Last updated on: 2023-10-18 04:01:19.

AWS

This F5 BIG-IP AWS Terraform Provider Module deploys N-NIC F5 BIG-IP in AWS cloud. You can deploy multiple instances of BIG-IP with the module count feature.

Prerequisites

Version Notice:

This module is supported on Terraform version 0.13 and newer.

The following templates were verified on Terraform v0.13.0 and v0.14.0:

• provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/aws v3.8.0
• provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/random v2.3.0
• provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/template v2.1.2
• provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/null v2.1.2

BIG-IP version	Terraform v0.13	Terraform v0.14
BIG-IP 16.x	X	X
BIG-IP 15.x	X	X
BIG-IP 14.x	X	X
BIG-IP 13.x	X	X

Password management

By default, the BIG-IP module dynamically generates passwords.

cat terraform-aws-bigip-module/variables.tf

variable aws_secretmanager_auth {
  description = "Whether to use key vault to pass authentication"
  type        = bool
  default     = false
}

Outputs:

bigip_password = [
  "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
]

To use AWS secret manager password, you must enable the variable aws_secretmanager_auth to true and supply the secret name to variable aws_secretmanager_secret_id.

cat terraform-aws-bigip-module/variables.tf

variable aws_secretmanager_auth {
  description = "Whether to use key vault to pass authentication"
  type        = bool
  default     = true
}

variable aws_secretmanager_secret_id {
  description = "AWS Secret Manager Secret ID that stores the BIG-IP password"
  type        = string
  default     = "tf-aws-bigip-bigip-secret-9759"
}

Outputs:

bigip_password = [
  "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
]

Example usage

See also

Additional common deployment examples.

There should be one-to-one mapping between subnet_ids and securitygroup_ids. For example if you have two or more external subnet_ids, you must give the same number of external securitygroup_ids to the module.

You can have dynamic or static private IP allocation. If the primary/secondary private IP value is null, it will be dynamic or else static private IP allocation. With Static private IP allocation, you can assign primary and secondary private IPs for external interfaces, whereas the primary private IP is for management and internal interfaces.

If you are using static private IP allocation, you cannot use module count because the same private IPs will be allocated to multiple BIG-IP instances based on the module count.

With Dynamic Private IP Allocation, you must pass null value to primary/secondary private IP declaration and module count will be supported.

Note

Sometimes the given static primary and secondary private IPs may get exchanged. This limitation is present in AWS.

Dynamic Private IP Allocation

 #
 #Example of 1-NIC Deployment Module usage
 #
 module bigip {
   count                  = var.instance_count
   source                 = "../../"
   prefix                 = "bigip-aws-1nic"
   ec2_key_name           = aws_key_pair.generated_key.key_name
   mgmt_subnet_ids        = [{ "subnet_id" = "subnet_id_mgmt", "public_ip" = true, "private_ip_primary" =  ""}]
   mgmt_securitygroup_ids = ["securitygroup_id_mgmt"]
 }

 #
 #Example of 2-NIC Deployment Module usage
 #
 module bigip {
   count                  = var.instance_count
   source                      = "../../"
   prefix                      = "bigip-aws-2nic"
   ec2_key_name                = aws_key_pair.generated_key.key_name
   mgmt_subnet_ids             = [{ "subnet_id" = "subnet_id_mgmt", "public_ip" = true, "private_ip_primary" =  ""}]
   mgmt_securitygroup_ids      = ["securitygroup_id_mgmt"]
   external_subnet_ids         = [{ "subnet_id" = "subnet_id_external", "public_ip" = true, "private_ip_primary" = "", "private_ip_secondary" = ""}]
   external_securitygroup_ids  = ["securitygroup_id_external"]
 }

