Getting Started with BIG-IP Next: Creating Instances in Central Manager with the VMware vSphere Provider
You can create instances directly on F5 rSeries or VELOS hardware or on KVM or VMware hypervisors, and then onboard them in BIG-IP Next Central Manager (CM), some of which is already covered in other articles that we've released. In this article, we'll highlight the capability within CM to create the instances directly: Creating an instance template in a vCenter content library (must be licensed to work) Creating the VMware vSphere provider in Central Manager Creating the BIG-IP instance in Central Manager The first two steps are necessary the first time, but only step three is required for future instances. Note: There is an intermittent issue with creating instances with the provider prior to v20.2.1, so make sure to install or upgrade to that version of Central Manager and that the instances template in your resource library is also updated. Creating an instance instance template in a vCenter content library The steps here are very similar to the walkthrough I did with ESXi, but because it's done in vCenter this time and that there are a few additional steps, I recorded the process again. If you already have created a template for BIG-IP Next and have it listed in a content library, you can skip this section and move on to creating the provider. Create the template First, head to MyF5 and download version 20.2.1+ of BIG-IP Next instance Virtual Edition. In the vSphere client, right click on the appropriate cluster, then select Deploy OVF Template Select the image you just downloaded from MyF5 and click next. Set the name, select a compute location for the virtual machine, then click next. Now select a compute resource and then click next. If your VMware environment is lab like mine, you might not have set up all the intermediate and root certificates properly (a colleague shared this article for details.) If that's the case, you can click ignore on the certificate not being trusted by the vSphere client and click next. For those that have properly prepared their environment, you shouldn't see this certificate trust issue at all, and can click next as well. Now select storage and click next. On the networks tab, select the network that would be appropriate for CM <-> instance management traffic communication. For me, that is VM Network. Then click next. After reviewing the details, click finish. After the VM is created, select it in the left-hand navigation, then select edit settings from the actions menu. Here I dropped the cpu count to 2, the memory to 8GB, and added a second NIC with my vm_tagging network so I can tag all the other VLANs I might need. Click OK. Note: Once creating an instance in Central Manager with the provider, it didn't seem to matter that I had customized the template, so the last two steps may not be necessary. I still prefer to be explicit even if I have to redo this within CM. Create the content library Click the hamburger menu in the top left in the vSphere client and select content libraries. If you have a content library already that you want to add the template to, you can skip this step. Otherwise, click create. Set your content library name and select the server. I only have the one so that was an easy choice! I kept the defaults here, local content library and clicked next. You may have requirements for security policies on imported OVF library items, but I don't in my lab so I opted out of that and clicked next. Select the datastore and click next. Review the content library settings and click finish. Clone the template to the content library Back in the vCenter inventory, right-click on the instance template and select clone and then clone as template to library. Name the template (must be unique from the instance template you already created!) and select the destination, then click next. Select the library you created (or already had created previously) and click next. Now select the cluster and click next. Note: If you have multiple clusters, make sure to uniquely name the resource pool in the one you will assign BIG-IP Next resources to. Otherwise you could face a provider conflict when Central Manager attempts to create the instance. Select storage and click next. Review details and click finish. What your vCenter logs and you should get a completion message on creating the content library template. Congratulations! All the prep work to get to Central Manger has been completed. Again, this process is a one-time (per instance version) requirement to prepare for what the provider will work with from Central Manager, and even with that, the content library steps aren't needed for future instance templates either. Onward! Creating the VMware vSphere provider in Central Manager Log in to Central Manager (make sure it is version 20.2.1+) and click on manage instances. Now click on providers in the left-hand nagivation menu. Click on start adding providers. If you already have another provider, click add on the upper-right menu next to the delete button. Select VMware vSphere as the type, then name the provider, set the IP address or FQDN, and then click connect. Enter your credentials and click submit. A dialog might pop up with an authenticity warning. This is similarly related to the OVF import issue discussed earlier. A properly configured certificate chain on the vSphere server would eliminate this alert. If this is your lab, you can click accept here. You should now see a configured provider in the listing. And there we go! Central Manager is now in a state to create instances on your behalf. Creating the BIG-IP instance in Central Manager Login to Central Manager if you have not, then click on manage instances. If you don't