How to: Back up managed BIG-IP Next instances to BIG-IP Next Central Manager’s local drive instantly or on a schedule¶

Overview¶

You should create a backup of a BIG-IP Next instance from BIG-IP Next Central Manager for a number of reasons including:

Before upgrading a BIG-IP Next instance.
Before performing a factory reset on a BIG-IP Next instance.
For data loss prevention and security compliance.

You can create an instant backup or create a regularly scheduled backup. The backup task can take several minutes but will not impact active applications or network traffic.

Prerequisites¶

The BIG-IP Next instances you want to create a backup for must be in a healthy state.
If you have recently performed an instance upgrade, you need to delete large image files from the instance. See Delete large files from instance
Authenticate with the BIG-IP Next Central Manager API. For details refer to How to: Authenticate with the BIG-IP Next Central Manager API

Delete large image files from instance¶

Perform this task if you have recently upgraded your BIG-IP Next instance. You must send API calls to the instance to remove the large upgrade image files and other large files before the backup will succeed.

Send a login request to BIG-IP Next Central Manager and record the access_token from the response. The access_token should be used for all remaining requests.

POST https://{{remote-CM-address}}/api/login
To identify the id of the instance you would like to backup, return a list of BIG-IP Next instances from the BIG-IP Next Central Manager inventory:

GET https://{{remote-CM-address}}/api/device/v1/inventory
Note the id of instances you would like to backup from the response in step 2.
To identify the large image files’ id, send a request for the files present on the instance:

GET https://{{remote-CM-address}}/api/device/v1/proxy/{{remote-Big-IP-Next-ID}}?path=/files

Note: The image file for the upgrade BIG-IP Next {{version and build number}}.tgz might not be the only large file that can be deleted. Note the file size and id.
Send a request to delete the file on the instance using the file id from the previous step at end of delete URL. For example:

DELETE https://{{remote-CM-address}}/api/device/v1/proxy/{{remote-Big-IP-Next-ID}}?path=/files/644fcd02-fa38-4383-ac1c-f67e0c899e0d
Wait at least 20 minutes after the deletion before initiating steps to initiate an instance backup.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The file deletion process can take up to 20 minutes to complete. If the files are not fully deleted, the new backup attempt will fail.
Repeat step 5 for additional large files, such as QKView or core files.

Result¶

Once you have completed file deletion and waited at least 20 minutes, you can initiate an instance backup.

Create an instant Backup for BIG-IP Next Instance¶

Procedure¶

Central Manager GUI

To create an instant backup using Central Manager GUI:

Log in to BIG-IP Next Central Manager as admin, click the Workspace icon next to the F5 logo, and click Infrastructure.
Select the checkbox next to the BIG-IP Next instances you want to back up.
The BIG-IP Next instance must be in a healthy state for a successful backup creation.
At the top of the screen, click Actions, and then click Back Up & Schedule.
The Back Up Instances panel opens.
For Encryption Password, type a password to encrypt this backup and confirm the password.
To create an instant backup, click the Back Up Now button.

Results

The backup file is created.

Central Manager API

To create an instant backup using Central Manager API:

Get Instance details by sending a GET request to /spaces/default/instances endpoint. Identify the ID of the instance that you want to upgrade.

GET https://{{CM_IP}}/api/v1/spaces/default/instances?filter=address eq '{{bigip_next_mgmt_ip}}'
Create the instance backup by sending the POST request to the /device/v1/inventory/{{remote-Big-IP-Next-ID}}/backup endpoint modifying the value of {{remote-Big-IP-Next-ID}} with ID of the instance that you want to backup.

POST http://{{CM}}/api/device/v1/inventory/{{remote-Big-IP-Next-ID}}/backup

For the request payload, use the following example, modifying the values as required.
```
{
"encryption_password": "12345678"
}
```
Verify the status of instance backup by sending the GET request to the /device/v1/backup-tasks/{backup_task_id} endpoint.

GET https://{{CM}}/api/device/v1/backup-tasks/{{backup_task_id}}
Get the list of backup files by sending the GET request to the /device/v1/backups endpoint.

GET https://{{CM}}/api/device/v1/backups

Results

The backup file is created.

