Manual Chapter : Local Cloud Integration

Applies To:

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BIG-IQ Cloud

  • 4.5.0
Manual Chapter

About using a local cloud source

In addition to providing self-service resources to tenants remotely in a third party cloud, you can also provide them resources to local F5 devices in your network.

Discovering BIG-IP devices in your network

After you license and perform the initial configuration for the BIG-IQ system, you can discover BIG-IP devices running version 11.5 or later. For proper communication between the managing BIG-IQ system and the devices it manages, you must configure the BIG-IQ system with a route to each F5 device you want to manage. If you do not specify the required network communication route between the devices, then device discovery fails.

You can discover a device by providing the BIG-IQ system with the device's IP address, user name, and password.

  1. Log in to BIG-IQ Device with your administrator user name and password.
  2. Hover over the Devices header, click the + icon when it appears, and then select New Device. The Devices panel expands to show the New Device screen.
  3. In the IP Address field, type the IP address of the device. The preferred address for discovering a BIG-IP device is its management IP address.
  4. (This step applies only when the BIG-IQ system is hosted on AWS version 4.4 or later.) If the BIG-IQ system and the BIG-IP device are on different subnets, then you need to log in to the BIG-IQ system using SSH to specify an IP route between them.
    • If the BIG-IQ system and the BIG-IP device communicate using the management IP address, then there must be a default route specified. If there is no default route, issue a route command.
      1. Use SSH to log in to the BIG-IQ system's management IP address as an admin user.
      2. Type the following command: run /util bash
      3. Type the following command: route <route name> {gw <x.x.x.x> network default}
    • If the BIG-IQ system and the BIG-IP device use something other than the management IP address to communicate, then issue a tmsh route command.
      1. Use SSH to log in to the BIG-IQ system's management IP address as an admin user.
      2. Type the following command: create net route <route name> {gw <x.x.x.x> network default}
      Note: Where <route name> is a user-provided name to identify the new route, and <x.x.x.x> is the IP address of the default gateway for the internal network.
  5. (This step applies only if the BIG-IQ system is not hosted on AWS version 4.4 or later.) If the BIG-IQ system and the BIG-IP device are on different subnets, then you need to log in to the BIG-IQ system using SSH to specify an IP route between them.
    • If the BIG-IQ system and the BIG-IP device communicate using the management IP address, then there must be a default route specified. If there is no default route, issue a route command.
      1. Use SSH to log in to the BIG-IQ system's management IP address as the root user.
      2. Type the following command: route <route name> {gw <x.x.x.x> network default}
    • If the BIG-IQ system and the BIG-IP device use something other than the management IP address to communicate, then issue a tmsh route command.
      1. Use SSH to log in to the BIG-IQ system's management IP address as the root user.
      2. Type the following command: tmsh create net route <route name> {gw <x.x.x.x> network default}
      Note: Where <route name> is a user-provided name to identify the new route, and <x.x.x.x> is the IP address of the default gateway for the internal network.
  6. To change the root user name, type a new name in the Root User Name field.
  7. Type a password for the root user in the Root Password field.
  8. In the User Name and Password fields, type the administrator user name and password for the managed device.
  9. For the Auto Update Framework setting, select the Update Automatically check box to direct the BIG-IQ system to perform any required REST framework updates on the BIG-IP device. For the BIG-IQ system to properly manage a BIG-IP device, the BIG-IP device must be running the most recent REST framework.
    Important: When you update the REST framework for BIG-IP devices running version 11.6 or earlier, the traffic management interface (TMM) restarts. Before you update the REST framework on a BIG-IP device, verify that no critical network traffic is targeted to that device. Additionally, In any system upgrade scenario, the potential exists for unexpected errors. Because there is not currently an automatic recovery and rollback feature, if an upgrade fails, it is conceivable that a BIG-IP device would not be left in the pre-discovery state. If you want to roll back the upgrade due to an error or any other reason, the recommended recovery for this situation is to perform a partition restore (restoring both the pre-discovery management components and any related configuration).
  10. Click the Add button.
The BIG-IQ system populates the properties of the device that you added, and displays the device in the Devices panel. Its configuration files display in the Configuration panel.

Associating a local cloud connector with a device

Before you associate a local cloud connector with a device, you must discover one or more devices.
To enable integration between a third-party cloud provider and BIG-IQ Cloud, you must configure a cloud connector. A cloud connector is a resource that identifies the local or virtual environment in which a tenant deploys applications and, when necessary, adds parameters required by third-party cloud providers.
  1. Hover over the Connectors header, click the + icon when it appears, and then click New Connector.
  2. In the Name and Description fields, type a name and description. You can use the name and description to help you organize network resources into logical groups based on certain criteria, such as the location or application.
  3. From the Cloud Provider list, select Local Cloud.
  4. From the Devices list, select the device you want to associate with this connector.
  5. To select additional devices to associate with this connector, click the + icon at the right of the list. BIG-IQ system discovers application servers associated with this connector, and populates them in the Server panel. If the system discovers F5 devices, it populates the Device panel with them.
  6. Click the Save button.