Manual Chapter : Managing Pool Pool Members

Applies To:

Show Versions Show Versions

BIG-IQ Centralized Management

  • 5.3.0
Manual Chapter

How do I change object settings on a managed device?

To change the object settings on a managed device, there are four tasks to perform.

This figure illustrates the workflow you perform to manage the objects on BIG-IP® devices. Changing the settings is the second step in this process.

Workflow for changing object settings on a managed device

Change managed object workflow

What pool and pool member management tasks can I perform?

There are a number of ways you can use BIG-IQ® Centralized Management to manage the pools and pool members on your managed BIG-IP devices:

  • Create a new pool or pool member.
  • Modify an existing pool or pool member.
  • View statistics for a pool or pool member.
  • Deploy the pool and pool member immediately to your managed device; for pool members, you can enable, disable, or force offline immediately.
    Note: You (or someone else) can also deploy your changes later. For more information about managing changes, look on support.F5.com in F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Device for the topic: Deploying Changes.
  • Add or remove permissions for a pool or pool member and assign them to roles that have been defined on this BIG-IQ system. For more information about managing permissions, look on support.F5.com in F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Licensing and Initial Setup for the topic: Users, User Groups, Roles, and Authentication.

Create a new pool

You can use the BIG-IQ® Local Traffic interface to add a pool to a managed device.
Important: When revising configurations on devices that belong to a high availability cluster, it is important to let the changes synchronize to the cluster members instead of trying to make the same changes to multiple devices. If you try to replicate changes you made on one device in the cluster, the next config sync attempt could fail.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Configuration.
  2. Under LOCAL TRAFFIC, select Pools.
    The screen displays a list of pools that are defined on all of the devices managed by this BIG-IQ.
  3. Click Create.
    The New Pool screen opens.
  4. In the Name field, type in a name for the pool you are creating.
  5. From the Device list, select the device on which to create the pool.
  6. For Partition, type the name of the BIG-IP device partition on which you want to create the pool.
  7. In the Description field, type in a brief description for the pool you are creating.
  8. To enable specific health monitors for this pool, select a monitor from the Health Monitors list.
    To add additional monitors click the + icon and repeat this step.
  9. If you enabled specific monitors for this pool, for the Availability Requirement field, specify the minimum number of monitors that must report a pool as being available before the member is defined as being in an up state.
    • If all of the monitors must report the pool available, select All.
    • To specify a minimum number, select At Least, and then type the minimum number in the Health Monitors field.
  10. In the Load Balancing Method field, specify the type of load balancing you want the pool to use. .
    The default is Round Robin.
  11. In the Priority Group Activation setting, specify how the system load balances traffic. The default is Disabled.
    1. To have the system load balance traffic according to the priority number assigned to the pool member, select Less than.
    2. If you use a priority number, from the Available Member(s) list, select the minimum number of members that must be available in one priority group before the system directs traffic to members in a lower priority group.
      When a sufficient number of members becomes available in the higher priority group, the system again directs traffic to the higher priority group.
  12. To add a new pool member for this pool, click New Member.
    For details on which values to specify for the fields on the New Pool Member screen refer to Create a new pool member.
    Note: When you create a new pool member while creating a new pool, the new pool member is not actually created until you save the new pool. When you create a new pool member for an existing pool member, the new member is ready to use as soon as you save it.
  13. To specify advanced properties, expand the Advanced Properties area and continue with the next twelve steps. Otherwise, click Save & Close now.
  14. To automatically enable or disable NATs for connections that use this pool, for the NAT setting, select Allow.
  15. To automatically enable or disable SNATs for connections that use this pool, for the SNAT setting, select Allow.
  16. To specify how the system should respond when the target pool member becomes unavailable, select a value from the Action On Service Down list.
    Option Description
    None Specifies that the system takes no action to manage existing connections when a pool member becomes unavailable. The system maintains existing connections, but does not send new traffic to the member.
    Reset Specifies that, if there are no pool members available, the system resets and clears the active connections from the connection table and sends a reset (RST) or Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) message. If there are pool members available, the system resets and clears the active connections, but sends newly arriving connections to the available pool member and does not send RST or ICMP messages.
    Drop Specifies that the system simply cleans up the connection.
    Reselect Specifies that the system manages established client connections by moving them to an alternative pool member when monitors mark the original pool member down.
  17. To specify the duration during which the system sends less traffic to a newly-enabled pool member, select a value from the Slow Ramp Time field.
    The amount of traffic is based on the ratio of how long the pool member has been available compared to the slow ramp time, in seconds. Once the pool member has been online for a time greater than the slow ramp time, the pool member receives a full proportion of the incoming traffic. Slow ramp time is particularly useful for the least connections load balancing mode.
    Important: Setting this to a non-zero value can cause unexpected Priority Group behavior, such as load balancing to a low-priority member even with enough high-priority servers.
  18. To specify whether the system sets a Type of Service (ToS) level within a packet sent to the client, based on the targeted pool, select a value from the IP ToS to Client list.
    Setting a ToS level affects the packet delivery reliability.
    Option Description
    Pass Through The system does not change the ToS level within a packet.
    Specify Provides a field in which you can specify a ToS level to apply. Valid values are from 0 to 255.
    Mimic Specifies that the system sets the ToS level of outgoing packets to the same ToS level of the most-recently received incoming packet. For example, if the most-recently received packet had a ToS level of 3, the system sets the ToS level of the next outgoing packet to 3.
  19. To specify whether the system sets a Type of Service (ToS) level within a packet sent to the server, based on the targeted pool, select a value from the IP ToS to Server list.
    Setting a ToS level affects the packet delivery reliability.
    Option Description
    Pass Through The system does not change the ToS level within a packet.
    Specify Provides a field in which you can specify a ToS level to apply. Valid values are from 0 to 255.
    Mimic Specifies that the system sets the ToS level of outgoing packets to the same ToS level of the most-recently received incoming packet. For example, if the most-recently received packet had a ToS level of 3, the system sets the ToS level of the next outgoing packet to 3.
  20. To specify whether the system sets a Quality of Service (QoS) level within a packet sent to the client, based on the targeted pool, select a value from the Link QoS to Client list.
    Setting a QoS level determines the packet delivery priority.
    Option Description
    Pass Through The system does not change the QoS level within a packet.
    Specify Provides a field in which you can specify a QoS level to apply. Valid values are from 0 to 7.
  21. To specify whether the system sets a Quality of Service (QoS) level within a packet sent to the server, based on the targeted pool, select a value from the Link QoS to Server list.
    Setting a QoS level affects the packet delivery priority.
    Option Description
    Pass Through The system does not change the QoS level within a packet.
    Specify Provides a field in which you can specify a QoS level to apply. Valid values are from 0 to 7.
  22. To specify the number of times the system tries to contact a new pool member after a passive failure, select a value from the Reselect Tries field.
    A passive failure consists of a server-connect failure, or a failure to receive a data response within a user-specified interval. The default is 0, which indicates no reselects.
  23. To enable TCP request queueing, select Request Queueing.
  24. To specify the maximum number of connection requests allowed in the queue, type an entry in the Request Queue Depth field.
    The default value of 0 permits unlimited connection requests, constrained only by available memory.
  25. To specify the maximum number of milliseconds that a connection request can be queued until capacity becomes available, whereupon the connection request is removed from the queue and reset, type an entry in the Request Queue Timeout field.
    The default value of 0 permits unlimited time in the queue.
  26. Click Save & Close.
    The system creates the new pool with the settings you specified.