 #
 #Example of 3-NIC Deployment Module usage
 #
 module bigip {
   count                  = var.instance_count
   source                      = "../../"
   prefix                      = "bigip-aws-3nic"
   ec2_key_name                = aws_key_pair.generated_key.key_name
   mgmt_subnet_ids             = [{ "subnet_id" = "subnet_id_mgmt", "public_ip" = true, "private_ip_primary" =  ""}]
   mgmt_securitygroup_ids      = ["securitygroup_id_mgmt"]
   external_subnet_ids         = [{ "subnet_id" = "subnet_id_external", "public_ip" = true, "private_ip_primary" = "", "private_ip_secondary" = ""}]
   external_securitygroup_ids  = ["securitygroup_id_external"]
   internal_subnet_ids         = [{"subnet_id" =  "subnet_id_internal", "public_ip"=false, "private_ip_primary" = ""}]
   internal_securitygroup_ids  = ["securitygropu_id_internal"]
 }

 #
 #Example of 4-NIC Deployment Module usage with two external public interfaces, one management and internal interface. There should be one-to-one mapping between subnet_ids and securitygroup_ids).
 #

 module bigip {
   count                  = var.instance_count
   source                      = "../../"
   prefix                      = "bigip-aws-4nic"
   ec2_key_name                = aws_key_pair.generated_key.key_name
   mgmt_subnet_ids             = [{ "subnet_id" = "subnet_id_mgmt", "public_ip" = true }]
   mgmt_securitygroup_ids      = ["securitygroup_id_mgmt"]
   external_subnet_ids         = [{ "subnet_id" = "subnet_id_external", "public_ip" = true },{"subnet_id" =  "subnet_id_external2", "public_ip" = true }]
   external_securitygroup_ids  = ["securitygroup_id_external","securitygroup_id_external"]
   internal_subnet_ids         = [{"subnet_id" =  "subnet_id_internal", "public_ip"=false }]
   internal_securitygroup_ids  = ["securitygropu_id_internal"]
 }

Similarly, you can have N-NIC deployments based on user-provided subnet_ids and securitygroup_ids. With module count, you can deploy multiple BIG-IP instances in the AWS cloud (with the default value of 1).

Private IP Allocation

 Example of 3-NIC Deployment with static private ip allocation

 module bigip {
   source                      = "../../"
   count                       = var.instance_count
   prefix                      = format("%s-3nic", var.prefix)
   ec2_key_name                = aws_key_pair.generated_key.key_name
   aws_secretmanager_secret_id = aws_secretsmanager_secret.bigip.id
   mgmt_subnet_ids             = [{ "subnet_id" = aws_subnet.mgmt.id, "public_ip" = true, "private_ip_primary" = "10.0.1.4"}]
   mgmt_securitygroup_ids      = [module.mgmt-network-security-group.this_security_group_id]
   external_securitygroup_ids  = [module.external-network-security-group-public.this_security_group_id]
   internal_securitygroup_ids  = [module.internal-network-security-group-public.this_security_group_id]
   external_subnet_ids         = [{ "subnet_id" = aws_subnet.external-public.id, "public_ip" = true, "private_ip_primary" = "10.0.2.4", "private_ip_secondary" = "10.0.2.5"}]
   internal_subnet_ids         = [{ "subnet_id" = aws_subnet.internal.id, "public_ip" = false, "private_ip_primary" = "10.0.3.4"}]
 }

InSpec tool

The BIG-IP Automation Toolchain InSpec Profile is used for testing the readiness of Automation Tool Chain (ATC) components. After module deployment, you can use the InSpec tool to verify BIG-IP connectivity with ATC components.

This InSpec profile evaluates the following:

• Basic connectivity to a BIG-IP management endpoint: bigip-connectivity
• Availability of the Declarative Onboarding (DO) service: bigip-declarative-onboarding
• Version reported by the Declarative Onboarding (DO) service: bigip-declarative-onboarding-version
• Availability of the Application Services (AS3) service: bigip-application-services
• Version reported by the Application Services (AS3) service: bigip-application-services-version
• Availability of the Telemetry Streaming (TS) service: bigip-telemetry-streaming
• Version reported by the Telemetry Streaming (TS) service: bigip-telemetry-streaming-version
• Availability of the Cloud Failover Extension (CFE) service: bigip-cloud-failover-extension
• Version reported by the Cloud Failover Extension (CFE) service: bigip-cloud-failover-extension-version

