Lab 2 - Deploy the Customer Edge

The Customer Edge aka. CE will extend the F5 Cloud infrastructure into the local onprem environment and will enable us to use capabilities otherwise not possible:

  • Load balance and provide high availability for the the onprem Kubernetes Worker nodes
  • Automatically discover Kubernetes services
  • Expose the onprem applications through F5 XC without exposing the app localy to the internet

  1. Make sure you have logged in the F5 XC console. If you haven’t yet follow the instrictions found here and then return to the guide.

    Go to Multi-Cloud Network Connect -> Site Management -> App Stack Sites -> Add App Stack Site -> Fill the bellow data -> Save and Exit

    Object Value
    Name $$ceOnPrem.clusterName$$
    Generic Server Certified Hardware kvm-voltstack-combo
    Master Nodes Under Name enter the value master
    Latitude 40
    Longitude 40
    Site Local K8s API accesse Enable Site Local API Access
    Enable Site Local K8s API access system/k8s

  2. First we need to register the CE.

    Go to the UDF deployment click Components on the F5XC CE ( On prem ) component click Access. A drop down will open, click Site UI, a new tab will open.

    Enter the default credentials as described bellow.

    Object Value
    Username admin
    Password Volterra123

  3. On the newly opened page click Dashboard and Configure Now, fill in the data as per the bellow table and finish by clicking Save configuration

    Object Value
    Token 771e948b-f6ef-4338-9b50-953762f7a2a7
    Cluster name $$ceOnPrem.clusterName$$
    Hostname master
    Certified Hardware kvm-voltstack-combo
    Latitude 40
    Longitude 40
    Site Local K8s API access Enable Site Local K8s API access
    Enable Site Local K8s API access system/k8s

  4. We will need to approve on the F5 XC console the newly deployed CE.

    Go to Multi-Cloud Network Connect -> Site Management -> Registrations .

    You will see in the Pending Registrations multiple CE entries that need to be approved.

    On the line respective to the Cluster Name $$ceOnPrem.clusterName$$ click the V and after that Save and Exit.

    This will approve and trigger the initialization of the CE.

  5. The initialization process takes around 15 - 20 minutes.

    We can observe the status by going to Multi-Cloud Network Connect -> Overview -> Sites.

    Once the health score of $$ceOnPrem.clusterName$$ will reach 100% the CE will be fully operational.