Last updated on: 2023-09-12 04:11:59.

F5 IngressLink

Overview of IngressLink

The F5 IngressLink solution addresses modern app delivery at scale. IngressLink is a resource definition defined between BIG-IP and NGINX using F5 Container Ingress Service and NGINX Ingress Service.

F5 IngressLink is the first true integration between BIG-IP and NGINX technologies. F5 IngressLink was built to support customers with modern, container application workloads that use both BIG-IP Container Ingress Services and NGINX Ingress Controller for Kubernetes. It’s an elegant control plane solution that offers a unified method of working with both technologies from a single interface—offering the best of BIG-IP and NGINX and fostering better collaboration across NetOps and DevOps teams. The diagram below demonstrates this use case.

This architecture diagram demonstrates the IngressLink solution:

IngressLink Compatibility Matrix

CIS	BIG-IP	NGINX+ IC	AS3
v2.4+	v13.1+	v1.10+	3.18+

IngressLink does not have any restrictions for customizing the namespace or service endpoint. However F5 recommends using the default nginx-ingress.

Configuring IngressLink

Prerequisites

• CIS and BIG-IP are up and running
  • Refer to CIS Kubernetes Installation guide or CIS Openshift Installation guide to install Container Ingress Services on Kubernetes or OpenShift.
  • Make sure that you deploy CIS in CRD mode (use --custom-resource-mode=true in your CIS Configuration).
• NGINX Ingress Controller is up and running.
  • See the documentation for Installation with Manifests or Installation with Helm for more information.
  • Refer to Integration with F5 BIG-IP Container Ingress Services.
• Clone the CIS repository and change to the IngressLink folder by running the following commands:
  • git clone https://github.com/F5Networks/k8s-bigip-ctlr.git
  • cd k8s-bigip-ctlr/docs/config_examples/customResource/IngressLink/

Configuration

1. Create the Proxy iRule on BIG-IP:

   1. Log in to the BIG-IP GUI.

   2. On the Main tab, select Local Traffic > iRules.

   3. Select Create.

   4. In the Name field, type a name. For example, “Proxy_Protocol_iRule”.

   5. In the Definition field, copy the following code and then select Finished.

      when SERVER_CONNECTED { TCP::respond "PROXY TCP[IP::version] [IP::client_addr] [clientside {IP::local_addr}] [TCP::client_port] [clientside {TCP::local_port}]\r\n" }

   6. In the Definition field, copy the definition from the “Proxy_Protocol_iRule” file and then select Finished.

2. Create CIS IngressLink Custom Resource Definition Schema by running the following command:

   kubectl apply -f ingresslink-customresourcedefinition.yaml

   You can leverage the IngressLink solution.

3. Deploy your test application:

   1. Deploy the App:

      kubectl apply -f ingress-example/cafe-secret.yaml

      kubectl apply -f cafe.yaml

   2. Deploy the Ingress Service:

      kubectl apply -f ingress-example/cafe-ingress.yaml

4. Create an IngressLink Resource:

   Update the virtualServerAddress parameter in the ingresslink.yaml resource. This IP address will be used to configure the BIG-IP device. It will be used to accept traffic and load balance it among the NGINX Ingress Controller pods.

   kubectl apply -f ingresslink.yaml

   

   Note

   • The name of the IngressLink resource should be the same which is defined during NGINX Ingress Controller installation.
   • The selector in the IngressLink resource is the same as the Service labels configured in nginx-ingress-ingresslink service during NGINX Ingress Controller installation.
   • The IngressLink must belong to the same namespace as the Ingress Controller pod - nginx-ingress or the namespace used for installing the Helm chart.

5. Monitoring NGINX+ Ingress Controller Readiness (Optional).

   You can configure the NGINX+ Ingress Controller Readiness in the nginx-ingress-ingresslink service by exposing port 8081, which is used by BIGIP to monitor NGINX+ Ingress Controller’s readiness.

   nginx-ingresslink-svc.yaml

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Service
   metadata:
     name: nginx-ingress-ingresslink
     namespace: nginx-ingress
     labels:
       app: ingresslink
   spec:
     ports:
     - port: 80
       targetPort: 80
       protocol: TCP
       name: http
     - port: 443
       targetPort: 443
       protocol: TCP
       name: https
     - port: 8081
       targetPort: 8081
       protocol: TCP
       name: readinessport
     selector:
       app: nginx-ingress
   

6. Access the Application:

   The Ingress Controller pods are behind the IP configured in Step 4 (virtualServerAddress parameter). Test the traffic (in this example we used 192.168.10.5 as our VirtualServerAddress) by running the following command:

   $ curl --resolve cafe.example.com:443:192.168.10.5 https://cafe.example.com:443/coffee --insecure
   Server address: 10.12.0.18:80
   Server name: coffee-7586895968-r26zns
   

Configuration Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
ipamLabel	String	Optional	N/A	FIC allocates IP addresses from an IPAM system’s address pool.
virtualServerAddress	String	Yes	N/A	IPAddress of Virtual server.
host	String	Optional	N/A	hostname where the application is hosted i.e. cafe.example.com.
iRules	List	Yes	N/A	List of iRules which needs to be attached to virtual server.
partition	String	Optional	N/A	BIG-IP Partition.

You can use IPAM controller to configure and manage virtual server addresses in IngressLink by using ipamLabel. If you are using IPAM, virtualServerAddress is not required.

Example of ipamLabel use

apiVersion: "cis.f5.com/v1"
kind: IngressLink
metadata:
  name: nginx-ingress
  namespace: nginx-ingress
spec:
  ipamLabel: "Dev". # `ipamLabel` option allows the user manage the virtual server address using the F5 IPAM controller.
  iRules:
    - /Common/Proxy_Protocol_iRule
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: ingresslink

MultiPartition Support using Ingress Annotation

CRD now supports the MultiPartition feature for ingressLink CR, where the user can provision BIG-IP in multiple partitions. This helps to easily manage the bigipConfig among the partitions. The MultiPartition feature also helps to improve performance, as CIS processes only the partition when there is a change, instead of sending a unified AS3 declaration to all of the partitions on the BIG-IP every time a change/event is detected.

CIS processes multiple tenant information and still sends the single unified declaration to BIG-IP to avoid multiple posts to BIG-IP for the first time.

Note

The AS3 post call is formed as mgmt/shared/appsvcs/declare/tenant1,tenant2.

Multiple VirtualServers do not share the same virtual server address across multiple partitions. F5 does not currently support VS sharing the same host group or host with the same address in multiple partitions. The following rules apply for all VS resources. - Virtual servers with the same host group should be in one partition. - Virtual servers with the same host should be in one partition. - Virtual servers with the same VS address should be in one partition. - Virtual servers cannot share the same VIP across multiple partitions, irrespective of port.

This feature is enabled by using ingress annotation virtual-server.f5.com/partition.

Example of IngressLink using partition spec parameter: (https://github.com/F5Networks/k8s-bigip-ctlr/tree/master/docs/config_examples/customResource/IngressLink/partition)

apiVersion: "cis.f5.com/v1"
kind: IngressLink
metadata:
  name: nginx-ingress
  namespace: nginx-ingress
spec:
  ipamLabel: "Dev". # `ipamLabel` option allows the user manage the virtual server     address using the F5 IPAM controller.
  iRules:
    - /Common/Proxy_Protocol_iRule
  partition: dev
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: ingresslink

FAQ

Q: Is Ingress Address updated with the Ingress-Link implementation?

A: No, CIS does not update the ingress address in ingress status.

Note

To provide feedback on Container Ingress Services or this documentation, please file a GitHub Issue.