Module 6 - Using Ansible to create an ASM policy and associate it with a Virtual ServerΒΆ

In module 6, we are going to use Ansible and Ansible playbooks to deploy a new ASM policy and attach the new policy to an existing virtual server. We will leverage the same iControl LX extension to build the ASM policy except this time Ansible will be the client. Ansible also has F5 modules that can be used to associate the newly created policy to a virtual server.

Ansible F5 modules enable most common use cases, such as:

  • Automating the initial configurations on the BIG-IP like DNS, NTP etc.
  • Automation to network the BIG-IP (VLANS, Self-IPs)
  • Automated deployment of HTTP and HTTPS applications
  • Managing Virtual Servers, Pools, Monitors and other configuration objects

Exercises in this Module

  • Lab 6.1 - Brief overview of our Ansible setup
    • Task 1 - Inventory, playbooks, ansible.cfg
    • Task 2 - View ASM policies and view there are no ASM policies associated with hackazon_virtual virtual server.
  • Lab 6.2 - Run playbook to create ASM policy and associate with virtual server
    • Task 1 - Run the playbook ASM_create_apply to build policy and attach to virtual server
    • Task 2 - Verify new ASM policy was created and associated to virtual server