Lab 2 Configure Clustered BIG-IP with Declarative OnboardingΒΆ

In this lab we are going to configure BIG-IP-02. The build out will be similar, but the declaration will be slightly different than BIG-IP-01. There are some device specific items, like Self-IPs, that will be different between devices. These differences illustrate examples where templatizing works exceptionally well. For these situations you can use a templating tool that an orchestrator may provide such as Jinja2 in Ansible.

  1. Lets connect to BIG-IP-02 in VSCode in preparation to send our declaration.

    In the F5 host section select the host for BIG-IP-02 (10.1.1.7)

    ../../_images/f5_extension_select_host_01.png

  2. Below is our declaration for BIG-IP-02. Copy the declaration to be used in the VSCode extension. Use the copy button in the upper right hand corner of the declaration.

    {
    "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/F5Networks/f5-declarative-onboarding/master/src/schema/latest/base.schema.json",
    "schemaVersion": "1.9.0",
    "class": "Device",
    "async": true,
    "label": "my clustered BIG-IP declaration for declarative onboarding",
    "Common": {
        "class": "Tenant",
        "hostname": "bigip-02.compute.internal",
        "myLicense": {
            "class": "License",
            "licenseType": "regKey",
            "regKey": "X0400-17381-92678-76392-8132569",
            "overwrite": false
        },
        "myDns": {
            "class": "DNS",
            "nameServers": [
                "10.1.255.254",
                "8.8.8.8",
                "2001:4860:4860::8844"
            ],
            "search": [
                "us-west-2-compute.internal",
                "f5.com"
            ]
        },
        "myNtp": {
            "class": "NTP",
            "servers": [
                "0.pool.ntp.org",
                "1.pool.ntp.org",
                "2.pool.ntp.org"
            ],
            "timezone": "UTC"
        },
        "anotheradmin": {
            "class": "User",
            "userType": "regular",
            "password": "Fu11Pr0%y",
            "shell": "bash"
        },
        "guestUser": {
            "class": "User",
            "userType": "regular",
            "password": "Fu11Pr0%y",
            "partitionAccess": {
                "Common": {
                    "role": "guest"
                }
            }
        },
        "anotherUser": {
            "class": "User",
            "userType": "regular",
            "password": "Fu11Pr0%y",
            "shell": "none",
            "partitionAccess": {
                "all-partitions": {
                    "role": "guest"
                }
            }
        },
        "myProvisioning": {
            "class": "Provision",
            "ltm": "nominal",
            "gtm": "minimum"
        },
        "internal": {
            "class": "VLAN",
            "tag": 4093,
            "mtu": 1500,
            "interfaces": [
                {
                    "name": "1.1",
                    "tagged": false
                }
            ],
            "cmpHash": "dst-ip"
        },
        "internal-self": {
            "class": "SelfIp",
            "address": "10.1.10.200/24",
            "vlan": "internal",
            "allowService": "default",
            "trafficGroup": "traffic-group-local-only"
        },
        "internal-floating": {
            "class": "SelfIp",
            "address": "10.1.10.220/24",
            "vlan": "internal",
            "allowService": "default",
            "trafficGroup": "traffic-group-1"
        },
        "external": {
            "class": "VLAN",
            "tag": 4094,
            "mtu": 1500,
            "interfaces": [
                {
                    "name": "1.2",
                    "tagged": false
                }
            ],
            "cmpHash": "src-ip"
        },
        "external-self": {
            "class": "SelfIp",
            "address": "10.1.20.200/24",
            "vlan": "external",
            "allowService": "none",
            "trafficGroup": "traffic-group-local-only"
        },
        "external-floating": {
            "class": "SelfIp",
            "address": "10.1.20.220/24",
            "vlan": "external",
            "allowService": "default",
            "trafficGroup": "traffic-group-1"
        },
        "default": {
            "class": "Route",
            "gw": "10.1.10.1",
            "network": "default",
            "mtu": 1500
        },
        "configsync": {
            "class": "ConfigSync",
            "configsyncIp": "/Common/internal-self/address"
        },
        "failoverAddress": {
            "class": "FailoverUnicast",
            "address": "/Common/internal-self/address"
        },
        "failoverGroup": {
            "class": "DeviceGroup",
            "type": "sync-failover",
            "members": [
                "10.1.1.6",
                "10.1.1.7"
            ],
            "owner": "/Common/failoverGroup/members/0",
            "autoSync": true,
            "saveOnAutoSync": false,
            "networkFailover": true,
            "fullLoadOnSync": false,
            "asmSync": false
        },
        "trust": {
            "class": "DeviceTrust",
            "localUsername": "admin",
            "localPassword": "@gi1ity2022",
            "remoteHost": "/Common/failoverGroup/members/0",
            "remoteUsername": "admin",
            "remotePassword": "@gi1ity2022"
        }
    }
}

    Just as we did in the previous lab, you will use VSCode and POST the declaration to BIG-IP-02

  3. Open a new file within VSCode and paste the declaration above. Be sure to set the language mode to JSON.

    Note

    If you have forgotten how to change the language mode and POST the DO declaration, refer back to the example in the first lab.

    Once you have posted the declaration check the status of the declaration being processed.

    Note

    Clustering via Declarative Onboarding can take several minutes to sync and establish, this is normal behavior.

  4. Once the declaration is complete return to either BIG-IP in Firefox and check the cluster configuration and status. Both units should be clustered with all onboarding objects present from the declaration.

    Note

    URL: https://10.1.1.7
    Username: admin
    Password: @gi1ity2022

    In the BIG-IP console, navigate to Device Management -> Device Groups and view the device group that was created by the declaration. Click on the failoverGroup and verify both devices are members of the group.

    ../../_images/failoverGroup.png

    Feel free to check other objects such as Self IPs, NTP settings, user accounts, etc.