Exercise 1.5: Using the bigip_virtual_server module

Objective

Demonstrate use of the BIG-IP virtual server module to configure a virtual server on the BIG-IP. Virtual server is a combination of IP:Port.

Guide

Step 1:

Examine the bigip-virtual-server.yml in the VSCode editor. Expand in the Explorer (f5-bd-ansible-labs –> 101-F5-Basics –> 1.5-add-virtual-server):

Examine the Code

• name: ADD VIRTUAL SERVER is a user defined description that will display in the terminal output.

• The bigip_virtual_server: is the module for adding/modifying/deleting virtual servers on the BIG-IP.

• The provider: parameter is a group of connection details for the BIG-IP.

  • The server: "{{ ansible_host }}" parameter tells the module to connect to the F5 BIG-IP IP address, which is stored as a variable ansible_host in inventory

  • The user: "{{ ansible_user }}" parameter tells the module the username to login to the F5 BIG-IP device with

  • The password: "{{ ansible_password }}" parameter tells the module the password to login to the F5 BIG-IP device with

  • The server_port: "{{ server_port }} parameter tells the module the port to connect to the F5 BIG-IP device with

  • The validate_certs: false parameter tells the module to not validate SSL certificates. This is just used for demonstration purposes since this is a lab.

• The name: "vip" parameter tells the module to create a virtual server named vip

• The destination" parameter tells the module which IP address to assign for the virtual server

• The port paramter tells the module which Port the virtual server will be listening on

• The enabled_vlans parameter tells the module which all vlans the virtual server is enbaled for

• The all_profiles paramter tells the module which all profiles are assigned to the virtuals server

• The pool parameter tells the module which pool is assigned to the virtual server

• The snat paramter tells the module what the Source network address address should be. In this module we are assigning it to be Automap which means the source address on the request that goes to the backend server will be the self-ip address of the BIG-IP

Step 2:

Change directories to the exercise 1.5 folder to examine and execute the code in the Terminal

cd ~/f5-bd-ansible-labs/101-F5-Basics/1.5-add-virtual-server/

Step 3:

Run the playbook - Go back to the Terminal on VS Code server on the control host and execute the following:

ansible-navigator run bigip-virtual-server.yml --mode stdout

Playbook Output

[rhel-user@ede... 1.5-add-virtual-server]$ ansible-navigator run bigip-virtual-server.yml --mode stdout

PLAY [BIG-IP SETUP] ************************************************************

TASK [ADD VIRTUAL SERVER] ******************************************************
changed: [f5]

PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
f5                         : ok=1    changed=1    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

Solution

The finished Ansible Playbook is provided here. Click here: bigip-virtual-server.yml.

Verifying the Solution

• BIG-IP - (In UDF Console –> Components –> BIG-IP –> Access –> TMUI) - This will popup a webpage to access the F5 Login Page

  • Login to the BIG-IP instance

  • Navigate to Local Traffic –> Virtual Servers

  • Ensure there are 2 VIPs with same IP

    • One listening on port 443

    • One listening on port

• Login information for the BIG-IP:

  • username: admin

  • password: found in the inventory hosts file

• The load balancer virtual server can be found by navigating the menu on the left. Click on Local Traffic. then click on Virtual Server. See the screenshot below:

Verifying the web servers

• Each RHEL web server actually already has a webserver running. Exercise 1.1 through 1.5 have successfully setup the load balancer for the pool of web servers. To view the results of the Web services:

  • In the UDF Console goto the External Client and select Access and then select FireFox

  • In the Bookmarks bar you can select the Ansible Labs Folder and goto 101 - Labs and Select HTTPS

  • OR within the browser you can browse to https://10.1.20.30/

  • You will need to bypass the certificate warning (within Firefox Warning –> Advanced –> Accept the Risk and Continue)

  

• Each time you refresh the host will change between node1 and node2. Here is animation of the host field changing:

  

You have finished this exercise.