BIG-IQ Support for rSeries

Currently rSeries support in BIG-IQ will mimic iSeries functionality when vCMP is in use. In iSeries, a vCMP guest can be created via the host CLI, webUI, or API and it can then be imported into BIG-IQ as a device. From there, statistics/analytics can be gathered, and L4-7 configurations can be managed in a variety of ways. An rSeries tenant will behave identically to an iSeries vCMP guest from a BIG-IQ perspective, meaning you can import it after it has been created to manage configuration or get analytics.

When an rSeries tenant is created, it can be imported as a device into BIG-IQ. It will import just like any other BIG-IP instance or device. Once imported, it will show up with a Type of BIG-IP Tenant.

rSeries tenants can also be onboarded in BIG-IQ using Declarative Onboarding (DO). Once a tenant is created via one of the rSeries F5OS interfaces, you can run a DO declaration like the one below to BIG-IQ to provision, configure, and import it. In the DO declaration you will specify a targetHost which is the IP address of the tenant to be onboarded. The following is an example of a DO declaration for onboarding an rSeries tenant:

POST https://{{BigIQ_Mgmt}}/mgmt/shared/declarative-onboarding

{
    "class": "DO",
    "declaration": {
        "schemaVersion": "1.5.0",
        "class": "Device",
        "async": true,
        "Common": {
            "class": "Tenant",
            "hostname": "tenant1.appliance1.f5demo.net",
            "myProvision": {
                "class": "Provision",
                "avr": "nominal",
                "ltm": "nominal"
            },
            "myDns": {
                "class": "DNS",
                "nameServers": [
                    "192.168.10.0",
                    "192.168.10.1"
                ]
            },
            "myNtp": {
                "class": "NTP",
                "servers": [
                    "time.f5net.com"
                ],
                "timezone": "UTC"
            },
            "internal-localself": {
                "class": "SelfIp",
                "address": "10.10.11.110/24",
                "vlan": "vlan-3010",
                "allowService": "all",
                "trafficGroup": "traffic-group-local-only"
            },
            "internal-self": {
                "class": "SelfIp",
                "address": "10.10.11.120/24",
                "vlan": "vlan-3010",
                "allowService": "all",
                "trafficGroup": "traffic-group-1"
            },
            "external-localself": {
                "class": "SelfIp",
                "address": "10.10.12.110/24",
                "vlan": "vlan-3011",
                "trafficGroup": "traffic-group-local-only",
                "allowService": "default"
            },
            "external-self": {
                "class": "SelfIp",
                "address": "10.10.12.120/24",
                "vlan": "vlan-3011",
                "trafficGroup": "traffic-group-1",
                "allowService": "default"
            },
            "ha-localself": {
                "class": "SelfIp",
                "address": "10.10.13.110/24",
                "vlan": "vlan-500",
                "trafficGroup": "traffic-group-local-only",
                "allowService": "default"
            },
            "configsync": {
                "class": "ConfigSync",
                "configsyncIp": "10.10.13.110"
            },
            "failoverAddress": {
                "class": "FailoverUnicast",
                "address": "10.10.13.110"
            },
            "failoverGroup": {
                "class": "DeviceGroup",
                "type": "sync-failover",
                "members": [
                    "10.10.13.110",
                    "10.10.13.244"
                ],
                "owner": "10.10.13.110",
                "autoSync": true,
                "saveOnAutoSync": false,
                "networkFailover": true,
                "fullLoadOnSync": false,
                "asmSync": false
            },
            "trust": {
                "class": "DeviceTrust",
                "localUsername": "{{Tenant_Username}}",
                "localPassword": "{{Tenant_Password}}",
                "remoteHost": "{{Appliance1_Tenant1_IP}}",
                "remoteUsername": "{{Tenant_Username}}",
                "remotePassword": "{{Tenant_Password}}"
            },
            "myDbVariables": {
                "class": "DbVariables",
                "ui.advisory.enabled": "true",
                "ui.advisory.color": "blue",
                "ui.advisory.text": "This is rSeries Tenant1 on Appliance1."
            },
            "admin": {
                "class": "User",
                "userType": "regular",
                "shell": "bash",
                "partitionAccess": {
                    "all-partitions": {
                        "role": "admin"
                    }
                },
                "password": "{{Tenant_Password}}"
            },
            "root": {
                "class": "User",
                "userType": "root",
                "newPassword": "{{Tenant_Password}}",
                "oldPassword": "{{Tenant_Password}}"
            }
        }
    },
    "targetHost": "{{Appliance1_Tenant1_IP}}",
    "targetUsername": "admin",
    "targetPassphrase": "admin",
    "bigIqSettings": {
        "failImportOnConflict": false,
        "conflictPolicy": "USE_BIGIQ",
        "deviceConflictPolicy": "USE_BIGIP",
        "versionedConflictPolicy": "KEEP_VERSION",
        "clusterName": "Tenant1-Cluster",
        "statsConfig": {
            "enabled": true,
            "zone": "default"
        },
        "snapshotWorkingConfig": false
    }
}

Shortly after the declaration is sent to BIG-IQ, you can see a new onboarding task. This will take a while to complete as it may require reboots of the tenant for module provisioning. After the tenant is onboarded it will be imported into BIG-IQ.

At this point the rSeries tenant is managed just like any other BIG-IP device or guest inside of BIG-IQ. You can manage software upgrades, create and restore backups, maintain configurations, and gather analytics.