Lab 7: Common Configuration Items

Resource Utilization and Provisioned Modules

1. On bigip01.f5demo.com

1. Go to System > Resource Provisioning
2. On this page, you can view the provisioned modules and their license status based on your BIG-IP license.

Creating User on BIG-IP

1. On bigip01.f5demo.com

1. Go to System > Users
   1. Click Create

2. Fill out information for Username and Password
   2. For Role, please select Administrator

3. Add user to partition, give user TMSH access for Terminal Access and select Finished

4. Log out of the F5 at the top right and log back in with the new credentials you created

Execute a UCS Backup and UCS Restore

1. System > Archives

2. Select Create, to create a UCS backup

3. Select Finished when ready to complete the UCS Backup

4. Go to Local Traffic > Virtual Servers and delete www_vs

5. Next go to System > Archives and click on UCSBackup.UCS

6. Select Restore and restore the UCS backup

7. Go back to Local Traffic > Virtual Servers and ensure that www_vs was restored from the UCS Backup

Managing Software Images on the BIG-IP System

In this section of the lab we will explore methods for managing software images on the BIG-IP.

Before starting, ensure you have located and downloaded the software image, point release, or hotfix and corresponding image verification file(s) from the F5 Downloads site.

Upload using the configuration utility

1. On bigip01.f5demo.com log into the configuration utility.
2. Go to System > Software Management
3. Select Import

4. Select Choose File and choose the software image, point release, or hotfix, and the corresponding MD5 file to import.

5. For the purpose of the lab, you do NOT need to import the image as it’s already there, but when doing an upgrade you would Select Import

6. Log into a bash session on the BIG-IP.

7. Change directories to the /shared/images directory by typing the following command:

   cd /shared/images
   

   

8. Verify the software image file integrity using either the MD5 checksum, SIG, or PEM files. For this lab we will use the MD5 checksum.

   [root@bigip01:Active:Standalone] images # md5sum --check BIGIP-17.5.0-0.0.15.iso.md5
   BIGIP-17.1.2.1-0.0.2.iso: OK
   [root@bigip01:Active:Standalone] images #
   

   

Upload using SCP from the command line

1. Secure copy (SCP) the .iso file and corresponding .md5 file from BIG-IP-01 to the /shared/images directory on the BIG-IP 02 device.

Example:

scp /shared/images/BIGIP-17.5.0-0.0.15.iso root@10.1.1.5:/shared/images/

2. Use the same password to transfer the file to the 02 device

3. Log into the BIG-IP web shell and type bash in the command line session on the BIG-IP.

4. Change directories to the /shared/images directory by typing the following command:

   cd /shared/images
   

   

5. Verify the software image file integrity using either the MD5 checksum, SIG, or PEM files. For this lab we will use the MD5 checksum.

   [root@bigip01:Active:Standalone] images # md5sum --check BIGIP-17.1.2.1-0.0.2.iso.md5
   BIGIP-17.1.2.1-0.0.2.iso: OK
   [root@bigip01:Active:Standalone] images #
   

   

Show currently configured boot location

1. On bigip01.f5demo.com: log into the configuration utility.
2. Go to System > Software Management > Boot Locations

This screen will show the current configured boot locations. The Status column will show which is active:

Creating a new volume for software images

After the software image has been uploaded and verified, you can install it to a boot location.

Using the Configuration Utility

1. On bigip01.f5demo.com log into the configuration utility.
2. Go to System > Software Management
3. For Available Images, select the box next to the software you want to install.
4. Select Install

5. In the Install Software Image pop-up window, for Volume set name, select a volume set or type the name of the new volume set.

For example, if you type 2 for the volume set name, the BIG-IP system creates a new volume set at boot location HD1.2.

6. For this lab, no need to complete the software upgrade, but when running through a software install you would select Install
7. You can monitor the installation status in the Installed Images section of the System > Software Management page.

Using tmsh

1. Log into tmsh by issuing the following command: tmsh

2. To install a software image, point release, or software fix, use the following command syntax:

   install /sys software <hotfix | image> <software>.iso volume <volume_number>

   Note

   You can use tab completion in tmsh. To see the available images for installation, press the Tab key after you type the install sys software image command.

