Ltm Ess Wbt Labguide16 20101217

BIG-IP® LTM Essentials Web-Based Training Lab Guide – © 2010 F5 Networks, Inc.

F5 Networks Training

BIG-IP® LTM V10 Essentials

Web-Based Training Lab Guide

12 / 17 / 2010

P-2 Preface

BIG-IP® LTM Essentials Web based Training Lab Guide – © 2010 F5 Networks, Inc.

BIG-IP® LTM V10 Essentials Web-based Training Student Lab Guide

Third Printing December 2010

This Lab Guide was written for BIG-IP® LTM version 10.2.0. The lecture portions of the LTM Essentials web-based training were written for version 10.0.1. Because F5 feels it is important to perform the hands-on labs on a current version of BIG-IP, the Lab Guide is updated more frequently than the lecture portions. Most of the concepts discussed in the lecture portion and lab steps in the lab guide apply to previous versions of BIG-IP LTM.

© 2010, F5 Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

Support and Contact Information Obtaining Technical Support

Web tech.f5.com (Ask F5) Phone (206) 272-6888 Email (support issues) [email protected] Email (suggestions) [email protected]

Contacting F5 Networks Web www.f5.com Email [email protected] & [email protected]

F5 Networks, Inc. F5 Networks, Ltd. F5 Networks, Inc. F5 Networks, Inc.

Corporate Office United Kingdom Asia Pacific Japan 401 Elliott Avenue West Chertsey Gate West 5 Temasek Boulevard Akasaka Garden City 19F Seattle, Washington 98119 Chertsey Surrey KT16 8AP #08-01/02 Suntec Tower 5 4-15-1 Akasaka, Minato-ku T (888) 88BIG-IP United Kingdom Singapore, 038985 Tokyo 107-0052 Japan T (206) 272-5555 T (44) 0 1932 582-000 T (65) 6533-6103 T (81) 3 5114-3200 F (206) 272-5557 F (44) 0 1932 582-001 F (65) 6533-6106 F (81) 3 5114-3201 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Preface P-3


Legal Notices Copyright Copyright 2010, F5 Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

F5 Networks, Inc. (F5) believes the information it furnishes to be accurate and reliable. However, F5 assumes no responsibility for the use of this information, nor any infringement of patents or other rights of third parties which may result from its use. No license is granted by implication or otherwise under any patent, copyright, or other intellectual property right of F5 except as specifically described by applicable user licenses. F5 reserves the right to change specifications at any time without notice.

Trademarks F5, F5 Networks, the F5 logo, BIG-IP, 3-DNS, Acopia, Acopia Networks, Application Accelerator, Ask F5, Application Security Manager, ASM, ARX, Data Guard, Enterprise Manager, EM, FirePass, FreedomFabric, Global Traffic Manager, GTM, iControl, Intelligent Browser Referencing, Internet Control Architecture, IP Application Switch, iRules, Link Controller, LC, Local Traffic Manager, LTM, Message Security Module, MSM, NetCelera, OneConnect, Packet Velocity, Secure Access Manager, SAM, SSL Accelerator, SYN Check, Traffic Management Operating System, TMOS, TrafficShield, Transparent Data Reduction, uRoam, VIPRION, WANJet, WebAccelerator, and ZoneRunner are trademarks or service marks of F5 Networks, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries, and may not be used without F5's express written consent.

Patents This product protected by U.S. Patent[s] 6,374,300; 6,473,802; 6,970,933; 7,051,126; 7,102,996; 7,146,354; 7,197,661; 7,206,282; 7,287,084. Other patents pending.

Export Regulation Notice This product may include cryptographic software. Under the Export Administration Act, the United States government may consider it a criminal offense to export this product from the United States.

RF Interference Warning This is a Class A product. In a domestic environment this product may cause radio interference, in which case the user may be required to take adequate measures.

FCC Compliance This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device pursuant to Part 15 of FCC rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment. This unit generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference, in which case the user, at his own expense, will be required to take whatever measures may be required to correct the interference.

Any modifications to this device, unless expressly approved by the manufacturer, can void the user's authority to operate this equipment under part 15 of the FCC rules.

Canadian Regulatory Compliance This Class A digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003.

Standards Compliance This product conforms to the IEC, European Union, ANSI/UL and Canadian CSA standards applicable to Information Technology products at the time of manufacture.


Table of Contents

Lab Instructions: ......................................................................................................... Lab-1 Connecting to the F5 Training Lab Environment ....................................................... Lab-1 The F5 Training Lab Network .................................................................................... Lab-3 F5 Training Lab limitations ........................................................................................ Lab-4

Lab 1: Initial Setup ........................................................................................................ 1-5 Lab – Setup Utility ..................................................................................................... 1-6 Lab – Configuration Utility ........................................................................................ 1-9 Lab – Configuration Backup ...................................................................................... 1-11

Lab 2: Traffic Processing ............................................................................................. 2-13 Lab – Virtual Servers - Pools ..................................................................................... 2-14 Lab – Network Map ................................................................................................... 2-18

Lab 3: Load Balancing ................................................................................................. 3-19 Labs – Ratio Load Balancing ..................................................................................... 3-20 Labs – Priority Group Activation ............................................................................... 3-21

Lab 4: Monitors ............................................................................................................. 4-23 Lab – Monitors for Nodes .......................................................................................... 4-23 Lab – Monitors for Pools and Members Lab #1 and 2 ............................................... 4-26 Lab 5: Profiles ............................................................................................................... 5-31 No Lab for this Course Module ............................................................................................ 5-31

Lab 6: Persistence ........................................................................................................ 6-33 Lab – Source Address Persistence ............................................................................. 6-34 Lab – Cookie Persistence ........................................................................................... 6-36 Lab – Disabled Members ........................................................................................... 6-39

Lab 7: SSL Termination ................................................................................................ 7-41 Lab – Client SSL Termination ................................................................................... 7-42

Toc-2 Table of Contents


Lab 8: NATs and SNATs .............................................................................................. 8-45 Lab – NAT Lab .......................................................................................................... 8-46 Labs – SNAT Labs ..................................................................................................... 8-47

Lab 9: iRules ................................................................................................................. 9-49 Labs – iRules Lab #1 ................................................................................................ 9-50 Labs – iRules Lab #2 ................................................................................................ 9-53

Lab 10: Redundant Pair setup ..................................................................................... 10-55 Lab –Redundant Pair Setup ........................................................................................ 10-55 Lab – Setup of BIG-IP #2 .......................................................................................... 10-57 Lab – Synchronization ............................................................................................... 10-58

Lab 11: High Availability .............................................................................................. 11-59 Lab – Network Failover ............................................................................................. 11-61 Lab – Connection Mirroring ...................................................................................... 11-63 Lab – Persistence Mirroring ....................................................................................... 11-65

Configuration Lab Project ............................................................................................ LP-67 Lab –Configuration Project ........................................................................................ LP-68

Appendix A – F5 Networks Products .......................................................................... A-1 F5 Networks Product Suite ................................................................................................... A-1

Appendix B – Additional Topics .................................................................................. B-1 F5 Networks Support and Documentation ........................................................................... B-1 Installation Information ........................................................................................................ B-7

Appendix C – Other F5 Networks Training Courses .................................................. C-1 F5 Networks Instructor Led Courses .................................................................................... C-1


Introduction Welcome to the BIG-IP LTM Essentials Web-Based Training Course Student Lab Guide. The purpose of the BIG-IP LTM Essentials course is to introduce the basic information you need to set up and operate the BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) from F5 Networks. The purpose of this Lab Guide is to provide all the information and exercises you need to work directly with a BIG-IP LTM system and solidify the concepts you have learned in the associated Web-based training modules.

The hands-on lab exercises included in this course are critically important to your learning. These exercises are especially helpful if you can do them as soon as possible after completing the associated training module. Therefore, we recommend the following approach when taking this course:

• Before beginning a module, register for lab time.

• Work through the training module as close to the start of your lab time as possible.

• After completing the training module, move into the lab exercises. Be sure to complete the entire exercise, including the review questions at the end.

There are eleven modules in this course, each one taking approximately thirty minutes to complete. To complete the entire course, including modules and labs, will take you about fourteen hours.

In addition to the lab exercises, this guide contains other useful information.

• Appendix A provides some background information on F5 Networks and its products.

• Appendix B explains the various customer support resources that are available. We highly recommend that you review this listing. You may find some of these resources to be very valuable while working your way through this course.

• Appendix C contains an informative list of other training courses available from F5 Global Training Services. After completing this introductory course, you may want to enroll in one or more of these classes to gain a deeper understanding of BIG-IP LTM.

We hope you enjoy learning with these lab exercises!

Introduction



Module 1 Lab – Initial Setup 1-1 Lab Instructions Lab-1

Connecting to the F5 Training Lab Environment PLEASE NOTE: This lab is not a test environment and is strictly for use by students taking the BIG-IP LTM Essentials Web-Based Training (WBT) course. Your user ID will be time limited and you will be cut off after so many hours of connect time.

1. After logging in to F5 University, select the link for F5 Training Lab as shown to the right.

2. You should now be at the Lab web page where you downloaded this Lab Guide.

3. Select the link for Lab registration.

4. When prompted, enter your email, first and last names and then Launch Lab. You will be placed into your own F5 Training Lab environment.

5. Your lab environment will take a couple minutes to initialize. Notice the message at top of screen that says “Your environment is X% ready”.

6. The first time you connect you will need to install the Cloudshare plug-in and may need to enable pop-ups for it to install. This is a first-time only install.


1-2 Module 1 Lab – Initial Setup Lab-2 Lab Instructions

1. Each lab starts assuming an un-configured BIG-IP and then instructs you to restore a UCS backup file that was captured at the end of the previous lab.

2. If during your lab time you wish to revert back to this un-configured state you may do so by selecting Actions and then Revert Now.

3. Rather than restoring UCS files at the beginning of each new lab you may also work straight through all the labs. From an instructional angle, F5 recommends doing the Module WBT, then the lab for that Module. Then the next Module WBT and its corresponding lab.

4. Also, you can only enter the F5 Training Lab environment from the links within F5 University (ie. the graphic to the right).

5. When ready to leave the F5 Training Lab Environment, use the Logout button in the upper right corner of the screen shown below.


Module 1 Lab – Initial Setup 1-3 Lab Instructions Lab-3

The F5 Training Lab Network 1. You will be connected to a Windows virtual machine that will be used to administer your

BIG-IP and as the client machine to drive traffic through BIG-IP LTM.

2. Your Windows virtual machine has both a 192.168.1.30/24 and a 10.10.1.30/16 IP Address configured for the lab network shown below.

3. There is already a Management IP Address set on your BIG-IP to 192.168.1.245/24, and we will setup the other 10.10 External and 172.16 Internal IP Addresses in Lab #1.

4. There are also three servers configured at 172.16.20.1, 172.16.20.2 and 172.16.20.3. You will not be able to access these servers directly from your Windows client machine but these are the servers to which we will load balance traffic starting in Lab #2.


1-4 Module 1 Lab – Initial Setup Lab-4 Lab Instructions

F5 Training Lab limitations 1. The F5 Training Lab is running in a virtual lab environment and therefore does not have all

hardware features of BIG-IP available. For instance, you will not have a serial console connection to your BIG-IP.

2. This lab environment only supports BIG-IP LTM, no other F5 products or BIG-IP modules like GTM or ASM.

3. This lab environment has only been tested with the lab steps in this lab guide. If you do not follow the steps in this lab guide, results will vary.


Module 1 Lab – Initial Setup 1-5 Module 1 Lab – Initial Setup 1-5

Module 1 Lab – Initial Setup and Access

Initial Setup Labs Objective:

Perform initial setup of the BIG-IP LTM System

Explore the Web Configuration Utility

Make a backup of the BIG-IP System

Estimated Time: 30 minutes

LAB CONFIGURATION


1-6 Module 1 Lab – Initial Setup 1-6 Module 1 Lab – Initial Setup

Setup Utility Lab Objective:

Run the Setup Utility and to configure system access parameters

Estimated time for completion: 20 minutes

Lab Requirements: Reachable IP address on the management port

Valid License for the BIG-IP LTM Systems

Administration system with an IP address on the BIG-IP LTM’s network

Current BIG-IP Settings At this point, your BIG-IP system should already be licensed and the management port address still set to the default IP Address of 192.168.1.245/24.

PC Configuration Your PC is configured with two IP Addresses in order to reach both the Management and client networks once they are configured on your BIG-IP.

PC Mgmt IP Address 192.168.1.30/24 PC Client IP Address 10.10.1.30/16.

Access the BIG-IP LTM System 1. Open a browser to https://192.168.1.245.

2. When prompted, accept the SSL certificate.

3. When prompted, login as admin with a password of admin.

Licensing Steps 1. You should first see the Setup Utility’s Welcome screen. Click Next.

2. Normally, you would need to license your BIG-IP System. For these labs, the systems should already be licensed. Review the features that are licensed and then click Next.

Provisioning Steps 1. The second screen should be Provisioning. Verify that Local Traffic (LTM) is set to

Nominal, any other products are set to None (Disabled) and then click Next.



Setup Utility 1. Within the General Properties section, specify the following:

IP Address: 192.168.1.245 Network Mask: 255.255.255.0 Management Route: Leave blank Host Name: bigip1.f5trn.com Host IP Address: Use Management Port IP Address High Availability: Redundant Pair Unit ID: 1 Time Zone: America/Los Angeles

2. Within the User Administration section, specify the following:

Root Account Password: default Root Account Confirm: default Admin Account Password: admin Admin Account Confirm: admin SSH Access: Enabled SSH IP Allow: * All Addresses

3. Click Next.

NOTE: When you type in the admin password field you will be required to log back into the system whether the password has been changed or not.

Once this first step of administrative access has been configured, you can configure self-IP addresses and VLANs. We will choose the Basic Network Configuration option, which will step through creating two VLANs, internal and external, and their IP addresses, and interfaces. Each self IP will be assigned Port Lockdown settings. Port lockdown limits administrative access to the self IP addresses. Because we have configured the system as a redundant pair, Allow Default should be selected for Port Lockdown on self IP’s of the internal VLAN to ensure the systems will be able to communicate.

