AS3 Deployments (shared objects)
BIG-IP LTM: 17.1.1 AS3 Plugin: 3.49.0 We are migrating from older hardware to newer r5900 series hardware. In that process we are moving to configuration as code, using AS3. Working through all the hiccups and hurdles, came across a "need", that I was wondering if possible?! Can you have a "global" (or "shared") partition with configurations within that all partitions can reference? I inherited the previous configurations from a colleague, and everything is located within the Common partition, which has kinda worked out nicely, as we can share "objects" (iRules, profiles, etc..) between most configurations. This also has been beneficial when we need to make a global change (certificate chain change, for example) that allowed us to fix all configurations quickly by changing just the one object that was shared. Is this possible across partitions, or is that a hard silo division, and nothing can be shared between them?
Inquiry on F5's Maintenance Mode Feature for Pool Members
Hello F5 Community, I'm looking for a way to smoothly transition specific pool members into maintenance mode without disrupting service. Can anyone share insights or best practices on how to implement this in our network infrastructure? Thanks!
iCR Python Module for iControl REST
Problem this snippet solves: This is a python module to simplify using iControl REST. Install using pip: pip install iCR or retrieve from https://pypi.python.org/pypi?:action=display&name=iCR&version=2.1 As simple as: #!/usr/bin/env python from iCR import iCR bigip = iCR("172.24.9.132","admin","admin") virtuals = bigip.get("ltm/virtual") for vs in virtuals['items']: print vs['name'] This prints out a list of Virtual Servers. Supported methods: init(hostname,username,password,[timeout,port,icontrol_version,folder,token,debug]) get(url,[select,top,skip,filter]) -> returns data or False getlarge(url,size,[select]) -> Used to retrieve large datasets in chunks. Returns data or False create(url,data) -> returns data or False modify(url,data,[patch=True]) -> returns data or False delete(url) -> returns True or False upload(file) -> file is a local file eg /var/tmp/test.txt, returns True or False download(file) -> files are located in /shared/images, returns True or False create_cert(files) -> files is an array containing paths to cert and key. Returns name of cert or False get_asm_id(name) -> name is the name of a policy. Returns an array of IDs or False create_hash(name) -> name is the name of the partition and policy. eg /Common/test_policy. This reduces the need to retrieve an array of hashes from the BIG-IP. Returns a string. get_token() -> this retrieves a BIG-IP token based on the username and password and sets it as the token in use. Returns the token ID or False delete_token() -> This deletes the object token from the BIG-IP and from the object create_transaction() -> creates a transaction and returns the transaction number ID as a string, or False. Subsequent requests will be added to thetransaction until commit_transaction is called. Transaction ID is stored in object.transaction commit_transaction() -> Commits the transaction stored in object.transaction. Returns True or False command(args,[cmd]) -> Runs a command using the arguments string args. Returns the returned output or True on success or False on failure. Note:Be sure to double-escape single quotes eg \\' and single escape double quotes eg \" cmd options are ping/save/load/restart/reboot Module Variables: icr_session - the link to the requests session raw - the raw returned JSON code - the returned HTTP Status Code eg 200 error - in the case of error, the exception error string headers - the response headers icontrol_version - set this to specify a specific version of iControl debug - boolean True or False to set debugging on or off port - set the port ( 443 by default ) folder - set this to create in a specific partition token - use this to set a specific token. If this is set, it will be used instead of basic auth select - use this with get to select the returned data top - use this with get to return a set number of records skip - use this to skip to a specific record number transaction - stores the Transaction ID How to use this snippet: Examples Setup a REST connection to a device #!