Create a new pool member

You can use the BIG-IQ® Local Traffic interface to add a pool member to a pool.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Configuration.
  2. Under LOCAL TRAFFIC, select Pools.
    The screen displays a list of pools that are defined on this device.
  3. Click the name of the pool to which you are going to add a new member.
    The properties screen for that pool opens.
  4. Near the bottom of the screen, click the New Member button.
    The New Pool screen opens.
  5. Specify the Node Type:
    • If you want the new member to be an existing BIG-IP® node, select Existing Node and then select the Node.
    • If you want the new member to be identified by an IP address, select New Node and then type the Node Name and Node Address for the node.
  6. For the Port, type the service port for the pool member.
  7. In the Description field, type in a brief description for the pool member you are creating.
  8. Specify the Health Monitors for this pool member.
    • To use the settings from the pool, select Inherit from Pool
    • To select specific health monitors for this pool member:

      1. Select Member Specific.
      2. Select a monitor from the Health Monitors list.
      3. To add additional monitors click the + icon and repeat this step
      4. If you activate more than one health monitor, specify the Availability Requirement. Either select All, or select At Least, and then type a number.
      Note: This setting specifies the number of health monitors that must receive successful responses for the pool member to be considered available.
  9. For the Ratio, type the ratio weight you want to assign to the new pool member.
    When you use the ratio load balancing method, you can assign a ratio weight to each pool member in a pool. Local Traffic uses this ratio weight to determine the correct pool member for load balancing. Note that at least one pool member in the pool must have a ratio value greater than 1. Otherwise, the effect equals that of the Round Robin load balancing method.
  10. If priority groups are enabled for this pool, type a Priority Group number for this member.
    Priority groups must be activated on the pool, if the number of available members for the highest priority group drops below your setting, the traffic is routed to the next highest member. If priority groups are disabled on the pool, this setting is not used.
  11. For the Connection Limit, type the maximum number of concurrent connections allowed for this pool member.
  12. For the Connection Rate Limit, type the maximum rate of new connections per second allowed for this pool member.
    When you specify this limit, the system controls the number of allowed new connections per second, thus providing a manageable increase in connections without compromising availability. The default value of 0 specifies that there is no limit on the number of connections allowed per second.
  13. Click Save & Close.
    The system creates the new pool member with the settings you specified.

