Azure

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

Prerequisites

The templates below are tested 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

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.

Users 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 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 have 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 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

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 azure_keyvault is selected, then it will be a key vault secret name.
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).