DevCentral Relaunch Commencing
The last few years here at DevCentral we've seen fantastic growth and it's thanks to all of you! We've talked with you at industry events, on the streets, at user groups, and online in the community. Your message is loud and clear. You want more. We're getting ready to do just that and here's what you'll see coming very soon. Changing Launch Platforms To meet your global needs and provide new and supportable capabilities, we decided to change platforms. That's a big undertaking especially since we made the crazy and obvious decision to bring along all of the content with us. That's right, we're bringing what makes DevCentral great along with us. We're bringing over: All of the articles All of your questions and answers Your fantastic codeshare repository All of you, our users and your DevPoints Your user-to-content relationships - this one was tough, but we made it A community is only as good as its members, so our first responsibility was preserving your contributions on our new platform. To offer anything less would be a disservice to you and your participation. Thank you for being part of what makes DevCentral great. A Fresh Coat of Paint The primary goal with our platform switch was to ensure a successful content migration, but that's no fun without some improvements to the user interface. We worked at improving your engagement with questions, codeshare, and with each other. Out of the gate you'll see: Content preferences to tailor your home page experience Preset filters to get you content you want to read More content per page Improved replying and interaction in questions Improved User Profile with better following & bookmarking features Private user messaging (that works) And so much more... We could keep going but it's easier to say we improved the DevCentral experience from top to bottom and we'll continue to do so with your feedback and our thanks. Flight Inspection Team Is Proceeding to The Launch Pad The DevCentral team is hard at work in our last phase of verification and are excited to show you what we'e been working on. We will follow up with you regarding how we're going to manage API documentation next week but won't stop there. This whole process and program from start to finish is for you and thanks to you the DevCentral Community. We'll continue to do great things together and are quite excited to keep on growing. Main Engine Start in T Minus....
DevCentral access using Chrome - The requested URL was rejected. Please consult with your administrator.
Hello all, Is anyone else having trouble accessing DevCentral? I use Chrome as my main browser which used to be fine - but from probably 4 or 5 weeks ago - whenever I try to access any DevCentral URL - eg: https://devcentral.f5.com/Default.aspx?tabid=63&articleType=ArticleView&articleId=285 ...I get this message: The requested URL was rejected. Please consult with your administrator. Your support ID is: 14079010617147482426 Searching on here says that's an ASM message - but since this is an F5 hosted site - that's F5's ASM I'm guessing? Don't know much about ASM - why would it be blocking access from Chrome only? Same URL works fine with IE or Firefox from the same laptop. I can't see any other notes on here about this so I'm guessing it isn't everyone with Chrome? Any ideas?
Name Based Virtual Hosting irule efficiency
Hey guys, we are currently going the route of name based virutual hosting with all of applications. After finding a terrific doc https://devcentral.f5.com/articles/name-based-virtual-hosting-with-ltm that pretty much explains what we need I have a few concerns on the best way to scale it. Here are my concerns: if have say we have 100 sites, I am guessing that the irule will not scale that well when HTTP_REQUEST { switch [HTTP::host] { iz.hotkittehs.com { pool hotkittehs } www.bukkitsgalor.org { pool bukkitsgalor } icanhaz.devcentral.f5.com { pool icanhaz } default { reject } } } } or will it ? is there another way to make it more scalable efficient? prehaps breaking it out into a couple of separate switch statement while maintaining the same piece of code..thoughts ? ThanksI Am an Application Delivery Fundamentalist!