/usr/bin/env python from iCR import iCR bigip = iCR("172.24.9.132","admin","admin",timeout=10) Create a Virtual Server vs_config = {'name':'test_vs'} createvs = bigip.create("ltm/virtual",vs_config,timeout=5) Retrieve the VS we just created virt = bigip.get("ltm/virtual/test_vs",select="name") print "Virtual Server created: " + virt['name'] Set the timeout bigip.timeout = 20 Now delete the VS we just created delvs = bigip.delete("ltm/virtual/test_vs") Retrieve ASM policy to ID mapping policies = bigip.get("asm/policies",select="name,id") Print a table of ASM policies with learning mode print print "Policy Name Learning Mode" print "------------------------------------------" for item in policies['items']: enabled = bigip.get("asm/policies/" + item['id'] + "/policy-builder",select="learningMode") print '{:32}'.format(item['name']) + enabled['learningMode'] File upload fp = "/home/pwhite/input.csv" if bigip.upload(fp): print "File " + fp + " uploaded" File download file="BIGIP-12.1.2.0.0.249.iso" download = bigip.download(file) if not download: print "File " + file + " download error" SSL Certificate creation In different folder bigip.folder = "TestFolder" files = ("TestCert.crt","TestCert.key") cert = bigip.create_cert(files) if cert: print "Certificate " + cert + " created" Turn on debugging bigip.debug = True Retrieve ASM policy IDs asm = bigip.get_asm_id("dummy_policy") print len(asm) + " IDs returned" print "ID: " + str(asm[0]) Convert an ASM policy name to hash hash = bigip.create_hash("/Common/test-policy") enabled = bigip.get("asm/policies/" + hash + "/policy-builder",select="learningMode") print '{:32}'.format(item['name']) + enabled['learningMode'] Retrieve and use a token bigip.get_token() Delete the token bigip.delete_token() Developed on Python 2.7 but works with v3. Works on TMOS 11.6 onwards though some features may not be implemented, such as tokens. If you use this and have found bugs, would like to discuss it or suggest features then please PM me on DevCentral. Tested this on version: 13.0F5 not sending traffic to Web pool
Hello All, I am having issues with a new configured F5 big-IP that everything works fine as follows. traffic from the client is coming to the firewall which is then natted to the private network. (works) the Load balancer ( Virtual server) IP is accessible and request is sent to the virtual server. and from the big ip to the pool is not sent. connection between the F5 to the pool is fine and vice versa and pool and nodes are available (green). connection between web-server and F5 is through Https (443). configuration F5 as follows: F5 Virtual IP : 192.168.1.41 self IP: int 1 : 10.10.10.14 self IP int 2 : 192.168.1.41 web server pool : 10.10.10.X range with class c subnet. SSL is configured between the client to F5 as clientssl and between the server and F5 as serverssl. source address translation is automap. I am having trouble why it doesn't work and is trying to find out the problem.Using Terraform to update / modify an existing iRule
I could be missing something obvious here. I am attempting to use terraform to update an existing iRule (code below). Every time I run 'apply' I get an error saying: " The requested iRule (/Common/Load_MWservices) already exists in partition Common" I am wondering what the option would be to update an existing rule? It seems I can only create new ones? Thanks in advance variable f5_hostname {} variable f5_username {} variable f5_password {} terraform { required_providers { bigip = { source = "F5Networks/bigip" } } } provider "bigip" { address = var.f5_hostname username = var.f5_username password = var.f5_password } # Loading from a file is the preferred method resource "bigip_ltm_irule" "rule" { name = "/Common/Load_MWservices" irule = file("Load_MWservices") }
Certificate Automation and AS3
Hey everyone! At my company we have a policy that all private crypto objects must be generated on the target device and never leave it. I am creating a REST-based automation system for the LTM devices, and I am struggling to see how to achieve this using AS3. My desired workflow, from an external server running a python script to send REST commands: Have the LTM generate a key and store it. This key may never leave the device. On the device, create a CSR. Get that CSR and read it from the script, which signs it. Upload the signed cert to the device. Somehow incorporate this into or make it available for use by an AS3 declaration. Any ideas? Thanks!How to get a F5 BIG-IP VE Developer Lab License
