Manual Chapter :
Setting Up an Azure Cloud Environment
Applies To:
Show Versions
BIG-IQ Centralized Management
6.1.0
Setting Up an Azure Cloud Environment
Add
Azure
cloud and environment details
BIG-IQ needs the credentials and parameters for your
Azure
cloud provider and cloud environment so that it can communicate with the
BIG-IP devices it manages in your service scaling group. Also, if you choose
to bring your own license (BYOL) for the devices in this SSG, you need to
activate a pool of BYOL licenses, and then provide details about the license
server when you configure the cloud environment.
Specify credentials
required to connect to an Azure cloud
You create a new Azure cloud provider to tell BIG-IQ
how to connect to your Azure environment.
At the top of the screen, click
Applications
then, on the
left, click
ENVIRONMENTS
Cloud Providers
.
Click
Create
.
The New Cloud Provider
screen opens.
Type a
Name
and optional
Description
for the cloud provider you are creating, to help identify it
when you want to use it later.
From the
Provider Type
list, select
Azure
.
The screen refreshes, and displays
fields (under Provider Details) that you use to specify your Azure
credentials.
Type or paste in the
Tenant ID
,
Client ID
, and
Service Principal Secret
for your Azure
environment.
Click
Test
to confirm that the account details just provided are correct.
The system checks with the Azure
interface to confirm that the credentials and account details you provided are valid, and
then fills in the
Subscription
ID
that Azure uses to track all of the metrics for the account associated
with these credentials.
Click
Save
& Close
.
The system creates the new provider,
which is now ready to be used in a cloud environment.
Before you can use
this provider in a service scaling group, you need to specify the cloud environment
details.
Activate a pool of BYOL licenses
Before you can activate a BYOL license, you need to purchase it from
F5 Networks. Once you complete your purchase, you get your base registration key,
typically in the form of an email.
If you
use the
Azure
marketplace licensing
option, skip this task.
When you choose the BYOL license option, you need to activate a pool
of licenses that the BIG-IQ can use for the new BIG-IP VE devices that the service
scaling group (SSG) creates in the cloud. You can use this procedure to automatically
contact the F5 license server for activation.
You can use this BIG-IQ as your license server,
or you can use another BIG-IQ as your license server, as long as it is running BIG-IQ
version 5.4.0 or later.
At the top of the screen, click
Devices
.
On the left, click
LICENSE MANAGEMENT
Licenses
.
Click the
Add License
button.
In the
License Name
field, type a
name to identify this license.
In the
Base Registration Key
field,
type or paste the registration key, and into the
Add-on Keys
field, type or
paste any associated add-on keys.
For the
Activation Method
setting, select
Automatic
.
Click the
Activate
button at the bottom
of the screen.
Review the user legal agreement and if you agree,
select the
I have read and agree
to the terms of this license
check box.
When the activation status displays as
Active
, you can use this pool of licenses
in the cloud environment configuration you define for your SSG.
Create a new Azure
cloud environment
A
service scaling group (SSG) manages the resources needed to run your application by prompting
the creation or deletion of BIG-IP VE virtual instances, as needed. You create a cloud
environment that describes the details of the Azure virtual network in which those instances
exist. You also specify details that describe the instances that the SSG creates in this
environment.
At the top of the screen, click
Applications
then, on the
left, click
ENVIRONMENTS
Cloud Environments
.
Click
Create
.
The New Cloud Environment
screen opens.
Give this environment a
Name
and an optional
Description
.
From the
Device Template
list, select the device template you want to use to
configure new BIG-IP VE devices when scaling out.
For
Cloud
Provider
, select your Azure cloud provider.
The Azure Properties area displays
fields that you use to specify details about the Azure environment.
From the
Location
list, select the region in which the private cloud you created for
this environment resides.
For
License
Type
, select the kind of license that you want to use for the devices
created in this environment.
Choose
BYOL
if you have purchased a BYOL
license.
Choose
Utility
if you want Azure to bill you
on an hourly basis for the licenses you consume.
If you choose
BYOL
, additional fields are displayed in
the BYOL License Information area.
For
BIG-IP
Image Name
, select the type of BIG-IP you want to use for this
environment.
Make sure you use one of the BYOL images if you
plan to buy a license for this environment instead of using one of the utility
offerings.
For
Services
To Deploy
, select the F5 service you want to use for this environment.
The Local Traffic and Application Visibility
Reporting modules are selected by default. This is the minimum viable configuration for an
SSG.
For
Instance
Type
, select the Azure instance type that provides the resources needed for
this environment.
The Local Traffic and Application Visibility
Reporting modules are selected by default. This is the minimum viable configuration for an
SSG.
For
Source
Address Restriction
, using the CIDR format, specify the addresses that you
want to be able to access this SSG.
For example
12.12.0.0/16
.
Only addresses that match your entry
will have access to this SSG (IP addresses that use
12.12.xxx.xxx
in the example
above).
For the
VNet
Address
fields, select the VNet address that you created in your Azure
environment.
For the
Management Subnet
fields, select the management address that you created in
your Azure environment.
If you are defining an SSG that uses a utility license,
skip to the last step to save your settings.
If you selected
BYOL
for
License Type
, supply the following
information:
For
BIG-IQ IP Address
, type the address of the BIG-IQ that acts as the
license server for your Azure environment.
For
BIG-IQ User
, type the user name for the admin account on the BIG-IQ
Azure license server.
For
BIG-IQ Password
, type the password for the admin account on the BIG-IQ
Azure license server.
For
BIG-IQ License Pool Name
, type the name of the purchased license pool
on the BIG-IQ Azure license server.
If the license you activated includes offerings, for
Offering Name
, type the
name of the particular offering from the license pool just specified that you want to
use to license devices in this SSG.
For
Unit
of Measure
, select the interval that you want F5 to use when billing you
for this license.
The hourly interval is most expensive, but
the time that you are billed more closely matches your actual use. Decide on what
works best for your situation.