Fun and a little mental. If you’ve been following along the DevCentral team’s journey toward F5 Certification, then you may be aware that we were in Chicago last week for F5’s Agility 2016 conference and took our 101 Application Delivery Fundamentals exam. I am happy to report that all of us, Jason, John, Chase and I, passed our exams. I gotta tell you, it’s a relief since I didn’t want to title this article, 'Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.' Good song but wanted to avoid that. We started this excursion back in April (me in March) with the team deciding to create a study group. Each week we’d tackle a topic with the guidance of Eric Mitchell’s excellent Study Guide. We worked through the sections and decided to test our luck with the Certification Team’s mobile testing center...with the pressure of passing during an F5 event. Imagine the slight pre-test anxiety going through our minds if we didn’t pass. ‘How long have you been at F5?’ the questions would have started. My mouth covering, embarrassing, face-palming, muffled response of, ’12 years,’ would not have been sufficient. As Ken told us on the way into the exam room, ‘I tell people it is either pass or fail…so don’t worry about your overall score.’ But he also added specifically to me, ‘You know if you fail, I will give you grief.’ No Pressure. Well, we were prepared and we all passed! Jason, John and I took the exam Tuesday morning. After registering and scheduling with Pearson Vue, we arrived at the mobile test center. You need to sign in and present two forms of ID, one with your picture. Even though the Certification team knew all of us, we still needed to follow the procedure, no exceptions. We liked that we had no special treatment – other than the ‘hello’ hugs – and had to process and pass fair and square. We were seated in different areas since the exam room was fairly full when we entered. The moderator helped each of us get to the proper test associated with our registration and the timer started. For the 101, you have 90 minutes to answer 80 questions. At 23 minutes in, Jason got up and was finished. ‘Wa?!?’ as I look up seeing him walk by, ‘I’m only on question 28!’ I lamented. At least John was still there and I kept an eye on my time and question count the rest of the way. But I also told myself, ‘I’m in no hurry and if I need the full 90 minutes, I’ll take it to the last tick.’ John finished about a 40 minutes later and I was left for the last 30 to myself. With 10 minutes left, I was done but took that remaining time to review my answers. One tip: you can flag questions for review during the test or make comments for yourself as you move along. Close out the ones you know and go back for the more challenging questions. In the end I think I changed 3 answers. No idea if it swayed the results either way. When you are done, you walk back to the registration room and your preliminary results are already waiting. I felt a quiver when Heidi glanced at my results and gave that ‘I’m sorry,’ look. But that was soon turned to glee as I read, ‘you have Passed.’ We were 3 for 3. Chase took the test on Wednesday and also passed. I feel it was a very fair test to determine one’s basic application delivery knowledge. Some networking, some security, some infrastructure. And although we did prepare, it was still a challenging test. These exams are not supposed to be cake-walks but a good way to measure your knowledge around a certain topic. While we passed and may be certifiable in our own right, we are not ‘officially’ F5 Certified. That comes with the 201 exam. The 201-TMOS Administration exam is the second exam required to achieve Certified F5 BIG-IP Administrator status. Candidates must have passed the 101-Application Delivery Fundamentals exam in order to be eligible for the 201 exam. And wouldn’t you know it, we’re all now shooting for the 201. We plan on doing the team study again but we’ll also need to dig into some on box time for this one. I plan on keeping you posted for the 201 but for now, I’ll just bask in my 101 glory. Phew! ps Related: Jumping on the Rails of the Technical Train Let the Training Begin! The Road to F5 Certification DevCentral at F5 Agility 2016DevCentral questions broken in firefox?
using firefox 35 and since some days it seems DevCentral questions doesn't function fully. it does automatically load more questions when i scroll down. when i try to subcribe or report a question i get send back to the front page. i got no script allowing everything from dev central. anyone else with the same problem?
Tampermonkey - DevCentral Site Enhancements (Notifications Page)
Problem this snippet solves: The DevCentral notifications page has no way to load all notifications quickly or dismiss all the visible notification, so this script fixes that. It adds a Load All button that will load all your notifications onto the page, and a Dismiss All button that will dismiss all the visible notifications on the page. It also updates the CSS a little bit to minimize the amount of whitespace between items. Please feel free to suggest additional enhancements or fork the project and update it on your own. Version History v1.0 - Includes Load All and Dismiss All buttons v1.04 - Added auto-subscribe to a question when you add a comment v1.05 - Added auto-subscribe to a codeshare when you add a comment How to use this snippet: Instructions The Tampermonkey Chrome extension needs to be installed for this script to work. Once installed, click on the Tampermonkey icon and click Dashboard Click the new script button and set the Update URL field to https://github.com/jangins101/F5/raw/master/F5%20Devcentral%20Enhancements.js . You can also copy the whole document linked below into a new Tampermonkey script and save it. Click Save and then click the value in the Last Updated column for that new row. This should update the script Navigate to Devcentral and check your notifications. You should see 2 new buttons after the notification count. Code : https://github.com/jangins101/F5/raw/master/F5%20Devcentral%20Enhancements.js Tested this on version: 11.5Q/A with Rackspace Network Architect Vijay Emarose - DevCentral's Featured Member for November
