F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management
Introduction A big part of effective application delivery and security is ensuring visibility and control of your hybrid and multicloud app and API deployments. F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management—a key component of F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP)—helps teams maintain order and streamline administration of BIG-IP app delivery and security services. Combining data-rich dashboards, intuitive configuration workflows, and powerful automation, BIG-IQ creates a single interface for holistic management of your BIG-IP investment. In this article, I’ll highlight some of the key features and use cases in F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management. Effective management of this complex application landscape requires a single point of control that combines visibility, simplified management and automation tools. Demo Video What is BIG-IQ? F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management reduces complexity and administrative burden by providing a single platform to create, configure, provision, deploy, upgrade, and manage F5 BIG-IP security and application delivery services. BIG-IQ supports BIG-IP end-to-end, including BIG-IP Virtual Edition (VE), F5 rSeries appliances, and F5 VELOS, managing policies, licenses, SSL certificates, images, and configurations for F5 appliances and modules. BIG-IQ saves you time and money by providing a single point of management for all your BIG-IP devices—whether they are on premises or in a public or private cloud. It can manage any physical or virtual BIG-IP device so long as it can establish layer 3 connectivity for management, either by GUI or through APIs. You can run BIG-IQ on AWS, Microsoft Azure, and most private cloud architectures. Why is BIG-IQ important? Effective management—orchestration, visibility, and compliance—relies on consistent app services and security policies across on-premises and cloud deployments. Easily control all your BIG-IP devices and services with a single, unified management platform. Core Capabilities of BIG-IQ: Application analytics Simplify troubleshooting and assess health and performance at a glance with big-picture and application-specific dashboards. Advanced application templates Powerful AS3 templates make it easy for app teams to spin-up applications with appropriate security and network services. Central policy management Ensure compliance and security with centrally managed configurations for devices and applications. Holistic security dashboard Reduce blind spots and mitigate risks with a birds-eye view of your security posture. End-to-end device lifecycle management Create, configure, deploy, upgrade, patch, certify, and manage up to 1000 BIG-IP devices from an intelligent, centralized platform. Cert-management Keep BIG-IP device certificates compliant and up to date via seamless integrations with popular third-party certificate management platforms. License management Automatically apply and remove licenses as you add or remove BIG-IP devices. Backup and restore Backup and restore images, software, and configuration files. Role-based access control Use standard roles or create custom ones to provide development teams with the tools they need to deliver applications. How does BIG-IQ work? BIG-IQ manages all your BIG-IP products regardless of how they are deployed. BIG-IQ also manages your F5 rSeries and VELOS appliances. It allows you to edit policies and quickly deploy it to one or more BIG-IPs. You can use it to back up and restore your BIG-IPs. You can use it to monitor the health of applications managed by BIG-IPs Add your BIG-IPs to BIG-IQ Use BIG-IQ to upgrade your BIG-IP software version. Schedule daily backups. Use BIG-IQ to upgrade your BIG-IQ software version. Conclusion Effective management—orchestration, visibility, and compliance—relies on consistent app services and security policies across on-premises and cloud deployments. Easily control all your BIG-IP devices and services with a single, unified management platform, F5 BIG-IQ. Related Content Five Key Benefits of Centralized Management F5 BIG-IQ Solution Overview Boosting BIG-IP AFM Efficiency with BIG-IQ: Technical Use Cases and Integration Guide F5 BIG-IQ What's New in v8.4.0? F5 BIG-IQ What's New in v8.4.1?
What’s New in BIG-IQ v8.4.1?
Introduction F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management, a key component of the F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP), helps teams maintain order and streamline administration of BIG-IP app delivery and security services. In this article, I’ll highlight some of the key features, enhancements, and use cases introduced in the BIG-IQ v8.4.1 release and cover the value of these updates. Effective management of this complex application landscape requires a single point of control that combines visibility, simplified management and automation tools. Demo Video New Features in BIG-IQ 8.4.1 Support for F5 BIG-IP v17.5.1.X and BIG-IP v21.0 BIG-IQ 8.4.1 provides full support for the latest versions of BIG-IP (BIG-IP 17.5.1.X and 21.0) ensuring seamless discovery and compatibility across all modules. Users who upgrade to BIG-IP 17.5.1.X+ or 21.0 retain the same functionality without disruptions, maintaining consistency in their management operations. As you look to upgrade BIG-IP instances to the latest versions, our recommendation is to use BIG-IQ. By leveraging the BIG-IQ device/software upgrade workflows, teams get a repeatable, standardized, and auditable process for upgrades in a single location. In addition to upgrades, BIG-IQ also enables teams to handle backups, licensing, and device certificate workflows in the same tool—creating a one-stop shop for BIG-IP device management. Note that BIG-IQ works with BIG-IP appliances and Virtual Editions (VEs). Updated TMOS Layer In the 8.4.1 release, BIG-IQ's underlying TMOS version has been upgraded to v17.5.1.2, which will enhance the control plane performance, improve security efficacy, and enable better resilience of the BIG-IQ solution. MCP Support BIG-IP v21.0 introduced MCP Profile support—enabling teams to support AI/LLM workloads with BIG-IP to drive better performance and security. Additionally, v21.0 also introduces support for S3-optimized profiles, enhancing the performance of data delivery for AI workloads. BIG-IQ 8.4.1 and its interoperability with v21.0 helps teams streamline and scale management of these BIG-IP instances—enabling them to support AI adoption plans and ensure fast and secure data delivery. Enhanced BIG-IP and F5OS Visibility and Management BIG-IQ 8.4.1 introduces the ability to provision, license, configure, deploy, and manage the latest BIG-IP devices and app services (v17.5.1.X and v21.0). In 