(applies to BIG-IP TMOS Edition) To assist DevOps teams improve their development for the BIG-IP platform, F5 offers a low cost developer lab license.This license can be purchased from your authorized F5 vendor. If you do not have an F5 vendor, you can purchase a lab license online: CDW BIG-IP Virtual Edition Lab License CDW Canada BIG-IP Virtual Edition Lab License Once completed, the order is sent to F5 for fulfillment and your license will be delivered shortly after via e-mail. F5 is investigating ways to improve this process. To download the BIG-IP Virtual Edition, please log into downloads.f5.com (separate login from DevCentral), and navigate to your appropriate virtual edition, example: For VMware Fusion or Workstation or ESX/i:BIGIP-16.1.2-0.0.18.ALL-vmware.ova For Microsoft HyperV:BIGIP-16.1.2-0.0.18.ALL.vhd.zip KVM RHEL/CentoOS: BIGIP-16.1.2-0.0.18.ALL.qcow2.zip Note: There are also 1 Slot versions of the above images where a 2nd boot partition is not needed for in-place upgrades. These images include_1SLOT- to the image name instead of ALL. The below guides will help get you started with F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition to develop for VMWare Fusion, AWS, Azure, VMware, or Microsoft Hyper-V. These guides follow standard practices for installing in production environments and performance recommendations change based on lower use/non-critical needs fo Dev/Lab environments. Similar to driving a tank, use your best judgement. DeployingF5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition on VMware Fusion Deploying F5 BIG-IP in Microsoft Azure for Developers Deploying F5 BIG-IP in AWS for Developers Deploying F5 BIG-IP in Windows Server Hyper-V for Developers Deploying F5 BIG-IP in VMware vCloud Director and ESX for Developers Note: F5 Support maintains authoritativeAzure, AWS, Hyper-V, and ESX/vCloud installation documentation. VMware Fusion is not an official F5-supported hypervisor so DevCentral publishes the Fusion guide with the help of our Field Systems Engineering teams.
Error while running ansible
I am getting the following error when I am trying to run ansible script on f5 instance through jumphost The full traceback is: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/urllib/request.py", line 1344, in do_open h.request(req.get_method(), req.selector, req.data, headers, File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/http/client.py", line 1336, in request self._send_request(method, url, body, headers, encode_chunked) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/http/client.py", line 1382, in _send_request self.endheaders(body, encode_chunked=encode_chunked) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/http/client.py", line 1331, in endheaders self._send_output(message_body, encode_chunked=encode_chunked) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/http/client.py", line 1091, in _send_output self.send(msg) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/http/client.py", line 1035, in send self.connect() File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/http/client.py", line 1477, in connect self.sock = self._context.wrap_socket(self.sock, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/ssl.py", line 455, in wrap_socket return self.sslsocket_class._create( ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/ssl.py", line 1042, in _create self.do_handshake() File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/ssl.py", line 1320, in do_handshake self._sslobj.do_handshake() ssl.SSLError: [SSL: WRONG_VERSION_NUMBER] wrong version number (_ssl.c:1000) During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/Users/pranaychowd.pinapaka/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1714109490.0885582-73185-193526554178977/AnsiballZ_bigip_command.py", line 107, in <module> _ansiballz_main() File "/Users/pranaychowd.pinapaka/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1714109490.0885582-73185-193526554178977/AnsiballZ_bigip_command.py", line 99, in _ansiballz_main invoke_module(zipped_mod, temp_path, ANSIBALLZ_PARAMS) File "/Users/pranaychowd.pinapaka/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1714109490.0885582-73185-193526554178977/AnsiballZ_bigip_command.py", line 47, in invoke_module runpy.run_module(mod_name='ansible_collections.f5networks.f5_modules.plugins.modules.bigip_command', init_globals=dict(_module_fqn='ansible_collections.f5networks.f5_modules.plugins.modules.bigip_command', _modlib_path=modlib_path), File "<frozen runpy>", line 226, in run_module File "<frozen runpy>", line 98, in _run_module_code File "<frozen runpy>", line 88, in _run_code File "/var/folders/4c/dnty3w814gxd01c5lq6910nr0000gn/T/ansible_bigip_command_payload_rjjis8dv/ansible_bigip_command_payload.zip/ansible_collections/f5networks/f5_modules/plugins/modules/bigip_command.py", line 757, in <module> File "/var/folders/4c/dnty3w814gxd01c5lq6910nr0000gn/T/ansible_bigip_command_payload_rjjis8dv/ansible_bigip_command_payload.zip/ansible_collections/f5networks/f5_modules/plugins/modules/bigip_command.py", line 750, in main File "/var/folders/4c/dnty3w814gxd01c5lq6910nr0000gn/T/ansible_bigip_command_payload_rjjis8dv/ansible_bigip_command_payload.zip/ansible_collections/f5networks/f5_modules/plugins/modules/bigip_command.py", line 680, in exec_module File "/var/folders/4c/dnty3w814gxd01c5lq6910nr0000gn/T/ansible_bigip_command_payload_rjjis8dv/ansible_bigip_command_payload.zip/ansible_collections/f5networks/f5_modules/plugins/modules/bigip_command.py", line 631, in exec_module File "/var/folders/4c/dnty3w814gxd01c5lq6910nr0000gn/T/ansible_bigip_command_payload_rjjis8dv/ansible_bigip_command_payload.zip/ansible_collections/f5networks/f5_modules/plugins/module_utils/icontrol.py", line 551, in tmos_version File "/var/folders/4c/dnty3w814gxd01c5lq6910nr0000gn/T/ansible_bigip_command_payload_rjjis8dv/ansible_bigip_command_payload.zip/ansible_collections/f5networks/f5_modules/plugins/module_utils/bigip.py", line 31, in api File "/var/folders/4c/dnty3w814gxd01c5lq6910nr0000gn/T/ansible_bigip_command_payload_rjjis8dv/ansible_bigip_command_payload.zip/ansible_collections/f5networks/f5_modules/plugins/module_utils/bigip.py", line 52, in connect_via_token_auth File "/var/folders/4c/dnty3w814gxd01c5lq6910nr0000gn/T/ansible_bigip_command_payload_rjjis8dv/ansible_bigip_command_payload.zip/ansible_collections/f5networks/f5_modules/plugins/module_utils/icontrol.py", line 239, in post File "/var/folders/4c/dnty3w814gxd01c5lq6910nr0000gn/T/ansible_bigip_command_payload_rjjis8dv/ansible_bigip_command_payload.zip/ansible_collections/f5networks/f5_modules/plugins/module_utils/icontrol.py", line 194, in send File "/var/folders/4c/dnty3w814gxd01c5lq6910nr0000gn/T/ansible_bigip_command_payload_rjjis8dv/ansible_bigip_command_payload.zip/ansible/module_utils/urls.py", line 1578, in open File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/urllib/request.py", line 215, in urlopen return opener.open(url, data, timeout) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/urllib/request.py", line 515, in open response = self._open(req, data) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/urllib/request.py", line 532, in _open result = self._call_chain(self.handle_open, protocol, protocol + ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/urllib/request.py", line 492, in _call_chain result = func(*args) ^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/var/folders/4c/dnty3w814gxd01c5lq6910nr0000gn/T/ansible_bigip_command_payload_rjjis8dv/ansible_bigip_command_payload.zip/ansible/module_utils/urls.py", line 605, in https_open File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/urllib/request.py", line 1347, in do_open raise URLError(err) urllib.error.URLError: <urlopen error [SSL: WRONG_VERSION_NUMBER] wrong version number (_ssl.c:1000)> fatal: [hostip ]: FAILED! => { "changed": false, "module_stderr": "Traceback (most recent call last):\n File \"/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/urllib/request.py\", line 1344, in do_open\n h.request(req.get_method(), req.selector, req.data, headers,\n File \"/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/http/client.py\", line 1336, in request\n .. . . . payload.zip/ansible_collections/f5networks/f5_modules/plugins/module_utils/bigip.py\", line 52, in connect_via_token_auth\n File \"/var/folders/4c/dnty3w814gxd01c5lq6910nr0000gn/T/ansible_bigip_command_payload_rjjis8dv/ansible_bigip_command_payload.zip/ansible_collections/f5networks/f5_modules/plugins/module_utils/icontrol.py\", line 239, in post\n File \"/var/folders/4c/dnty3w814gxd01c5lq6910nr0000gn/T/ansible_bigip_command_payload_rjjis8dv/ansible_bigip_command_payload.zip/ansible_collections/f5networks/f5_modules/plugins/module_utils/icontrol.py\", line 194, in send\n File \"/var/folders/4c/dnty3w814gxd01c5lq6910nr0000gn/T/ansible_bigip_command_payload_rjjis8dv/ansible_bigip_command_payload.zip/ansible/module_utils/urls.py\", line 1578, in open\n File \"/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/urllib/request.py\", line 