Koman Vijay Emarose works as a Network Architect with the Strategic Accounts team at Rackspace. He has been a “Racker” (Rackspace Employee) for 7+ years and currently he is adapting to a networking world that is pivoting towards a world of automation. In Odaah's free time, he likes to identify DevCentral site bugs, incessantly torment Chase Abbott to fix them – particularly the badges and he is DevCentral’s Featured Member for November! Vijay's other hobbies include traveling and has been to more than eleven countries and looking to increase that number in the future. Personal finance blogs and binge watching documentaries are his guilty pleasures. DevCentral got an opportunity to talk with Vijay about his work, life and blog. DevCentral: You’ve been an active contributor to the DevCentral community and wondered what keeps you involved? Vijay Emarose: I have been a passive DevCentral user for quite a while and relied heavily on DevCentral to improve my iRule skills. The continued support for DevCentral community among F5 employees and other BIG-IP administrators provided me with the motivation to start sharing the knowledge that I have gained over the years. Answering questions raised by other members helps me to reinforce my knowledge and opens me up to alternate solutions that I had not considered. Rest assured, I will strive to keep the momentum going. DC: Tell us a little about the areas of BIG-IP expertise you have. VE: I started working on F5 during the transition period from 9.x to 10.x code version in 2010. BIG-IP LTM & GTM are my strong points. I have some experience with AFM, APM and ASM but not as much as I would like. Working with clients of various sizes from small scale to large enterprises at Rackspace, exposed me to a wide variety of F5 platforms from the 1600s to the VIPRION. I am sporadically active in the LinkedIn Community for F5 Certified Professionals. I had taken the beta versions of the F5 Certification exams and I am currently an F5 Certified Technology Specialist in LTM & GTM. I am eagerly looking forward to the upcoming F5 402 Exam. I have been fortunate enough to work with the F5 Certification Team (Ken Salchow, Heidi Schreifels, et al) in the Item Development Workshop (IDW) for F5’s 201 TMOS Administration Certification Exam and it was an eye-opener to understand the amount of thought and effort that goes into creating a certification exam. The 2016 F5 Agility in Chicago was my very first F5 Agility conference and I enjoyed meeting with and learning from Jason Rahm, Chase Abbott and other DevCentral members. I look forward to participating in future F5 Agility Conferences. DC: You are a Network Architect with Rackspace, the largest managed cloud provider. Where does BIG-IP fit in the services you offer or within your own infrastructure? VE: Rackspace is a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Enabled Managed Hosting and participates in the F5 UNITY Managed Service Provider Partner Program at the Global Gold Level. Various F5 platforms from the 1600s to the VIPRIONS are offered to customers requiring a dedicated ADC depending on their requirements. LTM & GTM are widely supported. In the past, I have been a member of the RackConnect Product team within Rackspace. “RackConnect” is a product that allows automated hybrid connections between a customer’s dedicated environment and Rackspace’s public cloud. F5 platforms were utilized as the gateway devices in this product. There is a DevCentral article on RackConnect by Lori MacVittie. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the F5 employees who support Rackspace that I have had the pleasure of working with - Richard Tocci, Scott Huddy and Kurt Lanthier. They have been of massive help to me whenever I required clarification or assistance with F5. DC: Your blog, Network-Maven.com, documents your experiences in the field of Network Engineering, Application Delivery, Security and Cloud Computing. What are some of the highlights that the community might find interesting? VE: This is a recent blog that I started to share my knowledge and experience working in the Networking field. Application Delivery Controllers are a niche area within Networking and I was fortunate enough to learn from some of the best at Rackspace. My idea is to share some of my experiences that could potentially help someone new to the field. Working with thousands of customer environments running different code versions on various F5 platforms has provided me with a rich variety of experience that could be of help to fellow F5 aficionados who are executing an F5 maintenance or implementing a new feature/function in their F5 environments. DC: Describe one of your biggest challenges and how DevCentral helped in that situation. VE: DevCentral has been a great resource for me on multiple occasions and it