have any instances on your Central Manager, click start adding instances. Otherwise, click add in the upper-right section of the screen. Since we are asking the provider to create an instance on our behalf, select create a new instance. Review the list of what you'll need (and make it happen, Cap'n!) and then click next. Set the instance hostname, an optional description, select the VE Standalone instance template and click start creating. Select the provider created in the previous section and then click next. On this screen, all the information should be provided in the dropdowns in alignment with the vSphere environment and template created in previous sections. My example is shown below. Notice that the cores and memory are still selectable even though I set those in the template I created. I broke the screen capture into two images here. On the first, set your instance management IP and mask (there is a task to combine these fields in a future release), your gateway address, and your networks. I though the vSphere networks would populate for dropdown but they do not, so make sure you accurately account for them. My management interfaces for all VMs are in the VM Network, and then for this instance deployment I am using tagged vlans in one virtual NIC in the vm_tagging network. Now further down the same screen, set your DNS and NTP servers, then click next. Click on the VLANs tab under networking, then click create twice for your external and internal traffic interfaces and fill out the appropriate details. For me, that is vlans 30 and 40, respectively, in my vm_tagged network. Yours might look a little different here. Do not click next here. Instead, click IP Addresses. Set the self IP address for each VLAN as appropriate, then click next. Set the management username and password for the instance. This is how Central Manager will connect to the instance. Click next. Review the details of the instance that the provider will create, then click deploy. After several minutes, you should have a healthy looking instance in the my instances list. Congratulations! Resources Create BIG-IP Next instance template on VMware How to: Create a BIG-IP Next instance in a VMware vSphere environment from Central ManagerInfrastructure as Code: Automating F5 Distributed Cloud CEs with Ansible
Introduction Welcome to the first installment of our Infrastructure as Code (IaC) series, focusing on F5 products and Ansible. This series has been a long-standing desire of mine to showcase the ability of IaC utilizing Ansible Automation Platform to deliver Day 0 through Day 2 operations with multiple F5 virtualized platforms. Over time, I've encountered numerous financial clients expressing interest in this topic. For many of these clients, the prospect of leveraging IaC to redeploy an environment outweighs the traditional approach of performing upgrades. This series will hopefully provide insight, documentation, and code for anyone embarking on this journey. Why Ansible Automation Platform? Like most people, I started my journey with community editions of Ansible. As my coding became more complex, so did the need to ensure that my lab infrastructure adhered to the best security guidelines required by my company (my goal being to mimic how customers would/should do things in real life). I began utilizing Ansible Automation Platform to ensure my credentials were protected, as well as to organize and share my code with the rest of my team (following the 'just in case you got hit by a bus' theory). Ansible Automation Platform utilizes execution environments (EE) to ensure code runs efficiently and cleanly every time. Now, I am also creating Execution Environments via GitHub with workflows and pushing them up to Quay.io (https://github.com/VDI-Tech-Guy/f5-execution-engines). Huge thanks to Colin McNaughton at Red Hat for making my life so much easier with building EEs! Why deploy F5 Distributed Cloud on VMware vSphere? As I mentioned before, I had this desire to build this Infrastructure as Code (IaC) code a while back. This was prior to the Broadcom acquisition of VMware. Being an ex-VMware employee, I had a lot of knowledge of virtualization platform infrastructure going into this project, and I started my focus on deploying on VMware vSphere. F5 Distributed Cloud can be deployed in any cloud, anywhere. However, I really wanted to focus on on-premises deployments because not every customer can afford the cloud. Moreover, there's always a back-and-forth battle between on-premises and the cloud, which has evolved into the Hybrid Cloud and the Multi-Cloud. I do intend to extend this series to the Multi-Cloud, but these initial deployments will be focused on VMware vSphere, as it is still utilized in many organizations across the globe. Information about the Setup in the Demo Video If you watch the video (down below) on how the deployment works, you can see i did a bunch of the pre-work prior to launching the deployment, in the git repostory (link in Resources). Here are some Prework items i did Had a fully functional Ansible Automation Platform 2.4+ enviornment setup and working. (at the time the controller version was 4.4.4) Execution Environment was imported into Ansible Automation Platform Controller The Project was setup to import the Playbooks from the Git Repository (In Resources Section below) and setup the Default Execution Environment Demo Inventory was setup (in our usecase we only needed the vCenter Host) We Setup Network Credentials for the vCenter The Template was setup and had Variables populated in it (Note the API Key was hidden). As mentioned in the Video (Below) The variables were populated to my environment, this contains all the information, i have provided a Demo Example in the git