Because we have configured as a redundant pair, the administrator will also be prompted for a partner address and a floating IP address for each VLAN. Generally, the partner address should be an address on the internal VLAN to minimize security concerns. Floating addresses are shared between the systems and used by the system that is currently active. These concepts are discussed in the Redundant Pair module.



4. Select the Basic Network Configuration option by clicking Next, then specify the following:

Internal Network Settings Self-IP Address 172.16.1.31 Self-IP Netmask 255.255.0.0 Self-IP Port Lockdown Allow Default Floating IP Address 172.16.1.33 Floating IP Port Lockdown Allow Default Failover Peer 172.16.1.32

Internal VLAN Configuration VLAN Name internal (Read Only) VLAN Tag ID Auto VLAN Interfaces Untagged – Port 1.2

5. Click the Next button to configure the External VLAN, then specify the following:

External Network Settings Self-IP Address 10.10.1.31 Self-IP Netmask 255.255.0.0 Self-IP Port Lockdown Allow 443 Default Gateway Leave blank Floating IP Address 10.10.1.33 Floating IP Port Lockdown Allow 443

External VLAN Configuration VLAN Name external (Read only) VLAN Tag ID Auto VLAN Interfaces Untagged – Port 1.1

6. Then click Finished.

7. Since we previously completed Licensing and Provisioning, we should reboot the BIG-IP so that our Licensing and Provisioning changes take effect. Select System / Configuration and click the Reboot box under Operations.

Once the Basic Network Configuration is complete, the Welcome screen from the Overview section appears. The administrator can choose to change many presentation options, enable SNMP including downloading the MIB, access F5’s knowledge database (Ask F5) or re-run the setup utility to change addresses or access methods.



Configuration Utility Lab Objective:

Access both the Web Configuration utility and Command Line (SSH) utility for BIG-IP LTM system and get familiar with the interface


Lab Requirements: External IP address of the BIG-IP LTM system

User ID and password of the BIG-IP LTM system’s Web Configuration Utility

User ID and password of the BIG-IP LTM system’s Command Line Interface

PC Configuration Your PC is configured with two IP Addresses in order to reach both the Management and client networks once they are configured on your BIG-IP.

Mgmt IP Address 192.168.1.30/24 Client IP Address 10.10.1.30/16.

The Web Configuration Utility 1. Open a browser window to https://10.10.1.31 to connect to the Web Configuration Utility.

2. Enter a user ID and password of admin / admin that you added during Setup.

3. Note options available on the Welcome page.

4. Click on the Network section, then note what is set for the Interfaces, Self IPs, and VLANs options.

Command Line access (SSH) 1. Open an SSH session using Putty and attempt to connect the external IP Address of your

BIG-IP System (10.10.1.31).

2. Notice that you are not able to access your BIG-IP LTM. This is because Port Lockdown for the external self-IP addresses defaults to Allow 443 only. Access to port 22 is prevented.

3. From the web GUI select Network / Self IPs and then click the 10.10.1.31 self IP Address.

4. Under Port Lockdown / Custom List, click the Port radio button, enter 22 as the port, click Add, and then click Update.

5. Once port 22 has been added, you should be able to successfully use SSH to attach to your BIG-IP System. You may be prompted to accept the SSH key, do so. When the logon appears, enter root as the user ID and default as the password that you added during Setup.

6. If prompted for terminal type, select vt100.

Enter the command: b self show



What information is listed here?

7. Enter the command: b vlan show


8. Enter the command: b interface show


Verifying User Access 1. Logout of your SSH session.

2. Open a new SSH session but login and try the admin user. By default, you should not be able to get in as admin.

3. From the Web Configuration Utility select System / Users and then select the link for the admin User Name. Change the Terminal Access to Advanced Shell access, click Update, and then test SSH access with the admin user ID again.

4. Open a new browser window but try to login using the root user ID. By default, you should not be able to get into the Web Configuration utility with the root user ID.



Configuration Backup Lab Objective:

Create a backup of the BIG-IP System on both the BIG-IP and your desktop.


Lab Requirements: External IP address of the BIG-IP LTM system

Saving a configuration 1. From the Navigation pane, click the System section.

2. Select Archives, then click Create.

3. Within the General Properties section, specify the following:

File Name Module1_End Encryption Disabled Private Keys Include Version BIG-IP Version (read only)

4. When complete, click Finished.

5. When complete, an OK button will appear. Click OK or select Archives again.

6. Select Module1_End.ucs (the name is a link) and notice you can click Download to save a copy to your desktop. The Download option does not work in this F5 Training Lab environment but will in yours.

7. If desired, the files contents can be viewed from the command line of your BIG-IP System. From an SSH session, perform the following:

a. Make a new directory for this lab: mkdir /var/tmp/test/

b. Change to the new directory: cd /var/tmp/test/

c. Copy the backup to the new directory: cp /var/local/ucs/Module1_End.ucs Module1_End.ucs .

d. Decompress the file and extract the file: tar -xvzf Module1_End.ucs. The resulting files show the directory structure and all files stored in the *.ucs file. Individual files can be viewed with cat, tail, more and other tools.




Module 2 Lab – Processing Traffic 2-13 Module 2 Lab – Processing Traffic 2-13

Module 2 Lab – Processing Traffic Objectives:

Configure pools for servers

Configure virtual servers and associate them with a pool

Verify functionality


Lab Requirements: IP and port addresses available for use on BIG-IP LTM that can be reached by the client

systems

Actual servers with appropriate routes to return traffic through each BIG-IP LTM system

Restoring a Configuration from previous Lab 1. After connecting to F5 Training Lab, open a browser to https://192.168.1.245.


3. If you have an existing lab environment, skip to step 10 below.

4. If starting with a new lab environment, on the Welcome / Setup Utility screen click Next.

5. On both the License and Resource Provisioning screens click Next.

6. On the Setup Utility / Platform screen enter a Host Name of bigip1.f5trn.com and change High Availability setting to Redundant Pair.

7. Enter a Root Account password of default twice and an Admin Account password of admin twice and then click Next.

8. You will be prompted to login again because of changing the Admin password.

9. After logging in, click the Finished button under Advanced Network Configuration.

10. From the Navigation pane, expand the System section, then select Archives.

11. Click the Module2_Lab_begin.ucs archive and then click the Restore button. An Ok button appears to acknowledge the restore has started. It will take a minute, but watch this screen and you should see messages that your restore completed successfully. You might receive one error message but that is ok and is due to the F5 Training Lab environment only.

12. Because of the state of BIG-IP, we need to reboot so that our Licensing and Provisioning takes effect. Select System / Configuration and click the Reboot box under Operations.

13. After Restore and Reboot, your configuration should be as if you had just finished all Module 1 labs. Please verify this is the case. Your configuration should be licensed, include 2 VLAN’s (Network / VLANs) named external and internal and have 4 self IP’s (Network / Self IPs) at 10.10.1.31, 10.10.1.33, 172.16.1.31 and 172.16.1.33 configured.


2-14 Module 2 Lab – Processing Traffic 2-14 Module 2 Lab – Processing Traffic

Creating an HTTP Pool and Virtual Server Lab Create a Pool

1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Either select Pools and then the Create button or hover your mouse over Pools and then click

the sign on the flyout menu.

3. In the Configuration section, enter the following:

Configuration Level Basic Name http_pool Health Monitors Leave Blank

4. In the Resources section, enter the following:

Load Balancing Method Round Robin Priority Group Activation Disabled New Members For each, enter Address and Service Port and press Add

172.16.20.1 port 80 172.16.20.2 port 80 172.16.20.3 port 80


Create a Virtual Server that uses this pool 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Either select Virtual Servers and click Create, or hover your mouse over Virtual Servers

and then click the sign on the flyout menu.

3. In the General Properties section, enter the following:

Name vs_http Destination 10.10.1.100 Service Port 80 (or HTTP) State Enabled

4. In the Configuration section, accept all defaults.


iRules Leave Blank HTTP Class Profiles Leave Blank Default Pool http_pool Default Persistence Profile None Fallback Persistence Profile None




Verification through Statistics 1. Open a new browser session on your PC and point it to the virtual server at

http://10.10.1.100. Note the results and refresh the screen 5-10 times. You may need to refresh using the Ctrl and F5 keys to force the browser not to use its cache.

2. View statistics and configuration information through:

a. Overview Section / Statistics / Local Traffic Tab

b. From the Statistics Type drop down list, choose Virtual Servers

c. From the Statistics Type drop down list, choose Pools

3. Did traffic go to each pool member?

4. Did each pool member manage the same number of connections?

5. Did each pool member manage the same number of bytes?

6. How many TCP connections are opened each time you refresh the browser page?

Expected Results and Troubleshooting Expected result: 5 connections per refresh distribute evenly among the pool members.

The webpage consists of the index.html and 4 objects. The web servers have keep-alives disabled.

If not, verify the following:

• Is traffic getting to the virtual server?

Does 10.10.1.100 appear in your workstation’s ARP table?

Type arp -a at the workstation’s command prompt.

Does the Statistics page show traffic received by vs_http?

Verify that the address and port are correctly configured

Is traffic getting to the pool members?

• If no traffic is going TO the pool members:

Verify http_pool has been assigned to vs_http

Verify the correct members address / port

• If traffic goes TO pool member, but does not return:

Verify that self IP address 172.16.1.33 is configured on port 1.2 (this address is the pool members’ default route.)



Creating an HTTPS Virtual Server and Pool Lab 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Either select Virtual Servers and click Create or leave your mouse over Virtual Servers


3. In the General Properties Section, enter the following:

Name vs_https Destination 10.10.1.100 Service Port 443 (or HTTPS) State Enabled

4. In the Configuration Section, accept all defaults.

5. Since we “forgot” to create the pool first, navigate to the Resources Section and click the “+” character to the right of Default Pool.

6. In the Configuration section of the new pool, enter the following:

Configuration Basic Name https_pool Health Monitors Leave Blank



172.16.20.1 port 443 172.16.20.2 port 443 172.16.20.3 port 443

NOTE: Since the member’s IP addresses are the same, you could select Node List and choose the member’s IP addresses from the drop-down list.

8. When the pool is complete, press Finished.

9. In the Virtual Server’s Resources section, verify the following settings:

iRules Leave Blank HTTP Class Profiles Leave Blank Default Pool https_pool Default Persistence Profile None Fallback Persistence Profile None

10. When complete, make sure to click Finished for the virtual server.



Verification through Statistics 1. Open a new browser session on your PC and point it to the virtual server at

https://10.10.1.100. Note the results and refresh the screen 5-10 times.


a. Overview Section / Statistics / Local Traffic Tab

b. From the Statistics Type drop down list, choose Virtual Servers

c. From the Statistics Type drop down list, choose Pools

3. Did traffic go to each pool member?

4. Did each pool member manage the same number of connections?

5. Did each pool member manage the same number of bytes?

6. How many TCP connections are opened each time you refresh the browser page?

Statistics using the Command Line 1. Open an SSH client window using Putty, enter the external IP Address of your BIG-IP LTM

System (10.10.1.31) and make sure the protocol is set to SSH.

2. When prompted, enter root as the user ID and the password that was added during setup. A password of default was suggested in Lab 1 and set in the Module2_Lab_begin.ucs file.

3. If prompted for terminal type, accept or enter vt100.

4. Enter the command bigtop. This command shows real time information on the virtual servers and pool members that you have configured.

5. View the screen while refreshing your session to either http://10.10.1.100 or https://10.10.1.100. What does bigtop show? Exit bigtop by pressing the q key.

6. Statistics for pools and virtual servers can be viewed by typing the following: b pool <pool name> show example: b pool http_pool show b virtual <virtual name> show

example: b virtual vs_http show

Expected Results and Troubleshooting Expected result: You may see six connections the first time you request the page, (due to

the SSL key exchange) but should see five connections per subsequent refresh. The requests should be evenly distributed among the pool members.

If not, verify the following:

• Confirm that the virtual server was created. Students often neglect to hit Finish for the virtual server after hitting Finish for the pool.

Local Traffic / Virtual Servers

• Is traffic getting to the virtual server?



Does 10.10.1.100 appear in your workstation’s ARP table? You may need to clear your ARP table before testing to remove the entry from the vs_http virtual server.

Does the Statistics page show traffic received by vs_https?

Verify that the address and port are correctly configured.

• Is traffic getting to the pool members? Check Pool statistics:

If no traffic is going TO the pool members:

Verify https_pool has been assigned to vs_https Verify the correct members address / port

• If traffic goes TO pool member but does not return:

Verify that self IP address 172.16.1.33 is configured on port 1.2 (this address is the pool members default route).

Network Map Lab View Configuration and Status from Network Map

1. Open a browser session and access https://10.10.1.31.

2. Select Local Traffic / Network Map, then click Show Map.

3. Mouse over both virtual server and Pool objects and notice what information is displayed about that object.

4. Select a Pool member and disable it.

a. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

b. Select Pools.

c. Select http_pool.

d. Select Members.

e. Check the box to the left of the chosen member and click the Disable button.

5. Go back to Network Map and notice that status changed to disabled, indicated by a black square.

6. Re-enable the disabled pool member for later labs.

7. Change the search field to 20.1 and then click Update Map. Notice that all members are still listed, but matches are highlighted.

8. Select System / Preferences and change the Start Screen from Welcome to Network Map. Close your browser session to the admin GUI, and then log back in to https://10.10.1.31 and notice that your default screen is now Network Map.


Module 3 Lab – Load Balancing 3-19 Module 3 Lab – Load Balancing 3-19

Module 3 Lab – Load Balancing

Objectives: Choose differing load balancing methods and view the resulting behavior

Choose differing member priority and ratio values and view the resulting behavior


Lab Requirements: Access to a BIG-IP LTM with at least a pool with two or more working members













13. After Restore and Reboot, your configuration should be as if you had just finished all Module 2 labs. Please verify this is the case. Your configuration should include two pools named http_pool and https_pool and two virtual servers named vs_http and vs_https. None of the Pools or Pool Members should have Monitors assigned (blue square status).


3-20 Module 3 Lab – Load Balancing 3-20 Module 3 Lab – Load Balancing

Round Robin Load Balancing Lab If not zero, reset the Statistics for http_pool

1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Overview section and select Statistics.

