR' in params: url = 'http://' + params['RDR'] elif 'RDRS' in params: url = 'https://' + params['RDRS'] else: url = '' if not name in l7policies: l7policies[name] = [] if rule in l7rules: if farm != '': l7rules[rule]['action'].append("forward\nselect\npool " + farm) elif url != '': l7rules[rule]['action'].append("http-redirect\nhost " + url) l7policies[name].append({ 'precedence': precedence, 'farm': farm, 'rule': rule }) print ("Layer 7 rules:" + str(len(l7rules))) print ("Layer 7 policies:" + str(len(l7policies))) if debug: print("DEBUG L7 rules: " + str(l7rules)) print("DEBUG L7 policies: " + str(l7policies)) # # We have retrieved the required configuration from the input file # Now start outputting the config ################# output SSL certificates import script ###################### # # ######################################################################## if len(certs): print ("-- Creating SSL certs and keys --") with open("load_certs.sh",'w') as loadScript: loadScript.write("#!/bin/bash\n# Script to load SSL certs and keys from /var/tmp\n") ##### Manage Certificates ######## for cert in certs: # Write certs to load_certs.sh if certs[cert]['type'] == 'certificate' or certs[cert]['type'] == 'interm': loadScript.write("tmsh install sys crypto cert " + partition + cert + ".crt from-local-file /var/tmp/" + cert + ".crt\n") # Create the certificate files with open(cert + ".crt","w") as certFile: for m in re.finditer(r'(-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----)\s?(.+)\s?(-----END CERTIFICATE-----)',certs[cert]['text']): certFile.write(m.group(1) + "\n") certFile.write(textwrap.fill(m.group(2),64) + "\n") certFile.write(m.group(3) + "\n") print ("Created SSL certificate file " + cert + ".crt") ##### Manage Keys ################# for key in keys: # Write keys to load_certs.sh loadScript.write("tmsh install sys crypto key " + partition + key + ".key") if 'passphrase' in keys[key]: loadScript.write(" passphrase " + keys[key]['passphrase']) loadScript.write(" from-local-file /var/tmp/" + key + ".key\n") # Create the key files with open(key + ".key","w") as keyFile: for n in re.finditer(r'(-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----)(.+)(-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----)',keys[key]['text']): keyFile.write(n.group(1) + "\n") if 'Proc-Type:' in n.group(2) and 'DEK-Info:' in n.group(2): # File is encrypted, separate the first lines for o in re.finditer(r'(Proc-Type: \S+) (DEK-Info: \S+) (.+)',n.group(2)): keyFile.write(o.group(1) + "\n") keyFile.write(o.group(2) + "\n\n") keyFile.write(textwrap.fill(o.group(3),64) + "\n") else: # File is not encrypted, output as it is keyFile.write(textwrap.fill(n.group(2),64) + "\n") keyFile.write(n.group(3) + "\n") print ("Created SSL key file " + key + ".key") print ("-- Finished creating SSL certs and keys --") print ("!! Copy all .crt and .key SSL files to BIG-IP /var/tmp and use load_certs.sh to load !!" ) ####################################################################### ################# output SSL certificates checking script ###################### # # ######################################################################## with open("check_certs.sh",'w') as checkScript: checkScript.write("#!/bin/bash\n# Script to check SSL certs and keys\n") checkScript.write("\n# Check SSL Certs\n") for cert in certs: if certs[cert]['type'] == 'certificate' or certs[cert]['type'] == 'interm': checkScript.write("openssl x509 -in " + cert + ".crt -noout || echo \"Error with file " + cert + ".crt\"\n") checkScript.write("\n# Check SSL Keys\n") for key in keys: checkScript.write("openssl rsa -in " + key + ".key -check || echo \"Error with file " + key + ".key\"\n") print ("!! Run the check_certs.sh script to check the certificates are valid !!" ) ####################################################################### # # # # # # # # print ("\n\n\n\n\n\n# Configuration \n#--------------------------------------#") ################# output policy config ##################### # # ############################################################# #print ("L7 rules: " + str(l7rules)) for i in l7policies.keys(): output = "ltm policy " + partition + i + " {\n\tcontrols { forwarding }\n\trequires { http }\n\t" output += "rules {\n\t" ordinal = 1 for j in l7policies[i]: output += "\t" + j['rule'] + " { \n" if len(l7rules[j['rule']]['match']): # Deal with conditions output += "\t\t\tconditions { \n" l = 0 for k in l7rules[j['rule']]['match']: output += "\t\t\t\t" + str(l) + " { \n\t\t\t\t\t" + k.replace('\n','\n\t\t\t\t\t') l += 1 output += "\n\t\t\t\t }\n" output += "\n\t\t\t }\n" if len(l7rules[j['rule']]['action']): # Deal with actions output += "\t\t\tactions { \n" m = 0 for n in l7rules[j['rule']]['action']: output += "\t\t\t\t" + str(m) + " { \n\t\t\t\t\t" + n.replace('\n','\n\t\t\t\t\t') m += 1 output += "\n\t\t\t\t }\n" output += "\n\t\t\t }\n" output += "\t\tordinal " + str(ordinal) output += "\n\t\t}\n\t" ordinal += 1 output += "\n\t}\n}\n" print (output) ################# output LACP trunk config ############## # # ############################################################# for trunk in trunks.keys(): output = "net trunk " + partition + trunk + " {\n" if 'interfaces' in trunks[trunk]: output += "\tinterfaces {\n" for int in trunks[trunk]['interfaces']: output += "\t\t" + int + "\n" output += "\t}\n" output += "}\n" print (output) ################# output vlan config ############## # # ############################################################# for ip in selfIpNonFloating.keys(): output = "" if 'vlan' in selfIpNonFloating[ip]: vlanName = "VLAN-" + selfIpNonFloating[ip]['vlan'] output += "net vlan " + partition + vlanName + " {\n" if 'interface' in selfIpNonFloating[ip]: output += "\tinterfaces {\n" output += "\t\t" + selfIpNonFloating[ip]['interface'] + " {\n" output += "\t\t\ttagged\n\t\t}\n" output += "\t}\n" output += "\ttag " + selfIpNonFloating[ip]['vlan'] + "\n}\n" print(output) ################# output non-floating self-ip config ####### # # ############################################################# for ip in selfIpNonFloating.keys(): output = "" if 'mask' in selfIpNonFloating[ip]: mask = "/" + selfIpNonFloating[ip]['mask'] else: if is_ipv6(ip): mask = "/64" else: mask = "/32" if 'vlan' in selfIpNonFloating[ip]: vlanName = "VLAN-" + selfIpNonFloating[ip]['vlan'] else: continue output += "net self " + partition + "selfip_" + ip + " {\n\taddress " + ip + mask + "\n\t" output += "allow-service none\n\t" output += "traffic-group traffic-group-local-only\n" output += "\tvlan " + vlanName + "\n" output += "}\n" print (output) ################# output network route config ############## # # ############################################################# for route in routes.keys(): network,mask,gateway = routes[route]['network'],routes[route]['mask'],routes[route]['gateway'] output = "net route " + partition + route + " {\n\tnetwork " + network + "/" + mask + "\n\t" output += "gateway " + gateway + "\n}" print (output) ################# output SSL profiles config ########################## # # ######################################################################## for s in sslProfiles: #print (str(sslProfiles[s])) output = "ltm profile client-ssl " + partition + s + " {\n" output += "\tcert-key-chain { " + s + " { cert " output += sslProfiles[s]['certificate'] + ".crt " output += " key " output += sslProfiles[s]['certificate'] + ".key " if 'chaincert' in sslProfiles[s]: output += "chain " + sslProfiles[s]['chaincert'] output += " }\n\tdefaults-from /Common/clientssl\n}\n" print (output) if 'serverssl' in sslProfiles[s]: print("WARNING: VSs using Client SSL profile " + s + " should have Server SSL profile assigned") ################# output monitor config #################### # # ############################################################# for m in monitors.keys(): if monitors[m]['type'] == '"TCP Port"': output = "ltm monitor tcp " + partition + monitors[m]['name'] + " {\n\tdefaults-from /Common/tcp\n}\n" if