Module 1: Setup a Service scaling group (SSG) in VMWARE

In this module, we will learn about the Service Scaling Group (SSG) feature provided with BIG-IQ 6.0 in a VMWare environment

The Service Scaling Group (SSG) gives us the capability to setup a cluster of BIG-IPs that will scale based on criterias defined by the administrator.

Topology of Service Scaling Group

With BIG-IQ 6.0, the Service Scaling Group is composed of 2 tiers of ADCs. Depending on the environment, the implementation of the Service Scaling Group (SSG) will differ.

Environment Tier1 (called Service Scaler) Tier2 (called SSG)
VMWARE F5 ADC F5 VE

Tier1/Service Scaler management - how does this work ?

With BIG-IQ 6.0, the provisioning and deployment of Tier1 has to be done upfront by the administrator. It means that:

  • The F5 platform will have to be provisioned, licensed (for F5 VE) and its networking configuration done
  • Once the platform is ready. everything related to app deployment will be handled by BIG-IQ

Tier2/SSG management - how does this work ?

With BIG-IQ 6.0, the provisioning of SSG BIG-IPs is fully automated. You don’t have to setup anything upfront but licenses for BIG-IQ to assign to the dynamically provisioned BIG-IPs

To handle the provisioning and onboarding of our F5 virtual edition, we leverage different components:

Note

We will review this in more details in lab4

Application deployment in a SSG - VMWARE

To ensure the traffic goes through the SSG as expected, application will be deployed in a certain manner:

  • When the app is deployed from BIG-IQ, it will receive a Virtual server IP.

  • This VS IP will be configured:

    • On all VEs part of the SSG. This IP will be used to setup the relevant All the Virtual editions part of the SSG will have an identical Setup

    • On the tier 1/Service Scaler cluster. BIG-IQ will setup a virtual server with the same IP and the following configuration

      • address translation will be disabled
      • the pool members for this app will be the SSG Self-IPs
      • the pool monitor will be based on the app specifications

In this lab, we will create a Service Scaling Group in a VMWare environment.