215, in urlopen\n return opener.open(url, data, timeout)\n ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\n File \"/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/urllib/request.py\", line 515, in open\n response = self._open(req, data)\n ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\n File \"/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/urllib/request.py\", line 532, in _open\n result = self._call_chain(self.handle_open, protocol, protocol +\n ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\n File \"/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/urllib/request.py\", line 492, in _call_chain\n result = func(*args)\n ^^^^^^^^^^^\n File \"/var/folders/4c/dnty3w814gxd01c5lq6910nr0000gn/T/ansible_bigip_command_payload_rjjis8dv/ansible_bigip_command_payload.zip/ansible/module_utils/urls.py\", line 605, in https_open\n File \"/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/urllib/request.py\", line 1347, in do_open\n raise URLError(err)\nurllib.error.URLError: <urlopen error [SSL: WRONG_VERSION_NUMBER] wrong version number (_ssl.c:1000)>\n", "module_stdout": "", "msg": "MODULE FAILURE\nSee stdout/stderr for the exact error", "rc": 1 }
Converting a BIG-IP Maintenance Page iRule to Distributed Cloud using App Stack
If you are familiar with BIG-IP, you are probably also familiar with its flexible and robust iRule functionality. In fact, I would argue that iRules makes BIG-IP the swiss-army knife that it is. If there is ever a need for advanced traffic manipulation, you can usually come up with an iRule to solve the problem. F5 Distributed Cloud (XC) has its own suite of tools to help in this regard. If you need to do some sort of traffic manipulation/routing you can usually handle that with Service Policies or simply using Routes. Even with these features, however, there are going to be some cases where iRule functionality from the BIG-IP cannot be reproduced directly in XC. When this happens, we switch to using App Stack, which is XC’s version of a swiss army knife. In this article, I wanted to walk through an example of how you can leverage XC's App Stack for a specific iRule conversion use case: Displaying a Custom Maintenance Page when all pool members are down. For reference, here is the iRule: when LB_FAILED { if { [active_members [LB::server pool]] == 0 } { if { ([string tolower [HTTP::host]] contains "example.com")} { if { [HTTP::uri] ends_with "SystemMaintenance.jpg" } { HTTP::respond 200 content [ifile get "SystemMaintenance.jpg"] "Content-Type" "image/jpg" } else { HTTP::respond 200 content "<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>System Maintenance</title> <style type="text/css"> .base { font-family: 'Tahoma'; font-size: large; } </style> </head> <body> <br> <center><img alt="sad" height="200" src="SystemMaintenance.jpg" width="200" /></center><br> <center><span class="base">This application is currently under system maintenance.</span></center> <br> <center><span class="base">All services will be back online in a few mintues.</span> </body> </html>" } } } } When dissecting this iRule, you can see we have to solve for the following: Trigger the maintenance page when all pool members are down Serve local files (images, css, etc.) Display the static HTML page So, how do we do this? Well, App Stack allows us to deploy and host a container in Distributed Cloud. So we can easily create a simple container (using NGINX for bonus points!) that contains all these images, stylesheets, HTML files, etc. and manipulate our pools so that it uses this container when required! Let’s deep dive into the step-by-step process… Step by Step Walk-through: Container Creation First, we have to create our container. I'm not going to go too deep into how to create a container in this article, but I will highlight the main steps I took. To start, I simply extracted the HTML from the iRule above and saved all the required files (images, stylesheets, etc.) in one directory. Since I am adding NGINX to the container, I must also create and include a nginx.conf file in this directory. Below was my configuration: worker_processes 1; error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log warn; pid /tmp/nginx.pid; events { worker_connections 1024; } http { client_body_temp_path /tmp/client_temp; proxy_temp_path /tmp/proxy_temp_path; fastcgi_temp_path /tmp/fastcgi_temp; uwsgi_temp_path /tmp/uwsgi_temp; scgi_temp_path /tmp/scgi_temp; include /etc/nginx/mime.types; server { listen 8080; location / { root /usr/share/nginx/html/; index index.html; } location ~* \.