To run InSpec tests, you can either run the inspec exec command or execute runtests.sh in any one of example NIC folders, which will run below the inspec command. For example:

inspec exec inspec/bigip-ready --input bigip_address=$BIGIP_MGMT_IP bigip_port=$BIGIP_MGMT_PORT user=$BIGIP_USER password=$BIGIP_PASSWORD do_version=$DO_VERSION as3_version=$AS3_VERSION ts_version=$TS_VERSION fast_version=$FAST_VERSION cfe_version=$CFE_VERSION

Required and optional input variables

Required variables must be set in the module block when using this module. Optional variables have default values and do not need to be set to use this module. You may set these variables to override their default values.

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
prefix	String	Required	N/A	This value is inserted in the beginning of each AWS object. Note: Requires alpha-numeric without special characters.
ec2_key_name	String	Required	N/A	AWS EC2 Key name for SSH access.
mgmt_subnet_ids	List of maps	Required	N/A	Map with Subnet-id and public_ip as keys for the management subnet.
mgmt_securitygroup_ids	List	Required	N/A	securitygroup_ids for the management interface.
instance_count	Number	Required	false	Number of BIG-IP instances to spin up.
f5_username	String	Optional	bigipuser	The admin username of the F5 BIG-IP that will be deployed.
ec2_instance_type	String	Optional	m5.large	AWS EC2 instance type.
f5_ami_search_name	String	Optional	F5 Networks BIGIP-14.* PAYG - Best 200Mbps*	BIG-IP AMI name to search for.
mgmt_eip	Boolean	Optional	True	Enable an Elastic IP address on the management interface.
aws_secretmanager_auth	Boolean	Optional	False	Whether to use key vault to pass authentication.
aws_secretmanager_secret_id	String	Optional	N/A	AWS Secret Manager Secret ID that stores the BIG-IP password.
aws_iam_instance_profile	String	Optional	N/A	AWS IAM instance profile that can be associated for BIG-IP with required permissions.
DO_URL	String	Optional	latest	URL to download the BIG-IP Declarative Onboarding module.
AS3_URL	String	Optional	latest	URL to download the BIG-IP Application Service Extension 3 (AS3) module.
TS_URL	String	Optional	latest	URL to download the BIG-IP Telemetry Streaming module.
fastPackageUrl	String	Optional	latest	URL to download the BIG-IP FAST module.
CFE_URL	String	Optional	latest	URL to download the BIG-IP Cloud Failover Extension module.
libs_dir	String	Optional	/config/cloud/aws /node_modules	Directory on the BIG-IP to download the A&O Toolchain into.
onboard_log	String	Optional	/var/log/startup -script.log	Directory on the BIG-IP to store the cloud-init logs.
external_subnet_ids	List of Maps	Optional	[{ "subnet_id" = null, "public_ip" = null }]	The subnet ID of the virtual network where the virtual machines will reside.
internal_subnet_ids	List of Maps	Optional	[{ "subnet_id" = null, "public_ip" = null }]	The subnet ID of the virtual network where the virtual machines will reside.
external_securitygroup_ids	List	Optional	[]	The Network Security Group IDs for external network.
internal_securitygroup_ids	List	Optional	[]	The Network Security Group IDs for internal network.

Note

For each external interface there will be one primary, and secondary private IP assigned.

Output variables

Parameter	Description/Notes
mgmtPublicIP	The actual IP address allocated for the resource.
mgmtPublicDNS	FQDN to connect to the first VM provisioned.
mgmtPort	The Mgmt Port.
f5_username	BIG-IP username.
bigip_password	The BIG-IP Password. If dynamic_password is selected, then it will be a randomly generated password. If aws_secretmanager_auth is selected, then it will be an aws_secretsmanager_secret_version secret string.
private_addresses	List of BIG-IP private addresses.
public_addresses	List of BIG-IP public addresses.

Note

A local json file is generated that contains the DO declaration.

What’s Next?

• Azure module
• GCP module
• BIG-IP Provider Modules
• Release Notes
• Licensing with BIG-IQ