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How to: Create a BIG-IP Next HA Instance on VE from BIG-IP Next Central Manager¶

Overview¶

A BIG-IP Next HA instance consists of an active and a standby node. Create a BIG-IP Next HA instance to safe-guard your applications and traffic in the event there is an issue with the provider the BIG-IP Next is installed on. In such an event, the active node in your BIG-IP Next HA instance will failover to the standby node with no disruption to current traffic or applications.

Prerequisites¶

Before you can create a BIG-IP Next HA instance, you must have two standalone instances already onboarded to BIG-IP Next Central Manager. Refer to How to: Onboard BIG-IP Next (GUI) for details.

Two standalone BIG-IP Next instances running the same software version in the same provider (VE) and in a healthy state.
A license for the BIG-IP Next instance you want to designate as the active node.
Between five and seven self IP addresses that are not assigned anywhere else in your network
Traffic VLANS - One IP address for each BIG-IP Next instance, plus a floating IP address
Control Plane HA VLAN - One IP address for each BIG-IP Next instance (by default, this VLAN will use two additional IP addresses on the management network, but you have the option to create a separate VLAN)
Data Plane HA VLAN - One IP address for each BIG-IP Next instance

Procedure¶

Navigate back to the Infrastructure page of BIG-IP Next Central Manager that was used during module 2.
Add a second BIG-IP Next instance to your infrastructure (the second instance is at 10.1.1.8)
Follow procedure that was used to onboard initial device with instance 2 (10.1.1.8). Upon completion you should have four total instances as shown in below screenshot.
Click the Mode link (the word “Standalone” under the “Mode” column) of the standalone BIG-IP Next instance (big-ip-next-01.f5demo.com) you want to become the active node in the BIG-IP Next HA instance.
The High Availability panel opens.
Click the Enable HA button.
The HA Nodes panel opens. The name and IP address for the BIG-IP Next instance that you selected displays. This will be the active node in the BIG-IP Next HA instance after it’s created.
From the Available Standby Instances list, select the BIG-IP Next instance (big-ip-next-02.f5demo.com) you want to designate as the standby node in the BIG-IP Next HA instance, and click the Next button.
BIG-IP Next Central Manager displays only BIG-IP Next instances that meet the requirements to be a standby node. That is, only healthy BIG-IP Next instances running the same software version as the future active node on the same provider (VE).
From the Control Plane VLAN list, you’ll need to create a new Control Plane VLAN for this BIG-IP Next HA instance by clicking the Create VLAN link.

Use the name “control-plane-vlan” for this and Tag “3999”. The Network Interface selection is inoperative and can be left unchanged.

VLAN Name:
```
control-plane-vlan
```
Tag:
```
3999
```
Click Done
From the Data Plane VLAN list for this BIG-IP Next HA instance, you’ll need to create a new Data Plane VLAN by clicking the Create VLAN link.

Use the name “data-plane-vlan” for this and select Untagged Interface: “1.3”

VLAN Name:
```
data-plane-vlan
```
Untagged Interface:
```
1.3
```
Click Done
After you select the VLANs, click the Next button.
The HA Properties panel opens.
Enter the HA Name (example: ha1) for this high availability pair of nodes. This name should be unique for each pair managed by the Next Central Manager instance.

Name:
```
ha1
```
Enter the HA Management (Floating) IP Address (should be 10.1.1.9) for use when failing over to the standby node.

HA Management (Floating) IP Address:
```
10.1.1.9
```
Enter the Control Plane and Data Plane IP addresses that the active and standby nodes use for communication with each other. (See screenshot for suggested IP addresses) Address for big-ip-next-01.f5demo.com: control plane: 10.1.1.77/24; data plane: 10.1.40.7/24 and big-ip-next-02.f5demo.com: control plane: 10.1.1.88/24; data plane: 10.1.40.8/24

big-ip-next-01 control plane IP:
```
10.1.1.77/24
```
big-ip-next-01 data plane IP:
```
10.1.40.7/24
```
big-ip-next-02 control plane IP:
```
10.1.1.88/24
```
big-ip-next-02 data plane IP:
```
10.1.40.8/24
```
The subnet for the data plane address should not be shared with either management or control plane addresses. Management and control plane can share a common subnet or they can each use unique subnets. The addresses for the nodes in an HA pair must use corresponding subnets for management, control plane and data plane.
Click Next.
The Traffic VLANs panel opens and displays the VLANs you specified for traffic.
You can have only one IP address for each active and standby node, but you can add additional floating IP addresses by clicking on the VLAN name.
Click each VLAN to open a panel to add the respective Active, Standby, and Floating IP addresses. You may need to reassign the IP address that shows up when you first enter the page from a Floating Self-IP to the Active Self-IP. You will need to click the “+” next to the address twice to add two more address fields (for the standby node and floating IP addresses).

Active Node IP Address:
```
10.1.10.7/24
```
Standby Node IP Address:
```
10.1.10.8/24
```
Floating IP Address:
```
10.1.10.9/24
```
Click Save

Active Node IP Address:
```
10.1.20.7/24
```
Standby Node IP Address:
```
10.1.20.8/24
```
Floating IP Address:
```
10.1.20.9/24
```
Click Save
When each VLAN displays a green check mark, you can proceed.

Click Next.
The Summary screen opens to display the BIG-IP Next HA configuration you specified.

Click Deploy to HA.
You’ll be prompted to confirm the deployment.

Click Yes, Deploy It may take several minutes for the HA Deployment process to complete
Assuming a successful deployment, you’ll see the properties of the HA instance you just created.
Click Exit and you’ll be returned to your My Instances list and you’ll see that you now have an instance of type HA under the “Mode” column.

Result¶

BIG-IP Next Central Manager converts the standalone BIG-IP Next instance to a BIG-IP Next HA instance.

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