Delegate enable and disable permissions

You can assign permission to enable or disable virtual servers or pool members to other users. This allows those users to enable or disable specific virtual servers or pool members immediately, without having to deploy those changes.
  1. At the top of the screen, click System.
  2. On the left, click USER MANAGEMENT > Users .
  3. Click the Add button.
  4. From the Auth Provider list, select local (Local) to have BIG-IQ authenticate this user.
  5. In the User Name field, type the user name for this new user.
  6. In the Full Name field, type a name to identify this user.
    The full name can contain a combination of symbols, letters, numbers and spaces.
  7. In the Password and Confirm Password fields, type the password for this new locally-authenticated user.
    You can change the password any time.
  8. Click Save.
    The system creates a new user.
  9. On the left, click USER MANAGEMENT > Roles .
  10. Click the Add button.
  11. In the Name field, type a name to identify this role.
  12. From the Role Type list, select the kind of role you want to add.
    • To create a role to which you can delegate virtual server permissions to immediately disable or enable virtual servers to which this role is assigned, select Virtual Server Operator.
    • To create a role to which you can delegate pool member permissions to immediately disable, enable or force offline pool members of pools to which this role is assigned, select Pool Member Operator.
    Permissions for specific virtual servers or pool members are not assigned to this role yet. You need to assign permissions for each object individually.
  13. From the Active Users and Groups list, select the name of the user you specified in step6.
  14. Click Save.
    The new role is created.
  15. To delegate permissions for a virtual server, complete these sub-steps.
    1. At the top of the screen, click Configuration.
    2. On the left, expand LOCAL TRAFFIC and click Virtual Servers.
    3. Click the name of the virtual server for which you want to delegate permissions.
      The properties screen for the virtual server opens.
    4. Click Permissions.
    5. In the Role field, type the name of the role you specified in step 12.
    6. Click Save.
      The virtual server can now be enabled or disabled by a user logged in with the name you specified in step 6.
  16. To delegate permissions for all of the pool members in a pool, do these sub-steps.
    1. Under LOCAL TRAFFIC, click Pools.
    2. Click the name of the pool to which the pool member belongs.
      The properties screen for the selected pool opens.
    3. Click Permissions.
    4. In the Role field, type the name of the role you created in steps 12.
    5. Click Save & Close.
      Pool members in this pool can now be enabled, disabled, or forced offline by a user logged in with the name you specified in step 6.

Create a new node

You can use the BIG-IQ® Local Traffic interface to add a node to a managed device.

Nodes are the basis for creating a load balancing pool. For any server that you want to be part of a load balancing pool, you must first create a node, that is, designate that server as a node. After designating the server as node, you can add the node to a pool as a pool member. You can also associate a health monitor with the node, to report the status of that server.

Important: When revising configurations on devices that belong to a high availability cluster, it is important to let the changes synchronize to the cluster members instead of trying to make the same changes to multiple devices. If you try to replicate changes you made on one device in the cluster, the next config sync attempt could fail.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Configuration.
  2. On the left, expand LOCAL TRAFFIC.
  3. Under LOCAL TRAFFIC, click Nodes.
  4. Click Create.
    The New Node screen opens.
  5. In the Name field, type in a name for the node you are creating.
  6. From the Device list, select the device on which to create the node.
  7. For the Address field, type in the IP address that identifies the new node.
  8. For Partition, type the name of the BIG-IP device partition on which you want to create the node.
  9. In the Description field, type in a brief description for the node you are creating.
  10. To specify configuration parameters for this node, expand Configuration and continue with the next steps. Otherwise, click Save & Close.
  11. Specify the Health Monitors for this node.
    • If the BIG-IP® device uses the Node Default setting, select Node Default.
      Note: The default monitor definition is set on the BIG-IP device. You can't revise that definition on the BIG-IQ. Consequently, the definition may well vary from device to device.
    • To select specific health monitors for this node, select Node Specific, then select a monitor from the Select Monitors list.
      Note: To add additional monitors click the + icon and repeat this step.
  12. If you selected Node Specific, for Availability Requirement specify the number of health monitors that must report a node as being available before the node is defined as being in an up state.
  13. For the Ratio, type the ratio weight you want to assign to the new node.
    When you are using the Ratio load balancing method, you can assign a ratio weight to each node in a pool. LTM® uses this ratio weight to determine the correct node for load balancing. At least one node in the pool must have a ratio value greater than 1. Otherwise, the effect equals that of the Round Robin load balancing method.
  14. For the Connection Limit, type the maximum number of concurrent connections allowed for this node.
  15. For the Connection Rate Limit, type the maximum rate of new connections per second allowed for this node.
    When you specify this limit, the system controls the number of allowed new connections per second, thus providing a manageable increase in connections without compromising availability. The default value of 0 specifies that there is no limit on the number of connections allowed per second.
  16. Click Save & Close.
    The system creates the new node with the settings you specified.

