F5 BIG-IP Next WAF Labs > Module 0: Introduction to BIG-IP Next, BIG-IP Next CM and how to use and prepare the lab Source |
Lab 0.1 Introduction to BIG-IP Next and BIG-IP Next CM¶
BIG-IP Next¶
BIG-IP Next shares the same data-plane that is used by BIG-IP, but also introduces a new base platform and control-plane.
The platform can be configured primarily via API, but does have a “Instance Manager” UI that can help with basic onboarding tasks of the device.
The API provides an Imperative interface to the underlying system components, but also provides additional Declarative interfaces that can consolidate multiple API calls.
Examples of Declarative interfaces
- onboarding: configuring system hostname, DNS/NTP/Syslog, VLANs, Self-IPs, etc…
- AS3: provides an interface to use supported Next capabilities within an AS3 declaration
- FAST: interface to create FAST templates of AS3 declarations
Examples of Imperative interfaces
- systems: information/settings related to hostname, DNS, NTP, Syslog, manifest (version)
- L1-networks: mapping of VLAN to interfaces and Self-IPs to VLANs
- L4-clientside: clientside (virtual IP) of an application
- L4-serverside: “pool (BIG-IP terminology)”/”upstream (NGINX terminology)” of a reverse-proxy application; includes IP and ports of target workloads
- application: configuration of a reverse-proxy “stack” including both L4-clientside/L4-serverside elements
BIG-IP Next instances can only be managed via the Central Manager.
BIG-IP Next Central Manager¶
BIG-IP Next Central Manager provides a platform to manage BIG-IP Next instances and provides a UI that can be used to manage application configurations (via AS3/FAST).
BIG-IP Next CM can also be used to visualize data from a Next instance.