Azure

This F5 BIG-IP Azure Terraform Provider Module deploys N-NIC F5 BIG-IP in Azure 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/azurerm v2.28.0

• provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/null v2.1.2

• provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/random v2.3.0

• provider registry.terraform.io/hashicorp/template 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.

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

Outputs:
bigip_password = [
  "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
]

To use Azure secret key vault, you must enable the variable az_key_vault_authentication to true and supply the variables (shown below) with key_vault secret name along with resource group name where the Azure key vault is defined.

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

variable azure_secret_rg {
  description = "The name of the resource group in which the Azure Key Vault exists"
  type        = string
  default     = ""
}

variable azure_keyvault_name {
  description = "The name of the Azure Key Vault to use"
  type        = string
  default     = ""
}

variable azure_keyvault_secret_name {
  description = "The name of the Azure Key Vault secret containing the password"
  type        = string
  default     = ""
}

Outputs:
bigip_password = [
  "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
]

Example usage

See also

Additional common deployment examples.

There must be a 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.

Example Deployment with Dynamic Private IP Allocation

 Example 1-NIC Deployment Module usage

 module bigip {
   count                   = var.instance_count
   source                      = "../../"
   prefix                      = "bigip-azure-1nic"
   resource_group_name         = "testbigip"
   mgmt_subnet_ids             = [{"subnet_id" = "subnet_id_mgmt" , "public_ip" = true,"private_ip_primary" =  ""}]
   mgmt_securitygroup_ids      = ["securitygroup_id_mgmt"]
   availabilityZones           =  var.availabilityZones


 }


 Example 2-NIC Deployment Module usage

 module bigip {
   count                       = var.instance_count
   source                      = "../../"
   prefix                      = "bigip-azure-2nic"
   resource_group_name         = "testbigip"
   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"]
   availabilityZones           =  var.availabilityZones
 }


 Example 3-NIC Deployment Module usage

 module bigip {
   count                       = var.instance_count
   source                      = "../../"
   prefix                      = "bigip-azure-3nic"
   resource_group_name         = "testbigip"
   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"]
   availabilityZones           =  var.availabilityZones
 }

 Example 4-NIC Deployment Module usage (with 2 external public interfaces, one management and internal interface. There should be one-to-one mapping between subnet_ids and securitygroupids).

 module bigip {
   count                       = var.instance_count
   source                      = "../../"
   prefix                      = "bigip-azure-4nic"
   resource_group_name         = "testbigip"
   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" = "" },{"subnet_id" = subnet_id_external2", public_ip" = true, "private_ip_primary" = "", "private_ip_secondary" = "" }]
   external_securitygroup_ids  = ["securitygroup_id_external","securitygroup_id_external"]
   internal_subnet_ids         = [{"subnet_id" =  "subnet_id_internal", "public_ip"=false, "private_ip_primary" = "" }]
   internal_securitygroup_ids  = ["securitygropu_id_internal"]
   availabilityZones           =  var.availabilityZones
 }

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 Azure cloud (with the default value of count 1).

Example Deployment with Static Private IP Allocation

 module bigip {
   count                      = var.instance_count
   source                     = "../../"
   prefix                     = format("%s-3nic", var.prefix)
   resource_group_name        = azurerm_resource_group.rg.name
   mgmt_subnet_ids            = [{ "subnet_id" = data.azurerm_subnet.mgmt.id, "public_ip" = true, "private_ip_primary" =  "10.2.1.5"}]
   mgmt_securitygroup_ids     = [module.mgmt-network-security-group.network_security_group_id]
   external_subnet_ids        = [{ "subnet_id" = data.azurerm_subnet.external-public.id, "public_ip" = true,
                                 "private_ip_primary" = "10.2.2.40","private_ip_secondary" = "10.2.2.50" }]
   external_securitygroup_ids = [module.external-network-security-group-public.network_security_group_id]
   internal_subnet_ids        = [{ "subnet_id" = data.azurerm_subnet.internal.id, "public_ip" = false, "private_ip_primary" = "10.2.3.40"}]
   internal_securitygroup_ids = [module.internal-network-security-group.network_security_group_id]
   availabilityZones          = var.availabilityZones
 }