2. From the Display options sections, change the Statistics Type to Pools.

3. Select the checkbox adjacent http_pool, and click Reset.

View Results using Round Robin Load Balancing 1. Open a browser session and access http://10.10.1.100.

2. Refresh the screen a few times by pressing Ctrl+F5 (Ctrl+R if using FireFox).

3. Navigate back to the pools statistics page.

4. What are the results? Were the connection requests distributed evenly?

5. Reset the statistics for http_pool.

Ratio member Load Balancing Lab Configure Member Ratios and Ratio (member) Load Balancing and test.


2. Select Pools.

3. Select http_pool.

4. Select Members.

5. Within the Load Balancing section, change the Load Balancing Method to Ratio (member) and click Update.

6. Within the Configuration section of each member, set the ratio values as follows:

Member Ratio 172.16.20.1:80 1 172.16.20.2:80 2 172.16.20.3:80 3

7. Open a new browser session and connect to http://10.10.1.100.

8. Refresh the screen 5-10 times by pressing Ctrl-F5.

9. View the pool statistics. What are the results?



Module 3 Lab – Load Balancing 3-21 Module 3 Lab – Load Balancing 3-21

Expected Results and Troubleshooting Expected result: Traffic will be distributed to the members with a 1:2:3 ratio.

Configuration reset if continuing to other Module Labs If you are not going to perform the Priority Group Activation Lab, but want to continue using your existing configuration with other Modules Labs, reset http_pool and members to the following settings:

Load Balancing: Round Robin


3-22 Module 3 Lab – Load Balancing 3-22 Module 3 Lab – Load Balancing

Priority Group Activation Lab Configure Priority Group Activation


2. Select Pools.


4. Select Members.

5. In the Load Balancing section, change the Priority Group Activation setting to Less than …, the number of Available Members to 2, and click Update.

6. Within the Configuration section of each member, set the Priority values as follows:

Member Ratio Priority Group 172.16.20.1:80 1 1 172.16.20.2:80 2 4 172.16.20.3:80 3 4





11. Disable the member 172.16.20.2:80.




15. Re-enable the member 172.16.20.2:80.


Expected Results and Troubleshooting In step (9), 172.16.20.1:80 should receive no traffic. The traffic will be distributed to the

other members with a 2:3 ratio

In step (14), 172.16.20.2:80 should receive no traffic. The traffic will be distributed to the other members with a 1:3 ratio

Configuration reset if continuing to other Module Labs If you want to continue using your existing configuration with other Modules Labs, reset http_pool and members to the following settings:

Load Balancing: Round Robin

Priority Group Activation: Disabled


Module 4 Lab – Monitors 4-23 Module 4 Lab – Monitors 4-23

Module 4 Lab – Monitors Objective:

Associate nodes with monitors

Create custom monitors


Lab Requirements: Access to a BIG-IP LTM with at least one pool with two working members

Some knowledge of the traffic sent by the members













13. Your configuration should be as if you had just finished all Module 3 labs. Please verify this is the case. Your configuration should be licensed and include two Pools named http_pool and https_pool and two Virtual Servers named vs_http and vs_https. None of the Pools or Pool Members should have Monitors assigned (blue square status).


4-24 Module 4 Lab – Monitors 4-24 Module 4 Lab – Monitors

Monitor for Nodes Lab Check Current Node States

1. From the Navigation pane, select the Local Traffic section.

2. Select Nodes.

3. What are the nodes’ statuses?

4. Will BIG-IP LTM distribute traffic to nodes that are Unknown?

Assign a Default Monitor to all Nodes 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Select Nodes.

3. Above the list of nodes, select Default Monitor.

4. From the list of Available monitors, select icmp, press the move to the left button (<<), and press Update.

5. Recheck the Node states (either follow directions above or select Node List from the current location).

NOTE: Each time the Node List tab is pressed, the screen will refresh.

6. What are the nodes’ statuses? Was the change immediate?

Create a custom ICMP monitor 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Either select Monitors and then the Create button or leave your mouse over Monitors and

then click the sign on the flyout menu.


Name my_icmp Type ICMP

4. In the Configuration Section, enter the following:

Interval 10 Timeout 31 Transparent No




Assign the custom monitor to selected nodes 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Select Nodes and then select the node at 172.16.20.1.


Name Leave Blank Health Monitors Node Specific Select Monitors my_icmp in Active column Availability Requirement

All

Additional Settings Leave as Defaults

4. When complete, click Update.

5. What are the nodes’ statuses?

Disassociate all monitors for selected node 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Select Nodes.

3. Select the node 172.16.20.2.


Health Monitors None Additional Settings Leave as Default

5. When complete, press Update.

6. What us the node’s status? Was the change immediate?

Conclusion At this point, each node is being tested differently. Node 172.16.20.1 has a specific assignment, my_icmp. Node 172.16.20.2 has no monitor assigned. Node 172.16.20.3 is using the Node Default monitor, which is currently icmp. This is not a recommended configuration; rather it is used to demonstrate the three ways monitors can be associated with nodes.



Monitors for Pools and Members Lab #1 Objective:

Associate members with monitors



Check Current Member States 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Select Pools.


4. Select the Members tab.

5. What are the members’ statuses?

6. Will BIG-IP LTM distribute traffic to members that are Unknown?

Assign a Standard Monitor to a Pool 1. Navigate to Local Traffic / Pools / http_pool / Members and note the members’ states.

Select the Properties tab.


Configuration Basic Health Monitors http

3. When complete, press Update.

4. Recheck the Member states (either follow directions above or select Members from the current location).

NOTE: Each time the Members tab is pressed, the screen will refresh.

5. What are the members’ statuses? Was the change immediate?

Create a New HTTP-based Monitor 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.




Name my_http Type HTTP Import Settings http




Configuration Basic Send String GET /index.html\r\n Receive String Server Leave other settings at default


Assign the Custom Monitor to Selected Members 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Select Pools.



5. Select the member 172.16.20.2:80.


Configuration Advanced Health Monitors Member Specific Select Monitors my_http Leave other settings at default


8. What are the members’ statuses? Was there any change?

Disassociate all monitors for selected member 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Select Pools.

3. Select the pool http_pool.


5. Select the member at 172.16.20.3:80.




Configuration Level Advanced Health Monitors None Leave other settings at default


8. What are the members’ statuses? Was the change immediate?

Conclusion At this point, each member is being tested differently. Member 172.16.20.1:80 is set to inherit from pool where the pool has http assigned. Member 172.16.20.2:80 has a specific assignment, my_http. Member 172.16.20.3:80 has no assigned monitor. This configuration is not recommended; rather it is used to demonstrate the three ways monitors can be associated with members.



Monitors for Pools and Members Lab #2 Objective:

Associate members with monitors



Check Current Member States 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Select Pools.

3. Select https_pool, and then select the Members tab.

4. What are the members’ statuses?

Create a New HTTPS-based Monitor 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.




Name my_https Type HTTPS Import Settings https


Configuration Level Basic Send String GET /index.html\r\n Receive String Server 2 Leave other settings at default




Assign the Custom Monitor to a Pool 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Select Pools.

3. Select https_pool.


Configuration Basic Health Monitors my_https


6. What are the members’ statuses? Why? Was the change immediate?

7. What is the status of the Virtual Server?

Check Status of Nodes and Members from Network Map 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section, select the Network Map and

click Show Map.

2. Moving the mouse over certain Pool members, notice that the Parent Node state can be different than the Pool member. Why is this happening? Remember that we can and have assigned different monitors to Nodes and Pool Members.

Change the Definition of the Custom Monitor 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Select Monitors.

3. Select my_https.

4. In the Configuration Section, change the Receive String to Server [1-3]


6. What is the status of members in https_pool? Was the change immediate?

NOTE: [1-3] is a simple regular expression that matches any single character in the range from 1 to 3.

Configuration reset if continuing to other Module Labs If you want to continue using your existing configuration with other Modules Labs, make sure all pool members for both http_pool and https_pool are in one of the following states:

Available or Green

Unknown or Blue


Module 5 Lab – Profiles 5-31 Module 5 Lab – Profiles 5-31

Module 5 Lab – Profiles

Note: No Lab for Module 5 Profiles

There is no Lab for Module 5 Profiles. There are labs using Profiles in both Modules 6, Persistence, and 7 Labs, SSL Termination.


5-32 Module 5 Lab – Profiles 5-32 Module 5 Lab – Profiles


Module 6 Lab – Persistence 6-33 Module 6 Lab – Persistence 6-33

Module 6 Labs – Persistence Objective:

Configure Source Address Persistence



Lab Requirements: Two or more working members in https_pool

A virtual server at https://10.10.1.100 associated with https_pool













13. Your configuration should be as if you had just finished all Module4 Labs since there weren’t any labs for Module 5. Please verify this is the case. Your configuration should be licensed and include two Pools named http_pool and https_pool and two Virtual Servers named vs_http and vs_https. The Pools and Pool Members should have various Monitors assigned but no Pool Members should be marked Offline (red).


6-34 Module 6 Lab – Persistence 6-34 Module 6 Lab – Persistence

Source Address Persistence Lab Repeating behavior before persistence

1. Make sure the Load Balancing method for https_pool is set to Round Robin, Priority Group Activation is disabled, and that all pool members have a connection limit of 0.

NOTE: This is not required for persistence. Instead, it ensures that reuse of a single server is due to persistence and not a load balancing choice.

2. Next, access and reset the statistics for the https_pool.

3. Open a new browser session and connect to https://10.10.1.100.

4. Refresh the screen 5-10 times by clicking Refresh or pressing the F5 key.


Expected Results and Troubleshooting Expected result: All pool members should receive approximately equal amounts of

traffic. If not, ensure that step (1) was followed.

Configure a Source Address Affinity Persistence Profile 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Either select Profiles and the Persistence tab and click Create or use the flyout menus to

expand Profiles Persistence and click the sign.


Name Pr_Src_Persist

Persistence Type Source Address Affinity

Parent Profile source_addr

4. In the Configuration Section, leave all fields at the default settings except for the following:

Timeout Click on the Custom checkbox for Timeout and then set the Timeout to 15 seconds.

Mask Click on the Custom checkbox for Mask and the set the Mask to 255.255.255.0.


Associate a Virtual Server with the Persist_Source Profile 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.



2. Select Virtual Servers.

3. Select the virtual server of interest, vs_https.

4. Select the Resources tab.

5. Under the Load Balancing section, enter the following:

Default Pool https_pool

Default Persistence Profile Pr_Src_Persist

Fallback Persistence Profile None


Demonstrating behavior after setting up persistence 1. Access and reset the statistics for the https_pool.

2. Open a new browser session and connect to https://10.10.1.100

3. Refresh the screen 5-10 times by clicking Refresh or pressing Ctrl-F5.


5. Stop refreshing the screen for at least 15 seconds.

6. Refresh again. At this point, you should be load balanced to another server.

7. From a separate browser session, view the Persistent Statistics.

a. From the Navigation Pane, expand the Overview section.

b. Select Statistics.

c. With the Display Options section, set the following:

Statistics Type Persistence Records

Data Format Normalized

Auto Refresh Disabled

8. Leave the * in the search field (show all records) and click Search or Refresh.

9. If no persistent sessions currently appear, refresh your screen connecting to https://10.10.1.100 and then refresh the Persistence Records Statistics again.

10. Why might the persistent connection not appear the first time?

Expected Results and Troubleshooting Expected result: While the persistence record is active, all traffic from that client will be

directed to a single pool member. Since the persistence record is configured to remain for only 15 seconds, it may time out before you navigate to the persistence statistics.



Cookie Persistence Lab Objective:

Configure Cookie persistence



Lab Requirements: Two or more working members in http_pool

A virtual server at http://10.10.1.100 associated with http_pool

Repeating behavior before persistence 1. Make sure the Load Balancing method for http_pool is set to Round Robin and Priority

Group Activation is disabled.

NOTE: This is not required for persistence. Instead, it ensures that reuse of a single server is due to persistence and not a load-balancing choice.

2. Access and reset the statistics for the http_pool.


4. Refresh the screen 5-10 times by clicking Refresh or pressing the F5 key.


Creating a Custom HTTP Cookie Insert Persistence Profile: 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Either select Profiles and the Persistence tab and click Create or use the flyout menus to

expand Profiles Persistence and click the sign.


Name Pr_Cookie_Persist

Persistence Type Cookie

Parent Profile Cookie



1. In the Configuration Section, leave all settings at default except for the following:

Expiration Check the Custom checkbox for Expired, then uncheck Session Cookie and set the Expiration to 2 days


Associating a Virtual Server with the Cookie Persistence Profile 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.


3. Select the Virtual Server of interest, vs_http.

4. Select the Resources tab.

5. Within the Load Balancing section, enter the following:

Default Pool http_pool

Default Persistence Profile Pr_Cookie_Persist



NOTE: You should see an error requiring an HTTP profile in order to use the cookie persistence profile, follow the steps below.

Associating the Virtual Server with an HTTP Profile 1. From the Navigation pane, select Local Traffic menu, Virtual Servers option.


3. Select the Properties tab.

4. Within the Configuration section, set the HTTP Profile to http.


6. Re-add the Pr_Cookie_Persist profile above on vs_http Resources tab as the Default Persistence profile and click Update.

Demonstrating behavior after persistence 1. Access and reset the statistics for the http_pool.

2. Open a new browser session and connect to http://10.10.1.100

3. Refresh the screen 5-10 times by pressing “Refresh” or CTRL-F5.


5. Click on the Display Cookie link in the web page to view the cookie.



Expected Results and Troubleshooting Expected result: All traffic will be directed to one member. If not, ensure that the browser you are using allows cookies to be saved.

Disable Persistence for this Virtual Server 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.



4. Select the Resources Tab.

5. Under the Load Balancing section, enter the following:

Default Pool http_pool

Default Persistence Profile None





Disabled Members Lab Objective:

See the interaction between persistence and the disabled status


Lab Requirements: vs_https with resources https_pool and Pr_Src_Persist profile

NOTE: You may want to extend the persistence timeout value in the Persist_Source profile before beginning this lab.

Establish a persistent session and disable a member 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Select Pools then select https_pool.


