Manual Chapter : Create BIG-IP objects for Layer 2 transparency

Applies To:

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BIG-IP LTM

  • 17.1.0, 17.0.0, 16.1.5, 16.1.4, 16.1.3, 16.1.2, 16.1.1, 16.1.0, 16.0.1, 16.0.0, 15.1.10, 15.1.9, 15.1.8, 15.1.7, 15.1.6, 15.1.5, 15.1.4, 15.1.3, 15.1.2, 15.1.1, 15.1.0, 15.0.1, 15.0.0, 14.1.5, 14.1.4, 14.1.3, 14.1.2, 14.1.0, 14.0.1, 14.0.0
Manual Chapter

Create BIG-IP objects for Layer 2 transparency

To configure the BIG-IP system as an inline device operating in Layer 2 transparency mode, you first need to create a virtual wire configuration object. Creating a virtual wire object causes the BIG-IP system to automatically perform these actions:
  • Create trunks for accepting all VLAN traffic, with Link Aggregation Protocol (LACP) enabled.
  • Set the trunk members (interfaces) to virtual wire mode.
  • Create two VLANs with tag 4096 that allow all Layer 2 ingress traffic.
  • Create a VLAN group to logically connect the VLANs.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Network
    Virtual Wire
    .
    This object appears on certain BIG-IP platforms only.
    The Virtual Wire screen opens.
  2. Click
    Create
    .
  3. In the
    Name
    field, type a name for the virtual wire object.
  4. On the right side of the screen, click the double-arrow symbol to expand the Shared Objects panel.
  5. Click within the Trunks heading area.
    This displays a list of existing trunks, and displays the
    +
    symbol for creating a trunk.
  6. Click the
    +
    symbol.
  7. In the
    Name
    field, type a name for the trunk, such as
    trunk_external
    or
    trunk_internal
    .
  8. In the
    Interfaces
    list, select the check boxes for the interfaces that you want to include in the trunk.
  9. From the
    LACP
    list, select
    Enabled
    .
    This enables the Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) to monitor link availability within the trunk.
  10. Click
    Commit
    .
    If you do not see the
    Commit
    button, try using a different browser.
    This creates the trunk that you can specify as an interface when you complete the creation of the virtual wire object.
  11. Repeat steps 6 through 10 to create a second trunk.
  12. In the Member 1 column, from the
    Interfaces/Trunks
    list, select a trunk name, such as
    trunk_external
    .
  13. In the Member 2 column, from the
    Interfaces/Trunks
    list, select another trunk name, such as
    trunk_internal
    .
  14. In the VLAN Traffic Management Configuration column, for the
    Define VLANs
    list, use the default value of
    No
    .
  15. Click
    Done Editing
    .
  16. Click
    Commit Changes to System
    .
After you perform this task, the BIG-IP system contains a virtual wire object, two trunks, two VLANs, and a VLAN group.