Manual Chapter : Setting Up an Azure Cloud Environment

Applies To:

  • BIG-IQ Centralized Management

    7.0.0

Updated Date: 07/07/2026

Setting Up an Azure Cloud Environment

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.

You create a new Azure cloud provider to tell BIG-IQ how to connect to your Azure environment.

  1. At the top of the screen, click Applications then, on the left, click ENVIRONMENTS > Cloud Providers.

  2. Click Create.

    The New Cloud Provider screen opens.

  3. Type a Name and optional Description for the cloud provider you are creating, to help identify it when you want to use it later.

  4. From the Provider Type list, select Azure.

    The screen refreshes, and displays settings (under Provider Details) that you use to specify your Azure credentials.

  5. Type or paste in the Tenant ID, Client ID, and Service Principal Secret for your Azure environment.

  6. Click Test to confirm that the account details that you 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.

  7. Click Save & Close.

The system creates the new provider, which is now ready to be used in a cloud environment.

Before you can create a service scaling group, you need to specify the cloud environment details. But if you are going to use a license pool instead of the Azure marketplace licensing option, you need to activate a pool of licenses before you can define your cloud environment.

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.

Important: 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.

Note: 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.

  1. At the top of the screen, click Devices.

  2. On the left, click LICENSE MANAGEMENT > Licenses.

  3. Click the Add License button.

  4. In the License Name field, type a name to identify this license.

  5. 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.

  6. For the Activation Method setting, select Automatic.

  7. Click the Activate button at the bottom of the screen.

  8. 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.

You create a cloud environment that describes the details of the Azure virtual network in which you want to create BIG-IP VE devices from BIG-IQ.

  1. At the top of the screen, click Applications then, on the left, click ENVIRONMENTS > Cloud Environments.

  2. Click Create.

    The New Cloud Environment screen opens.

  3. Give this environment a Name and an optional Description.

  4. Leave the Device Template option as None.

    You’ll be specifying device configuration details when you configure the BIG-IP VE device through the onboarding process.

  5. From the Cloud Provider list, select the name of the Azure provider you want to use for this environment.

    The screen displays the Azure Properties settings.

  6. From the Location list, select the region in which the private cloud you created for this environment resides.

  7. For License Type, select Utility.

    From your cloud provider marketplace, you’ll need to select F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition - GOOD (PAYG).

  8. For Services to Deploy, select the F5 service you want to use for this environment.

  9. For Instance Type, select the Azure instance type that provides the resources needed for this environment.

  10. For Restricted Source Address, using the CIDR format, specify the addresses that you want to be able to access this environment.

    For example 12.12.0.0/16.

    Only addresses that match your entry will have access (IP addresses that use 12.12.xxx.xxx in the example above).

  11. For VNet Name , select the VNet name that you created in your Azure environment.

  12. For Management Subnet, select the management address that you created in your Azure environment.

  13. Click Save & Close.