repository for anyone to mimic my settings to their environment, also the example has comments about each field or area of a field and the purpose of the variable. { "rhel_location": "https://vesio.blob.core.windows.net/releases/rhel/9/x86_64/images/vmware/rhel-9.2023.29-20231212012955-single-nic.ova", "xc_api_credential": "_____________________________________", "xc_namespace": "mmabis-automation", "xc_console_host": "f5-bd", "xc_user": "admin", "xc_pass": "Ansible123!", "vcenter_hostname": "{{ ansible_host }}", "vcenter_username": "{{ ansible_env.ANSIBLE_NET_USERNAME }}", "vcenter_password": "{{ ansible_env.ANSIBLE_NET_PASSWORD }}", "vcenter_validate_certs": false, "datacenter_name": "Apex", "cluster_name": "Worlds-Edge", "datastore": "TrueNAS-SSD", "dvs_switch_name": "DSC-DVS", "dns_name_servers": [ "192.168.192.20", "192.168.192.1" ], "dns_name_search": [ "dsc-services.local", "localdomain" ], "ntp_servers": [ "0.pool.ntp.org", "1.pool.ntp.org", "2.pool.ntp.org" ], "domain_fqdn": "dsc-services.local", "DVS_Name": "{{dvs_switch_name}}", "Internal_Network": "DVS-Server-vLan", "External_Network": "DVS-DMZ-vLan", "resource_pool_name": "Lab-XC", "waiting_period": 2, "temp_download_location": "/tmp/xc-ova-download.ova", "xc_ova_builds": [ { "hostname": "xc-automation-rhel-demo", "tmpl_name": "xc-automation-rhel-demo", "admin_password": "Ansible123!", "cluster_name": "xc-automation-cluster-rhel-demo", "dhcp": "no", "external_ip": "172.16.192.170", "external_ip_subnet_prefix": "24", "external_ip_gw": "172.16.192.1", "external_ip_route": "0.0.0.0/0", "internal_ip": "192.168.192.170", "internal_ip_subnet_prefix": "22", "internal_ip_gw": "192.168.192.1", "certified_hw": "vmware-regular-nic-voltmesh", "latitude": "39.51833126", "longitude": "-104.759496962", "build_count": 3, "nic_config": "rhel-multi" } ] } Launching the Code With all of that prework Handled it was as easy as launch the code, there were a few caviats i learned over time when dealing with the atuomation that i wanted to share. Never re-use a cluster name in F5 Distributed Cloud, especially if it was used in a different version of the CE (there were communications issues with the CEs and previous cluster information that was stored in F5 Distributred Cloud Console) The Api Credentials are system level when trying to accept registration or create the token for importing in to the environment. This code is designed to check for "{{ xc-namespace}}-token" if it exists then it will utilize the existing token, if not it will try to create it so you need system level permissions to do this. Build Count should be 3 by default (still needs to be defined) or an ODD number based on recomendations i have heard from our F5 Field. If there are more that i think of ill definatly edit the post and make sure its up-to-date. When launching the code i was able to get the lab to build up correctly multiple times, so please if there is an issue or something i might not have documented well, feel free to let me know and give it a shot for yourself! YouTube Video now on DevCentral Channel Resources https://github.com/f5devcentral/f5-bd-ansible-day0-automation - The Code utilized for this deployment https://github.com/VDI-Tech-Guy/f5-execution-engines - Building Execution Environments with Github and Workflows Conclusion I do hope that this series will help everyone who wants to embrace IaC and if you have any questions feel free to reach out!BIG-IP APM with Horizon 7.x HTML5 gets a Hotfix For Updated Code
Technical update on some new hotfixes that were rolled out to resolve some issues with HTML5 connectivity with VMware Horizon 7.1/7.2 with BIG-IP Access Policy Manager. What is VMware Horizon HTML Access? VMware Horizon HTML Access provides the ability for employees to access applications and desktops via web browsers (HTML5 compliant) and without the need for additional plugins or native client installations. This method of access provides advantages to customers who utilize very strict software installation requirements and require access to their internal resources, as well as customers who utilize BYOD based implementations. VMware Horizon HTML Access is an alternative way of accessing company internal resources without the requirement of software installation. What does the Hotfix Do? The Hotfix is designed to allow the newer version of the VMware Horizon HTML Access Clients which were upgraded with new URI information to be accessible via APM. Without this hotfix, customers who upgrade to the Horizon 7.1/7.2 code may experience an issue where HTML5 will not connect to the VDI Resource (blank or grey screen.) The easiest way to determine if you are affected by the issue is within the URL. If you do not see the string f5vdifwd within the URL then you are most likely affected by this issue. Here is an example of a working configuration. Notice the f5vdifwd string in the URL: https://test.test.local/f5vdifwd/vmview/68a5058e-2911-4316-849b-3d55f5b5cafb/portal/webclient/index.html#/desktop The Hotfix Information Details Note that the fixes are incorporated into Hotfixes. F5 recommends to use the Hotfix builds over the iRules listed in the below article. If the iRules are in place when upgrading to a build with the incorporated fix, make sure that the iRule is removed. Version 12.1.2 HF1 Release Notes Version 13.0 HF2 Release Notes 638780-3 Handle 302 redirects for VMware Horizon View HTML5 client Component Access Policy Manager Symptoms Starting from v4.4, Horizon View HTML5 client is using new URI for launching remote sessions, and supports 302 redirect from old URI for backward compatibility. Conditions APM webtop with a VMware View resource assigned. HTML5 client installed on backend is of version 4.4 or later. Impact This fix