Create a Scheduled BIG-IP Next Instance¶

Procedure¶

Central Manager GUI

To create a scheduled backup using Central Manager GUI:

Log in to BIG-IP Next Central Manager as admin, click the Workspace icon next to the F5 logo, and click Infrastructure.
Select the checkbox next to the BIG-IP Next instances you want to back up.
The BIG-IP Next instance must be in a healthy state for a successful backup creation.
At the top of the screen, click Actions, and then click Back Up & Schedule.
The Back Up Instances panel opens.
For Encryption Password, type a password to encrypt this backup and confirm the password.
To create a backup schedule, click the Schedule Backup button.
Set the Frequency from the dropdown to Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. Default is Daily.
- Daily: When you select Daily, the backup will run automatically everyday.
- Weekly: You can schedule a backup for a particular day/s of the week.
- Monthly: You can schedule a backup for the particular day of the month, select the day from the dropdown.
To change the name of this backup, overwrite the default name in the Name field.
Click the date in the Date and Time field to open the calendar where you can select a specific date and time to start this schedule.
Select End on to specify a date you want this backup schedule to stop, then click the Date and Time field to open the calendar where you can select a specific date and time to stop this schedule. The default end date is one year from the start date.
If you select No end date BIG-IP Next Central Manager will continue you creating backups on the schedule you specified.
Click the Next button.
The schedule summary panel opens.
Click the Save Schedule button to save the schedule you created for backups.

Central Manager API (Scheduled Backup)

To create a scheduled backup using Central Manager API:

Get Instance details by sending a GET request to /spaces/default/instances endpoint. Identify the ID of the instance that you want to upgrade.

GET https://{{CM_IP}}/api/v1/spaces/default/instances?filter=address eq '{{bigip_next_mgmt_ip}}'

Note: You can create a scheduled back with Daily, Weekly or Monthly frequencies.

Create the instance scheduled backup by sending the POST request to the /device/v1/backups/schedules endpoint.

POST http://{{CM}}/api/device/v1/backups/schedules

Create a Daily, Weekly, or Monthly backup schedules using the following examples for the request payloads, modifying the values as required.

Note: The End time is optional for all the backup types.

Daily Backup

  {
      "name": "Sch-instance-backup",
      "description": "Instance Backup",
      "schedule_type": "BasicWithInterval",
      "BasicWithInterval": {
          "IntervalToRun": 24,
          "IntervalUnit": "HOUR"
      },
      "schedule": {
          "StartAt": "2024-05-30T04:01:00.000Z",
          "EndAt": "2025-07-29T21:30:00.000Z",
          "jobType": "JobType_NORMAL"
      },
      "instance_ids": [
          "c4a89e78-62c8-40e2-b68e-2ac29484cbac"
      ],
      "encryption_password": "12121212"
  }

Weekly Backup

  {
      "name": "Sch-instance-backup-daily-59352",
      "description": "Instance Backup",
      "schedule_type": "DaysOfTheWeek",
      "DaysOfTheWeek": {
          "interval": 1,
          "hourToRunOn": 7,
          "minuteToRunOn": 0,
          "daysOfTheWeekToRun": [1, 2, 3, 5]
      },
      "schedule": {
          "StartAt": "2024-05-30T07:00:00.000Z",
          "EndAt": "2025-07-29T21:30:00.000Z",   
          "jobType": "JobType_NORMAL"
      },
      "instance_ids": [
          "c4a89e78-62c8-40e2-b68e-2ac29484cbac"
      ],
      "encryption_password": "12121212"
  }

Monthly Backup

  {
      "name": "Sch-instance-backup-daily-14013",
      "description": "Instance Backup",
      "schedule_type": "DayAndTimeOfTheMonth",
      "DayAndTimeOfTheMonth": {
          "interval": 1,
          "hourToRunOn": 7,
          "minuteToRunOn": 0,
          "dayOfTheMonthToRun": 25
      },
      "schedule": {
          "StartAt": "2024-05-31T07:00:00.000Z", 
          "EndAt": "2025-07-29T21:30:00.000Z",
          "jobType": "JobType_NORMAL"
      },
      "instance_ids": [
          "c4a89e78-62c8-40e2-b68e-2ac29484cbac"
      ],
      "encryption_password": "21212121"
  }

Results

The backup is scheduled.

Result¶

By default, backups are stored locally on BIG-IP Next Central Manager or (if configured) on the locally-mounted external NFS storage.