4. Open a separate browser to https://10.10.1.100. Refresh to verify that you are persisting.

5. Note the member to which you have connected.

6. From the Members tab, click the box adjacent the member you are persisting to and click Disabled.

7. Refresh the browser session at https://10.10.1.100. Did you remain on the same member?

8. From the Members tab, select IP address of the member to which you have the persistence session.

9. Select the Forced Offline radio button and click Update.

10. Refresh the browser session at https://10.10.1.100. Did you remain on the same member?

Establish a persistent session and disable a node 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section and then select Nodes.

2. Open a separate browser to https://10.10.1.100. Refresh to verify that you are persisting.

3. Note the node to which you have connected.

4. From the Nodes list, select the box adjacent the node and click the Disable button.

5. Refresh the browser session at https://10.10.1.100. Did you remain on the same node?

Re-Enable nodes and members For later labs, ensure all nodes and members are enabled.




Module 7 Lab – SSL Termination 7-41 Module 7 Lab – SSL Termination 7-41

Module 7 Lab – SSL Termination Objective:

Create self-signed certificates

Create a Clientssl profiles

Create a virtual server that will use the clientssl profile and load balance traffic

Lab Requirements: An existing pool of members at port 80 (http_pool)

Access to a web browser













13. Your configuration should be as if you had just finished all Module 6 labs. Please verify this is the case. Your configuration should be licensed and include two Pools named http_pool and https_pool and two Virtual Servers named vs_http and vs_https. The Pools and Pool Members should have various Monitors assigned but no Pool Members should be marked Offline (red) or Disabled (black). The vs_https Virtual Server should have a Source Address Persistence Profile assigned on the Resources tab.


7-42 Module 7 Lab – SSL Termination 7-42 Module 7 Lab – SSL Termination

Client SSL Lab Behavior before configuration: SSL traffic is encrypted from client.

1. Open a Web browser. to https://10.10.1.100.

2. Depending on the browser, you may see a lock in the lower right corner of the window; it indicates the session is encrypted and secure. Alternately, find the certificate that is being used for the session. Typically, you can right click on the web page, choose “Properties” and click the Certificate button.

3. Note the pool member address and port in the body of the web page (172.16.20.x:443).

Generate a certificate 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Either select SSL Certificates and click Create or hover your mouse over SSL Certificates


3. In the General Properties section, enter the name TestCertificate.

4. In the Certificate Properties section, enter the following:

Issuer Self Common Name www.test.com Division Training Organization F5 Networks Locality Seattle State or Province Washington County US E-Mail Address Leave blank Lifetime 365

5. In the Key Properties, choose the 1024 for the size.

6. Click Finished.

7. If you get an error saying the certificate already exists then change the name and continue.

Create a Client SSL Profile: 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Either select Profiles / SSL click Client and then click Create or use the flyout menus to

expand Profiles SSL Client and click the sign.

3. In the General Properties section, enter the name Pr_Client_SSL and accept clientssl as the parent profile.

4. From the Configuration section, check the custom button to the right of Certificate and Key, and choose TestCertificate or your new name from the drop-down list.


Module 7 Lab – SSL Termination 7-43 Module 7 Lab – SSL Termination 7-43

5. Click Finished.

Creating the Virtual Server 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Either select Virtual Servers and click Create or leave your mouse over Virtual Servers and then click the Create option on the flyout menu.


Name vs_ssl Destination 10.10.1.102 Service Port 443 (or HTTPS) State Enabled

4. In the Configuration section, accept all defaults except the SSL Profile (Client) option, and choose the Pr_Client_SSL profile you’ve just created.

5. In the Resources section, select http_pool as the Default Pool.

6. Click Finished.

Behavior after configuration 1. Open a Web browser.

2. Go to https://10.10.1.102. When prompted, accept the SSL certificate.

NOTE: The browser session is encrypted on the client side, but not on the server side.

3. Note the Pool Member address:port in the body of the web page (172.16.20.Y:80).

Unless otherwise configured, the traffic is encrypted from client to the BIG-IP LTM System, but unencrypted between the BIG-IP system and the pool members.


7-44 Module 7 Lab – SSL Termination 7-44 Module 7 Lab – SSL Termination


Module 8 Lab – NATs and SNATs 8-45 Module 8 Lab – NATs and SNATs 8-45

Module 8 Labs – NATs and SNATs Lab Objectives: You will configure a NAT to pass traffic between an external device and a specific internal node. Either device can initiate this connection.

Lab Requirements: One or more servers on the internal side of the BIG-IP system

An available IP address to use for the NAT













13. Your configuration should be as if you had just finished all Module 7 labs. Please verify this is the case. Your configuration should be licensed and include three Pools named ssl_pool, http_pool and https_pool and three Virtual Servers named vs_ssl, vs_http and vs_https. The Pools and Pool Members should have various Monitors assigned but no Pool Members should be marked Offline (red) or Disabled (black). The vs_https Virtual Server should have a Source Address Persistence Profile assigned on the Resources tab.


8-46 Module 8 Lab – NATs and SNATs 8-46 Module 8 Lab – NATs and SNATs

Configuring a NAT Lab The Network Address Translation screen displays the NAT address and the associated node address for each NAT.

Configure a NAT 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Either select SNATs, the NAT List tab, and Create, or use the flyout menus to expand

SNATs NATs and click the sign.


NAT Address 10.10.1.200

Origin Address 172.16.20.2

State Enabled

4. In the Configuration section leave everything at defaults:

ARP Enabled

VLAN Traffic All VLANs

5. Click Finished.

Testing the NAT - Inbound 1. Open a browser session to http://10.10.1.200.

2. Note the content of the Web screen.

3. Using Putty, open an SSH session to 10.10.1.200 port 22.

4. Login with a user ID of student and password of student.

5. Note that you can connect to multiple services through the NAT and that the connection always connects to 172.16.20.2.

NOTE: While the configured NAT would provide outbound connections as well, the routing tables on the server do not allow it in the classroom environment.

Delete the NAT 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Select SNATs and then the NAT List tab.

3. Check the box next to the NAT you just created, 10.10.1.200, and then click the Delete button.

4. Click Delete to confirm the deletion


Module 8 Lab – NATs and SNATs 8-47 Module 8 Lab – NATs and SNATs 8-47

SNAT Labs Lab Requirements:

Access to a BIG-IP LTM System

An available IP address to use for the SNAT

Testing Behavior without the SNAT 1. Open a browser session to both http://10.10.1.100 and https://10.10.1.100.

2. Verify your IP address at the Web server by clicking the link that says Show Source IP Address. You should see your PC unchanged address: 10.10.1.30.

3. The Servers reside at IP Addresses 172.16.20.1, 172.16.20.2 and 172.16.20.3. The reason they can return the response traffic to your PC at 10.10.1.30 through your BIG-IP is because they each contain the following Server Route:

Destination Gateway 10.10.1/24 172.16.1.33

SNAT within Virtual Server Lab Configure the vs_https virtual server to use SNAT Automap

1. From the Navigation pane, select Local Traffic menu, Virtual Servers option, and select vs_https.

2. In the General Properties section, select the Advanced option, and scroll down to the bottom of the configuration screen.

3. In the SNAT Pool option, select Automap and then the Update button.

Testing the SNAT 1. Open a browser session to http://10.10.1.100.

2. Verify your IP address at the Web server by clicking the link that says Show Source IP Address. Your address should still be 10.10.1.30

3. Now open a browser session to https://10.10.1.100, click the link to check the source IP and notice your source address has changed to 172.16.1.33, the internal floating self IP Address of your BIG-IP.

SNAT for a List of Devices Lab 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.


8-48 Module 8 Lab – NATs and SNATs 8-48 Module 8 Lab – NATs and SNATs

2. Either select SNATs and Create, or use the flyout menus to expand SNATs and click the

sign.

3. In the General Properties section, the Name SNAT_NW_10X.


Translation IP Address: 172.16.1.201

Origin Address List (next option will appear)

Address List

Type – Network Address – 10.0.0.0 Netmask – 255.0.0.0

Click Add

VLAN Traffic All VLANs

Stateful Failover Mirror Unchecked

5. Click Finished.

Testing the SNAT 1. Test the results by connecting to http://10.10.1.100 and https://10.10.1.100. View your

source IP address. What are the results?

Connection Source IP at Server Which SNAT To http://10.10.X.100 To https://10.10.X.100

2. What SNATing is taking place for each Virtual Server?

3. Expected results: you should be successful to both of your virtual servers. Your traffic to https://10.10.1.100 will be SNATed to 172.16.1.33. Your traffic to http://10.10.1.100 will be SNATed to 172.16.1.201.

4. How could you change your SNAT definition to allow traffic from the 192.168.0.0/16 network to be SNATed also?

Delete the SNATs Remove SNAT option from Virtual Server configurations

1. From the Navigation pane, select Local Traffic menu, Virtual Servers option, vs_https, and set the SNAT Pool option to None.

2. From the Navigation pane, select SNATs menu, the SNAT named SNAT_NW_10X, and then click Delete.

3. Notice when testing that your source address is once again 10.10.1.30, but you still get response packets back from servers because of the routes on the servers.


Module 9 Lab – iRules 9-49 Module 9 Lab – iRules 9-49

Module 9 Labs – iRules Objective:

Configure a series of iRules, pools, and virtual servers in order to demonstrate a variety of rule features and functions.

Estimated time for completion: 30 minutes.

Lab Requirements: External IP address of the Virtual Server

IP Address(es) of internal node (s)













13. Your configuration should be as if you had just finished all Module 8 labs. Please verify this is the case. Your configuration should be licensed and include three Pools named ssl_pool, http_pool and https_pool and three Virtual Servers named vs_ssl, vs_http and vs_https. The Pools and Pool Members should have various Monitors assigned but no Pool Members should be marked Offline (red) or Disabled (black). The vs_https Virtual Server should have


9-50 Module 9 Lab – iRules 9-50 Module 9 Lab – iRules

a Source Address Persistence Profile assigned on the Resources tab. Although they won’t cause issues with this lab, all NATs and SNATs should have been deleted at the end of Lab 8.

iRules Lab #1 Create and use an iRule that processes requests based on the file extension.

iRules Lab 1 Steps 1. The necessary pools are created.

2. iRules that reference the pools are created.

3. Virtual Servers that reference the iRules are created.

Create a Pool 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Either select Pools and then click Create, or use the flyout menus to expand Pools and click

the sign.


Configuration level Basic

Name pool1

Health Monitors Leave Blank


Load Balancing Method Round Robin

Priority Group Activation Disabled

New Members Enter and press Add

IP: 172.16.20.1 Port: * All Services


Create another Pool 1. Create pool2 that contains one member, 172.16.20.2:* (Port is “All Services”).

Create a Rule using this pool 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Either select iRules and click Create or leave your mouse over iRules and then click the

sign on the flyout menu.



3. In the Properties section, enter the following:

Name rule_txt_end

Definition

when HTTP_REQUEST { if {[HTTP::uri] ends_with "txt"} { pool pool1 } }


Create a Virtual Server using this rule 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.




Name vs_rule_txt

Destination 10.10.1.101

Service Port 80 (or HTTP)

State Enabled

4. In the Configuration section, leave all fields at their default except the following:

HTTP Profile http

5. In the Resources section, leave all fields at their default except the following:

iRules rule_txt_end


Verification through Statistics 1. Open a new browser session on your PC and direct it to your Virtual Server address and files:

a. http://10.10.1.101/file.txt

b. http://10.10.1.101/text.txt

c. http://10.10.1.101

NOTE: Currently, you should get an error message (Cannot display webpage for IE and Connection reset for Firefox) page not found for url http://10.10.1.101 because there is no Default Pool or an else leg for the iRule. Also, files such as file.txt, text.txt and text.one, only exist on Server 1 (172.16.20.1)




a. Overview Section / Statistics / Choose from Statistics Type drop-down list.

b. Local Traffic Section / Virtual Servers / Statistics

c. Local Traffic Section / Pools / Statistics

3. Which node is traffic being directed to for each address above?

Add a Default Pool to the Virtual Server and Test 1. Navigate to the resources for the Virtual Server vs_rule_txt and specify pool2 as the default

pool.

2. Open a new browser, test client connections and explain your results.



c. http://10.10.1.101

NOTE: Now http://10.10.1.101 should work and send you to Pool2.

Add an Else leg to iRule and Test 1. Disassociate the default pool (pool2) from virtual server vs_rule_txt.

2. Change rule_txt_end to add an else leg for pool2 like: when HTTP_REQUEST { if {[HTTP::uri] ends_with "txt"} { pool pool1 } else { pool pool2 } }

3. Open a new browser, test client connections and explain your results.



c. http://10.10.1.101



iRules Lab#2 Lab 2 Overview Create and use an iRule that processes requests based on the TCP port.

Create a third Pool 1. Create pool3 that contains one member, 172.16.20.3:* (Port is “All Services”).

Create a Rule for TCP port 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Either select iRules and click Create or leave your mouse over iRules and then click the

sign on the flyout menu.

3. In the Properties section, enter the following:

Name rule_tcp_port Definition when CLIENT_ACCEPTED {

if {[TCP::local_port] == 80} { pool pool1 } elseif { [TCP::local_port] == 443 } { pool pool2 }

}


Create a Virtual Server using this rule 1. From the Navigation pane, expand the Local Traffic section.






Name vs_tcpport

Destination 10.10.1.103

Service Port * All Ports

State Enabled

4. In the Configuration section, accept all defaults.

5. In the Resources section, leave all fields at their default except the following:

iRules rule_tcp_port

Default Pool pool3


Verification through Statistics 1. Open a new browser session on your PC and direct it to your Virtual Server address and files:

a. http://10.10.1.103

b. https://10.10.1.103

c. Using Putty, open an SSH session to 10.10.1.103 port 22.

NOTE: You can verify that your SSH session went to Pool3 using Statistics.


a. Overview Section / Statistics / Choose from Statistics Type drop-down list.

b. Local Traffic Section / Virtual Servers / Statistics

c. Local Traffic Section / Pools / Statistics

3. To which node is traffic being directed for each client request above and why?


Module 10 Lab – Redundant Pair 10-55 Module 10 Labs – Redundant Pair 10-55

Module 10 Labs – Setting up a Redundant Pair

Lesson Objective: During this lesson, you will learn how to setup a redundant pair of BIG-IP systems.