InSpec tool

The BIG-IP Automation Toolchain InSpec Profile is used for testing the readiness of Automation Tool Chain (ATC) components. After the 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 the example NIC folders, which will run 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 that you do not need to set, in order to use this module. However, you can 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 Azure object. Note: Requires alpha-numeric without special characters.
resource_group_name	String	Required	N/A	The name of the resource group in which the resources will be created.
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.
availabilityZones	List	Required	N/A	availabilityZones
instance_count	Number	Required	N/A	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.
f5_instance_type	String	Optional	Standard_DS3_v2	Specifies the size of the virtual machine.
f5_image_name	String	Optional	f5-bigip-virtual-edit ion-200m-best-hourly	5 SKU (image) you want to deploy. Note: The disk size of the VM will be determined based on the option you select. Important: If intending to provision multiple modules, ensure the appropriate value is selected, such as AllTwoBootLocations or AllOneBootLocation.
f5_version	String	Optional	latest	It is set to default to use the latest software.
f5_product_name	String	Optional	f5-big-ip-best	Azure BIG-IP VE Offer.
storage_account_type	String	Optional	Standard_LRS	Defines the type of storage account to be created. Valid options are Standard_LRS, Standard_ZRS, Standard_GRS, Standard_RAGRS, and Premium_LRS.
enable_accelerated_networking	Boolean	Optional	FALSE	Enable accelerated networking on Network interface.
enable_ssh_key	Boolean	Optional	TRUE	Enable ssh key authentication in Linux Virtual Machine.
f5_ssh_publickey	String	Optional	~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub	Path to the public key to be used for SSH access to the VM. Only used with non-Windows VMs and can be left as-is even if using Windows VMs. If you are specifying a path to a certification on a Windows machine to provision a linux VM, use the / in the path instead of a backslash. For example: c:/home/id_rsa.pub
doPackageUrl	String	Optional	latest	URL to download the BIG-IP Declarative Onboarding module.
as3PackageUrl	String	Optional	latest	URL to download the BIG-IP Application Service Extension 3 (AS3) module.
tsPackageUrl	String	Optional	latest	URL to download the BIG-IP Telemetry Streaming module.
fastPackageUrl	String	Optional	latest	URL to download the BIG-IP FAST module.
cfePackageUrlL	String	Optional	latest	URL to download the BIG-IP Cloud Failover Extension module.
libs_dir	String	Optional	/config/cloud/azure /node_modules	Directory on the BIG-IP to download the A&O Toolchain.
onboard_log	String	Optional	/var/log/startup -script.log	Directory on the BIG-IP to store the cloud-init logs.
azure_secret_rg	String	Optional	""	The name of the resource group in which the Azure Key Vault exists.
az_key_vault_authentication	String	Optional	false	Whether to use key vault to pass authentications.
azure_keyvault_name	String	Optional	""	Directory on the BIG-IP to store the cloud-init logs.
azure_keyvault_secret_name	String	Optional	""	The name of the Azure Key Vault secret containing the password.
external_subnet_ids	List of Maps	Optional	[{ “subnet_id” = null , “public_ip” = null, “private_ip_primary” = “”, “private_ip_sec ondary” = “” }]	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,”private_ip_prim ary” = “” }]	List of maps of subnet IDs of the virtual network where the virtual machines will reside.
external_securitygroup_ids	List	Optional	[]	List of Network Security Group IDs for external network.
internal_securitygroup_ids	List	Optional	[]	List of Network Security Group IDs for internal network.

Output variables

The following table provides output parameters and descriptions:

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 you select dynamic_password, then a random password is generated. If you select azure_keyvault, then a key vault secret name is used.
private_addresses	List of BIG-IP private addresses.
public_addresses	List of BIG-IP public addresses.

Note

A local json file will be generated which contains the DO declaration (for 1,2,3 NICs as provided in the examples).

What’s Next?

• AWS module

• GCP module

• BIG-IP Provider Modules

• Release Notes

• Licensing with BIG-IQ