How to: Provision BIG-IP Next instance licenses from BIG-IP Next Central Manager

Overview

Use these procedures to provision licenses for BIG-IP Next instances from BIG-IP Next Central Manager when it is in connected or disconnected mode.

Procedures

• Provision licenses for BIG-IP Next Instances in Connected Mode

• Provision licenses for BIG-IP Next Instances in Disconnected Mode

Provision licenses for BIG-IP Next Instances in Connected Mode

Use this procedure to provision single or multiple licenses for BIG-IP Next instances from BIG-IP Next Central Manager when it is in connected mode.

1. Log in to BIG-IP Next Central Manager.

2. Click the Workspace icon next to the F5 logo and then click Infrastructure.

3. Select the name of the BIG-IP Next instance you want to provision the license.

4. In License & Provision section, select Provision.

5. Disable the toggle Disable WAF on this instance and click Yes, Disable to disable instance’s WAF feature.
   The WAF is disabled on the selected instance.

Provision licenses for BIG-IP Next Instances in Disconnected Mode

By default, the BIG-IP Next Central Manager is in connected mode. Use this procedure to switch the BIG-IP Next Central Manager to disconnected mode and provision single or multiple licenses for BIG-IP Next instances from the BIG-IP Next Central Manager.

Note: These steps involve switching alternatively between using the GUI of the BIG-IP Next Central Manager and selecting API requests in the Postman application.

1. Download the Postman collection.

2. Unzip the downloaded postman collection zip file to access the Getting Started - BIG-IP Next.postman_collection.json and Env. Getting Started - BIG-IP Next.postman_environment.json files.

3. Open Postman application (Procedural steps related to APIs):
   

   1. Log in to the Postman application.

   2. From the left side bar, select Collections and import Getting Started - BIG-IP Next.postman_collection.json.

   3. Select Environments and import Env. Getting Started - BIG-IP Next.postman_environment.json.

   4. Select the imported environment, and in the bigip_next_cm_mgmt_ip field, enter your Central Manager IP address in the Current value column.

   5. In the JWT_license field, enter the JSON Web Token (JWT) in the Current value column which you received from your F5 representative or downloaded from my F5.

   6. Select Collections and click Getting Started – BIG IP Next collection.

   7. Select Disconnected Licensing folder, click Login to Central Manager API and click Send to login to BIG-IP Next Central Manager.

   8. Click Enable Disconnected License Mode on Central Manager API and click Send to switch the Central Manager to disconnected mode.

4. Open BIG-IP Next Central Manager GUI to perform the following steps:
   

   1. From the top right corner of the window, click admin and click Logout.

   2. Log in to the BIG-IP Next Central Manager.

   3. Once you log in, you’ll see the Maintenance tab in the left pane, indicating that the Central Manager is in disconnected mode.

   4. Click the Workspace icon next to the F5 logo and then click Infrastructure.

   5. Select the name of the BIG-IP Next instance you want to provision the license.

   6. In License & Provision section, select Provision.

   7. Disable the toggle Disable WAF on this instance and click Yes, Disable to disable instance’s WAF feature.
      The Provisioning report is generated for the selected instance.

   8. Go to Infrastructure > Instances > Maintenance, and select Download to download the report.

5. Open Postman application (Procedural steps related to APIs):
   

   1. Log in to the Postman application.

   2. Select Collections and click Getting Started – BIG IP Next collection.

   3. Click Upload Bulk Reports to license server API, and click Body.

   4. In the File field, upload the downloaded license report zip file in the Value column and click Send.

   5. Click Get Status of Bulk Reports from license server API, click Send and wait until you see the Download ready status in the response.

   6. Click Download Signed Bulk Reports from license server API and from the Send dropdown, select Send and Download to download the ACK (Acknowledgement) file.

6. Open BIG-IP Next Central Manager GUI to perform the following steps:
   

   1. From the Central Manager Maintenance tab, select Upload to upload the ACK file and select Verify.

   2. After successful verification of the ACK file, the instance is provisioned, and the instance disappears from the Maintenance tab.