Setup utility Configuring a pair of BIG-IP systems is very similar to configuring a single BIG-IP system. When you choose “Redundant Pair” for the High Availability option in the setup utility, there are a few additional parameters than must be set. You must set each system’s Unit ID, specify a partner address, and set floating (shared) IP addresses for each VLAN.

Restoring BIG-IP #1 config from previous Lab 1. After connecting to F5 Training Lab, open a browser to https://192.168.1.245.













10-56 Module 10 Lab – Redundant Pair 10-56 Module 10 Labs – Redundant Pair

13. The configuration for BIG-IP #1 should be as if you had just finished all Module9 Labs. Please verify this is the case. Your configuration should be licensed and include five Pools, two iRules, five Virtual Servers, and Monitors assigned to some but not all Pool Members. No Pool Members should be marked Offline (red) or Disabled (black). Finally, the vs_https Virtual Server should have a Source Address Persistence Profile assigned.

Configuration of BIG-IP #1 and BIG-IP #2 BIG-IP #1 should now be configured like the diagram shown below and also have Virtual Servers, Pools, Monitors and Profiles. On the next page we will configure BIG-IP #2 from a clean system.

BIG-IP Redundant Pair Configuration


Module 10 Lab – Redundant Pair 10-57 Module 10 Labs – Redundant Pair 10-57

Setup of BIG-IP #2 Lab NOTE: The second system in your lab pair is licensed but not currently configured. Connect to https://192.168.1.246 and run the Setup Utility using the configuration options below.

Step System Y Management Port IP address 192.168.1.246 Management Port Netmask 255.255.255.0 Hostname bigip2.f5trn.com High Availability Redundant Pair Unit ID 2 root password default admin password admin SSH Access * All Addresses VLAN Name on 1.2 Internal Self IP Address 172.16.1.32 Netmask 255.255.0.0 Port Lockdown Allow Default Floating IP 172.16.1.33 Failover Peer IP 172.16.1.31 Port Association 1.2 Untagged VLAN Name on 1.1 External Self IP Address 10.10.1.32 Netmask 255.255.0.0 Port Lockdown Allow Default Default Gateway Leave Blank Floating IP 10.10.1.33 Port Association 1.1 Untagged

Status of BIG-IP #1 and BIG-IP #2

Note: You may notice that both BIG-IP #1 and #2 are in an Active state. This is not a desired state, but we will wait to resolve this in the next Module 11 Lab when we setup Network Failover.


10-58 Module 10 Lab – Redundant Pair 10-58 Module 10 Labs – Redundant Pair

Synchronization Lab Synchronization should always be from the system’s whose configuration is desired. In our case, we wish to Synchronize the BIG-IP #1 configuration to BIG-IP #2 since it has no configuration.

BIG-IP #2 configuration before Synchronization At this point, the BIG-IP #2 should have a base configuration set with passwords, VLANs and Self IPs. Verify the Self IPs (Network / Self IPs) for BIG-IP #2 are set to 10.10.1.xx, 10.10.1.33, 172.16.1.xx and 172.16.1.33.

Synchronizing Configuration from BIG-IP #1 to #2 1. Open a browser to https://192.168.1.245. (BIG-IP #1)

2. From the Navigation pane of the active system, expand the System section.

3. Either select High Availability and then the ConfigSync tab or use the flyout menus to expand High Availability ConfigSync and click ConfigSync.

4. Click the Synchronize TO Peer button for a push operation to BIG-IP #2.

5. At the Synchronize this BIG-IP LTM to its failover partner prompt, click OK. The synchronization process takes 15-60 seconds.

6. Verify your configuration was copied to the second System.

Expected Results and Troubleshooting At this point, the BIG-IP #1 and #2 system configurations should be similar. Verify that

BIG-IP #2 has the same Virtual Servers, Pools, Profiles, Monitors and iRules as BIG-IP #1. The License, Hostname and Self IPs (Network / Self IPs) should be different.

If the Self IPs are the same for both systems, verify the following:

• The hostnames (System / Platform) should be different (bigip1… and bigip2)

If BIG-IP #2 does not have Virtual Servers from BIG-IP #1, verify the following:

• Were there errors during Synchronization? (System / Logs / System)

• Did you Synchronize the wrong way? (from BIG-IP #2 to #1)


Module 11 Labs – Redundant Pair and High Availability 11-59

Module 11 Labs – High Availability

Lesson Objective: During this lesson, you will failover features of a redundant pair of BIG-IP systems.

Restoring BIG-IP #1 from previous Lab 1. After connecting to F5 Training Lab, open a browser to https://192.168.1.245. 2. When prompted, login as admin with a password of admin. 3. If you have an existing lab environment, skip to step 10 below. 4. If starting with a new lab environment, on the Welcome / Setup Utility screen click Next. 5. On both the License and Resource Provisioning screens click Next. 6. On the Setup Utility / Platform screen enter a Host Name of bigip1.f5trn.com and change

High Availability setting to Redundant Pair. 7. Enter a Root Account password of default twice and an Admin Account password of

admin twice and then click Next. 8. You will be prompted to login again because of changing the Admin password. 9. After logging in, click the Finished button under Advanced Network Configuration. 10. From the Navigation pane, expand the System section, then select Archives. 11. Click the Module11_Lab_BIGIP1.ucs archive and then click the Restore button. An Ok

button appears to acknowledge the restore has started. It will take a minute, but watch this screen and you should see messages that your restore completed successfully. You might receive one error message but that is ok and is due to the F5 Training Lab environment only.


13. Your configuration should be as if you had just finished all Module 10 labs. Please verify this is the case. BIG-IP #1 should be licensed and include five Pools, two iRules, five Virtual Servers, and Monitors assigned to some but not all Pool Members. No Pool Members should be marked Offline (red) or Disabled (black). It should have a hostname of bigip1.f5trn.com and Self IPs (Network / Self IPs) of 10.10.1.31, 10.10.1.33, 172.16.1.31 and 172.16.1.33.


11-60 Module 11 Labs – Redundant Pair and High Availability

Restoring BIG-IP #2 from previous Lab 1. After connecting to F5 Training Lab, open a browser to https://192.168.1.246.










11. Click the Module11_Lab_BIGIP2.ucs archive and then click the Restore button. An Ok button appears to acknowledge the restore has started. It will take a minute, but watch this screen and you should see messages that your restore completed successfully. You might receive one error message but that is ok and is due to the F5 Training Lab environment only.


13. Your configuration should be as if you had just finished all Module10 Labs. Please verify this is the case. BIG-IP #2 should be licensed and include five Pools, two iRules, five Virtual Servers, and Monitors assigned to some but not all Pool Members. No Pool Members should be marked Offline (red) or Disabled (black). It should have a hostname of bigip2.f5trn.com and Self IPs (Network / Self IPs) of 10.10.1.32, 10.10.1.33, 172.16.1.32 and 172.16.1.33.



Network Failover Lab Objectives: During this lab, you will configure network failover.

Determining State Prior to Configuration 1. Open an SSH session to each system, 10.10.1.31 and 10.10.1.32. Press Enter to update the

prompt repeatedly. Note that both systems are in Active state because we haven’t configured Network Failover yet.

Note: The F5 virtual environment does not support the use of hardware failover cables.

Network Failover Configuration and Testing 1. This feature is not synchronized, so you must configure each system separately.

2. Navigate to System / High Availability / Network Failover.

3. On BIG-IP #1, Enter the following in the Configuration section:

Network Failover Check the box Peer Management Address 192.168.1.246

Unicast

Configuration Identifier: peer_bigip2 Local Address: Self IP address 172.16.1.31 Remote Address: 172.16.1.32 Port: Blank (defaults to 1026)

Multicast Leave Blank


5. On BIG-IP #2, Enter the following in the Configuration section:

Network Failover Check the box Peer Management Address 192.168.1.245

Unicast

Configuration Identifier: peer_bigip1 Local Address: Self IP address 172.16.1.32 Remote Address: 172.16.1.31 Port: Blank (defaults to 1026)

Multicast Leave Blank


7. When both systems have been set, note that the systems change to active-standby mode. BIG-IP #2 should be the one to fallback to standby state because it is unit 2.



8. Normally you would remove the Ethernet cable but for remote labs we will disable “Network Failover” on unit #2.

9. How quickly did the standby system change to the active role also?

10. If disabling “Network Failover” on unit #2 does not cause it to go active then you may need to disable Network Failover on unit #1 also.

11. Note that when both systems are in active mode; both are trying to service all virtual servers, NATs and SNATs.

12. Again, normally we would now replace the Ethernet cable but for remote labs we will enable “Network Failover” again on both units.

13. Unit #2 should now fall back to standby state.

Force to Standby and Failover 1. On both BIG-IPs, navigate to System / High Availability / Redundancy.

2. Currently, BIG-IP #1 should be Active and BIG-IP #2 should be Standby.

3. On BIG-IP #1, click the Force to Standby button: Notice that BIG-IP #1 falls back to Standby state, and BIG-IP #2 takes over the Active roll.



Connection Mirroring Lab Objective: During this lesson, you will learn how to configure connection mirroring.

Lab Requirements: A working Active / Standby redundant pair of BIG-IP’s.

Create an ssh Pool 1. Create a Pool with the following characteristics, Configuration section:

Configuration Level Basic Name ssh_pool Health Monitors Leave Blank



172.16.20.1 port 22 172.16.20.2 port 22 172.16.20.3 port 22


Create a Virtual Server that uses this pool 4. Create a Virtual Server with the following characteristics, General Properties section:

Name vs_ssh Destination 10.10.1.100 Service Port 22 (or SSH) State Enabled

5. In the Configuration section, accept all defaults. 6. In the Resources section, accept all defaults except the following:

Default Pool ssh_pool


Synchronize the configuration 1. Synchronize from the same system (System / High Availability / ConfigSync) and click the

Synchronize TO Peer button.

2. Click OK when prompted.



Testing before Mirroring 1. Using an SSH client, such as Putty, open an SSH session to: 10.10.1.100:22.

2. Login as student / student.

3. Test your connection by typing ls <enter> or similar command.

Perform Failover 1. Force the Active system to standby (System / High Availability / Force to Standby).

2. Notice that the SSH connection has been lost.

Testing with Connection Mirroring enabled 1. From the same system’s Navigation Pane, click Local Traffic / Virtual Servers and select

the SSH virtual server. 2. Select Advanced from the Configuration menu. 3. Check the Connection Mirroring checkbox. 4. Click Update to set changes. 5. Synchronize from the same system (System / High Availability / ConfigSync) and click the

Synchronize TO Peer button. 6. Click OK when prompted.

Establish a new SSH connection and Failover again 1. Using an SSH client such as Putty open an SSH session to: 10.10.1.100:22.

2. Login as student / student.

3. Test your connection by typing ls <enter> or similar command.

4. Force the Active system to standby. (System / High Availability / Force to Standby).

5. Test your connection by typing ls <enter> or similar command. Note the connection is maintained.



Persistence Mirroring Lab

Objective: During this lesson, you will learn how to activate persistence mirroring for a pool where simple persistence in enabled.

Lab Requirements: You must have a virtual server and pool appropriate for persistence other than cookie persistence.

Behavior Prior to Configuring Persistence Mirroring

Configure Persistence, Establish an https session 1. From the Navigation Pane, expand the Local Traffic section.

2. Select Virtual Servers and the virtual server vs_https.

3. Select the Resources tab, and ensure that Pr_Src_Persist is still listed as the Default Persistence Profile.

4. Select Local Traffic / Profiles / Persistence and the Pr_Src_Persist profile. Set the Timeout value to 30 seconds and click Update.

5. Synchronize from the same system (System / High Availability / ConfigSync / Synchronize TO Peer).

6. Open a browser session to: https://10.10.1.100.

7. Ensure your session persists by hitting the <Ctrl>-F5 key combination several times.

View the Persistence Record 1. View the persistence records on both systems.

a. From the Configuration Utility, Navigate to Overview / Statistics. In the Display Options section, choose Persistence Records.

b. From the Command Line, enter: b persist all show all

2. On the active system, you should see a record. On the standby, you should not.

3. Re-enter this command several times and notice the Age of the record changes.

4. Let the Age count up to 30 seconds and then re-enter the command again. What happened to the persistence record?

5. Refresh the https://10.10.1.100 browser session again and then re-enter the command again. Did the Age count start over?



Perform Failover 1. Force the Active system to standby. (System / High Availability / Redundancy / Force to

Standby).

2. Refresh the session to https://10.10.1.100. While there is some chance the same node may be chosen, the https session does not persist to the same server. If it does seem to persist to the same node, failover again and test. You may need to refresh by pressing Ctrl-F5 to ensure the browser does not simply display its cache.

Configuring Persistence Mirroring and Testing Subsequent Behavior 1. From the Navigation Pane, select Local Traffic menu, Profiles option, Persistence tab, and

then click the Pr_Src_Persist profile.

2. Check the Custom box for Mirror Persistence, check Enabled, and then click Update.

3. Synchronize from the same system (System / High Availability / ConfigSync / Synchronize to Peer).

4. Make sure to check that the Mirror Persistence option was set on the other System for the Pr_Src_Persist profile.

Re-establish the https session, failover and retest 1. Open a browser session to https://10.10.1.100.

2. Ensure your session persists by pressing the CTL-F5 several times.

3. Force the Active system to standby. (System / High Availability / Redundancy / Force to Standby).

4. Refresh the browser session to https://10.10.1.100. Notice that the https session does persist to the same server.

5. View the persistence records on both systems.

a. From the Configuration Utility, Navigate to Overview / Statistics. In the Display Options section, choose Persistence Records.

b. From the Command Line, enter: b persist all show all

6. You should see a persistence record on both systems.

7. Re-enter this command several times and notice the Age of the record for each system. Does the Age remain the same on both Systems?

8. Refresh the https://10.10.1.100 browser session again and then re-enter the command again. Explain the Age count on each system?


Lab Project LP-67

Configuration Lab Project Lab Objectives: During this lab, you will work with many of the concepts that you learned in Modules 1 to 8. In Modules 1 through 8, the Lab steps were very specific and told the student exactly what to do. One of the objectives of this Lab Configuration Project is to see if the student remembers how to configure each feature. Therefore the lab steps in this Configuration Project are not specific but rather given at a much higher level. Another objective of this Configuration Project is to give the student an opportunity to configure all features together rather than individually. Upon completion, you will have configured a BIG-IP system with working virtual servers, profiles, monitors and pools.