allows for VMware HTML5 clients v4.4 or later to work properly through APM. Workaround for versions 11.6.x and 12.x priority 2 when HTTP_REQUEST { regexp {(/f5vdifwd/vmview/[0-9a-f\-]{36})/} [HTTP::uri] vmview_html5_prefix dummy } when HTTP_RESPONSE { if { ([HTTP::status] == "302") && ([HTTP::header exists "Location"]) } { if { [info exists vmview_html5_prefix] } { set location [HTTP::header "Location"] set location_path [URI::path $location] if { $location_path starts_with "/portal/" } { set path_index [string first $location_path $location] set new_location [substr $location $path_index] regsub "/portal/" $new_location $vmview_html5_prefix new_location HTTP::header replace "Location" $new_location } unset vmview_html5_prefix } } } Workaround for version 13.0 priority 2 when HTTP_REQUEST { regexp {(/f5vdifwd/vmview/[0-9a-f\-]{36})/} [HTTP::uri] dummy vmview_html5_prefix } when HTTP_RESPONSE { if { ([HTTP::status] == "302") && ([HTTP::header exists "Location"]) } { if { [info exists vmview_html5_prefix] } { set location [HTTP::header "Location"] set location_path [URI::path $location] if { $location_path starts_with "/portal/" } { set path_index [string first $location_path $location] set new_location "$vmview_html5_prefix[substr $location $path_index]" HTTP::header replace "Location" $new_location } unset vmview_html5_prefix } } }Load Balancing VMware Identity Manager Integration Guide is now Ready!
This will be the first in a many of articles being released on new or updated documentation for deploying F5 LTM/APM/DNS with various VMware End-User-Computing based products. I am happy to announce that our first document “Load Balancing VMware Identity Manager” is now available to the public! What is VMware Identity Manager? VMware Identity Manager combines applications and desktops in a single, aggregated workspace. Employees can then access the desktops and applications regardless of where they are based. With fewer management points and flexible access, Identity Manager reduces the complexity of IT administration. What does this Integration Guide Detail? This documentation focuses on deploying F5 LTM with VMware Identity Manager (On-Premise) for a production deployment. Typically, the first VMware Identity Manager node is setup/configured and placed behind the load balancer, this will be the focus of this document. After that’s completed the first node would be shutdown then cloned to the other two nodes for a total of 3 Nodes in the cluster, there are references within the document for other VMware documentation to complete this part. Here is an example from the document that shows how to setup the advanced monitor we use to identify if a single node within the cluster is online or not. This monitor is an example of how F5 does more than just a simple load balancer. Most simple load balancers just check for the HTTPS header or ICMP (Ping) responses to identify if a node is online. F5 worked together with VMware to identify the best way to identify if a node within a cluster is in maintenance mode or offline due to other issues. Create Monitor The next task is to create the Identity Manager Monitor for the BIG-IP Appliance to validate when the webserver is available. Use the following guidance to create a health monitor on the BIG-IP system. Click Local Traffic. Hover over Monitors. Click the Add button (+) to the right of Monitors to create a new health monitor. Monitor Configuration Create a Monitor with the following settings. In the Name field, type a unique name such as WorkspaceOne-Monitor. From the Type list, select HTTPS. In the Send String field, type GET /SAAS/API/1.0/REST/system/health/heartbeat HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: \r\nConnection: Close\r\n\r\n In the Receive String field, type ok$. In the Receive Disable String field, type 404. Click Finished. You can now download the updated step-by-step guide for Load Balancing VMware Identity Manager. https://f5.com/Portals/1/PDF/Partners/f5-big-ip-vmware-workspaceone-integration-guide.pdf You can also read up on setting up a 3-Node Cluster with VMware Identity Manager. https://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-33552 and http://pubs.vmware.com/identity-manager-28/index.jsp#com.vmware.wsp-install_28/GUID-A29C51E5-6FF5-4F7F-8FC2-1A0F687F6DC5.html Special Thanks to Dean Flaming, and the VMware Identity Management team for all of their assistance putting this together!Inside Look - PCoIP Proxy for VMware Horizon View
I sit down with F5 Solution Architect Paul Pindell to get an inside look at BIG-IP's native support for VMware's PCoIP protocol. He reviews the architecture, business value and gives a great demo on how to configure BIG-IP. BIG-IP APM offers full proxy support for PC-over-IP (PCoIP), a leading virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) protocol. F5 is the first to provide this functionality which allows organizations to simplify their VMware Horizon View architectures. Combining PCoIP proxy with the power of the BIG-IP platform delivers hardened security and increased scalability for end-user computing. In addition to PCoIP, F5 supports a number of other VDI solutions, giving customers flexibility in designing and deploying their network infrastructure. ps Related: F5 Friday: Simple, Scalable and Secure PCoIP for VMware Horizon View Solutions for VMware applications F5's YouTube Channel In 5 Minutes or Less Series (24 videos – over 2 hours of In 5 Fun) Inside Look Series Life@F5 Series Technorati Tags: vdi,PCoIP,VMware,Access,Applications,Infrastructure,Performance,Security,Virtualization,silva,video,inside look,big-ip,apm Connect with Peter: Connect with F5:Horizon Blast Extreme UDP with BEAT Support Functionality in BIG-IP Access Manager 14.0!
