Use-Case 00: Backup And Restore Role

OVERVIEW

This is a great example of best practices when doing major configurations with a BIG-IP. Having a backup of your previous configuration ensures that you can return to a point in time that was a known working configuration if something were to break.

Backup-Role.yaml is a templated Ansible play that utilizes an underlying Role that demonstrates the ability to backup a BIG-IP Configuration to a UCS File then download that UCS file to /tmp/Use-Case-00-backup.ucs on the local ansible box. This is to ensure a backup within the BIG-IP and a backup local to your machine.

Restore-Role.yaml is a templated Ansible play that utilizes an underlying Role that demonstrates the ability to restore a BIG-IP Configuration with the locally stored UCS File in "/tmp/Use-Case-00-backup.ucs". This play has a check to ensure that the UCS file exists before it can run a restore.

Attention

The restore command will produce an error in some builds of Ansible even though the restoration does complete. It is a known issue due to the reset of the RestAPI services.

HIGHLIGHTS

  1. Always create a backup of your environment before automating. This ensures a safe and reliable way to revert in case of any issues.
  2. The Backup will actually create two (2) backups one on the F5 device (located in the archives) and one located in the /f5/code-output/ directory on the Ansible-node named hostname-date-timestamp.ucs this is 2 levels of backup!

EXAMINING THE CODE

  1. In the VSCode (Code-Server) on the left menus expand f5-bd-ansible-labs --> 401-F5-AppWorld-Lab --> AS3 --> 00-Backup-Restore Role --> and select the Backup-Role.yaml file.

  2. Notice that this playbook is utilizing Ansible Roles rather than one giant playbook, roles are used to break down code into functions that can be used as repeatable code, in our code below it will first remove AS3 from the F5 device using the f5_remove_as3_backup role and then then use the f5_backup_data role to backup the F5 device.

    ---
- hosts: lb
connection: local
gather_facts: false
vars_files:
   - vars/f5_vars.yml
roles:
   - f5_remove_as3_backup
   - f5_backup_data

  3. If you want to examine the role specifically for backing up the F5 device expand the roles folder within 00-Backup-Restore Role and expand the f5_backup_data role.

  4. Notice that there are 2 folders in there a defaults folder and a tasks folder.

    • The defaults folder contains a main.yml that creates the variable provider for allowing any f5 ansible module within that role to utilize for connecting to the f5 device (using our inventory file information).
    • The tasks folder contains a main.yml that references another yaml file f5_backup_config.yaml this contains the code for backing up the F5 device and how the date/timestamp are collected along with the hostname (gathered from our inventory file).

  5. When running a restore later you can also examine the restore role f5_restore_data_imparative within the roles folder to see how its is coded (we are using the imperative restore code)

RUN THE TEMPLATE

Running this template assumes that a F5 BIG-IP instance, necessary webservers and Ansible node are available.

  1. Ensure you are using a terminal from VSCode (UDF --> Ansible-Node --> Access --> Code-Server --> Password: Ansible123! --> Trust --> Terminal --> New Terminal)

  2. Change Directory in the Ansible Host to the use-cases repo previously downloaded

    cd ~/f5-bd-ansible-labs/401-F5-AppWorld-Lab/AS3/00-Backup-Restore-Role/

  3. Run the Ansible Playbook Backup-Role.yaml:

    Note

    If you have run the modules section of this lab and already executed a backup then this run is necessary.

    ansible-navigator run Backup-Role.yaml --mode stdout

    In this example, the playbook looks for the Folder-Location and File-Name variables as specified in the vars/f5_vars.yaml file and uses that information to tell the BIG-IP to run a backup and then export that file to where the Folder-Location and File-Name variables points to.

  4. (Optional) Run the Ansible Playbook Restore-Role.yaml:

    If you have run the Modules section of this lab and already executed a backup and want to test the AS3 section then it is (Recommended) to run a restore

    ansible-navigator run Restore-Role.yaml --mode stdout

    Note

    you might see an error that looks like fatal: [f5 -> localhost]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "msg": "Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)"} this can occurs due to restarting of services and shouldn't impact the effect of the restore.

    after the command is run wait up to 5 minutes for the restore to complete.

    Note

    after the restoration of the backup you might see notifications that the F5 needs to be rebooted, this is something that can be ignored for this lab as it has to deal with the deprovisioning of modules, it doesnt impact the lab and future runs.

    after the command is run wait up to 5 minutes for the restore to complete.

    In this example, the playbook looks for the Folder-Location and File-Name variables as specified in the vars/f5_vars.yaml file and uses that information to upload the configuration (if exists) to the BIG-IP to run a restore.

TESTING AND VALIDATION

BIG-IP CONFIGURATION VERIFICATION:

This section is optional and for testing and verification purposes only. It assumes knowledge of how to operate BIG-IP commands and networking.

Ansible Host:

  • Within a terminal window run ls /f5/code-output/ to verify the backup file exists
  • This file will be named based on the inventory-hostname-Year-Month-Day-Hour-Minute-Second.ucs e.g. f5-2024-12-13-03-27-51.ucs.
  • This method was used to ensure date/timestamps of backups on files and prevents overwriting of other backups.

F5 BIG-IP

  • BIG-IP - (In UDF --> Components --> BIG-IP --> Access --> TMUI) - This will popup a webpage to access the F5 Login Page

    • Login to the BIG-IP instance
    • Navigate to System --> Archives
    • There should be an archive file named similarly to f5-2024-12-13-03-27-51.ucs based on the date/timestamp

  • Login information for the BIG-IP:

    • username: admin
    • password: Ansible123!