8.4, BIG-IQ introduced new visibility fields—including model, serial numbers, count, slot tenancy, and SW version—to help teams effectively plan device strategy from a single source of truth. These enhancements also improved license visibility and management workflows, including exportable reports. BIG-IQ 8.4.1 continues to offer this enhanced visibility and management experience for the latest BIG-IP versions. Better Security Administration BIG-IQ 8.4.1 includes general support for SSL Orchestrator 13.0 to help teams manage encrypted traffic and potential threats. BIG-IQ includes dedicated dashboards and management workflows for SSL Orchestrator. In BIG-IQ 8.4, F5 introduced support and management for Venafi Trust Protection Platform v22.x-24.x, a leading platform for certificate management and certificate authority services. This integration enables teams to automate and centrally manage BIG-IP SSL device certificates and keys. BIG-IQ 8.4.1 continues this support. Finally, BIG-IQ 8.4.1 continues to align with AWS security protocols so customers can confidently partner with F5. In BIG-IQ 8.4, F5 introduced support for IMDSv2, which uses session-oriented authentication to access EC2 instance metadata, as opposed to the request/response method of IMDSv1. This session/token-based method is more secure as it reduces the likelihood of attackers successfully using application vulnerabilities to access instance metadata. Enhanced Automation Integration & Protocol Support BIG-IQ 8.4.1 continues with BIG-IQ's support for the latest version of AS3 and templates (v3.55+). By supporting the latest Automation Toolchain (AS3/DO) BIG-IQ is aligned with current BIG‑IP APIs and schemas, enabling reliable, repeatable app and device provisioning. It reduces deployment failures from version mismatches, improves security via updated components, and speeds operations through standardized, CI/CD-friendly automation at scale. BIG-IQ 8.4 (and 8.4.1) provides support for IPv6. IPv6 provides vastly more IP addresses, simpler routing, and end‑to‑end connectivity as IPv4 runs out. BIG‑IQ’s IPv6 profile support centralizes configuration, visibility, and policy management for IPv6 traffic across BIG‑IP devices—reducing errors and operational overhead while enabling consistent, secure IPv6 adoption. Upgrading to v8.4.1 You can upgrade from BIG-IQ 8.X to BIG-IQ 8.4.1. BIG-IQ Centralized Management Compatibility Matrix Refer to Knowledge Article K34133507 BIG-IQ Virtual Edition Supported Platforms BIG-IQ Virtual Edition Supported Platforms provides a matrix describing the compatibility between the BIG-IQ VE versions and the supported hypervisors and platforms. Conclusion Effective management—orchestration, visibility, and compliance—relies on consistent app services and security policies across on-premises and cloud deployments. Easily control all your BIG-IP devices and services with a single, unified management platform, F5® BIG-IQ®. F5® BIG-IQ® Centralized Management reduces complexity and administrative burden by providing a single platform to create, configure, provision, deploy, upgrade, and manage F5® BIG-IP® security and application delivery services. Related Content Boosting BIG-IP AFM Efficiency with BIG-IQ: Technical Use Cases and Integration Guide Five Key Benefits of Centralized Management F5 BIG-IQ What's New in v8.4.0?
F5 BIG-IQ What's New in v8.4.0?
Introduction F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management, a key component of the F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP), helps teams maintain order and streamline administration of BIG-IP app delivery and security services. In this article I’ll highlight some of the key features in the BIG-IQ v8.4.0 release. Demo Video Upgrading to BIG-IQ Version 8.4 Supported upgrade paths You can upgrade from BIG-IQ 8.x.0 to BIG-IQ 8.4.0 version. New Features in BIG-IQ Version 8.4.0 BIG-IQ Support for AWS IMDSv2 AWS introduced a token-based Instance Metadata Service API (IMDSv2) that enhances security, requiring authentication for metadata access. Previously, BIG-IQ used the older IMDSv1, which does not require authentication and remained the default for launching instances. Without IMDSv2 support, instances that require this version could not be licensed, relicensed, or used for metadata-based features. For BIG-IQ, this limitation affected SSH key authentication and license activation, as its API calls to EC2 instances like m5.xlarge failed due to missing authentication token implementation. This release adds IMDSv2 support, which allows BIG-IQ to work properly in AWS environments that require IMDSv2. Instances can now be licensed, metadata-based features are functional, and SSH key authentication works well, ensuring full compatibility with AWS security standards. BIG-IQ Support for BIG-IP 17.5.0 BIG-IQ provides full support for BIG-IP 17.5.0, ensuring seamless discovery and compatibility across all modules. Users who upgrade to the BIG-IP 17.5.0 version retain the same functionality without disruptions, maintaining consistency in their management operations. Interoperability Support for BIG-IP Access 17.5.0 BIG-IQ supports the creation, import, modification, and deployment of BIG-IP Access 17.5.0 version configurations. This update ensures full interoperability between BIG-IQ and BIG-IP 17.5.0 for managing access policies. Support for AS3 Compatibility with BIG-IQ 8.4.0 With this release, the AS3 schema is fully compatible with BIG-IQ 8.4.0, enabling seamless deployment of applications using Application Templates through the BIG-IQ user interface. Venafi 22.x, 23.x, and 24.x Support for BIG-IQ BIG-IQ now integrates with Venafi 22.x, 23.x, and 24.x versions that enable centralized certificate lifecycle management for BIG-IP devices. This update introduces support for AES256 encryption, enhancing security beyond the existing OpenSSL algorithm. By automating certificate management, this integration eliminates the manual and time-consuming process of maintaining certificates across various BIG-IP devices. Supported BIG-IP Services BIG-IP 17.5.0 support BIG-IQ now includes support for the following services running on BIG-IP version 17.5.0: Access Policy Manager (APM) Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) Application Delivery Controller (ADC) Web Application Security (ASM / WAF) Fraud Protection Service (FPS) Statistics and Monitoring Application Services Extension 3 (AS3) support BIG-IQ supports Application Services Extension 3 (AS3) version 3.53.0 and later. Declarative Onboarding (DO) support BIG-IQ supports Declarative Onboarding (DO) version 1.29 and later. All objects up to 17.5.0 are supported. BIG-IP SSL Orchestrator (SSLO) support BIG-IQ now supports SSLO RPM version 12.0. You can now discover, import, configure, and deploy configurations