Hey All, Just wanted to provide an update on new features that were added to BIG-IP Access Manager (Formerly APM) 14.0 for VMware Horizon. Listed below are the new features that were added into Access Manager for VMware Workspace ONE and VMware Horizon. APM supports Blast Extreme protocol over TCP and UDP and also supports the Blast Extreme Adaptive Transport (BEAT) for Desktops and Applications. APM supports access to VMware Horizon desktops and applications using VMware Workspace ONE as an IDP for more information on this check out the integration guide at https://f5.com/Portals/1/PDF/Partners/apm-proxy-with-workspace-one-integration-guide.pdf What is the VMware Horizon Blast Extreme TCP/UDP with BEAT Feature? Since the release of Blast Extreme in Horizon 7, F5 has supported the TCP functionality of the Blast code allowing for the VMware Horizon native client and HTML5 client's to connect to desktops and apps. BIG-IP (14.0) now supports the UDP and BEAT functionality of the Blast Extreme code. What is BEAT? BEAT or Blast Extreme Adaptive Transport allows the switching between TCP and UDP of the Blast Extreme Transport based on the connected clients conditions. For example, when a client is connected over a mobile network sometimes the connectivity is unstable (packet loss and/or high latency), with a typical TCP connection packet loss will retransmit the packet over and over again creating lag from a user's desktop or app perspective in Horizon. BEAT was designed to adapt to these types of connections and will detect those packets being lost and adjust the protocol from the connected client from TCP to UDP to allow the dropped packets to be lost and continue moving forward allowing the user to have a more seamless desktop experience. BEAT also has the ability to switch from UDP to TCP depending on the clients connectivity. Is there an iAPP to Enable Blast UDP? Currently there is not an iAPP for this functionality and the existing iAPP will only create the TCP functionality for the Blast Extreme Protocol. F5 intends to release a build soon to resolve this issue, this article is being posted to help customers manually create the Virtual Server to allow for the Blast Extreme Functionality prior to the iAPP fix. Here is the information needed to implement the Blast UDP functionality which will enable BEAT. NOTE: This will need to be removed when the iAPP is upgraded later to allow for the feature/function Create a VDI Profile Creating the VDI Profile for Blast Extreme Navigate to Access --> Connectivity/VPN --> VDI/RDP --> VDI Profiles. Create a new profile Name it whatever you want Change Parent Profile to “/Common/vdi” In VMware View Settings change from PCoIP to Blast Extreme Create a Virtual IP for the Blast Extreme UDP Port Provide a Unique Name Match the Destination Address with existing Horizon APM Deployment Service Port: 8443 Source Address Translation: Automap VDI Profile: Select previously created VDI Profile Click Finished to Create the VIP Validation/Testing Once completed you can test the connection, I recommend using the VMware Horizon Performance Tracker as you can see the BEAT protocol in action changing from TCP to UDP.VMware Fusion Custom Networking for BIG-IP VE Lab
I've used VMware workstation on Windows and Fusion on OS X for quite some time and I'm a big fan of both platforms. That said, the lack of a network settings editor built in to Fusion (I understand it's now available in the Pro version of Fusion) can be more than a little frustrating, particularly if you want a custom experience. Why custom? Well, you just might want to do more with your BIG-IP VE Lab license than just connect to it and test iRules, and that might require more than just a nic or two. Custom network capabilities enable you to mock up complete environments rapidly. If you are importing an existing VE instance (as I did) and you have not yet set up your custom networking, you will see that the nic is unrecognized if it was previously configured for additional networking as show in the figure below. If you are installing a new VE instance, set up your networking first. This is accomplished by editing the networking file located in your /Library tree. You can edit this file by typing this command: sudo vi /Library/Preferences/Vmware\ Fusion/networking Once you are in edit mode, you can insert the text below between the VNET_1 and VNET_8 sections. answer VNET_2_HOSTONLY_NETMASK 255.255.255.0 answer VNET_2_HOSTONLY_SUBNET 192.168.102.0 answer VNET_2_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER yes answer VNET_2_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER_ADDR 192.168.102.1 answer VNET_3_HOSTONLY_NETMASK 255.255.255.0 answer VNET_3_HOSTONLY_SUBNET 192.168.103.0 answer VNET_3_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER yes answer VNET_3_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER_ADDR 192.168.103.1 answer VNET_4_HOSTONLY_NETMASK 255.255.255.0 answer VNET_4_HOSTONLY_SUBNET 192.168.104.0 answer VNET_4_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER yes answer VNET_4_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER_ADDR 