There are two stages to this lab:

1. Create new pools, profiles, monitors and virtual servers.

2. Verify the configuration works as expected.



3. If you have an existing lab environment from Lab 8, then skip to step 10 below.










13. After Restore and Reboot, your configuration should be as if you had just finished all Module 1 labs. Please verify this is the case. Your configuration should be licensed, include 2 VLAN’s (Network / VLANs) named external and internal and have 4 self IP’s (Network / Self IPs) at 10.10.1.31, 10.10.1.33, 172.16.1.31 and 172.16.1.33 configured.


LP-68 Lab Project

Reconfigure the BIG-IP LTM System A. Create Monitors according to the following table

Name Type Settings Associations

my_http http Interval – 5, Timeout – 16 Receive String – Server Others – leave at defaults

http_pool (Once pool is created, below.)

B. Assign Monitors according to the following table

Name Type Settings Associations

icmp (Default Monitor) icmp Use all default settings Node Default

C. Create Pools according to the following table

Name Load Balance Members Port Ratio Priortity Monitors

ssh_pool Round Robin 172.16.20.1 172.16.20.2 172.16.20.3

22 22 22

1 1 1

1 1 1

http_pool

Ratio Member Priority Group Activation Less than 2

172.16.20.1 172.16.20.2 172.16.20.3

80 80 80

2 2 1

1 4 4

my_http

https_pool Round Robin 172.16.20.1 172.16.20.2 172.16.20.3

443 443 443

1 1 1

1 1 1

D. Create Profiles as listed in the following table

Name Profile Type Parent Profile Settings

Pr_Src_Persist Persistence Source Address source_addr Timeout of 30 seconds and

mask of 255.255.255.0

Pr_SSL_term SSL Client clientssl Certificate of TestCertificate and a Key of TestCertificate


Lab Project LP-69

E. Create Virtual Servers according to the following table

NOTE: Remember that Persistence Profiles are configured on the Resources tab of the Virtual Server and all other Profile types on the Properties tab.

Name IP Address Port Resources Profiles & SNAT

vs_ssh 10.10.1.100 22 ssh_pool Defaults only

vs_http 10.10.1.100 80 http_pool SNAT Automap

vs_https 10.10.1.100 443 https_pool Pr_Src_Persist

vs_ssl 10.10.1.102 443 http_pool Pr_SSL_term

Save your new configuration 1. Backup your new configuration as Lab_Project.ucs.


LP-70 Lab Project

Verification

Activity Questions Working?

Open a Browser and connect to http://10.10.1.100 Refresh the screen 5-10 times

Are you load balancing? Why or why not?

Open a Browser and connect to https://10.10.1.100 Refresh the screen 5-10 times View the node statistics


Open a Putty SSH session to: 10.10.1.100:22 After connecting, login User-id: student Password: student View the node statistics

Were you able to connect? Which node did you connect to? Do you have an open connection?

Open a Browser and connect (again) to https://10.10.1.100 Refresh the screen 5-10 times View the node statistics

Are you load balancing? Why or why not? Are you connecting to the same node as you did in test 2, above?

Open a Browser and connect to both https://10.10.1.100 and http://10.10.1.100 Click the link to show source address

What is your source address for http and https? Why are they different?

Open a Browser and connect to https://10.10.1.102

Is the session secure? Is the data from BIG-IP LTM to the Server encrypted?


Lab Project LP-71

Review Questions

1. Which admin users’ passwords are changed by the BIG-IP setup utility, and what access do they have?

2. What is a node? A pool and pool member? A profile? A virtual server?

3. List the load balancing modes.

4. How are monitors created, and what can they be assigned to?

5. If a particular node is in a node disabled condition, will any types of client requests still be directed to that pool member?

6. What is the difference between the client SSL and server SSL Profiles?

7. Why would you use SNATs?


LP-72 Lab Project

Answers to Configuration Project Questions

Activity Questions Answers

Refresh http://10.10.1.100


Yes, but should only be using Nodes 20.2 & 20.3 because they have higher priorities for Priority Group Activation

Refresh https://10.10.1.100


Actually this is a trick question. The first request is load balanced but subsequent requests within the 30 second timeout window should persist to same Node.

SSH to: 10.10.1.100:22 Login with user ID and password of student View the node statistics

Did you connect? Which node did you connect to? Do you have an open connection?

Should have connected ok. You have to go to statistics to figure out which node and your SSH connection remains open until you exit putty or logoff.

Refresh (again) https://10.10.1.100

Are you load balancing? Why or why not? Are you connecting to the same node as 2 steps above?

Your previous 30 second persistence record should have timed out by now. The first request should go to a different member than previous session and then should persist for another 30 seconds.

For both https and http Click link source address

What is source address for http and https? Why are they different?

http should have a source IP of 172.16.1.33 because of SNAT Automap, and https should have a source IP of 10.10.1.30.

Browser session to https://10.10.1.102

Is the session secure? Is the data encrypted from the Server to the BIG-IP LTM?

The session should be secure (using https) from client PC to BIG-IP, then unencrypted (http) from BIG-IP to Server.


Lab Project LP-73

Answers to Review Questions 1. Which admin users passwords are changed by the BIG-IP setup utility, and what access

do they have (web GUI or Command Line)?

• root – and it should have access only to command line not the web GUI.

• admin – and it should initially have access only to the web GUI, but command line access can be added

2. What is a node? A pool and pool member? A virtual server?

• Node is IP Address only of a server where Pool Member typically contains both IP Address and Port

• A Pool is a group of Pool Members, and the Virtual Server is the client representation of the application. Clients seldom know there are multiple Pool Members behind a Virtual.

3. List the load balancing modes.

• Round Robin is the default load balancing mode but we can also use Ratio, Least Connections, Fastest, Observed and Predictive.

• F5 Networks continues to add new features to BIG-IP LTM including new load balancing modes, so you might see more depending on what version you are running.

4. How are monitors created, and what can they be assigned to?

• Just like other objects, they are created by selecting Monitors and clicking the create

button or the sign from the flyout menu.

• Monitors also need to be assigned before they will be used. Monitors can be assigned to all Nodes or an individual Node, or at the Pool level or to an individual Pool Member

5. If a particular node is in a node disabled condition, will any types of client requests still be directed to that pool member?

• Yes, client requests can still be directed to a disabled Node if there is still a persistent session (i.e. within the timeout window)

• On the other hand, if the Node is administratively “Forced Offline” rather than Disabled then no more client requests will be sent until the Node is Enabled again.

6. What is the difference between the client SSL and server SSL Profiles?

• The Client SSL Profile encrypts (https) network traffic between the client and BIG-IP.

• The Server SSL Profile encrypts (https) network traffic between BIG-IP and the servers.

7. Why would you use SNATs?

• SNATs are used to fix or assist with routing issues. There are MANY ways a SNAT can be used to resolve the many different types of routing issues, two are listed below.

o RFC1918 (non-routable) client traffic outbound to internet

o Pool Members default route cannot be pointed at BIG-IP, but remember… If BIG-IP changes an IP Address then response packet must return through BIG-IP.


LP-74 Lab Project

Appendix A


Appendix A: F5 Networks – the Company and its Products As the pioneer in Application Delivery Networks, F5 continues to lead the industry by driving more intelligence into the network to deliver advanced application agility. F5 products ensure the secure and optimized delivery of applications to any user, using any device, anywhere in the world. Through its flexible and cohesive architecture, F5 delivers unmatched value by improving the way organizations serve their employees, customers and constituents—while dramatically lowering operational costs.

F5’s application delivery network products provide: Application Optimization

F5's architecture automatically assigns every application the right mix of availability, security, and performance at the network level, further optimizing their performance. Application Security

F5's Application Traffic Management architecture supports integrated security features that protect the delivery of applications by enforcing security policies at the edge of the network, before a session is allowed. Application Delivery

F5's architecture delivers the raw horsepower, based on tightly integrated security, availability, scalability - all of which work together to deliver exceptional throughput and transaction performance.

F5 Product Suite Overview F5 products address the three main areas of Application Delivery Networking: Application Security, Application Optimization and Application Availability.

Regardless of your network application pain, F5 has a solution. In addition, because we recognize that each network issue has an impact upon other critical areas, F5 products share powerful attributes across the industry's only integrated platform - TMOS. TMOS includes the iControl API, which allows F5 products to communicate with each other and implement extremely flexible policies in the form of iRules. An active developer community, unique to F5, creates and shares customized iRules for enforcing virtually any kind of application-delivery behavior.

The result is elegant and powerful solutions to protect you from security threats, network failures and traffic congestion, while putting in place architecture for the future.

Appendix A


F5 Products include: BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager (GTM)

BIG-IP Link Controller (LC)

BIG-IP Application Security Manager (ASM)

BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

BIG-IP WebAccelerator (WAM)

BIG-IP WAN Optimization (WOM)

Enterprise Manager (EM)

FirePass

ARX

BIG-IP Edge Gateway

BIG-IP - Traffic Management From basic local and wide area load balancing, to link traffic management, to applications that require special handling and augmented security, F5 has the solution to fit every business need, and every business budget.

BIG-IP® Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Network intelligence on a cost-effective, integrated SSL hardware platform for flexible, fast, secure IP-centric traffic management

BIG-IP® LTM is a local area application traffic management solution. BIG-IP LTM provides the benefits of traffic management, traditionally reserved for Web-only applications, to all IP based applications and Web services. BIG-IP LTM ensures business continuity, security and performance by intercepting, inspecting, transforming, and directing application and Web services requests, based on values found in the header or payload. BIG-IP LTM products also include SSL acceleration to offload this processing-intensive function from the application servers themselves, increasing application performance.

BIG-IP® Global Traffic Manager (GTM )

Wide-area network high-availability, intelligent load balancing

The BIG-IP® GTM System provides wide-area traffic management and high availability of IP applications/services running across multiple data centers. With GTM, businesses can ensure optimal reliability and fast performance across all of their Internet sites, no matter where they are in the world. GTM adds intelligence to standard DNS, and ensures that end users are sent to a site that is available and provides the best response. Its unique intelligence can examine the health of data centers, the network, and the geography of users, then direct traffic based on customizable business rules.

Appendix A


BIG-IP® Link Controller (LC)

High availability and intelligent routing for multi-homed networks As enterprises increase their use of the Internet to deliver their business-critical applications, maintaining only one link to the public network represents a single point of failure and serious network vulnerability. The BIG-IP® Link Controller monitors availability and performance of multiple WAN connections to intelligently manage traffic flows to and from a site - providing fault tolerant, optimized Internet access.

BIG-IP® Application Security Manager (ASM)

Web Application Firewall

BIG-IP® ASM provides comprehensive security for IP-based applications and services, protecting them against known and unknown external threats at the network and application layers. ASM is an Application Firewall, a new class of device that protects applications from hackers and other malicious attacks.

ASM offers several modules for filtering out malicious requests, scrubbing data sent to users, and cloaking application infrastructure. The core functionality is a powerful application firewall that checks every user request against a known set of user interactions with the Web application, rejecting any request not known to be legal.

Unlike network firewall products that focus on protecting against network level attacks or pure Intrusion Prevention Systems that focus on preventing ever increasing quantities of known attacks. ASM offers organizations a complete Web application protection system capable of blocking a broad range of network, and Web application attacks.

BIG-IP® Access Policy Manager (APM)

Simplified web access management BIG-IP APM provides policy-based, context-aware access to users while simplifying authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) management. By providing full AAA control directly on the BIG-IP System, BIG-IP APM enables users to consolidate access infrastructure, reduce authentication and authorization costs, and scale to support thousands of users simultaneously.

BIG-IP APM provides dynamic access control by creating L4 and L7 access control lists (ACLs) based on user identity, IP address, and attributes such as group membership pulled from the directory.

In regards to authentication, BIG-IP APM supports Active Directory, Radius, Native RSA SecurID, and LDAP accounting as well as authentication redundancy.

Appendix A


BIG-IP® Web Accelerator™ (WAM)

Application Optimization Mobile workers access enterprise applications from coffee shops, airports and offices. These workers expect their web applications—e-mail, ERP, sales force automation—to perform well in all locations. If any part of the application delivery system falters, end-to-end performance degrades and productivity suffers.

BIG-IP WebAccelerator™ is an advanced application delivery solution that provides superior web application performance for mobile workers. WebAccelerator speeds up web applications such as Hyperion™, Peoplesoft™, Plumtree™, SAP™, Siebel™ and others, often increasing performance by 200% to 500%.

BIG-IP® WAN Optimization (WOM)

Optimize and accelerate mission-critical applications across the WAN BIG-IP WOM overcomes network and application issues on the WAN to ensure that all users get the application availability and performance they need to stay productive. These services are integrated directly on BIG-IP Systems and include superior compression, encryption, and traffic control capabilities that dramatically reduce bandwidth usage and enable users to improve quality of service for the critical applications that drive businesses.

Key benefits of WOM are: Encrypt and accelerate data between multiple BIG-IP devices

Reduce server usage and save on costly bandwidth upgrades with superior compression and TCP optimization

Accelerate applications across the WAN to improve user performance and scalability

Enterprise Manager (EM)

Simplified multi-F5 device management and control Enterprise Manager (EM) provides a single, centralized management and operational interface for F5 devices. It makes configuring and managing multiple F5 devices easy by allowing administrators to affect changes across many devices or objects - reducing overhead and saving time. With Enterprise Manager, you will:

Reduce your labor costs for managing multiple F5 devices

Archive and safeguard device configurations for contingency planning

Easily and quickly roll-out software upgrades and security patches

Receive alerts that help you keep a healthy environment and take proactive actions

Appendix A


FirePass®

SSL VPN Remote Access F5's FirePass Controller provides secure remote access to corporate applications and data via standard Web browser technology. It enables companies to extend secure remote access to anyone connected to the Internet using desktops, laptops, PDAs, kiosks and more - while eliminating the need for complex IPSec VPNs. FirePass is the first SSL VPN solution with complete cross-platform support. Extending its support for any IP application to Macintosh, PocketPC and Linux clients, in addition to Windows, and expanding client and application security for Web, email and file application access, FirePass supports access to Web hosts, terminal servers, client-server applications, legacy hosts, mobile devices and Windows desktops, without pre-installed client software.