(js|jpg|png|css)$ { root /usr/share/nginx/html/; } } sendfile on; keepalive_timeout 65; } There really isn’t much to the NGINX configuration for this example, but keep in mind that you can expand on this and make it much more robust for other use cases. (One note about the configuration above is that you will see /tmp paths mentioned. These are required since our container will run as a non-root user. For more information, see the NGINX documentation here: https://hub.docker.com/_/nginx) Finally, I included a Dockerfile with my requirements for NGINX and exposing port 8080. Once that was all set, I built my container and pushed it Docker Hub as a private repository. App Stack Deployment Now that we have the container created and uploaded to Docker Hub, we are ready to bring it to XC. Start by opening up the F5 XC Console and navigate to the Distributed Apps tile. Navigate to Applications -> Container Registries, then click Add Container Registry. Here we just have to add a name for the Container Registry, our Docker Hub Username, “docker.io” for the Server FQDN, and then blindfold our password for Docker Hub. After saving, we are now ready to configure our workload To do so, we have to navigate over to Applications -> Virtual K8s. I already had a Virtual Site and Virtual K8s created, but you'll need to create those if you don't already have them. For your reference, here are some links to a walk-through on each of these: Virtual Site Creation:https://docs.cloud.f5.com/docs/how-to/fleets-vsites/create-virtual-site Virtual K8s Creation:https://docs.cloud.f5.com/docs/how-to/app-management/create-vk8s-obj Select your Virtual K8s cluster: After selecting your cluster, navigate to theWorkloads tab.Under Workloads, click on Add VK8s Workload. Give your workload a name and then change the Type of Workload toService instead of Simple Service. Your configuration should look something like below: You'll notice we now have to configure the Service. ClickConfigure. The first step is to tell XC which container we want to deploy for this service. Under Containers, select Add Item: Give the container a name, and then input your Image Name. The format for the image name is "registry/image:tagname". If you leave the tag name blank, it defaults to “latest”. Under the Select Container Registry drop down, selectPrivate Registry. This will bring up another drop-down where we will select the container registry we created earlier. Your configuration should end up looking similar to below: For this simple use case, we can skip the Configuration Parameters and move to our Deploy Options. Here, we have some flexibility on where we want to deploy our workload. You can choose All Regional Edges (F5 PoPs), specific REs, or even custom CEs and Virtual Sites. In my basic example, I chose Regional Edge Sites and picked the ny8-nyc RE for now: Next, we have to configure where we want to advertise this workload. We have the option to keep it internal and only advertise in the vK8s Cluster or we could advertise this workload directly on the Internet. Since we only want this maintenance page to be seen when the pool members are all down, we are going to keep this to Advertise In Cluster. After selecting the advertisement, we have to configure our Port Information. Click Configure. Under the advertisement configuration, you’ll see we are simply choosing our ports. If you toggle “Show Advanced fields” you can see we have some flexibility on the port we want to advertise and the actual target port for the container. In my case, I am going to use 8080 for both, but you may want to have a different combination (i.e. 80:8080). Click Apply once finished. Now that we have the ports defined, we can simply hit Apply on the Service configuration and Save and Exit the workload to kick off the deployment. We should now see our new maintenance-page workload in the list. You’ll notice that after refreshing a couple times, the Running/Completed Pods and Total Pods fields will be populated with the number of REs/CEs you chose to deploy the workload to. After a few minutes, you should have a matching number of Running/Completed Pods to your Total Pods. This gives us an indication that the workload is ready to be used for our application. (Note: you can click on the pod numbers in this list to see a more detailed status of the