192.168.104.1 answer VNET_5_HOSTONLY_NETMASK 255.255.255.0 answer VNET_5_HOSTONLY_SUBNET 192.168.105.0 answer VNET_5_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER yes answer VNET_5_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER_ADDR 192.168.105.1 answer VNET_6_HOSTONLY_NETMASK 255.255.255.0 answer VNET_6_HOSTONLY_SUBNET 192.168.106.0 answer VNET_6_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER yes answer VNET_6_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER_ADDR 192.168.106.1 answer VNET_7_HOSTONLY_NETMASK 255.255.255.0 answer VNET_7_HOSTONLY_SUBNET 192.168.107.0 answer VNET_7_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER yes answer VNET_7_VIRTUAL_ADAPTER_ADDR 192.168.107.1 You don’t have to add as many vnics as I did, and you can adjust the IP space and enable DHCP (check the VNET_1 config for details) in the networks as well if desired. Save and restart Fusion and you should be good to go. Looking back at my VE instance NIC2 config, it properly placed my nic into vmnet2 (same as it was pre-import,) but I now have the flexibility to change to any of these networks.VMware Horizon and F5 iAPP Deployments Backed by Ansible Automation
The Intro: A little over a year ago I knew barely anything about automation, zero about ansible, and didn't even think it would be something so tied to my life like it is now. I spend all my moments trying to think about how I can make Automation easier in my life, and being in Business Development I spend a lot of time testing F5 solutions and integrations between vendors (specifically between F5 and VMware as well as F5 and RedHat Ansible). I figured why not bring them a little closer together? It takes forever to build Labs and setup environments, and with automation I can do this in mere minutes compared to the hours it use to take (we are talking fresh builds, clean environments). I plan on sharing more about more of my VMware and Ansible automation integrations down the chain (like Horizon labs that can be built from scratch and ready to test in 30 minutes or less). But I wanted to start out with something that I get a lot of questions about:is it possible to automate iApp Deployments? Specifically the VMware Horizon iApp? The answer is YOU CAN NOW! grant you this like all automation is a work in progress. My suggestion is if you have a use case you want to build using what I have started with I encourage it!! TAKE, FORK and Expand!!!! The Code: All of the code I am using is completely accessible via the F5 DevCentral Git Repository and feel free to use it! What does it do? Well, if you are an F5 Guru then you might think it looks similar to how our AS3 code works, if you aren't a Guru its basically taking one set of variables and sending off a single command to the F5 to build the Application (I tell it the things that make it work, and how I want it deployed and it does all the work for me). Keep in mind this isn't using F5 AS3 code, it just mimics the same methods bytaking a JSON declaration of how I want things to be and the F5 does all of the imperative commands for me. --- - name: Build JSON payload ansible.builtin.template: src=f5.horizon.{{deployment_type |lower }}.j2 dest=/tmp/f5.horizon.json - name: Deploy F5 Horizon iApp f5networks.f5_modules.bigip_iapp_service: #Using Collections if not use - bigip_iapp_service: name: "VMware-Horizon" template: "{{iapp_template_name}}" parameters: "{{ lookup('template', '/tmp/f5.horizon.json') }}" provider: server: "{{f5_ip}}" user: "{{f5_user}}" password: "{{f5_pass}}" validate_certs: no delegate_to: localhost All of this code can be found at - https://github.com/f5devcentral/f5-bd-horizon-iapp-deploy/ Deployments: Using the F5 iApp for Horizon provided many options of deployment but they were all categorized into 3 buckets F5 APM with VMware Horizon - Where the F5 acts as the Gateway for all VMware Horizon Connections (Proxying PCoIP/Blast) F5 LTM with VMware Horizon - Internal Connections to an environment from a LAN and being able to secure and load balance Connection Servers F5 LTM with VMware Unified Access Gateway - Using the F5 to load balance the VMware Unified Access Gateways (UAGs) and letting the UAGs proxy the connections. The deployments offer the ability to utilize pre-imported certificates, set the Virtual IP, add additional Connection Servers, Create the iRule for internal connections (origin header check) and much more. All of this is dependent on your deployment and the way you need it setup. The current code doesn't import in the iApp Template nor the certificates, this could be done with other code but currently is not part of this code. All three of these deployment models are considered and part of the code and how its deployed is based on the variables file "{{code_directory}}/vars/horizon_iapp_vars.yml" as shown below. Keep in mind this is using clear text (i.e. username/password for AD) for some variables you can add other ways of securing your passwords like an Ansible VAULT. #F5 Authentication f5_ip: 192.168.1.10 f5_user: admin f5_pass: "my_password" f5_admin_port: 