Manual Chapter : Creating a virtual server for Okta API

Applies To:

  • BIG-IP APM

    16.0.1, 16.0.0

Updated Date: 07/07/2026

Creating a virtual server for Okta API

You create a virtual server to act as the traffic destination address. Then you associate both a per-session policy and a per-request policy (properly configured using Okta MFA) with the virtual server. Requests coming in are protected using two levels of authentication: first at login and second Okta MFA.

If you have already created a virtual server, simply open it to make sure that the fields required to implement MFA with Okta Factor API are set correctly.

  1. On the Main tab, click Local Traffic > Virtual Servers.

    The Virtual Server List screen opens.

  2. Click Create.

    The New Virtual Server screen opens.

  3. In the Name field, type a unique name for the virtual server.

  4. For the Destination Address/Mask setting, confirm that the Host button is selected, and type the IP address in CIDR format.

  5. In the Service Port field, type 443 or select HTTPS from the list.

  6. From the HTTP Profile (Client) list, select http.

  7. For the SSL Profile (Client) setting, from the Available list, select clientssl, and using the Move button, move the name to the Selected list.

  8. From the Source Address Translation list, select Auto Map.

  9. If you have several servers that host your backend applications, you may want to set up load balancing and create a pool. If you do, you should specify the Default Pool in the Resources section.

  10. In the Access Policy area, from Access Profile, select the access policy you created, and which performs the primary authentication.

  11. From Per-Request Policy, select the per-request policy you created for Okta API.

  12. Optional: Customize other settings as needed, or use the defaults.

  13. Click Finished.

The virtual server is created with the access policies and appropriate settings for Okta MFA.

You should send traffic to test the login process. Users log in with primary authentication, then the first time, they are asked to enroll in Okta MFA. (They can select only one factor here but you can set up a second factor using Okta Admin.) The user can select from the Okta factors set up for them on the Okta Admin Console. Subsequent logins go straight to the option(s) configured where the user is authenticated by Okta MFA using Push, TOTP, or Yubikey.