Deploy BIG-IP VE in Microsoft Azure Using an ARM Template
Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates allow you to repeatedly deploy applications with confidence. The resources are deployed in a consistent state and you can easily manage and visualize resources for your application. ARM templates take the guesswork out of creating repeatable applications and environments. Deploy and deploy again, consistently. Let’s walk through how to deploy a simple, single-NIC configuration of BIG-IP VE in Microsoft Azure using an ARM template. First, go to the F5 Networks Github site where we keep our supported templates. There are other community-based templates at www.github.com/f5devcentral if needed but for F5 supported templates, go to the F5 Networks site. To view Azure templates, click f5-azure-arm-templates. In that folder you’ll see experimental and right under that is supported (the one you want). Then click on the standalone folder and then the 1nic folder, which is the simplest deployment. And as you scroll through and review the ‘Read Me,’ you’ll see the Deploy to Azure button under Installation. Select either Bring Your Own License (BYOL) or Pay As You Go (PAYG), depending on your situation. This will launch the Azure Portal and the only thing you’ll really need is a license key if you chose BYOL. Then simply fill out the template. In this case, we’re going to use an existing resource group that already contains an application. Important: In the Settings section under Admin UN/PW, enter the credentials you want to use to log in to BIG-IP VE. The DNS Label (where you see REQUIRED) will be used to access your BIG-IP VE, for example, if you enter mybigip, the address will be something like ‘mybigip.westus.cloudapp.azure.com.’ Give the Instance Name something familiar for easy finding. There are different Azure Instance Types, which determine CPU and memory for your VM, and F5 licensing (Good/Better/Best), which determines the BIG-IP modules you can deploy. Then, if needed, enter your BYOL license key. In addition, to be more secure, you should enter a range of IP addresses on your network in the Restricted Src Addresses field so it’s locked to your address range. This setting determines who gets access to the BIG-IP instance in Azure, so you’ll want to lock it down. After the tag values, agree to the terms and conditions and click Purchase. Next, you can monitor progress on the deploy status. Keep hitting refresh and you’ll start seeing resources getting populated along with the top blue ‘Deploying’ indicator. When the Deploying bar disappears, you know you’re done. Once complete, you get the notification that the BIG-IP VE was deployed successfully. Next, we’ll navigate to the resource group we selected at the top and then the security group for the BIG-IP. You can see that within the security rules we’ve allowed ports 443 (HTTPS) and 22 (SSH). 22 allows access to the management port; this is the way we’d connect to the BIG-IP to configure and administer. Going back to the resources, the BIG-IP itself is listed at the top. When we click on the Virtual BIG-IP we can get the IP address and using a browser through port 443, we can connect either with the DNS name or the IP address to the config utility. Here you would enter the Azure credentials you specified in the template. And that’s all there is to it. Now you can configure your virtual servers, pool, profiles and anything you’d normally do on BIG-IP VE for your unique requirements. Thanks to Suzanne Selhorn for the basis of this article and catch a video demo here. ps Related: Azure on DevCentral Azure Setup Guide Enabling Azure Active Directory Tenant Restrictions with F5 Securing your applications with F5 Virtual Editions in Microsoft Azure