443 #All Deployment Types deployment_type: "apm" #option can be APM, LTM or UAG #iApp Variables iapp_vip_address: "172.16.192.100" iapp_template_name: "f5.vmware_view.v1.5.9" #SSL Info iapp_ssl_cert: "/Common/Wildcard-2022" # If want to use F5 Default Cert for Testing use "/Common/default.crt" iapp_ssl_key: "/Common/Wildcard-2022" # If want to use F5 Default Cert for Testing use "/Common/default.key" iapp_ssl_chain: "/#do_not_use#" #Horizon Info iapp_horizon_fqdn: "horizon.mycorp.com" iapp_horizon_netbios: "My-Corp" iapp_horizon_domainname: "My-Corp.com" iapp_horizon_nat_addresss: "" #enter NAT address or leave empty for none # LTM Deployment Type iapp_irule_origin: - "/Common/Horizon-Origin-Header" # APM and LTM Deployment Types iapp_horizon_connection_servers: - { ip: "192.168.1.50", port: "443" } # to add Connection Servers just add additional line - { ip: "192.168.1.51", port: "443" } #APM Deployment Type iapp_active_directory_username: "my_ad_user" iapp_active_directory_password: "my_ad_password" iapp_active_directory_password_encrypted: "no" # This is still being validated but requires the encrypted password from the BIG-IP iapp_active_directory_servers: - { name: "ad_server_1.mycorp.com", ip: "192.168.1.20" } # to add Active Directory Servers just add additional lines - { name: "ad_server_2.mycorp.com", ip: "192.168.1.21" } # UAG Deployment Type iapp_horizon_uag_servers: - { ip: "192.168.199.50", port: "443" } # to add UAG Servers Just add additional lines - { ip: "192.168.199.51", port: "443" } How do the Variables integrate with the Templates? The templates are JSON based code which Ansible will inject the variables into them depending on the deployment method called. This makes it easier to templates to specific deployments because we don't hard code specific values that aren't necessary or are part of the default deployments. Advanced Deployments would require modification of the JSON code to apply specialized settings that aren't apart of the default. If you want to see more about the templates for each operation (APM/LTM/UAG) check out the JSON Code at the link below: https://github.com/f5devcentral/f5-bd-horizon-iapp-deploy/tree/main/roles/ansible-deploy-iapp/templates The Results: Within seconds I can deploy, configure and make changes to my deployments or even change my deployment type. Could I do this in the GUI? Absolutely but the point is to Automate ALL THE THINGS, and being able to integrate this with solutions like Lab in a box (built from scratch including the F5) saves massive amounts of time. Example of a VMware Horizon iApp Deployment with F5 APM done in ~12 Seconds [root@Elysium f5-bd-horizon-iapp-deploy]# time ansible-playbook horizon_iapp_deploy.yaml PLAY [localhost] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************** TASK [bypass-variables : ansible.builtin.stat] ************************************************************************************************************************************** ok: [localhost] TASK [bypass-variables : ansible.builtin.include_vars] ****************************************************************************************************************************** ok: [localhost] TASK [create-irule : Create F5 iRule] *********************************************************************************************************************************************** skipping: [localhost] TASK [ansible-deploy-iapp : Build JSON payload] ************************************************************************************************************************************* ok: [localhost] TASK [ansible-deploy-iapp : Deploy F5 Horizon iApp] ********************************************************************************************************************************* changed: [localhost] PLAY RECAP ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** localhost : ok=4 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=1 rescued=0 ignored=0 real 0m11.954s user 0m6.114s sys 0m0.542s Links: All of this code can be found at - https://github.com/f5devcentral/f5-bd-horizon-iapp-deploy/Load Balancing VMware Unified Access Gateway Integration Guide
Hey All, here is the next document in the series for Integration/Deployment guides for F5 with VMware Products. This guide had a lot of requests. I am happy to announce that the next document “Load Balancing VMware Unified Access Gateway” is now available to the public! What is VMware Unified Access Gateway? VMware Unified Access Gateway (UAG), formerly known as VMware Access Point is an appliance that is typically installed in the demilitarized zone (DMZ). UAG is designed to provide safe and secure access to desktop and application resources for remote access. UAG simplifies gateway access and provides tunneled and proxied resources for the following VMware product suites. What does this Integration Guide Detail? This documentation focuses on deploying F5 BIG-IP LTM with VMware Unified Access Gateway (UAG) for a production deployment. When Unified Access Gateway is deployed in a production scenario (n+1) it requires a load