Module 1: Imperative Automation with the BIG-IP and iControl RestΒΆ

In this module, you will learn the basic concepts required to interact with the BIG-IP iControl REST API. Additionally, you will walk through a typical Device Onboarding workflow to deploy a fully functional BIG-IP Active/Standby pair. It is important to note that this module will focus on demonstrating an Imperative approach to automation.

Note

The Lab Deployment for this lab includes two BIG-IP devices. For most of the labs, we will only be configuring the BIG-IP A device (management IP has been already been configured in both instances). During certain parts of the lab, we will work on both BIG-IP units in what may feel the incorrect order. This is intentional, in order to make all the timings happen correctly.

Note

In order to confirm the results of REST API calls made in this lab, it is recommended to keep GUI/SSH sessions to the BIG-IP devices open. By default, BIG-IP will log all the REST API related events locally to restjavad.0.log. These logs can also be directed to a remote Syslog server (see https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K13080). On a side note, the LTM log files listed below contain log messages specific to BIG-IP local traffic management events.

  • BIG-IP:
    • /var/log/ltm
    • /var/log/restjavad.0.log