Manual Chapter : Understanding Clusters

Applies To:

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BIG-IP AAM

  • 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1

BIG-IP APM

  • 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1

BIG-IP LTM

  • 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1

BIG-IP DNS

  • 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1

BIG-IP ASM

  • 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1
Manual Chapter

Understanding Clusters

Overview: Managing a vCMP cluster

One of the tasks that a guest administrator performs is managing the cluster for a guest.

Viewing cluster properties

A guest administrator can use this task to view the properties of the guest's cluster.

  1. Open a browser, and in the URL field, specify the management IP address that the host administrator assigned to the guest.
  2. On the Main tab, click System > Clusters .
    The Cluster screen opens, showing the properties of the cluster, and listing the cluster members.

Cluster properties

The Cluster screen displays the properties of the cluster.

Property Description
Name Displays the name of the cluster.
Cluster IP Address Specifies the IP address assigned to the cluster. Click this IP address to change it.
Network Mask Displays the network mask for the cluster IP address.
Primary Member Displays the number of the slot that holds the primary blade in the cluster.
Software Version Displays the version number of the BIG-IP® software that is running on the cluster.
Software Build Displays the build number of the BIG-IP software that is running on the cluster.
Hotfix Build Displays the build number of any BIG-IP software hotfix that is running on the cluster.
Chassis 400-level BOM Displays the bill-of-materials (BOM) number for the chassis.
Status Displays an icon and descriptive text that indicates whether there are sufficient available members of the cluster.

Viewing cluster member properties

A guest administrator can use this task to view the properties of the guest's cluster members.

Important: When logged into the guest, never change the vCMP management IP address. Doing so produces unexpected results. You can, however, change a cluster member IP address.
  1. Open a browser, and in the URL field, specify the management IP address that the host administrator assigned to the guest.
  2. On the Main tab, click System > Clusters .
    The Cluster screen opens, showing the properties of the cluster, and listing the cluster members.
  3. To display the properties for one cluster member, click the slot number of that member.
    The Cluster Member properties screen opens, showing the properties of that member.

Cluster member properties

In addition to displaying the properties of the cluster, the Cluster screen also lists information about members of the cluster. The table lists the information associated with each cluster member.

Property Description
Status The Status column indicates whether the cluster member is available or unavailable.
Slot The Slot column indicates the number of the slot. Click this number to display the properties of that cluster member.
Blade serial number The Blade Serial Number column displays the serial number for the blade currently in that slot.
Enabled The Enabled column indicates whether that cluster member is currently enabled.
Primary The Primary column indicates whether that cluster member is currently the primary slot.
HA State The HA State column indicates whether the cluster member is used in a redundant system configuration for high availability.

Enabling and disabling cluster members

To gracefully drain the connections from a cluster member before a blade goes out of service, a guest administrator can mark that cluster member disabled. When the blade has been returned to service, the guest administrator must enable the blade again.

  1. Use a browser and the cluster management IP address to log in to the system and access the BIG-IP® Configuration utility.
  2. On the Main tab, click System > Clusters .
    The Cluster screen opens, showing the properties of the cluster, and listing the cluster members.
  3. Locate the cluster member you want to enable or disable, and select the box to the left of the Status icon.
  4. Click Enable or Disable/Yield.