Change pool or pool member settings

Using the BIG-IQ® user interface to make revisions to your pool or pool member configurations simplifies managing your devices.
Important: If you revise configurations on devices that belong to a high availability cluster, the system synchronizes BIG-IQ cluster members automatically when you deploy the change. Do not try to make the same changes to multiple devices. If you try to replicate changes you made on one device in the cluster, the next config sync attempt could fail.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Configuration.
  2. Under LOCAL TRAFFIC, select Pools.
    The screen displays a list of the pools that are defined on this BIG-IQ.
  3. Click the name of the pool that you want to change.
    If you select the check box for the pool instead of the name, you can either delete or deploy the pool, or you can view statistics for the pool.
    The Properties screen for the pool opens.
  4. Make changes to the pool properties you want to modify.
    Note: For detailed information on the impact of using a particular pool parameter value, refer to the BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager: Implementations on support.f5.com. For the most comprehensive detail, use the work flow that best matches the purpose of the pool you are configuring.
  5. If you want to edit a pool member:
    1. Click the name of the pool member that you want to change.
      The Properties screen for the pool member opens.
    2. If you select the check box for the member instead of the name, you can enable, disable, or force the member offline. You can also use the More button, and then either delete the member, or view statistics for it.
    3. Make changes to the pool member properties that you want to modify.
      Note: For detailed information on the impact of using a particular pool member parameter value, refer to the BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager: Implementations on support.f5.com. For the most comprehensive detail, use the work flow that best matches the purpose of the pool member you are configuring.
    4. When you are satisfied with the changes you have made to the pool member, click Save & Close.
  6. You can edit another pool member, or expand the Advance Properties area and make additional pool parameter changes.
    Note: For detailed information on the impact of using a particular pool member parameter value, refer to the BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager: Implementations on support.f5.com. For the most comprehensive detail, use the work flow that best matches the purpose of the pool member you are configuring.
  7. To make revisions to the permissions associated with this pool, on the left, click Permissions.
    Note: For detailed information about managing permissions, refer to Users User Groups Roles and Authentication in F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Licensing and Initial Setup on support.f5.com.
  8. When you are satisfied with the changes you have made to the pool, click Save & Close.
    The revisions you saved are made, and the Properties or Permissions screen for the pool closes.
Changes that you make to pools or pool members are made only to the pending version. The pending version serves as a repository for changes you stage before deploying them to the managed device. Object settings for the pending version are not the same as the object settings on the actual BIG-IP® device until they are deployed or discarded.
To apply the working configuration settings to the BIG-IP device, you now need to deploy the revisions.
Note:

Create a new SNAT pool

You can use the BIG-IQ® Local Traffic interface to add a SNAT pool to a managed device.

Important: When revising configurations on devices that belong to a high availability cluster, it is important to let the changes synchronize to the cluster members instead of trying to make the same changes to multiple devices. If you try to replicate changes you made on one device in the cluster, the next config sync attempt could fail.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Configuration.
  2. Under LOCAL TRAFFIC, click SNAT Pools.
    The SNAT Pools screen displays a list of SNAT translation members that are defined on this device.
  3. Click Create.
    The New SNAT Pool screen opens.
  4. In the Name field, type a name for the SNAT pool you are creating.
  5. From the Device list, select the device on which to create the SNAT pool.
  6. In the Member List, type the IP address of the first SNAT translation member you want to include in the SNAT pool.
    Use the + button to add more members, or you can use the x button to delete a member.
  7. In the Partition field, type the name of the partition in which you want to create this SNAT pool.
    An administrative partition is a logical container that you create that contains a defined set of BIG-IP® system objects. If you enter a partition name that does not exist, you get an error when you try to deploy this SNAT pool.
  8. Click Save & Close.
    The system creates the new SNAT pool with the settings you specified.