ARX

Intelligent File Virtualization Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) holds tremendous promise for the enterprise, yet its adoption has been slowed by factors such as proprietary vendor approaches, complexity and lack of internal coordination. Increasingly enterprises are using intelligent file virtualization to create storage tiers and to use those tiers more efficiently, without many of the drawbacks associated with traditional ILM approaches. Intelligent file virtualization offers a simple, open approach to automated storage tiering that can be deployed rapidly to provide a dramatic positive economic impact to enterprises.

BIG-IP® Edge Gateway

Delivers secure and accelerated remote access to applications As more mobile and remote workers access applications and data from many different devices and locations, ensuring fast application performance for remote users is a growing concern for IT organizations.

BIG-IP Edge Gateway is an access solution that brings together SSL VPN remote access, security, application acceleration, and availability services for remote users. BIG-IP Edge Gateway drives identity into the network to provide context-aware, policy controlled, secure remote access to applications at LAN speed.

iControl® SDK

Software Development Kit

The iControl® architecture and SDK provide an interface between third party solutions and F5's suite of products. This interface creates the opportunity for application developers, ISV's, hardware manufacturers, service providers, and others to add value to their solutions by allowing direct communication with our suite to create a true application-aware network. For more information, please visit http://devcentral.f5.com.

Appendix A


Appendix B B-1


F5 Customer Support Network Support Center F5® Technical Support is designed to remotely assist you with specific break-fix issues regarding ongoing maintenance of your F5 products. All F5 products come with a one year manufacturer's hardware warranty and 90 days of software media warranty. Technical support is limited to F5 products with active support contracts. Subscribers who require additional levels of support from our support team may opt to upgrade to Premium Support, which includes 24 x 7 support.

Ask F5 Ask F5 is an online knowledgebase accessible 24x7 through our technical support website. Ask F5 gives you real-time access to in-depth product and technical support information, by providing a simple, English language query-based search. Ask F5 provides unlimited access at no additional charge for all F5 customers covered under an F5 annual service agreement.

Web Support Portal The F5 Web Support Portal provides you with more flexibility and better, faster access to F5 support, 24 x 7. Quickly initiate new support cases, immediately receive an automated case number, read case details and updates on your open cases, upload troubleshooting attachments, and more. You never have to remember phone numbers or wait on hold, and online help is always available.

DevCentral DevCentral is a community of experienced F5 users who regularly post answers based on real-life knowledge. To assist DevCentral members, F5 provides technical documentation, tips, access to free sample downloads, and a confidential discussion forum for receiving answers to technical questions. DevCentral is free of charge to our customers for building iRules and iControl applications, and the forum is monitored by F5 engineers and experts who offer assistance on technical questions including design, architecture, troubleshooting, and general assistance with building iRules and iControl applications.

Documentation for Support Common Document requested

NOTE: Solution ID SOL135 has been copied here from the Ask F5 database for reference purposes.

Solution ID: SOL135

Information required for opening a BIG-IP LTM or BIG-IP GTM support case

B-2 Appendix B


F5 Networks Technical Support can help resolve problems more quickly when you provide a full description of the problem and the details of your configuration. To help you gather all the required information, use the following guidelines to prepare for opening a case.

General Information Provide the following information when you open a case with F5 Networks Technical Support:

A full description of the problem, including the following:

• The symptoms of the problem.

• The approximate time the problem first occurred.

• The number of times the problem has recurred.

• Any error output provided by the system.

• Steps to reproduce the problem.

• Any changes you made to the system before the problem first occurred.

• Any steps you have attempted to solve the problem. A description of the impact the problem is having on your site, using the following definitions:

• Site Down - Your network or application is down or critical business functions have stopped due to the problem.

• Site at Risk - Your network or application is severely and negatively impacted by the problem.

• Performance Severely Degraded - The performance of your network or application has been severely reduced due to the problem.

• Performance Impaired - Your network or application is suffering from reduced performance, but otherwise continues to work as expected.

• General Assistance Required - The subject of the case does not currently impact your network or application.

The hours that you are available to work on the problem and any alternative contacts that can work on the problem if you are not available.

Remote access information, if possible.

Remote access to your network environment is important, because it is the most effective method for collecting information and troubleshooting technical issues. If you cannot provide remote access, F5 Networks Technical Support will work directly with you to resolve the issue over the phone; however, this method can often be more time consuming and may require file transfers, replication, and additional testing.

Product specific information Collect the following information from the affected system(s) and provide it when you open the case. For information about sending this information to F5 Networks, refer to SOL2486: Providing files to F5 Networks Technical Support.

Appendix B B-3


tech.out file A tech.out file contains the configuration files that F5 Networks Technical Support most frequently needs when troubleshooting a problem. A tech.out file is produced by the qkview utility and the terms tech.out and qkview may be used interchangeably.

For more information about qkview, refer to SOL1858: Overview of the qkview utility.

Log files The tech.out file contains the log files for the last day. If the problem has existed for more than a day, provide all the log files on the system, by performing the following steps:

1. Log in to the command line.

2. Change directories to the /var/log directory, by typing the following command: cd /var/log

3. Place all of the log files in a tar archive, by typing the following command: tar -czpf /var/tmp/logfiles.tar.gz *

4. This command will create a tar archive named logfiles.tar.gz in the /var/tmp directory.

Packet traces If the problem involves the network, perform a packet trace while the problem is occurring and provide the packet trace when you open the case.

For more information about performing packet traces with tcpdump, refer to SOL2246: Performing a packet trace and providing the results to F5 Networks Support.

UCS archive If you cannot give F5 Support remote access to your system, you must provide a UCS archive of the current configuration. For more information, refer to SOL2250: Overview of UCS archives.

Core files Core files contain the contents of the system memory at the time a crash occurred. If the system has been configured to save core files, they will be located in the /var/savecore directory. Provide any existing core files when you open the case.

If the system is crashing and has not yet been configured to save core files, configure it so that a core file will be saved the next time the crash occurs.

For more information, refer to the following Solutions: For switch appliances: SOL2226: Saving core files on BIG-IP or 3-DNS Controllers that have limited

disk space

For server appliances and blade controllers: SOL266: Configuring the BIG-IP or 3-DNS Controller to save a core dump

B-4 Appendix B


tcpdump tcpdump is one of the main troubleshooting tools used by the F5 Networks Support group to determine what is happening on a BIG-IP LTM System.

Functions and Syntax tcpdump is a Unix command line interface (CLI) utility available on the BIG-IP LTM System. You can run tcpdump by typing tcpdump with or without a variety of options, which offer a view of packets entering and leaving the interfaces and /or VLANs on a BIG-IP LTM System. tcpdump is the primary command line utility used for troubleshooting packet flow on the BIG-IP LTM System as well as other network devices. Acting as a network analyzer, tcpdump allows network traffic to be seen on the screen in real time or recorded to a file for playback later. tcpdump has several syntax options and allows use of expressions to enable viewing specific types or amounts of traffic. A single session of tcpdump will monitor only one interface at a time. However, instances may be run simultaneously, allowing multiple interfaces to be viewed.

An example of common tcpdump syntax follows: tcpdump -i external host 172.16.1.100 and port 80

This command causes tcpdump to monitor the external interface for any packets containing a source or destination IP address of 172.16.1.100, a source or destination port 80, and display them on the screen. The general syntax is: tcpdump switches filters.

If you include multiple filters, they must be separated by Boolean arguments such as and, or and not.

The table below lists some options for tcpdump.

Parameter Type Meaning

-i <interface> Switch Specifies the interface to use. The first interface (often external) is the default if this parameter is omitted.

-i <VLAN> Switch Specifies the VLAN to use.

-e Switch Displays MAC addresses.

-n Switch Disables name resolution to enable display of IP address and port numbers instead of names.

-X Switch Displays packets in hex and decodes in ASCII.

-s <value> Switch Specifies bytes packet size to display. Default is 76.

-w <value> Switch Writes output to specified file

-r <value> Switch Reads from specified file

host <ip> Filter Displays packets either to or from that host.

<protocol> Filter ICMP, UDP, ARP, etc.

port <port> Filter Displays packets either to or from the specified port.

Appendix B B-5


Saving Data to File There are two methods to store tcpdump output to a file. The recommended method stores the data in a compressed format so that other utilities, such as EtherReal or Wireshark can read the file.

Example: tcpdump –w <filename> host 10.10.10.30 and port 80

F5 Professional Services F5 Professional Services executes on the company's paradigm of innovation by delivering a full-range of consulting services, including planning, design, deployments, upgrades, migrations, optimization and application verification to ensure a highly available, scalable and secure infrastructure.

Design and Planning Services Maximize your return on product investment. Allow our Professional Consultants to design an optimal network architecture and create a comprehensive deployment plan to put it into production. We design efficiency, flexibility, scalability and security into each and every project to fit your business needs, utilizing F5 best practices for physical and logical topology and application traffic management.

Installation Services An F5 professional Consultant will work to ensure your F5 product is installed and running as efficiently as possible. Network topology, load balancing design review, application tuning and product orientation are included in this service. Network performance tuning and comprehensive product training are not included.

Optimization Services F5 Consultants can help you leverage the true power of advanced product features such as compression, caching, and traffic shaping. Network performance tuning and application tuning are also offered to optimize your F5 deployment.

Application Deployment Services Get the most out of your load balanced applications by allowing an F5 product expert to assist with application deployment. An F5 consultant will review your business goals, application architecture and traffic management requirements to create a comprehensive deployment plan, then assist in its implementation.

Upgrade and Migration Services Take advantage of the latest and greatest traffic management features. Our seasoned consultants will work with you to plan and execute upgrades to new software versions or hardware platforms. We are also happy to assist you with migrations from competing traffic management products.

B-6 Appendix B


Design Review and Verification Services Seek an expert’s opinion on your traffic management and network architecture. Our seasoned consultants inspect aspects of your F5 device configuration and the surrounding network, making recommendations and observations relevant to your business goals.

Custom Scripting and Monitor Development Many applications require “outside the box” customization possible only by scripting: EAVs (Extended Application Verification), complex monitors, iRules™, iControl®, and other complex automated tasks can take your F5 investment to the next level. F5 Consultants have the requisite extensive knowledge of F5 products’ internal workings to develop creative and compatible solutions that address your specific requirements.

Appendix B B-7


Pre-Installation Information Objective: Now having a better understanding of the BIG-IP LTM Software and how it works, this section conveys additional information to consider during a BIG-IP LTM System installation. You will learn the types of hardware and networking questions that need to be answered before an installation takes place.

Pre-installation hardware checklist Network Hardware

1. What is the physical media type used in your environment?

2. If Fast Ethernet, do you use switched or shared media (or both)?

3. What brand/type of switches or hubs do you use?

4. What brand/type of routers do you use?

5. What IP network ranges do you use?

6. What are your future needs for IP addresses (considering growth)?

7. What routing protocols do you employ (both internally and at the border)?

8. What router redundancy methods do you employ?

9. Do you use multiple ISPs for link redundancy?

Servers 1. What type of hardware are your servers?

2. What OS are your servers?

Backend databases and application servers 1. What type of hardware are your backend database servers?

2. What backend database products do you use? Oracle

MS SQL 6.5

Informix

B-8 Appendix B


Pre-installation network checklist Wide Area

Describe any geographical disbursed fail-over sites do you have? Do you do any load distribution across multiple geographic sites? Is co-location or hosting part of your multi-site plans?

Bandwidth What is the total amount of bandwidth into each geographical site? What is the average amount of sustained throughput that you use? Do you use any rate shaping or traffic prioritization products?

Backend database replication • Transaction level • Batch replication • Hardware mirroring • Software mirroring

Do you use any backend HA devices or software?

• Network Appliance • Qualix • Veritas • Wolfpack

What other backend content products do you use?

• Opentext • Vinette Story server • BroadVision

State maintenance Do your applications require that the client return to the same server for the entire session?

Security concerns/Architecture How important is security to your site? What type of firewall do you use? Does your firewall perform NAT?

Describe the basic rule set used: What type of proxy server do you use? What type of cache server do you use? What type of VPN do you use?

Network Management How do you view or manage your network site? What products do you use for network troubleshooting/monitoring? • CA Unicenter • HP Openview • NetIQ • Compaq Insight Manager • MS-SMS

Administrative How do you securely administer your server or backend database if your site is co-located? Do you have a secure back channel or VPN via the internet for server or database administration? Do you use and remote terminal software PC Anywhere, Remotely Possible, F-Secure SSH, Telnet, etc?

Appendix B B-9


Pre-Installation Checklist Follow the steps below to ensure proper installation of your BIG-IP LTM System.

1. Provide 3 real internet addresses for a redundant BIG-IP LTM System configuration. 2. Provide a real internet address for each virtual IP address (VIP) or NAT. 3. Provide 3 internal IP addresses (e.g. 10.x.x.x, RFC 1918 etc.) [redundant BIG-IP LTM System

configuration]. 4. Provide one internal IP address per node on the internal network. 5. Provide appropriate connectivity to physical segments. 6. Provide the IP addresses of the DNS servers (optional depending on implementation). 7. Provide access to the existing production content server(s), or an alternate content server. 8. Provide a monitor, keyboard and the appropriate power outlet for the monitor. 9. Provide one 110/220 power outlet for each BIG-IP LTM System unit. 10. Provide monitor A/B switch (optional). 11. Identify and provide access to any management workstations

(For example workstation running CA Unicenter or other monitoring tool). 12. Identify and provide access to a monitoring workstation (non-dedicated) for the SSH client software

(optional). 13. Designate an individual as the primary contact and “BIG-IP LTM System administrator” (tier 2 or 3). 14. Verify that each BIG-IP LTM external IP address can be accessed through incoming tcp port 22

(optional - to verify remote administration capability). 15. Verify that each BIG-IP LTM System can use outgoing tcp port 22 from tcp port 1023-1019 (optional). 16. Verify your ability to change DNS A records (for conversion from DNS round robin). 17. Create a DNS entry for each BIG-IP LTM administrative IP address (optional).

