Overview: Visual Policy Designer

The Visual Policy Designer (VPD) offers a drag-and-drop canvas for administrators to create or modify Access policies through the BIG-IP Next Central Manager. Users can drag Flows and Rules into place that assembles the policy objects to complete the policy objectives. After the policy objects are arranged in the proper sequence, users specify the policy decisions for each object.

The VPD canvas helps the administrator to create or edit an access policy. The figure illustrates the VPD canvas and identifies the key components.

Item	Description
Side Bar	The Side Bar contains the following icons: Policy, Flows, Rules, and Subroutines (in Per-Request Policies). The Policy icon allows you see / adjust the overall policy settings, whereas the other icons adjust what objects show in the Tool Box.
Policy Bar	The Policy Bar shows the policy name and has the Exit and Save buttons.
Tool Box	The Tool Box lists either all the Flows administrator can add to a policy or all the Rules you can add to a Flow, and Subroutines (for Per-Request policies) depending on the selection made in the Side Bar.
Canvas	Use the Canvas to create the policy structure. First drag in the Flow(s) needed for the desired policy function, then expand and edit the Flow(s) to add Rule(s) to the policy.
Canvas Controls	Use these controls to change the Canvas layout. Note: you can also use typical mouse / trackpad function to zoom in or out, or drag the Canvas to change what is visible.

Visual policy designer tools

Visual element	Element type	Description
	Initial access policy	When an Access policy is created ‘From Scratch’, this is the default policy structure.
	Start	Every Access policy contains a Start.
	Branch	A branch connects a Rule to another Rule or Flow, or to an ending.
	Add a Rule or Flow	Drag a Rule or Flow to this icon to add the element to the policy. When you start to drag a Rule or Flow onto the canvas the plus signs will turn blue to show valid drop points.
	Rule	- Click the pencil icon to open a window where the user can specify properties and branches for the Rule. - Click the trashcan to delete the Rule from the Access policy.
	Flow	- Click the pencil icon to open a window where the user can specify properties and branches for the Flow. - Click the trashcan to delete the Flow from the Access policy. - Click the double arrow to expand the Flow so the user can view or edit the Rules inside.
	Ending	Each policy has one or more endings.
	Configure Ending	Click the name of an ending to open a popup screen where the user can specify the ending option.
	Save	Click the Save button to save the policy changes you have made to the BIG-IP Next Central Manager.
	Deploy	Click the Deploy button to save the policy changes you have made to the BIG-IP Next Central Manager and deploys the policy to all applications that use this policy.
	Cancel & Exit	Click the Cancel & Exit button to close the Visual Policy Designer without saving policy changes you have made to the BIG-IP Next Central Manager.
	Side Bar	Use the side bar to determine whether Rules or Flows are listed in the Toolbox. - Click the left-facing arrow to minimize the Toolbox. - Click the Flows icon to show all available Flows in the Toolbox. - Click the Rules icon to show all available Rules in the Toolbox. - Click the Subroutine icon to show all available Subroutines in the Toolbox.
	Toolbox	Use the Toolbox to add Rules and Flows to the canvas. - Use the Search field to search for an existing Rule or Flow.
	Canvas Controls	Use these controls to change the canvas layout. - Click the Plus icon to zoom-in on the canvas. - Click the Minus icon to zoom-out on the canvas. - Click the Frame icon to fit the policy diagram to the screen.