balancer sitting in front (for UAG Servers scalability) and behind it (for Connection Server load balancing). The below picture is an example of the implementation detailed in this guide, we will specifically focus on the load balancer sitting in front (for UAG Server scalability). In typical deployment scenarios the Load balancer for the connection server would have already been deployed prior to the deployment of the UAG Servers, this path is recommended so that UAG can leverage the Load balancer in front of the connection servers for the UAG's Configuration/Setup. Here is an example from the document that shows how to setup the advanced monitor we use to identify if a single node within the cluster is online or not. This monitor is an example of how F5 does more than just a simple load balancing monitor. Most simple load balancers just check for the HTTPS header or ICMP (Ping) responses to identify if a node is online. F5 worked together with VMware to identify the best way to identify if a node within a cluster is in maintenance mode (Quiesce Mode) or offline due to other issues. As you can also see we have more than 1 monitor to identify the node is online, if one of either of the monitors fails then the system is taken offline. Both have to be online for the node to be considered "OK". HTTPS – Second Monitor This monitor is used to identify when the UAG Node is in Quiesce Mode (Maintenance) Create a simple HTTPS monitor using the following guidance. On the Main tab, click Local Traffic > Monitors > Create. In the Name field, type a unique name (different from the first). From the Type list, select HTTPS. Ensure the Parent Monitor is https. In the Interval field, type 30. In the Timeout field, type 91. In the Send String field, type (or copy and paste) GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: \r\nConnection: Close\r\n\r\n In the Receive String field, type 200 in the Receive Disable String field, type 503 Leave all other settings at the default and then click Finished. You can now download the updated step-by-step guide for Load Balancing VMware Unified Access Gateway at https://www.f5.com/pdf/solution-center/load-balancing-vmware-unified-access-gateway-servers-deployment-guide.pdf Special Thanks to Mark Benson, and the VMware Unified Access Gateway Server development team for all of their assistance putting this together!
How is SDN disrupting the way businesses develop technology?
You must have read so much about software-defined networking (SDN) by now that you probably think you know it inside and out. However, such a nascent industry is constantly evolving and there are always new aspects to discover and learn about. While much of the focus on SDN has focused on the technological benefits it brings, potential challenges are beginning to trouble some SDN watchers. While many businesses acknowledge that the benefits of SDN are too big to ignore, there are challenges to overcome, particularly with the cultural changes that it brings. In fact, according to attendees at the Open Networking Summit (ONS) recently the cultural changes required to embrace SDN outweigh the technological challenges. One example, outlined in this TechTarget piece, is that the (metaphorical) wall separating network operators and software developers needs to be torn down; network operators need coding skills and software developers will need to be able to program networking services into their applications. That’s because SDN represents a huge disruption to how organisations develop technology. With SDN, the speed of service provisioning is dramatically increased; provisioning networks becomes like setting up a VM... a few clicks of the button and you’re done. This centralised network provision means the networking element of development is no longer a bottleneck; it’s ready and available right when it’s needed. There’s another element to consider when it comes to SDN, tech development and its culture. Much of what drives software-defined networking is open source, and dealing with that is something many businesses may not have a lot of experience with. Using open source SDN technologies means a company will have to contribute something back to the community - that’s how open source works. But for some that may prove to be a bit of an issue: some SDN users such as banks or telecoms companies may feel protective of their technology and not want is source code to be released to the world. But that is the reality of the open source SDN market, so it is something companies will have to think carefully about. Are the benefits of SDN for tech development worth going down the open source route? That’s a question only the companies themselves can answer. Software-defined networking represents a huge disruption to the way businesses develop technology. It makes things faster, easier and more convenient during the process and from a management and scalability point of view going forward. There will be challenges - there always are when disruption is on the agenda - but if they can be overcome SDN could well usher in a new era of technological development.