is tough to pinpoint a single challenge. I rely on it to learn from other’s experiences and to develop my iRule and iControl REST skills. I have benefited from the iRule: 20 Lines or Less series and I am an avid follower of the articles published by community members. For someone starting new with F5, I would certainly recommend following the articles and catching up on the iRules: 20 Lines or less series. DC: Lastly, if you weren’t working in IT – what would be your dream job? VE: I haven’t figured it out yet. Tech, finance & travel interest me. May be some combination of these interests would be the answer. DC: Thanks Vijay and congratulations! You can find Vijay on LinkedIn, check out his DevCentral contributions and follow @Rackspace. Related: Q/A with Yann Desmarest - DevCentral's Featured Member for July Q/A with SpringCM's Joel Newton - DevCentral's Featured Member for August Q/A with Secure-24's Josh Becigneul - DevCentral's Featured Member for September Q/A with ExITeam’s Security Engineer Stanislas Piron - DevCentral's Featured Member for OctoberF5 DevCentral Solves Your BIG-IP Questions
In this lively chat at #F5Agility15, DevCentral members Joe Pruitt and Tony Hynes share a little history of how it has grown from a single server in 2003 to over 200,000 members today; how iRules, iControl, iCall and iControl interact with BIG-IP’s programmability features and how the community helps solve, share and answer some of the challenges of today’s hybrid environments. They also highlight the MVP program and some of the new personal customization coming soon. ps Related: F5Agility15 - The Preview Video Welcome to F5 Agility 2015 Innovate, Expand, Deliver with F5 CEO Manny Rivelo Get F5 Certified at F5 Agility 2015 Software Defined Data Center Made Easy with F5 and VMware F5 Agility 2015 Technorati Tags: f5,agility,f5agility15,devcentral,programmibility,irules,automation,silva,video,conference Connect with Peter: Connect with F5:750th Blog Spectacular - Lessons of the LightBoard
I recently built out a LightBoard Studio for my home office so I can start contributing to the awesome LightBoard Lessons on DevCentral. These are short, informative videos explaining various technologies and often, how to implement on a BIG-IP system. Instead of writing on a whiteboard and looking over your shoulder into the camera as you explain something, Lightboards allow you to draw on and look through the crystal clear glass (into the camera) while discussing technical concepts. A transparent whiteboard. The LEDs that surround the glass accompanied with neon markers make the images pop. It’s pretty darn cool. So the story goes, a college professor was looking for a better way to deliver lessons to his students both on campus and online without a chalkboard. He called it the Learning Glass and now there are Lightboards all over the world, especially in universities. Incidentally, there is cool video of Picasso painting on glass from 1949. He had the right idea. You may have read or watched Jason & John’s Lightboard Lessons: Behind the Scenes and I wanted to report on my own experiences. First, I followed Jason’s bill of materials (except the camera) and it provides most everything you need to get started. I initially thought about a 3’ x 5’ pane of glass due to my smaller venue but couldn’t find an appropriate frame for that size. Well, to be clear, there may have been one but it was way outside my budget. I looked at various saw horses, ladder frames and other apparatus thinking I could ‘make’ something that could properly hold the glass in place. No dice. So I decided to go a little larger with the 4’ x 6’ size since there is a frame specifically built for this purpose. Rahm is correct about ordering the frame first since you’ll need to carefully measure the mounting holes so the glass can be drilled perfectly. It also takes a few weeks to order and have the glass delivered - at least in my area. This was fine since it allowed me to set up the other equipment like the lights, back drop and camera location. In addition, make sure you have the delivery folks help you place it on the frame…depending on the size, this is not a pick up and install yourself deal. The glass is large, heavy and certainly needs a few people to carry and properly align with the holes. Once the glass is installed (and cleaned) you can wrap the LEDs around the edge. There are a couple ways to go with this step. You could use large binder clips to hold the lights at the edge or, like Jason, I got 3/8” shower u-channels to go around the glass and hold the lights in place. Instead of silicon to hold the u-channel, I used clamp clips to hold the outer metal. This allows me to easily change and adjust the LEDs if needed. The Expo Neon markers do make a greasy mess and I’ve got the same Sprayway glass cleaner. I also got one of those magic erasers to help clean and old hotel room keys work well on dried ink. It’s not that difficult to have a clean slate but any smudges will certainly appear if it’s not sparkle-city. This week I’ll be moving around the lights and doing some test shots for audio and visual screen tests and look forward to publishing my first LightBoard Lesson very soon. Shooting for next week if all tests go well. I’m excited. It’s always been a dream of mine to have a home studio. Some guys want a man-cave, some want a game room, others a high end home theatre or a rack of computer equipment. Me? A studio. And for my 750th DevCentral article I wanted to say: Thanks Gang!! ps
