Launch an instance in OpenStack

PREREQUISITE: The following table lists the VNFM-required administrative OpenStack environment components and guidelines that must exist PRIOR to creating a VNFM instance in your OpenStack project.

  1. Once the following components exist in your environment, create and name a VNFM instance (OS v10 and OS v13), select the Availability Zone on which you want the VNFM installed, and then define the following parameters, clicking Next to complete the wizard. (Click the following links to learn more about using the Newton version of OpenStack.)

Note

If you do not select the Availability Zone value, then OpenStack will automatically set this value to the availability zone with the least number of associated nodes. The availability zone enables your VNF to utilize feature sets divided across multiple zones. OpenStack Admin users can find availability zones in the OpenStack dashboard, Admin -> System -> Host Aggregates blade.

Compute -> Instance

Component Description
Source (OS v10 or OS v13) Expand Select Boot Source, and choose Image, under Create New Volume, click No, and then click + next to the latest VNFM image file to move it to the Allocated list.
Flavors (OS v10 or OS v13)

Select a flavor sized accordingly, to accommodate the VNFM component images you previously uploaded. The minimum recommended flavor requirements for deploying the F5 VNF Manager include:

  • DAG - vCPU: 8, RAM: 16GB, Root disk: 160GB
  • VNF - vCPU: 8, RAM: 16GB, Root disk: 160GB
  • Nagios - vCPU: 4, RAM: 8GB, Root disk: 60GB
  • BIG-IQ - vCPU: 4, RAM: 16GB, Root disk: 160GB
Networks (OS v10 or OS v13)

Select + next to the following predefined network (and subnet), to add to the Allocated list:

  • Management network (mgmt) – The VNF Manager and BIG-IP VE management interfaces with one DNS server in the subnet configuration.
Security Groups (OS v10 or OS v13)

Security groups are required for versions 1.2.1 and earlier, but are OPTIONAL for version 1.2.2 and later for ALL blueprint solutions. Select + next to the following, predefined security group to add to the Allocated list:

  • Management security group (mgmt_sg) – Allowing TCP port 443 only.

NOTE: To disable all security groups, including the default security group created by OpenStack for every instance, set the security_group input to disable.
Key Pair (OS v10 or OS v13) Create, import, or select existing, PEM-encoded key pair for accessing VNFM instance remotely, using SSH.
  1. For all other Instance component definitions, use the default values provided by OpenStack, and then click Launch Instance. For details, see Upload and manage instances on docs.openstack.org.
  2. OPTIONAL: Add a floating IP.

Add a floating IP in OpenStack

This step is optional. Define a floating IP, if you want to access the VNFM externally from a browser.

  1. Once you launch your instance in OpenStack, expand the Create Snapshot drop-down next to your instance in the table, and select Associate a Floating IP (OS v10 or OS v13) from the list.

  2. Choose an IP address from the list. If none, click + to add one.

    This allocates the floating IP on the management network. Do this to access the VNFM externally from a browser, using https.

What’s next?

Secure access to your F5 VNF Manager.