   In our lab, we will use the example below: When installing a BIG-IP image, below is the syntax you would use. For the purpose of the lab, DO NOT INSTALL IMAGE SOFTWARE!

   install /sys software image BIGIP-17.5.0-0.0.X.iso volume HD1.2 create-volume

3. To verify the software installation progress, type the following command:

   show sys software

   The command output appears similar to the following example:

   root@(bigip02)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)# show sys software
   
   --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Sys::Software Status
   Volume  Product   Version   Build  Active                Status  Allowed Version
   --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   HD1.1    BIG-IP  15.1.2.1  0.0.10      no              complete              yes
   HD1.2    BIG-IP    17.5.0  0.0.15      no installing 10.000 pct              yes
   HD1.3    BIG-IP  17.1.2.1   0.0.2     yes              complete              yes
   

   

Determine Resource Utilization

In this portion of the lab, we will be viewing different system-level statistics.

Note

The Application Visibility and Reporting module has been provisoned and is required to veiw some of the system analytical charts here.

Identify CPU Statistics per Virtual Server

Using the Configuration Utility

1. On bigip01.f5demo.com log into the configuration utility.
2. Go to Statistics > Module Statistics > Local Traffic.

3. Click the Statistics Type dropdown and select Virtual Servers.

4. From this screen, you can view CPU utilization for each Virtual Server.

Using tmsh

1. Log into tmsh by issuing the following command:

   tmsh

2. The below is an example tmsh command that shows filtered output yielding CPU statistics for each virtual server.

   show /ltm virtual | grep -e "Ltm::" -e "Last 5 Min"

   Below is example output for this command:

   root@(bigip01)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)# show /ltm virtual | grep -e "Ltm::" -e "Last 5 Min"
   Ltm::Virtual Server: f5demo
      Last 5 Minutes                             0
   Ltm::Virtual Server: hackazon
      Last 5 Minutes                             0
   Ltm::Virtual Server: j-shop
      Last 5 Minutes                             0
   

   

Interpret Statistics for Interfaces

Using the Configuration Utility

1. On bigip01.f5demo.com log into the configuration utility.
2. Go to Statistics > Module Statistics > Network.

3. Ensure the statistics type is set to Interfaces. From this screen, you can view statistics for each interface on the BIG-IP.

Using tmsh

1. Log into tmsh by issuing the following command:

   tmsh

2. Issues the following command to view statistics for each interface on the BIG-IP.

   show net interface

   Below is example output for this command:

   root@(bigip01)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)# show net interface
   
   ------------------------------------------------------------------
   Net::Interface
   Name  Status    Bits    Bits   Pkts   Pkts  Drops  Errs      Media
                     In     Out     In    Out
   ------------------------------------------------------------------
   1.1       up    3.5G  167.1G   6.1M   5.8M      0     0  10000T-FD
   1.2       up  167.5G    3.0G   4.3M   5.2M      0     0  10000T-FD
   1.3   uninit       0       0      0      0      0     0       none
   mgmt      up  113.5M  360.5M  22.0K  19.3K      0     0   100TX-FD
   

   

Determine Disk and Memory Utilization

Viewing Memory Statistics

1. On bigip01.f5demo.com log into the configuration utility.
2. Go to Statistics > Analytics > Memory.

The Memory TMM statistics chart opens showing the average total RAM used per slot over a period of time.

In addition, the tabs at the top of this screen can be used to show additional memory utilization.

• For other usage, such as management, click Other.
• For operating system usage, click System.
• To see how much swap is being used, click Swap.

Viewing Disk Activity

1. On bigip01.f5demo.com log into the configuration utility.
2. Go to Statistics > Analytics > Disk.

The Disk Activity chart opens showing Total I/O per slot over a period of time.

3. Using the Measurement dropdown, we can view additional disk activity metrics.

In addition, the tabs at the top of this screen can be used to show disk activity metrics.

• To see read or write bytes over time, click Disk Sizes.
• To see disk read latency, click Disk Latency.