B-10 Appendix B


BIG-IP LTM System Worksheet

Appendix B B-11


Installing BIG-IP LTM V10.x software Performing prerequisite Installation tasks A basic installation consists of some prerequisite tasks that prepare you for installing the software. These prerequisite tasks are the same, regardless of whether you are installing the software on a system that is already running version 9.6.x or earlier versions of 10.x, or upgrading to version 10.x from version 9.3.x or 9.4.x. These tasks involve:

Configuring the management interface

Establishing a connection to the system

Setting the active volume

Making sure the license is active and updated

Configuring the management interface To install software upgrades and perform management tasks on the BIG-IP system, you must use the management interface. When you initially set up the system hardware, you probably configured an IP address, netmask, and default route for the management interface. If you did not, you can use the default settings, or you can use the LCD controls to specify settings appropriate to your network.

To allow remote connections, the traffic management software comes with a default root account and password and two pre-defined IP addresses. The preferred default IP address is 192.168.1.245. The alternate IP address is 192.168.245.245. The default netmask is 255.255.255.0. To change the default IP Address on the management port using the “config” command or the LCD front console refer to the BIG-IP v10 Getting Started Guide.

Working with volumes This version of the BIG-IP system software uses the volumes disk-formatting scheme. A specific section of a hard drive is called a volume. Also called logical volume management (LVM), this feature supports all platforms and modules available for the BIG-IP system. The volume holds a complete version of the BIG-IP software. You can create additional volumes to hold additional software versions, and you can delete existing volumes you no longer need.

To install the software, you boot to a volume that you do not want to upgrade, to serve as the source. You cannot install to the active volume. LVM labels, disk names, partition and volume indexes, and file system labels are used internally by the disk management system. At any given time, only one volume may be the active partition. The active volume or partition contains the software that runs when you start up or reboot the system. For more information on creating, deleting or setting the active volume, refer to the BIG-IP v10 Getting Started Guide.

Activating the software license To install new versions of BIG-IP system software, you must have an active and updated license. An active and updated license contains a valid service check date for the system software release you plan to install and run. During installation and initialization, the system verifies the software release check date in the software against the service check date in the license file on your system.

B-12 Appendix B


To activate the license for the system, you must have a base registration key. The base registration key is a 27-character string that lets the license server know which F5 products you are entitled to license. The base registration key is preinstalled on your system. If the system is not yet licensed, the Configuration utility prompts you to enter the base registration key. You enter keys for additional modules using settings in the Add-On Registration Key List area of the License screen.

Performing Software Installations This section describes the method to install and upgrade BIG-IP version 10 systems. Version 10 uses a new utility, image2disk, for both installations and upgrades. With image2disk you can install many different versions of BIG-IP; you are no longer limited to two slots. However, if you later choose to downgrade to version 9, you must reinstall the system and revert to two slots.

Upgrading from software versions earlier than 9.3.x You cannot upgrade directly to version 10.x from BIG-IP version 4.x or from BIG-IP versions 9.0.x through 9.2.x. You must perform an indirect upgrade, by first installing software version 9.3.x or 9.4.x, and then following the process for upgrading to version 10.x from version 9.3.x or 9.4.x. For details about upgrading to version 9.3.x or 9.4.x, see the release notes for the associated release.

Upgrading from BIG-IP version 9.3 or 9.4 Image2disk did not exist with version 9. However, if you copy the ISO image for version 10 and run the installation manager (IM), it will extract the image2disk utility.

1. Create a /shared/images directory mkdir /shared/images

2. Copy the version 10 ISO to the /shared/images directory

Use a utility such as winscp or ftp

3. Run installation manager to extract the image2disk utility

im <ISO File name> Example: im BIGIP-10.0.0.5401.0.iso

Results: [root@big1:Active] images # im BIGIP-10.0.0.5401.0.iso /tmp/rpmdisk.SVfD7C /shared/images info: system has tm_install-2.4-36.0 info: system has perl-RPM2-0.67-10.0.0.5401.0 The im utility is no longer used to upgrade software images. Please use 'image2disk'. For help, use 'image2disk -h'. You must always install to an image location that is not in use. Here is your current image-location status: HD1.1 active yes default yes title BIG-IP 9.4.5 Build 1049.10 HD1.2 active no default no title BIG-IP 10.0.0 Build 5401.0

4. Install version 10 on the slot that is not currently active. See following steps.

Appendix B B-13


Version 10 Installation using image2disk Image2disk has many parameters. You must specify the installation slot (instslot) and if the ISO is a hotfix, you must include that parameter. Other parameters are optional.

The table below lists the common parameters. The general syntax is: image2disk <parameters> /path/FileName.iso

Parameter Example Description --instslot=LOCATION

--instslot=HD1.1 Where to install the software. The slot cannot be the currently active slot.

--format=STYLE --format=volumes --format=partitions

Version 9 does not support volumes. Once the system is converted to volumes, more than 2 images can be installed simultaneously.

--hotfix --hotfix Used when the installation is a hotfix. --nosaveconfig --nosaveconfig Whether to save and restore the current

configuration. --nvlicenseok --nvlicenseok Allow installation even if the license is not

valid. Note that the installation will not function until a valid license is obtained.

--setdefault --setdefault Change the default boot slot to the newly installed image

--reboot --reboot Reboot after installation.

Assuming the system is currently booted to the image on slot HD1.1, the following command, run from the /shared/images directory, would install a clean image of version 10 on slot 1.2, change the default boot location to the new image, and reboot the system after installation. image2disk --instslot=HD1.2 --nosaveconfig --setdefault --reboot BIGIP-10.0.0.5401.0.iso

Assuming the system is currently booted to the image on slot HD1.1, the following command, run from the /shared/images directory, would install a hotfix on the image in slot HD1.2, but leave the current slot active. image2disk --instslot=HD1.2 --hotfix Hotfix-BIGIP-10.0.0-5460.HF1.iso

After any upgrade, you can confirm the installed versions by issuing the switchboot command. Switchboot displays the version that is installed on each slot, shows which is the current default boot slot, and allows you to change the default boot slot. The output shown below is of a system with version 9.4.5 on slot 1.1 and version 10 with hotfix 1 on slot 1.2. Slot 1.1 is currently set as the default boot slot.

B-14 Appendix B


Version 10 Management using the Configuration Utility Version 10 also supports software version management through the Configuration Utility. This includes importing ISO images, installing ISO images, changing the default boot partition, and creating additional boot slots for systems that have been converted to the volume system.

The screen above shows the version of the current installations, the default boot image, and the available images to install. The Import button would allow you to copy additional images from your PC to the BIG-IP system.

The Hotfix List tab shows the list of Hotfixes on the system.

The Boot Locations tab shows the current default boot image but also allows you to change it.

The Volume Management tab shows the list of partitions or volumes (version 10 only). Once the system is converted to volumes, additional volumes can be created.

Appendix B B-15


v10 Reload Steps Note: The F5 Training lab environment does not support reload or re-install, so these steps are listed for your reference only.

Download 1. Access the ISO and MD5 files per the instructor’s directions. Copy the files to the

/shared/images directory.

Verify the Download 1. Check the iso against the md5 file with the command

md5sum <filename> | diff -<filename.md5>

2. If they are not the same then download the file again.

Reboot and make other partition the active partition 1. Type switchboot and set the other partition as the default partition, then reboot.

Install 1. Install the iso with the command:

image2disk --instslot=HD1.x --nosaveconfig <filename>

Reboot and make other partition the active partition 1. Type switchboot and set the original partition as the default boot partition.

Verify Installation 1. After the system reboots, verify the version and note the hotfix.

b version or tmsh> show /sys version and show /sys license

B-16 Appendix B


Appendix C


Appendix C: Additional Training from F5 Global Training Services F5 offers extensive, expert training on F5 products for IT professionals. We help you achieve success through career certifications while keeping you one step ahead of rapidly changing networking and Internet technologies. Courses are presented in a hands-on lab format, combining theoretical content with highly interactive exercises to help IT professionals experience real-world applications and solutions. These services are delivered through F5 and F5-authorized training centers located around the world. Following is a list of available courses along with a brief description of each one:

BIG-IP LTM - ADVANCED TOPICS (Prerequisite: BIG-IP LTM Essentials) This two-day course builds on the foundation of the BIG-IP LTM Essentials course to give networking professionals an in-depth understanding of the BIG-IP LTM system. It also covers less commonly used but more powerful ways of using the many features of the BIG-IP LTM system. In addition, significant time is spent using the command line tools to configure the BIG-IP LTM system. This hands-on course includes lectures, labs and discussions. Students will learn about command line functions, advanced configurations, and advanced troubleshooting.

TROUBLESHOOTING BIG-IP LTM (Prerequisite: BIG-IP LTM Essentials) This two-day course gives networking professionals hands-on knowledge of how to troubleshoot a BIG-IP LTM system using a number of troubleshooting techniques and troubleshooting and system tools. This course includes lectures, labs, and discussions.

CONFIGURING BIG-IP WITH IRULES (Prerequisite: BIG-IP LTM Essentials) This three-day course gives networking professionals an understanding of how to configure a BIG-IP system with iRules. The course builds on the foundation of the BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) Essentials course, demonstrating how to logically plan and write iRules to help monitor and manage common tasks involved with processing traffic on the BIG-IP. Course Labs consist of writing, applying and evaluating the effect of iRules on LTM traffic. This hands-on course includes lectures, labs, and discussions.

BIG-IP GLOBAL TRAFFIC MANAGER (GTM) (Prerequisite: None but LTM Essentials helps) The BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager course is designed for networking professionals to renew their understanding of DNS network systems and wide-area networks, master pre-installation information gathering, and apply this information to the process of installing a GTM System.

Utilizing both simulated installation activities and hands-on exercises, participants gain real-time experience setting up and configuring both primary and secondary GTM Systems, WAN systems, integrating multiple GTM Systems, and migrating DNS systems to a GTM. Participants will also gain knowledge of the essential GTM management interfaces that assist network managers. In addition, this course covers configuring, monitoring and testing GTM Systems and networks, as well as dynamic and static load balancing, and GTM report screens.

BIG-IP APPLICATION SECURITY MANAGER (ASM) (Prerequisite: None) This four-day course covers ways to manage Web-based and XML application attacks and the use of Application Security Manager to defend against these attacks. The course covers installation, configuration, management, security policy building, traffic learning, and implementation of Application Security Manager in both stand-alone and modular configurations. This class includes lectures, labs, demonstrations, and discussions.

Appendix C


ARCHITECTING BIG-IP IN AN APPLICATION DELIVERY NETWORK (Prereq: LTM – Adv Topics) This two-day course gives networking professionals an understanding of how to architect and design BIG-IP devices into an application delivery network. The course builds on the foundation of the BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) Essentials and Advanced Topics courses, demonstrating the next steps for implementing BIG-IP in a way that effectively delivers your client applications. The labs for the course involve design exercises and group discussions. Based on the knowledge gained in other BIG-IP LTM courses, you will work with other students to build network designs that incorporate BIG-IP LTM to accomplish customer goals. The course will cover many network design options, as well as best practices for given customer scenarios. The course will also explore other design options available using BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager, BIG-IP Link Controller, BIG-IP Application Security Manager, BIG-IP Message Security Module, and BIG-IP WebAccelerator.

BIG-IP ACCESS POLICY MANAGER (APM) (Prerequisite: None) This two and ½ -day course provides security and network professionals with a functional understanding of the BIG-IP® Access Policy Manager (APM). The course includes installation, configuration, management and troubleshooting on a BIG-IP® APM. Students will build many different Access Policies representing different customer scenarios using the Visual Policy Editor. This hands-on course includes lectures, labs, and discussions.

BIG-IP WEBACCELERATOR (WAM) (Prerequisite: None) This one day course is designed to help network professionals improve web site customer experience using the WebAccelerator product. The course focuses on typical HTTP processes and how the WebAccelerator Module can take advantage of those processes to decrease response time while ensuring data accuracy and integrity. Using lectures and hands-on exercises, participants gain real-time experience configuring WebAccelerator settings including editing standard policies to affect how the traffic is manipulated as it is processed by the system.

BIG-IP WAN OPTIMIZATION (WOM) (Prerequisite: None) This half day course is designed to help network professionals improve the performance of WAN connections between Data Centers or Central and Remote Offices using the WAN Optimization product. Using lectures and hands-on exercises, participants gain real-time experience configuring WAN Optimization Module settings. In addition, students will edit the Quick Start template and optimization policies to effect how the traffic is optimized as it is processed by the system.

BIG-IP LINK CONTROLLER (LC) (Prerequisite: None) BIG-IP Link Controller is a two-day course that provides network professionals an understanding of how to define, monitor, and load balance bi-directional traffic flow between multiple links to meet business performance and cost priorities. Participants will gain knowledge of essential BIG-IP LC features such as virtual servers, pools, monitors and SNATs along with BIG-IP GTM features such as DNS, WideIPs, and Listeners and how these integrate into the Link Controller System. This hands-on course includes lectures, labs and discussions.

Appendix C


CONFIGURING & ADMINISTERING ARX (Prerequisite: None) This three-day course is designed to help students learn about the architecture, configuration, administration and basic troubleshooting of the ARX product family. Students will learn to pre-qualify storage to be virtualized, design namespaces for CIFS, NFS or multiprotocol environments, configure file, age, and load balancing, etc. This hands-on course includes lectures, labs, and discussions.

TROUBLESHOOTING & MONITORING ARX (Prerequisite: Configuring and Administering ARX) This two-day course provides students with a solid understanding of monitoring and troubleshooting techniques for the ARX product family using the CLI and ARX Manager (GUI). Students will learn to upgrade, monitor and troubleshoot namespaces, policies and authentication in CIFS, NFS or multiprotocol environments with an emphasis on both problem determination and avoidance. Students will also learn how to collect diagnostic information and packet captures that will be useful when escalating issues to the F5 Support team. This hands-on course includes lectures, labs, and discussions.

FIREPASS V6.X (Prerequisite: None) This three-day course provides security and network professionals with a functional understanding of the FirePass® Controller. The course includes installation, configuration, management and troubleshooting on a FirePass system. Lectures, demonstrations, hands-on labs and discussions will be incorporated.

For more details about course offerings, pricing, schedules, and registration, see the following web site: http://www.f5.com/training-support/global-training/

Appendix C


Documents

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