Create F5 BIG-IP Next Instance on Proxmox Virtual Environment
If you are looking to deploy a F5 BIG-IP Next instance on Proxmox Virtual Environment (henceforth referred to as Proxmox for the sake of brevity), perhaps in your home lab, here's how: First, download the BIG-IP Next Central Manager and BIG-IP Next QCOW Files from MyF5 Downloads. Click on the "Copy Download Link" Copy the QCOW file to your Proxmox host. I am using the download links from above in the example below. proxmox $ curl -O -L -J [link for Central Manager from F5 downloads] proxmox $ curl -O -L -J [link for Next from F5 downloads] On the Proxmox host, extract the contents in the QCOW files. You will need to rename the Central Manager file from .qcow to .qcow2. proxmox $ cd ~/ proxmox $ mv BIG-IP-Next-CentralManager-20.2.1-0.3.25.qcow BIG-IP-Next-CentralManager-20.2.1-0.3.25.qcow2 proxmox $ tar -zxvf BIG-IP-Next-20.2.1-2.430.2+0.0.48.qcow2.tar.gz BIG-IP-Next-20.2.1-2.430.2+0.0.48.qcow2 BIG-IP-Next-20.2.1-2.430.2+0.0.48.qcow2.sha512 BIG-IP-Next-20.2.1-2.430.2+0.0.48.qcow2.sha512.sig BIG-IP-Next-20.2.1-2.430.2+0.0.48.qcow2.sha512sum.txt.asc BIG-IP-Next-20.2.1-F5-ca-bundle.cert BIG-IP-Next-20.2.1-F5-certificate.cert Then, run the command below to create a virtual machine (VM) from the extracted QCOW files. replace the values to match your environment. # # Central Manager # # use either DHCP or Static IP example # # using DHCP (change values to match your environment) proxmox $ qm create 105 --memory 16384 --sockets 1 --cores 8 --net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0 --name my-central-manager --scsihw=virtio-scsi-single --ostype=l26 --cpu=x86-64-v2-AES --citype nocloud --ipconfig0 ip=dhcp --ciupgrade=0 --ide2=local-lvm:cloudinit # static IP (change values to match your environment) # proxmox $ qm create 105 --memory 16384 --sockets 1 --cores 8 --net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0 --net1 virtio,bridge=vmbr1 --name my-central-manager --scsihw=virtio-scsi-single --ostype=l26 --cpu=x86-64-v2-AES --citype nocloud --ipconfig0 ip=192.168.1.5/24,gw=192.168.1.1 --nameserver 192.168.1.1 --ciupgrade=0 --ide2=local-lvm:cloudinit # import disk qm set 105 --virtio0 local-lvm:0,import-from=/root/BIG-IP-Next-CentralManager-20.2.1-0.3.25.qcow2 --boot order=virtio0 # # Next instance # # Note that you need at least two interfaces, one for management and one for data-plane # # use either DHCP or Static IP example # # DHCP proxmox $ qm create 107 --memory 16384 --sockets 1 --cores 8 --net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0 --net1 virtio,bridge=vmbr1 --name my-next-instance --scsihw=virtio-scsi-single --ostype=l26 --cpu=x86-64-v2-AES --citype nocloud --ipconfig0 ip=dhcp --ciupgrade=0 --ciuser=admin --cipassword=admin --ide2=local-lvm:cloudinit # static IP # proxmox $ qm create 107 --memory 16384 --sockets 1 --cores 8 --net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0 --net1 virtio,bridge=vmbr1 --name my-next-instance --scsihw=virtio-scsi-single --ostype=l26 --cpu=x86-64-v2-AES --citype nocloud --ipconfig0 ip=192.168.1.7/24,gw=192.168.1.1 --nameserver 192.168.1.1 --ciupgrade=0 --ciuser=admin --cipassword=admin --ide2=local-lvm:cloudinit # import disk proxmox $ proxmox $ qm set 107 --virtio0 local-lvm:0,import-from=/root/BIG-IP-Next-20.2.1-2.430.2+0.0.48.qcow2 --boot order=virtio0 You should now see a new VM created on the Proxmox GUI. Finally, start the VM. This will take a few minutes. The BIG-IP Next VM is now ready to be onboarded per instructions found here.BIG-IP Next under Proxmox
In my lab, I'm running Proxmox instead of other virtualization software. Installation is similar to the documentation for VMware here: https://clouddocs.f5.com/bigip-next/latest/install/cm_install_vmware.html I was able to setup BIG-IP Next CentralManager as well as BIG-IP Next instances. Start by downloading the images from here: https://my.f5.com/manage/s/downloads I chose the OVA formats for each. Group BIG-IP_Next Product Line: Central Manager (CM) Version: 20.1 File: BIG-IP-Next-CentralManager-20.1.0-0.8.112.ova Then on your proxmox instance, unpack the ova file with tar for example: mkdir CentralManager cd CentralManager tar xvf ../BIG-IP-Next-CentralManager-20.1.0-0.8.112.ova qm importovf 1100 BIG-IP-Next-CentralManager-20.1.0-0.8.112.ovf local-zfs qm set 1100 -net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0 I'm using my local-zfs as storage and assigning the vm number 1100. You may want to change one or both of those. The import takes a long time as it's importing 350G of storage! For some reason the OVF import does not create a network interface on my setup, so I add that after the import. You may also want to change the SCSI controller to virtio SCSI as it's a bit more efficient. Next start the VM up from the web interface to Proxmox. It will take a while to boot. Once it does it will show the IPv4 and IPv6 address (if enabled) on the console. In my setup, I assign a static dhcp address to the node here, and then reboot again. Note: it appears that CM does NOT support DUID and/or dhcpv6. You can login on the console or ssh into the box using admin/admin and proceed as in the VMware docs. Note: you will need samba or nfs "External Storage" or setup will fail. The "Share Path" needs to start with a "/". Once CM setup is complete, or while you're waiting for it to do so, download: Group: BIG-IP_Next Product Line: Virtual Edition (VE) Version: 20.1 File: BIG-IP-Next-20.1.0-2.279.0+0.0.75.ova unpack it as above: mkdir Next cd Nex tar xvf ../BIG-IP-Next-20.1.0-2.279.0+0.0.75.ova qm importovf 1100 BIG-IP-Next-20.1.0-2.279.0+0.0.75.ovf local-zfs qm set 1101 -net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0 Again, you might want to use a vm id of other then 1101 and/or storage other than local-zfs. This takes less time as it's only importing 80G of data. Again, for me, no network interfaces were created, so I create two. If you have different subnets, you may want your first interface on your management network and the second on a traffic network. I then assign a static address in DHCP and reboot again. When I create both network interfaces, the services on port 5443 don't seem to start up. As above, you may also want to change the SCSI controller to virtio SCSI as it's a bit more efficient. After the system boots, the instructions say to login as admin. This did NOT work for me. Instead, I use curl to change the admin credentials: curl -kX PUT https://next-ip:5443/api/v1/me \ -u admin:admin \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"currentPassword": "admin", "newPassword": "Welcome123!"}' On my.f5.com request a license for BIP-IP Next, copy the JWT and paste it in to activate the license. Now that I've re-installed everything, I can't get the license to take again, so it might be a one-time-use.