for managed BIG-IP devices running this RPM version. To learn more about features supported in this SSLO RPM version, refer to the F5 SSL Orchestrator Release Notes version 17.5.0-12.0. F5OS Platform Management Support to display the VELOS device information You can now see the details such as Model type, Serial Number, Platform Version, and Blade Configuration for the VELOS platform Support to export F5OS Inventory details You can now export the F5OS platform or devices inventory information into a .CSV format file regardless of the status or assignment. Support to delete remote backup You can now delete backup files stored in the F5OS rSeries or VELOS platforms. This will also delete the partition backup files, when you delete the local F5OS backup file in the BIG-IQ. Support IPv6 address for F5OS VELOS partition This release now supports IPv6 addresses for F5OS VELOS partitions. Export F5OS backups to the external server You can now store a copy of the F5OS backup remotely on an SCP or SFTP server. BIG-IQ License Management License pool properties enhancements The License Pool UI was enhanced to include the following: You can now select the number of registration keys displayed per page under the Registration Keys section. You can now view information about the Service Check Date, Max allowed Throughput Rate, Max Allowed VE Cores, and Permitted SW Version of the Registration keys. All licenses usage report You can now generate a CSV report that meticulously includes all licenses from the selected group. F5 Advanced Web Application Firewall (On-Box) service as an SSL Orchestrator Service BIG-IP SSL Orchestrator (SSLO) Support BIG-IQ 8.4.0 supports configuring and deploying Advanced WAF profiles within the SSL Orchestrator interface for all topologies. This update makes it easier to set up and manage Advanced WAF profiles. You can set them up directly within SSL Orchestrator. In addition, you can also validate the service as a service chain object. For this setup, you should have Application Security Manager (ASM) and Advanced Web Application Firewall (WAF) profiles set up, licensed, and provisioned on BIG-IQ. Security Policy enhancements SSL Orchestrator Security Policy now has the following enhancements while creating a new rule: A new drop-down list contains the "is" and "is not" operators to compare or negate your specified condition. A new condition, "IP Protocol," lets you match SSL traffic based on Internet Protocols such as TCP and UDP. With the new "Bypass (Client Hello)" setting in SSL Proxy Action, you can bypass traffic on certain conditions without triggering the TLS handshake. However, the SSL conditions such as "Server Certificate (Issuer DN, SANs, Subject DN)" and "Category Lookup (All)" do not have this setting enabled. In a custom security policy, you can now redirect the traffic to a remote URL for the specified conditions (matches). BIG-IQ Centralized Management Compatibility Matrix Refer to Knowledge Article K34133507 BIG-IQ Virtual Edition Supported Platforms BIG-IQ Virtual Edition Supported Platforms provides a matrix describing the compatibility between the BIG-IQ VE versions and the supported hypervisors and platforms. Conclusion Managing hundreds or thousands of apps across a hybrid, multicloud environment is complex. Your apps must be always available and secure, no matter where they're deployed, creating a need for a new kind of Application Delivery Controller (ADC)—one that provides holistic, unified visibility and management of apps, services, and infrastructure everywhere. F5® BIG-IQ® Centralized Management reduces complexity and administrative burden by providing a single platform to create, configure, provision, deploy, upgrade, and manage F5® BIG-IP® security and application delivery services. Related Content BIG-IQ 8.4.0 Product Documentation Boosting BIG-IP AFM Efficiency with BIG-IQ: Technical Use Cases and Integration Guide Blog: Five Key Benefits of Centralized Management
Get Started with BIG-IP and BIG-IQ Virtual Edition (VE) Trial
Welcome to the BIG-IP and BIG-IQ trials page! This will be your jumping off point for setting up a trial version of BIG-IP VE or BIG-IQ VE in your environment. As you can see below, everything you’ll need is included and organized by operating environment — namely by public/private cloud or virtualization platform. To get started with your trial, use the following software and documentation which can be found in the links below. Upon requesting a trial, you should have received an email containing your license keys. Please bear in mind that it can take up to 30 minutes to receive your licenses. Don't have a trial license? Get one here. Or if you're ready to buy, contact us. Looking for other Resources like tools, compatibility matrix... BIG-IP VE and BIG-IQ VE When you sign up for the BIG-IP and BIG-IQ VE trial, you receive a set of license keys. Each key will correspond to a component listed below: BIG-IQ Centralized Management (CM) — Manages the lifecycle of BIG-IP instances including analytics, licenses, configurations, and auto-scaling policies BIG-IQ Data Collection Device (DCD) — Aggregates logs and analytics of traffic and BIG-IP instances to be used by BIG-IQ BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM), Access (APM), Advanced WAF (ASM), Network Firewall (AFM), DNS — Keep your apps up and running with BIG-IP application delivery controllers. BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) and BIG-IP DNS handle your application traffic and secure your infrastructure. You’ll get built-in security, traffic management, and performance application services, whether your applications live in a private data center or in the cloud. Select the hypervisor or environment where you want to run VE: AWS CFT for single NIC deployment CFT for three NIC deployment BIG-IP VE images in the AWS Marketplace BIG-IQ VE images in the AWS Marketplace BIG-IP AWS documentation BIG-IP video: Single NIC deploy in AWS BIG-IQ AWS documentation Setting up and Configuring a BIG-IQ Centralized Management Solution BIG-IQ Centralized Management Trial Quick Start Azure Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template for single NIC deployment Azure ARM template for three NIC deployment BIG-IP VE images in the Azure Marketplace BIG-IQ VE images in the Azure Marketplace BIG-IQ Centralized Management Trial Quick Start BIG-IP VE Azure documentation Video: BIG-IP VE Single NIC deploy in Azure BIG-IQ VE Azure documentation Setting up and Configuring a BIG-IQ Centralized Management Solution VMware/KVM/Openstack Download BIG-IP VE image Download BIG-IQ VE image BIG-IP VE Setup BIG-IQ VE Setup Setting up and Configuring a BIG-IQ Centralized Management Solution Google Cloud Google Deployment Manager template for single NIC deployment Google Deployment Manager template for three NIC deployment BIG-IP VE images in Google Cloud Google Cloud Platform documentation Video: Single NIC deploy in Google Other Resources AskF5 Github community (f5devcentral, f5networks) Tools to automate your deployment BIG-IQ Onboarding Tool F5 Declarative Onboarding F5 Application Services 3 Extension Other Tools: F5 SDK (Python) F5 Application Services Templates (FAST) F5 Cloud Failover F5 Telemetry Streaming Find out which hypervisor versions are supported with each release of VE. BIG-IP Compatibility Matrix BIG-IQ Compatibility Matrix Do you have any comments or questions? Ask here
