Last updated on: 2024-01-16 03:25:50.

bigip_virtual_address – Manage LTM virtual addresses on a BIG-IP

New in version 1.0.0.

Synopsis

  • Manage LTM virtual addresses on a BIG-IP system.

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Configuration Comments
address
string
Specifies the virtual address. This value cannot be modified after it is set.
If you never created a virtual address, but did create virtual servers, a virtual address for each virtual server was created automatically. The name of this virtual address is its IP address value.
arp
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Specifies whether the system accepts ARP requests.
When false, specifies the system does not accept ARP requests.
When true, the packets are dropped.
Both ARP and ICMP Echo must be disabled in order for forwarding virtual servers using that virtual address to forward ICMP packets.
When creating a new virtual address, if this parameter is not specified, the default value is true.
auto_delete
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Specifies whether the system automatically deletes the virtual address with the deletion of the last associated virtual server. When false, specifies the system leaves the virtual address, even when all associated virtual servers have been deleted. When creating the virtual address, the default value is true.
availability_calculation
string
    Choices:
  • always
  • when_all_available
  • when_any_available
Specifies which routes of the virtual address the system advertises. When when_any_available, advertises the route when any virtual server is available. When when_all_available, advertises the route when all virtual servers are available. When (always), always advertises the route regardless of the virtual servers available.

aliases: advertise_route
connection_limit
integer
Specifies the number of concurrent connections the system allows on this virtual address.
icmp_echo
string
    Choices:
  • enabled
  • disabled
  • selective
Specifies how the system sends responses to (ICMP) echo requests on a per-virtual address basis for enabling route advertisement. When enabled, the BIG-IP system intercepts ICMP echo request packets and responds to them directly. When disabled, the BIG-IP system passes ICMP echo requests through to the backend servers. When (selective), causes the BIG-IP system to internally enable or disable responses based on virtual server state; when_any_available, when_all_available, or C(always, regardless of the state of any virtual servers.
name
string
Name of the virtual address.
If this parameter is not provided, the system uses the value of address.
netmask
string
Specifies the netmask of the provided virtual address. This value cannot be modified after it is set.
When creating a new virtual address, if this parameter is not specified, the default value is 255.255.255.255 for IPv4 addresses and ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff for IPv6 addresses.
partition
string
Default:
"Common"
Device partition to manage resources on.
provider
dictionary
added in 1.0.0
A dict object containing connection details.
auth_provider
string
Configures the auth provider for to obtain authentication tokens from the remote device.
This option is really used when working with BIG-IQ devices.
no_f5_teem
boolean
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
If yes, TEEM telemetry data is not sent to F5.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_TELEMETRY_OFF.
Previously used variable F5_TEEM is deprecated as its name was confusing.
password
string / required
The password for the user account used to connect to the BIG-IP or the BIG-IQ.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_PASSWORD.

aliases: pass, pwd
server
string / required
The BIG-IP host or the BIG-IQ host.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_SERVER.
server_port
integer
Default:
443
The BIG-IP server port.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_SERVER_PORT.
timeout
integer
Specifies the timeout in seconds for communicating with the network device for either connecting or sending commands. If the timeout is exceeded before the operation is completed, the module will error.
transport
string
    Choices:
  • rest ←
Configures the transport connection to use when connecting to the remote device.
user
string / required
The username to connect to the BIG-IP or the BIG-IQ. This user must have administrative privileges on the device.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_USER.
validate_certs
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes ←
If no, SSL certificates are not validated. Use this only on personally controlled sites using self-signed certificates.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_VALIDATE_CERTS.
route_advertisement
string
    Choices:
  • disabled
  • enabled
  • always
  • selective
  • any
  • all
Specifies whether the system uses route advertisement for this virtual address.
When disabled, the system does not advertise routes for this virtual address.
The majority of these options are only supported on versions 13.0.0-HF1 or later. On versions prior than this, all choices expect disabled translate to enabled.
When always, the BIG-IP system always advertises the route for the virtual address, regardless of availability status. This requires an enabled virtual address.
When enabled, the BIG-IP system advertises the route for the available virtual address, based on the calculation method in the availability calculation.
When disabled, the BIG-IP system does not advertise the route for the virtual address, regardless of the availability status.
When selective, you can also selectively enable ICMP echo responses, which causes the BIG-IP system to internally enable or disable responses based on virtual server state.
When any, the BIG-IP system advertises the route for the virtual address when any virtual server is available.
When all, the BIG-IP system advertises the route for the virtual address when all virtual servers are available.
route_domain
string
The route domain of the address you want to use.
This value cannot be modified after it is set.
spanning
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Enables all BIG-IP systems in a device group to listen for and process traffic on the same virtual address.
Spanning for a virtual address occurs when you enable the spanning option on a device, and then sync the virtual address to the other members of the device group.
Spanning also relies on the upstream router to distribute application flows to the BIG-IP systems using ECMP routes. ECMP defines a route to the virtual address using distinct Floating self-IP addresses configured on each BIG-IP system.
You must also configure MAC masquerade addresses and disable arp on the virtual address when Spanning is enabled.
When creating a new virtual address, if this parameter is not specified, the default valus is false.
state
string
    Choices:
  • present ←
  • absent
  • enabled
  • disabled
The virtual address state. If absent, the system makes an attempt to delete the virtual address. This will only succeed if this virtual address is not in use by a virtual server. present creates the virtual address and enables it. If enabled, enables the virtual address if it exists. If disabled, creates the virtual address if needed, and sets the state to disabled.
traffic_group
string
The traffic group for the virtual address. When creating a new address, if this value is not specified, the default is /Common/traffic-group-1.

Notes

Note

  • For more information on using Ansible to manage F5 Networks devices see https://www.ansible.com/integrations/networks/f5.
  • Requires BIG-IP software version >= 12.
  • The F5 modules only manipulate the running configuration of the F5 product. To ensure that BIG-IP specific configuration persists to disk, be sure to include at least one task that uses the f5networks.f5_modules.bigip_config module to save the running configuration. Refer to the module’s documentation for the correct usage of the module to save your running configuration.

Examples

- name: Add virtual address
  bigip_virtual_address:
    state: present
    partition: Common
    address: 10.10.10.10
    provider:
      server: lb.mydomain.net
      user: admin
      password: secret
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Enable route advertisement on the virtual address
  bigip_virtual_address:
    state: present
    address: 10.10.10.10
    route_advertisement: any
    provider:
      server: lb.mydomain.net
      user: admin
      password: secret
  delegate_to: localhost

Return Values

The following are the fields unique to this module:

Key Returned Description
address
integer
created
The address of the virtual address.

Sample:
2345
arp
boolean
changed
The new way the virtual address handles ARP requests.

Sample:
True
auto_delete
boolean
changed
New setting for auto deleting virtual address.

Sample:
True
availability_calculation
string
changed
Specifies which routes of the virtual address the system advertises.

Sample:
always
connection_limit
integer
changed
The new connection limit of the virtual address.

Sample:
1000
icmp_echo
string
changed
New ICMP echo setting applied to virtual address.

Sample:
disabled
netmask
integer
created
The netmask of the virtual address.

Sample:
2345
spanning
string
changed
Whether spanning is enabled or not.

Sample:
disabled
state
string
changed
The new state of the virtual address.

Sample:
disabled


Status

Authors

  • Tim Rupp (@caphrim007)
  • Wojciech Wypior (@wojtek0806)