pods. This helps when troubleshooting) Pool Creation With our workload live and advertised in the cluster, it is time to create our pool. In the top left of the platform we’ll need to Select Service and change to Mulitcloud App Connect: Under Mulit-Cloud App Connect, navigate to Manage -> Load Balancers -> Origin Pools and SelectAdd Origin Pool. Here, we’ll give our origin pool a name and then go directly to Origin Servers. Under Origin Servers, clickAdd Item. Change the Type of the Origin Server to be K8s Service Name of Origin Server on given Sites. Under Service Name, we have to use the format "servicename.namespace:cluster-id" to point to our workload. In my case, it was "maintenance-page.bohanson:bohanson-test" since I had the following: Service Name: maintenance-page Namespace: bo-hanson VK8s Cluster: bohanson-test Under Site or Virtual Site, I chose the Virtual Site I already had created. The last step is to change the network to vK8s Networks on Site and Click Apply. The result should look like the below: We now need to change our Origin Server port to be the port we defined in the workload advertisement configuration. In my case, I chose port 8080. The rest of the configuration of the origin server is up to you, but I chose to include a simple http health check to monitor the service. Once the configuration finished, click Save and Exit. The final pool configuration should look like this: Application Deployment: With our maintenance container up and running and our pool all set, it is time to finally deploy our solution. In this case, we can select any existing Load Balancer configuration where we want to add the maintenance page. You could also create a new Load Balancer from scratch, of course, but for this example I am deploying to an existing configuration. Under Manage -> Load Balancers, find the load balancer of your choosing and then select Manage Configuration. Once in the Load Balancer view, select Edit Configuration in the top right. To deploy the solution, we just need to navigate to our Origins section and add our new maintenance pool. SelectAdd Item. At this point, you may be thinking, “Well that is great, but how am I going to get the pool to only show when all other pool members are down?” That is the beauty of the F5 Distributed Cloud pool configuration. We have two options that we can set when adding a pool: Weight and Priority. Both of those options are pretty self-explanatory if you have used a load balancer before, but what is interesting here is when you give these options a value of zero. Giving a pool a weight of zero would disable the pool. For a maintenance pool use case, that could be helpful since we can manually go into the Load Balancer configuration during a maintenance window, disable the main pool, and then bring up the maintenance pool until our change window is closed when we could then reverse the weights and bring the main pool back online. That ALMOST solves our iRule use case, but it would be manual. Alternatively, we can give a pool a Priority of zero. Doing so would mean that all other pools take priority and will be used unless they go down. In the event of the main pool going down, it would default to the lowest priority pool (zero). Now that is more like it! This means we can set our maintenance pool to a Priority of zero and it will automatically be used when the health of all our other pool members go down – which completely fulfills the original iRule requirement. So in our configuration, let's add our new maintenance pool and set: Weight: 1 Priority: 0 After clicking save, the final pool configuration should look something like this: Testing To test, we can simply switch our health check on the main pool to something that would fail. In my case, I just changed the expected status code on the health check to something arbitrary that I knew would fail, but this could be different in your case. After changing the health check, we can navigate to our application in a browser, and see our maintenance page dynamically appear! Changing the health check on the main pool back to a working one should dynamically turn off the maintenance page as well: Summary This is just one example of how you can use App Stack to convert some more advanced/dynamic iRules over to F5 Distributed Cloud. I only used a basic NGINX configuration in this example, but you can start to see how leveraging NGINX in App Stack can give us even more flexibility. Hopefully this helps!