monitors[m]['type'] == '"UDP Port"': output = "ltm monitor udp " + partition + monitors[m]['name'] + " {\n\tdefaults-from /Common/udp\n}\n" if monitors[m]['type'] == 'HTTP': ''' https://webhelp.radware.com/AppDirector/v214/214Traffic%20Management%20and%20Application%20Acceleration.03.001.htm https://webhelp.radware.com/AppDirector/v214/HM_Checks_Table.htm Arguments: Host name - HOST=10.10.10.53 path - PATH=/hc.htm HTTP Header HTTP method - MTD=G (G/H/P) send HTTP standard request or proxy request - PRX=N use of no-cache - NOCACHE=N text for search within a HTTP header and body, and an indication whether the text appears Username and Password for basic authentication NTLM authentication option - AUTH=B Up to four valid HTTP return codes - C1=200 -a PATH=/hc.htm|C1=200|MEXIST=Y|MTD=G|PRX=N|NOCACHE=N|AUTH=B| ''' output = "ltm monitor http " + partition + monitors[m]['name'] + " {\n\tdefaults-from /Common/http\n" vars = splitvars(monitors[m]['text']) output += "\tsend \"" if 'MTD' in vars: if vars['MTD'] == 'G': output += "GET " elif vars['MTD'] == 'P': output += "POST " elif vars['MTD'] == 'H': output += "HEAD " else: output += "GET " if 'PATH' in vars: output += vars['PATH'] + ' HTTP/1.0\\r\\n\\r\\n"\n' if 'C1' in vars: output += "\trecv \"^HTTP/1\.. " + vars['C1'] + "\"\n" output += "}\n" if monitors[m]['type'] == 'HTTPS': output = "ltm monitor https " + partition + monitors[m]['name'] + " {\n\tdefaults-from /Common/https\n" vars = splitvars(monitors[m]['text']) output += "\tsend \"" if 'MTD' in vars: if vars['MTD'] == 'G': output += "GET " elif vars['MTD'] == 'P': output += "POST " elif vars['MTD'] == 'H': output += "HEAD " else: output += "GET " if 'PATH' in vars: output += vars['PATH'] + ' HTTP/1.0\\r\\n\\r\\n"\n' output += "}\n" if monitors[m]['type'] == 'LDAP': ''' The Health Monitoring module enhances the health checks for LDAP servers by allowing performing searches in the LDAP server. Before Health Monitoring performs the search, it issues a Bind request command to the LDAP server. After performing the search, it closes the connection with the Unbind command. A successful search receives an answer from the server that includes a "searchResultEntry" message. An unsuccessful search receives an answer that only includes only a "searchResultDone" message. Arguments: Username A user with privileges to search the LDAP server. Password The password of the user. Base Object The location in the directory from which the LDAP search begins. Attribute Name The attribute to look for. For example, CN - Common Name. Search Value The value to search for. Search scope baseObject, singleLevel, wholeSubtree Search Deref Aliases neverDerefAliases, dereflnSearching, derefFindingBaseObj, derefAlways USER=cn=healthcheck,dc=domain|PASS=1234|BASE=dc=domain|ATTR=cn|VAL=healthcheck|SCP=1|DEREF=3| ''' output = "ltm monitor ldap " + partition + monitors[m]['name'] + " {\n\tdefaults-from /Common/ldap\n" vars = splitvars(monitors[m]['text']) if 'BASE' in vars: output += "\tbase \"" + vars['BASE'] + "\"\n" if 'USER' in vars: output += "\tusername \"" + vars['USER'] + "\"\n" if 'PASS' in vars: output += "\tpassword \"" + vars['PASS'] + "\"\n" output += "}\n" if monitors[m]['type'] == 'icmp': output = "ltm monitor gateway-icmp " + partition + monitors[m]['name'] + " {\n\tdefaults-from /Common/gateway-icmp\n}\n" if monitors[m]['type'] == 'DNS': output = "ltm monitor dns " + partition + monitors[m]['name'] + " {\n\tdefaults-from /Common/dns\n" vars = splitvars(monitors[m]['text']) if 'HOST' in vars: output += "\tqname \"" + vars['HOST'] + "\"\n" if 'ADDR' in vars: output += "\trecv \"" + vars['ADDR'] + "\"\n" output += "}\n" if monitors[m]['type'] == '"Radius Accounting"': output = "ltm monitor radius-accounting " + partition + monitors[m]['name'] + " {\n\tdefaults-from /Common/radius-accounting\n" vars = splitvars(monitors[m]['text']) if 'USER' in vars: output += "\tusername \"" + vars['USER'] + "\"\n" #if 'PASS' in vars: if 'SECRET' in vars: output += "\tsecret \"" + vars['SECRET'] + "\"\n" output += "}\n" if monitors[m]['type'] == '"Radius Authentication"': output = "ltm monitor radius " + partition + monitors[m]['name'] + " {\n\tdefaults-from /Common/radius\n" vars = splitvars(monitors[m]['text']) if 'USER' in vars: output += "\tusername \"" + vars['USER'] + "\"\n" #if 'PASS' in vars: if 'SECRET' in vars: output += "\tsecret \"" + vars['SECRET'] + "\"\n" output += "}\n" print (output) ################# output SNAT pool config ###################### # # ############################################################# for s in snatPools.keys(): output = "ltm snatpool " + partition + s + " {\n\t" output += "members {\n" #run through pool range and add members as individual IP addresses below each other for member in snatPools[s]['members']: output += "\t " + member + "\n" output += "\t}" output += "\n}" print (output) ################# output pool config ###################### # # ############################################################# for p in pools.keys(): output = "ltm pool " + partition + p + " {\n\t" if 'monitor' in pools[p]: output += "monitor min 1 of { " + pools[p]['monitor'] + " }\n\t" if 'lbMethod' in pools[p]: output += "load-balancing-mode " + pools[p]['lbMethod'] + "\n\t" output += "members {\n" if 'destinations' in pools[p] and len(pools[p]['destinations']): for i,v in enumerate(pools[p]['destinations']): d = re.sub(':\d+$','',v) output += "\t\t" + v + " {\n\t\t\taddress " + d + "\n" if pools[p]['member-disabled'][i]: output += "\t\t\tstate down\n" output += "\t\t\tpriority-group " + str(pools[p]['priority-group'][i]) + "\n" output += "\t\t}\n" output += "\t}\n}" print (output) ################# output virtual server config ###################### # # ###################################################################### for v in virtuals: output = "ltm virtual " + partition + v + " {\n" output += "\tdestination " + virtuals[v]['destination'] + "\n" output += "\tip-protocol " + virtuals[v]['protocol'].lower() + "\n" if 'pool' in virtuals[v] and virtuals[v]['pool']: output += "\tpool " + virtuals[v]['pool'] + "\n" if 'profiles' in virtuals[v] and len(virtuals[v]['profiles']): output += "\tprofiles {\n" for p in virtuals[v]['profiles']: output += "\t\t" + p + " { }\n" output += "\t}\n" if 'snat' in virtuals[v]: output += "\tsource-address-translation {\n\t" if virtuals[v]['snat'] == 'automap': output += "\ttype automap\n\t" else: output += "\ttype snat\n\t" output += "\tpool " + virtuals[v]['snat'] + "\n\t" output += "}\n" if 'policy' in virtuals[v]: output += "\tpolicies {\n\t" output += "\t" + virtuals[v]['policy'] + " { }\n\t}\n" output += "}" print (output) Tested this on version: 12.0Complete MFA solution with GA stored in Active Directory
Problem this snippet solves: All modern business applications require Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to be used for remote access by employees. There are many vendors on market selling enterprise MFA solutions that may be utilised with F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM). Those solutions are complex and allow customers to create flexible policies which allow them to decide when and whom will be authorised to access protected applications. But what about those customers which have no needs for using complex enterprise solutions or does not have adequate budget for such spendings? How to use this snippet: For those customers I would like to present my One-Time Password (OTP) application which requires BIG-IP LTM/APM/iRulesLX. Shared secret value is stored in Active Directory and QR code is generated in user's browser. All you need after implementing this application on your BIG-IP is. to ask your users to get any OTP-compatible mobile application, like Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator Please see https://github.com/akhmarov/f5_otp/ for instructions UPDATE 1: New version now support APM 15.1+ Modern Customization UPDATE 2: Added trusted device support UPDATE 3: Added multi-tenancy support Tested this on version: 15.1