F5 Synthesis: Keeping the licensing creep out of expanding software options
(Editors note: the LineRate product has been discontinued for several years. 09/2023) --- One of the funny things about infrastructure moving toward a mix of hardware and software (virtual or traditional) is that the issues that plague software come with it. Oh, maybe not right away, but eventually they crawl out of the deep recesses of the data center like a Creeper in Minecraft and explode on the unsuspecting adventurer, er, professional. While licensing network infrastructure has never been painless, it's never been as complicated or difficult as its software counterparts simply due to the sheer magnitude of difference between the number of network boxes under management and the number of software applications and infrastructure under management. That is changing. Rapidly. Whether it's because of expanding cloud footprints or a need to support microservices and highly virtualized environments, the reality is that the volume of software-based infrastructure is increasing. Like its application counterparts, that means licensing challenges are increasing too. That means We (that's the corporate F5 "we") have to change, too. As we continue to expand the software offerings available for F5 Synthesis beyond cloud and virtualization, we need to also adjust licensing options. That means staying true to the Synthesis tenet of Simplified Business Models. That's why we're making not one but two announcements at the same time. The first is the expansion of existing software options for F5 Synthesis. In addition to cloud-native and virtual editions of BIG-IP, we're making available a lightweight, load balancing service - LineRate Point. LineRate Point complements existing Synthesis services by supporting more directly the needs of application and operations teams for agile, programmable application-affine services in the data center or in the cloud, on- and off-premise. This is a missing component as the data center architecture bifurcates into a shared, core network and an app specific (business) network. Whether it's a focus on moving toward Network Service Virtualization or a need to deploy on a per-app / per-service basis thanks to microservices or increasing mobile application development, LineRate Point offers the scale and security necessary without compromising on the agility or programmability required to fit into the more volatile environment of the growing application network. But a sudden explosion of LineRate Point (or any service, really) anyway across the potential deployment spectrum would create the same kind of tracking and management headaches experienced by software infrastructure and applications. Licensing becomes a nightmare, particularly when instances might be provisioned and terminated on a more frequent basis than is typical for most network-deployed services. So along with the introduction of LineRate Point we're also bringing to F5 Synthesis Volume License Subscriptions (VLS). VLS holds true to the tenet of simplified business models both by offering F5 Synthesis software options (VE, cloud and LineRate Point) with a licensing model that fits the more expansive use of these services to support microservices, cloud and virtualization. VLS brings to F5 Synthesis the ability to support the migration of service infrastructure closer to the applications it is supporting without sacrificing the need for management and licensing. VLS also simplifies a virtual-based Synthesis High Performance Service Fabric by centralizing licensing of large numbers of virtual BIG-IP instances (VE) and simplifying the process. According to a 2014 InformationWeek survey on software licensing, nearly 40% of organizations have a dedicated resource who spends more than 50% of their time managing licenses and subscriptions. Moving to a more software-focused approach for infrastructure services will eventually do the same if it's not carefully managed from the start. By taking advantage of F5 Synthesis Simplified Business Models and its VLS offering, organizations can avoid the inevitable by bringing a simplified licensing strategy along with their software-based service infrastructure. You can learn more about F5 Synthesis Simplified Business Models by following Alex Rublowsky, Senior Director of Licensing Business Models, here on DevCentral as he shares more insight into the growing licensing options available for F5's expanding software portfolio.Configuring Unified Bot Defense with BIG-IQ Centralized Management
While estimates vary, it is believed that more than half of the Internet traffic is being generated by bots, out of which unwanted or malicious ones (like spam or malware bots) account for more than half of the traffic, the remaining traffic being generated by “good” bots (like crawlers or feed fetcher bots). It is therefore important to differentiate between different classes of bots and treat them according to site-specific security policies. The Unified Bot Defense profiles, first released in TMOS version 14.1, package bot protection features like Bot Signatures and Proactive Bot Defense previously found in L7 DoS profiles and Web Scraping protection found in ASM policies. Configuring Unified Bot Defense profiles through BIG-IQ ensures configuration consistency over the centralized managed BIG-IP estate and enhanced reporting capabilities. This article will guide you through the configuration of Unified Bot Defense profiles using BIG-IQ CM User Interface. It is assumed that the BIG-IP device where the Bot Defense profile will be deployed is currently managed by the BIG-IQ cluster, at least one BIG-IQ Logging Node / Data Collection Device is available and the Virtual Server to be protected is already configured (in the example below, VS_12BOX) - the configuration of these elements will not be part of this article. This article covers: configuring the Shared Security / Application Security Event Logging Profile configuring the Bot Defense profile monitoring the Bot Defense profiles Configuration of the Security Log Profile 1. Go to Configuration->LOCAL TRAFFIC->Pools, click Create and fill in the settings: -Name: Pool_DCD -Device: select the BIG-IP device -Health monitors: gateway_icmp -New member: - Select "New Node" - Address: Type the Log Node / DCD IP address - Port: 8514 (this is the port that Web Application Security Service is listening on the Logging Node / DCD) Note: Ensure that the Logging Node / Data Collection Device has the Web Application Security Service activated and the managed BIG-IP has LTM, SSM and ASM services Discovered/Imported. 