Manual Chapter : Managing a VIPRION cluster

Applies To:

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BIG-IP AAM

  • 13.1.5, 13.1.4, 13.1.3, 13.1.1, 13.1.0, 13.0.1, 13.0.0

BIG-IP APM

  • 13.1.5, 13.1.4, 13.1.3, 13.1.1, 13.1.0, 13.0.1, 13.0.0

BIG-IP LTM

  • 13.1.5, 13.1.4, 13.1.3, 13.1.1, 13.1.0, 13.0.1, 13.0.0

BIG-IP DNS

  • 13.1.5, 13.1.4, 13.1.3, 13.1.1, 13.1.0, 13.0.1, 13.0.0

BIG-IP ASM

  • 13.1.5, 13.1.4, 13.1.3, 13.1.1, 13.1.0, 13.0.1, 13.0.0
Manual Chapter

About cluster management

When you initially configure the BIG-IP® software on a VIPRION® system, all installed blades automatically become members of the VIPRION cluster. A VIPRION cluster is the group of active slots in the chassis. The blades in the cluster work together as one powerful system to process network traffic. You can view the properties of the cluster and its members, enable and disable cluster members, and change cluster member IP addresses.

Viewing cluster properties

You can use the BIG-IP® Configuration utility to view the properties for the cluster.

  1. Use a browser to log in to the VIPRION® chassis, using the primary cluster management IP address.
    If you provisioned the system for vCMP®, this step logs you in to the vCMP host.
  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

You can use the BIG-IP® Configuration utility to view the properties for cluster members.

  1. Use a browser to log in to the VIPRION® chassis, using the primary cluster management IP address.
    If you provisioned the system for vCMP®, this step logs you in to the vCMP host.
  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 you take that blade out of service, you can mark that cluster member disabled. Before you can return that member to service, you need to enable it.

  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.

Changing a cluster IP address

You can use the BIG-IP® Configuration utility to view or change the either the floating management IP address for the cluster or an individual management IP address for a cluster member.

  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. On the menu bar, click Management IP Address.
    The Management IP Address screen opens.
  4. Locate the management IP address for the cluster or a cluster member IP address that you would like to change, and type the new IP address.
  5. Click Update.
The specific IP address that you edited is changed. You can now use the new address to access the cluster.

Cluster-related IP addresses

This table describes the cluster-related addresses that you can modify.

Setting Type Setting Description
Cluster IP address IP Address Specifies the floating management IP address that you want to assign to the cluster. This IP address is used to access the Configuration utility, as well as to function as a cluster identifier for the peer cluster in a device service clustering configuration.
Cluster IP address Network Mask Specifies the network mask for the cluster IP address.
Cluster IP address Management Route Specifies the gateway for the cluster IP address. Typically, this is the default route.
Cluster Member IP Address Slot 1 IP Address Specifies the management IP address associated with slot 1 of the cluster. You can also set this value to None.
Cluster Member IP Address Slot 2 IP Address Specifies the management IP address associated with slot 2 of the cluster. You can also set this value to None.
Cluster Member IP Address Slot 3 IP Address Specifies the management IP address associated with slot 3 of the cluster. You can also set this value to None.
Cluster Member IP Address Slot 4 IP Address Specifies the management IP address associated with slot 4 of the cluster. You can also set this value to None.