Purpose

You should consider using this procedure under the following condition:

• You have received a BIG-IP device from F5 as a hardware replacement for a suspected defective device (RMA).

Prerequisites

You must meet the following prerequisites to use this procedure:

• For a redundant pair with mirroring enabled, you have disabled mirroring by performing the steps in SOL8086: Replacing a BIG-IP system in a redundant pair without interrupting service
• You have completed all necessary steps to establish power and physical connectivity, as appropriate for your environment.
• You have a UCS archive from the suspected defective device.

  Note: If the BIG-IP device is running version 11.x and you do not have a UCS archive, refer to SOL13551: Configuring a replacement BIG-IP device after an RMA when no UCS archive is available.

• You have installed and configured the replacement device with the same version of software as you used when creating the UCS archive. For more information, refer to the Software installation and configuration section of SOL12882: Overview of the F5 Return Materials Authorization process.
• The UCS archive is from a known good state.

Description

When a new BIG-IP device is dispatched by F5 as a replacement for a suspected failed device, there are a series of procedures required to bring the device into the same state as the archived configuration of the device it is replacing. You will need to perform the following tasks:

• Configure the networking options for the management interface
• Import and install the archived configuration
• Activate the license for the new hardware

Procedures

Configure the networking options for the management interface

1. Connect a terminal emulator to the BIG-IP system by using the serial port.

   Note: For more information about configuring terminal emulation, modifying baud rates, and the null modem serial cable requirements, refer to the following Solutions:
   
   SOL7683: Connecting a serial terminal to a BIG-IP system
   SOL9156: Setting the baud rate of the serial console port
   SOL587: Pinouts for serial terminal cables used to connect to F5 products

2. From the BIG-IP command line, start the F5 Management Port Setup tool by typing the following command:

   config

3. Enter the appropriate data in the following screens to assign an IP address, netmask, and default management route to the management interface.
4. Connect the management port into your network, as appropriate.

   Note: If you do not have serial access to the device, you can set the management network settings by using the LCD display and keypad on the front panel of the device. For more information about this process, refer to the appropriate Platform Guide for your hardware platform.

Import and install the archived configuration

In order to install an archived configuration on a replacement device, you first need to transfer the UCS archive file to the device in question. You can perform this action by using scp, https, or ftp through the management interface.

Note: For assistance transferring the UCS archive from another BIG-IP device using SCP, from a remote FTP server using FTP, or from an attached workstation using HTTPS, refer to SOL175: Transferring files to or from an F5 system.

Note: For assistance transferring the UCS archive from your workstation to the BIG-IP using SCP, refer to the manual of your chosen SCP application.

Once the UCS archive has been transferred to the new device, you can install the archive by following the procedures in the appropriate Solution:

• Version 11.x
  
  If you are installing a UCS archive on a platform running BIG-IP version 11.x, follow the steps for Backing up configuration data from the command line using the tmsh utility in
  SOL13132: Backing up and restoring BIG-IP configuration files (11.x).

• Version 10.x
  
  If you are installing a UCS archive on a platform running BIG-IP version 10.x, follow the steps for Restoring configuration data from the command line using the bigpipe utility in SOL11318: Backing up and restoring BIG-IP version 10.x configuration files.

• Version 9.x
  
  If you are installing a UCS archive on a platform running BIG-IP version 9.x, follow the steps for Restoring configuration data from the command line in SOL3499: Backing up and restoring BIG-IP version 9.x configuration files.

Note: For more information about installing a new device as part of a redundant pair, refer to SOL8086: Replacing a BIG-IP system in a redundant pair without interrupting service.

License Activation

To install, run, and upgrade the software, as well as receive technical support, you will need to reactivate the license from the Configuration utility. To reactivate a system's license, navigate to System >>License and click Re-activate.

Note: For further assistance with license activation, refer to SOL7752: Overview of licensing the BIG-IP system.

Note: For BIG-IP version 10.1.0 and later, please refer to SOL10245: Change in Behavior: BIG-IP UCS installation and licensing behavior.

If you require assistance with the RMA configuration procedures, or any other assistance with installing the RMA device, contact F5 Technical Support. 

Supplemental Information

• SOL13148: Overview: Default management access settings for F5 products
• SOL2633: Instructions for submitting a support case to F5