2. Go to Configuration->LOCAL TRAFFIC->Logs ->Log Destination, click Create and fill in the settings: - Name: Log_dst_HSL_DCD - Type: Remote High-Speed - Device: select the BIG-IP device - Pool: select /Common/Pool_DCD 3. Go to Configuration->LOCAL TRAFFIC->Logs ->Log Destination, click Create and fill in the settings: - Name: Log_dst_Splunk_DCD - Type: SPLUNK - Forward to: select /Common/Log_dst_HSL_DCD 4. Go to Configuration->LOCAL TRAFFIC->Logs ->Log Publishers, click Create and fill in the settings: - Name: Log_pub_DCD - Log destinations: select /Common/Log_dst_Splunk_DCD 5. Go to Configuration->LOCAL TRAFFIC->Pinning Policies and select the BIG-IP device - Filter the available Local Traffic Manager (LTM) objects by selecting Log Publishers from the dropdown menu - Check Log_pub_DCD and click Add Selected button 6. Go to Configuration->SECURITY->Shared Security ->Logging Profiles, click Create and fill in the settings: -Name: Log_bot_protect_demo -Bot Defense: -Status: Enabled -Local Publisher: Enabled -Remote Publisher: /Common/Log_pub_DCD Attach the Log_bot_protect_demo log profile to the protected Virtual Server (in this example, VS_12BOX VS) 1. Go to Configuration->SECURITY->Shared Security->Virtual Servers and click on VS_12BOX VS 2. Select the Log_bot_protect_demo log profile for Logging profiles Deploy the configuration to the BIG-IP 1. Go to Deployment->EVALUATE & DEPLOY-> Local Traffic & Network, create a new Deployment. Once the evaluation has finished, click on Deploy. 2. Go to Deployment->EVALUATE & DEPLOY-> Shared Security, create a new Deployment. Once the evaluation has finished, click on Deploy. Configuration of the Bot Defense Profile Go to Configuration->SECURITY->Shared Security ->Bot Defense-> Bot Profiles, click Create and fill in the settings: -Name: bot_defense_demo -Enforcement Mode: Blocking -Profile Template: Strict -Browser Verification: -Browser Access: Allowed -Browser Verification: Verify After Access (Blocking) Note: As per K42323285: Overview of the unified Bot Defense profile the available options for the configuration elements used in this examples are: Enforcement Mode: Select one of the following modes, depending on the readiness of your application environment and requirements: Transparent—The system logs traffic mitigation and verification actions, according to your logging profile settings, but does not provide the following: JavaScript-based verification. Device ID collection. CAPTCHA challenge. Blocking—The system performs traffic mitigation and verification, and logs them according to your logging profile settings. Profile Template: The template you select determines the default values for mitigation and verification settings. However, you can customize these settings to meet your application security requirements. After the system saves the profile, you can't change this setting. The following list contains descriptions of the available templates: Relaxed—Performs basic verification of browsers and blocks malicious bots based on bot signatures. Balanced—This is the default selection. Performs advanced verification of browsers, including: CAPTCHA challenges for suspicious browsers. Anomaly detection algorithms and bot signatures to detect and block malicious bots. Limiting the total request rate for unknown bots. Strict—This is the strictest policy; it has settings that: Only allow browsers access if they pass proactive verification. Block all bots except trusted ones. Browser Verification: Specifies what and when the system sends challenges. None—The system does not perform JavaScript and header-based verification. However, some anomaly detection (such as Session Opening) still occurs. Challenge-Free Verification—The default value when Profile Template is set to Relaxed. The system performs header-based verification but does not perform JavaScript verification. Verify Before Access—The default value when Profile Template is set to Strict. The system sends a white page with JavaScript to challenge the client. If the client fails the challenge, the system performs the configured mitigation action and reports the anomaly. If the client passes the challenge, the system forwards the request to the server. Verify After Access (Blocking)—The default value when Profile Template is set to Balanced. The system injects a JavaScript challenge in the server response prior to sending the response to the client. If the client fails the challenge, the system performs the configured mitigation action and reports the anomaly. If the client passes the challenge, the system forwards the request to the server. Verify After Access (Detection Only)—The system injects JavaScript challenge in the server response prior to sending the response to the client. If the client fails the challenge, the system only reports the anomaly but does not perform any mitigation action. If the client passes the challenge, the system forwards the request to the server. Device ID Mode: A unique identifier that BIG-IP ASM creates by sending JavaScript to get information about the client device. The default value for this setting is determined by your selection in Profile Template (under General Settings). F5 recommends you use the default values set by the Profile Template you selected unless you have specific application requirements. None—The default value when Profile Template is set to Relaxed. The system does not send JavaScript to collect the device ID. Generate After Access—The default value when Profile Template is set to Balanced. The system injects the JavaScript in the server response before forwarding to the client. This is less intrusive and has less of a latency impact. Generate Before Access—The default value when Profile Template is set to Strict. The system sends the JavaScript challenge to the client before forwarding the client request to the server. This guarantees that every request that reaches the server has a device ID. This has more of a latency impact compared to the previous option. The system blocks bots that attempt to present themselves as browsers but are unable to execute the JavaScript challenge. Attach the bot_defense_demo bot protect profile to the VS_12BOX VS 1. Go to Configuration->SECURITY->Shared Security->Virtual Servers and click on VS_12BOX VS 2. Select the bot_defense_demo profile for Bot Defense profile Deploy the Bot Defense profile to the BIG-IP Go to Deployment->EVALUATE & DEPLOY-> Shared Security, create a new Deployment. Once the evaluation has finished, click on Deploy Monitoring Bot Defense Profiles To monitor Bot Protection operation, check the Monitoring->DASHBOARDS->Bot Traffic Dashboard and Monitoring->EVENTS->Bot->Bot requests logs
