Before You Begin

You will need the following in order to follow this guide:

  • Basic understanding of BIG-IP® system configuration.

  • BIG-IP® LTM® Virtual Edition image file in qcow.zip format; can be any size (ALL, LTM, or LTM_1SLOT). [1]

  • An operational OpenStack mitaka deployment with Neutron and Heat installed. [2]

  • An external network, which has access to the internet, configured in Neutron.

  • F5 OpenStack Heat Plugins installed on the Neutron controller. The plugins provide the F5® objects needed to provision BIG-IP® resources in OpenStack.

  • SSH key(s) configured in OpenStack; to be used for authentication to BIG-IP® and/or any client or server instances created by the Heat templates.

  • The Heat templates listed below.

Caveats

  • The BIG-IP® VE image must be hosted in a location accessible to the Heat engine via ‘http’. The F5® Heat templates do not currently support retrieval of files via ‘https’ or file uploads.
  • VE images come in 3 different sizes: LTM, ALL, and LTM-1SLOT. Each has its own size requirements, which determine what Nova flavor you should select. See the F5® OpenStack BIG-IP® flavor matrix for more information.
  • There is a known issue with python-glanceclient that returns an unspecified error after you click Launch to launch a stack from the OpenStack dashboard. You may need to upgrade the package in order to resolve this issue.

Footnotes:

[1]How to Buy
[2]Unsure how to get started with OpenStack? See the F5® OpenStack deployment and configuration guides.