BIG-IQ Central Management API automation and programmability - Workflow - Python
Summary In conjunction with the announcement of BIG-IQ 5.0 we are excited to bring the field greater flexibility when centrally managing BIG-IP devices utilizing well defined workflows and the BIG-IQ iControl REST API. We understand that automation and programmability is becoming more the norm these days as the network is evolving into a software defined application aware environment. This article will provide a basic example for first establishing trust while adding a device to inventory, second importing device configuration into BIG-IQ's configuration database and finally adding device to a license pool all utilizing the BIG-IQ rest api uri provided by the interface. Response is parsed in JSON format so there are dependencies required. This is intended to be an introduction to leveraging the API directly. We are in the process of developing a python object abstraction for the BIG-IQ CM REST API to provide even greater simplicity when leveraging automation for central management programmability. But we thought this level of detail may be appropriate to get the ball rolling. The BIG-IQ CM SDK will be structured similar to version 0.1.7 BIG-IP iControl REST API described here: BIGIP SDK - https://devcentral.f5.com/s/articles/f5-friday-python-sdk-for-big-ip-18233 BIGIP SDK Docs - https://f5-sdk.readthedocs.io/en/v0.1.7/ Let's get started ... READY ... SET ... GO ... Here are the API URIs' used as reference for both Python and Perl examples below: Trust: https://'bigiq-ip'/mgmt/cm/global/tasks/device-trust Discovery: https://'bigiq-ip'/mgmt/cm/global/tasks/device-discovery Import: ADC - https://'bigiq-ip'/mgmt/cm/adc-core/tasks/declare-mgmt-authority Import: Firewall - https://'bigiq-ip'/mgmt/cm/firewall/tasks/declare-mgmt-authority License: Pools - https://'bigiq-ip'/mgmt/cm/shared/licensing/pools License: Members: - https://'bigiq-ip'/mgmt/cm/shared/licensing/pools/'member_uuid'/members Using a python class abstraction (libraries can be located in /lib/) for Discovery, Import and Licensing, these tasks are a single call from one place which will provide the flexibility to create scripts defined by workflow. For example, lets - 1. Negotiate trust certificates for a newly deployed BIGIP. 2. Discover the BIGIP device and add to inventory. 3. Import ADC configuration and resolve all differences to BIGIQ’s management database. 4. Import Firewall configuration and resolve all differences to BIGIQ’s management database. 5. Add this newly discovered BIGIP to a provisioned license pool using the base-registration-key as a filter. Using the following python libraries, we can accomplish these tasks defined as methods in each class definition: ## Discovery ../lib/discovery.py: class Discover(object) def device_trust(dev_id): def ltm_discover(modules adc_core, firewall, asm, apm etc..): ## Import ../lib/import.py: class Import(object) def import_ltm(dev_id): def import_security(dev_id, afm=True): ## License ../lib/license.py : class License(object) def license_pool(config): Now it’s just a matter of putting the puzzle together in a script that will accomplish the workflow described above. BIG-IQ and BIG-IP device address and credentials are read in from a configuration file (../config/..) the script first and passed into def workflow for processing. Each method is called with argument <config> dictionary to perform the task required. After completion each will return True or False depending on result from rest response code and some evaluation. ## Import libraries to leverage methods described above from discovery import Discover from import_module import Import from license import License ## main def "workflow" def workflow (Discover, License, Import, config): ## Trust "establish certificate exchange" result_trust = Discover.device_trust(config) ## Discover "add a BIGIP to inventory" result = Discover.ltm_discover(config, result_trust) ## Import ADC "import adc configuration into database" result = Import.import_ltm(config, result_trust) ## Import AFM, ASM, APM "import module configuration into database" result = Import.import_sec(config, result_trust, afm=True) ## Add BIGIP member to license pool result = License.license_pool(config) ## Python main body if __name__ == '__main__': # read config file from ../config/.. config = {} with open (file) as infile: config[str(key)] = val.strip('\n') ## create an instance of each imported class defined in the libraries Discover = Discover(config) Import = Import(config) License = License(config) ## call the main program method "workflow" workflow (Discover, Import, License, config) If you are interested in this code for collaboration or solution, search on key words "bigiq" "api" "python" in code share section on dev central or you can refer to the reference link: Device trust, discovery and import using python requests - supported in Python version 2.7.9 and greater. https://devcentral.f5.com/s/articles/big-iq-trust-discovery-and-import-of-big-ip-using-rest-api-python-oo-973 Grants a license to a BIG-IP from an already-activated purchaced pool. https://devcentral.f5.com/s/articles/big-iq-licensing-of-big-ip-using-rest-api-python-oo-974 We will also be adding to github and will update this article once completed. So please come back and visit us soon and often for additional content.BIG-IQ Central Management API automation and programmability - BULK Discovery, Import and Re Import - Perl
Summary In conjunction with the announcement of BIG-IQ 5.0 we are excited to bring the field greater flexibility when centrally managing BIG-IP devices utilizing well defined workflows and the BIG-IQ iControl REST API. We understand that automation and programmability is becoming more the norm these days as the network is evolving into a software defined application aware environment. This article is an addendum to “BIG-IQ Central Management API automation and programmability – Python” and will demonstrate bulk device trust, discovery to populate resolver groups and import bigip configuration of many BIG-IP device as defined in a csv configuration file. This automation can be run as a standalone utilities that will run directly in the BIG-IQ shell for adding devices to inventory in a sequential yet automated fashion. API Reference Trust: https://'bigiq-ip'/mgmt/cm/global/tasks/device-trust Discovery: https://'bigiq-ip'/mgmt/cm/global/tasks/device-discovey Import: ADC - https://'bigiq-ip'/mgmt/cm/adc-core/tasks/declare-mgmt-authority Import: Firewall - https://'bigiq-ip'/mgmt/cm/firewall/tasks/declare-mgmt-authority Let’s get started – When using the BIG-IQ it is suggested to make a directory called scripts under /shared and securely copy this distribution into /shared/scripts/. Contents: ../config/bulk_discovery.csv ../src/perl/bulkDiscovery.pl ../src/perl/bulkReImport.pl Everything is predicated by a main loop which will invoke each task by calling supporting perl subroutines self-contained in the script. All rest calls, using curl (https://curl.haxx.se/), made are highlighted below. Establishment of device trust is completed in the main loop while the process of discovery and import configurations are completed in subroutine blocks within the script. #====================================================== # Main loop # Process trust, discovery, and imports #====================================================== for $bigip (@bigips) { my %postBodyHash = ("address"=>$bigiq, "userName"=>$user, "password"=>$pw,"clusterName"=>"", "useBigiqSync"=>"false", "name"=>"trust_$mip"); my $postBody = encode_json(\%postBodyHash); my $trustCmd = "curl -s -k -u $bigiqCreds -H \"$contType\" -X POST -d \'$postBody\' https://localhost/mgmt/cm/global/tasks/device-trust"; if (discoverModules($bigiq, $machineId)) { if (importModules($bigiq)) { } } # upgrade the framework if nessasary if (handleFrameworkUpdade ($trustTask, $bigip)) { } } end of all devices #====================================================== # Discover specified modules. #====================================================== sub discoverModules { my %postBodyHash = ("moduleList" => \@moduleList, "status" => "STARTED"); # POST a new discovery task $postBodyHash{"deviceReference"}{"link"} = "cm/system/machineid-resolver/$machineId"; my $newDiscoverTaskCmd = "curl -s -k -u $bigiqCreds -H \"$contType\" -X POST -d \'$postBodyJson\' \"https://localhost/mgmt/cm/global/tasks/device-discovery\""; } end of discoverModules #====================================================== # A subroutine for importing individual module. #====================================================== sub importModule { # POST a new import task $postBodyHash{"deviceReference"}{"link"} = "cm/system/machineid-resolver/$machineId"; my $postBody = encode_json(\%postBodyHash); my $newImportTaskCmd = "curl -s -k -u $bigiqCreds -H \"$contType\" -X POST -d \'$postBodyJson\' \"$dmaUrl\""; # if we ecounter conflicts, we mark them to use BigIQ, patch the task back to started, and poll again if (($currentStep eq "PENDING_CONFLICTS") or ($currentStep eq "PENDING_CHILD_CONFLICTS")) if (resolveConflicts($mip, $module, $currentStep, $importSelfLink, @conflicts)) } # end of importModule #========================================================== # sub routine calling importModule to colocate all modules #========================================================== sub importModules { $ltmSuccess = importModule($mip, "ltm", "https://localhost/mgmt/cm/adc-core/tasks/declare-mgmt-authority", %postBodyHash); $asmSuccess = importModule($mip, "asm", "https://localhost/mgmt/cm/asm/tasks/declare-mgmt-authority", %postBodyHash); } And last but not least Re Import of BIGIP configuration objects for greater than one BIGIP device. This script can be run periodically based on Linux cron to ensure your device configurations managed by BIGIQ are up to date. On occasion other Element Management Systems could modify BIGIP object base and BIGIQ should be aware of these changes. If you refer to the below main loop, the discovery and import call's are the same. So two things actually happen that differs from inital bulk discovery and import. 1. Trust establishment is removed as it already contains mutaul certificate trust. 2. We test if the discovery and import tasks exists, if they do we can just PATCH discovery and import tasks to enforce a re import. That's about it. Refer to the code snippet below. #====================================================== # Main loop # Process Re Discovery, and Imports #====================================================== for $bigip (@bigips) { ## get the device properties my $deviceCmd = "curl -s -k -u $bigiqCreds -H \"$contType\" -X GET https://localhost/mgmt/shared/resolver/device-groups/cm-bigip-allBigIpDevices/devices"; ## call disc routine using ip and machine id. if (discoverModules($bigiq, $machineId)) { ## call import routine using up and machine id. if (importModules($bigiq, $machineId)) } } } # end for devices Just to re iterate the above the discovery and import routines used for Re Import just PATCH the existing task created during inital discovery and import. Here are the PATCH requests. #====================================================== # Discover specified modules. #====================================================== sub discoverModules { ## get the discovery task based on the machineId my $findDiscoverTaskCmd = "curl -s -k -u $bigiqCreds -H \"$contType\" -X GET \"https://localhost/mgmt/cm/global/tasks/device-discovery?\\\$filter=deviceReference/link+eq+\'*$machineId*\'+and+status+eq+\'FINISHED\'\""; ## If it exists PATCH the task if (defined $discoveryTask->{"items"}[0]) { # PATCH the existing discovery task my $discoveryTaskSelfLink = $discoveryTask->{"items"}[0]->{"selfLink"}; $postBodyJson = encode_json(\%postBodyHash); my $discoverCmd = "curl -s -k -u $bigiqCreds -H \"$contType\" -X PATCH -d \'$postBodyJson\' $discoveryTaskSelfLink"; } #====================================================== # A subroutine for importing individual module. #====================================================== sub importModule { ## get import task based on the machineid my $findImportTaskCmd = "curl -s -k -u $bigiqCreds -H \"$contType\" -X GET \"$dmaUrl?\\\$filter=deviceReference/link+eq+\'*$machineId*\'\""; ## If exists PATCH the task if (defined $findImportTask->{"items"}[0]) { # PATCH the existing import task $importTaskLink = $findImportTask->{"items"}[0]->{"selfLink"}; my $importCmd = "curl -s -k -u $bigiqCreds -H \"$contType\" -X PATCH -d \'$postBodyJson\' $importTaskLink"; } #======================================== # sub routine for calling importModule to collocate all modules. #======================================== sub importModules { $ltmSuccess = importModule($mip, $machineId, "ltm", "https://localhost/mgmt/cm/adc-core/tasks/declare-mgmt-authority", %postBodyHash); $asmSuccess = importModule($mip, machineId, "asm", "https://localhost/mgmt/cm/asm/tasks/declare-mgmt-authority", %postBodyHash); } If you are interested in this code for collaboration or solution, seach on key words "bigiq" "api" "python" or "perl" in code share section on dev central or here is the reference link: https://devcentral.f5.com/s/articles/big-iq-big-ip-rest-api-bulk-device-discovery-perl-972 We will also create a repository on github for easy accessability. Please visit us soon and often for periodic updates.BIG-IQ Central Management API automation and programmability - Licensing
Summary In conjunction with the announcement of BIG-IQ 5.0 we are excited to bring the field greater flexibility when centrally managing BIG-IP devices utilizing well defined workflows and the BIG-IQ iControl REST API. We understand that automation and programmability is becoming more the norm these days as the network is evolving into a software defined application aware environment. This article is an addendum to “BIG-IQ Central Management API automation and programmability – Discovery, Import and Re Import” and will demonstrate licensing using a Purchased License Pool. There are two approaches used in these examples. The first is a Python OO example that abstracts the actual licensing work.The second is a self-contained script intended to be used as standalone utility that will run directly on the BIG-IQ for adding devices to inventory in a sequential yet automated fashion. As in the Python versions of this code the API referenced Uri’s are the same. API Reference - License Pools: GET - https://'bigiq-ip'/mgmt/cm/shared/licensing/pools License Pool Member: POST - https://'bigiq-ip'/mgmt/cm/shared/licensing/pools/'member_uuid'/members Let’s get started – Python - Contents: ../config/license.config ../src/pyhton/licensePool.py ../lib/license.py The python code will initially read a configuration file used to define bigiq / bigip credentials as well as the base registration key used to identify the correct license pool you want to add this device too. Once the License.license_pool() method is called in licensePool.py will GET the license pool uuid: uri = 'https://' + iq + '/mgmt/cm/shared/licensing/pools' response = requests.get(uri, auth=(username, password), verify=False) Using the license pool uuid retrieved from the GET above a POST is made to REST end point (license pool member) resulting in adding the BIGIP to the pool. BIGIQ will invoke the POST to BIGIP licensing the device. uri = 'https://' + iq + '/mgmt/cm/shared/licensing/pools/' + member_uuid + '/members' lic_json = {"deviceAddress": ip,"username": username,"password": password} response = requests.post(uri, data=str(lic_json), auth=(username, password), verify=False) Perl - Contents: ../config/bulk_license.csv ../src/perl/licensePool.pl When using the BIG-IQ it is suggested to make a directory called scripts under /shared and securely copy this distribution into /shared/scripts/. Everything is predicated by a main loop which will invoke each task by calling supporting Perl subroutines self-contained in the script. All rest calls, using curl (https://curl.haxx.se/), made are highlighted below. In this case for all devices listed in ../config/*.csv this loop calls a perl routine called licenseDevice(). if (licenseDevice($mip, $user, $pw, $base_reg_key)) { Like the python script we get member id (uuid) of purchased license pool. curl -s -k -u $bigiqCreds -H \"$contType\" -X GET \"https://localhost/mgmt/cm/shared/licensing/pools\ Then POST to pool members REST end point using uuid retrieved. my $licenseCmd = "curl -s -k -u $bigiqCreds -H \"$contType\" -X POST -d \'$postBodyJson\' \"https://localhost/mgmt/cm/shared/licensing/pools/$member_uuid/members\""; If you are interested in this code for collaboration or solution, search on key words "bigiq" "api" "python" or "perl" in code share section on dev central or here is the reference link: https://devcentral.f5.com/s/articles/big-iq-big-ip-rest-api-licensing-932 - bulk (Able to run in BIGIQ shell, licensing of > 1 device defined in a csv) https://devcentral.f5.com/s/articles/big-iq-big-ip-rest-api-device-licensing-httplib-970 - httplib (Able to run in BIGIQ shell) https://devcentral.f5.com/s/articles/big-iq-licensing-of-big-ip-using-rest-api-python-oo-974 - requests (python oo version)Generation of Utility Billing Report using BIG-IQ's API
This script generate the utility billing report based of a list of regKey. This script only applies to utility-type licenses used for F5's subscription and/or ELA programs. The regkey listed in the csv file or in the command line are the registration key associated with the license pool you wish to report on. Reports can be automatically submitted to F5 or manually created. /!\ This feature will be included with BIG-IQ 6.1 /!\ Automatic report submission requires BIG-IQ to access api.f5.com. BIG-IQ makes a REST call over SSL to api.f5.com to upload the report. Manual report submission is used in cases where BIG-IQ cannot reach api.f5.com. In this workflow, the customer generates the report, extracts it, then emails it to F5 (/shared/scripts/F5_Billing_License_Report.<date>.json). Pre-Requisist: Make sure you can access api.f5.com port 443 if automatic reporting is chosen (nslookup api.f5.com, ping api.f5.com, telnet api.f5.com 443). The script has to be executed locally from the BIG-IQ. Installation: The script must be installed in BIG-IQ under /shared/scripts: # mkdir /shared/scripts # chmod +x /shared/scripts/licenseUtilityReport.pl Allowed command line options: -h Help -c Path to CSV file with all regKey - REQUIRED if not using -k -k regKey(s) separated by , - REQUIRED if not using -c -r Report option automatic or manual - OPTIONAL (default is automatic) Command example automatic report: # cd /shared/scripts # ./licenseUtilityReport.pl -k DRLPZ-JISKU-VPUPT-HZMMV-LERVPYQ,GYCWI-FOUEZ-YMWPX-LYROB-PXTKMTG CSV file example manual report: # ./licenseUtilityReport.pl -c listregkey.csv -r manual # cat listregkey.csv DRLPZ-JISKU-VPUPT-HZMMV-LERVPYQ GYCWI-FOUEZ-YMWPX-LYROB-PXTKMTG Cron table example (every 1st of the month at 10am) for both above examples: # crontab -e (edit: type 'o' to add a new line, then 'ESC' and ':x' to save and quit) # crontab -l (list) 0 10 1 * * /usr/bin/perl /shared/scripts/licenseUtilityReport.pl -k DRLPZ-JISKU-VPUPT-HZMMV-LERVPYQ 0 10 1 * * /usr/bin/perl /shared/scripts/licenseUtilityReport.pl -c /shared/script/listregkey.csv -r manual ┌───────────── minute (0 - 59) │ ┌───────────── hour (0 - 23) │ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1 - 31) │ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1 - 12) │ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0 - 6) (Sunday to Saturday; │ │ │ │ │ 7 is also Sunday on some systems) │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ * * * * * In case you need to obfuscate the Utility Billing Report before sending it, use manual export, then use the following script to mask IP/Mac addresses and Hostnames from the report. Then submit/email report to F5 (Please contact F5 Support for assistance). # ./f5_sanitize_usage_report.sh F5_Billing_License_Report.<date>.json Location of the scripts on GitHub: https://github.com/f5devcentral/f5-big-iq-pm-team
