Manual Chapter :
Planning a BIG-IQ Centralized Management Deployment
Applies To:
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BIG-IQ Centralized Management
- 7.0.0
Planning a BIG-IQ Centralized Management Deployment
Which type of centralized management solution do you want to deploy?
There are two license types for a centralized management solution, one for BIG-IQ device management and one for a data collection device (DCD).
BIG-IQ device management
F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management is a platform that you use as a tool to help you manage BIG-IP devices and all of their services (such as LTM, AFM, ASM, and so forth), from one location. BIG-IQ can manage up to 1000 (physical, virtual, or vCMP) BIG-IP devices and handle licensing for up to 5,000 unmanaged devices.
Using BIG-IQ helps you more efficiently manage your BIG-IP devices. That means you and your co-workers don't have to log in to individual BIG-IP systems to get your job done. Instead, you can discover, upgrade, deploy policy changes, manage licenses, and more, from just one place.
From BIG-IQ, you can manage a variety of tasks from software updates to health monitoring, and traffic to security. And because permissions for users are role-based, you can limit access to just a few trusted administrators to minimize downtime and potential security issues. You can also allow users to view or edit only those BIG-IP objects that they need to do their job.
Here's an example of how BIG-IQ can fit into a data center. This topology does not include any data collection devices, so statistical analytics and event or alert management are not supported.
Centralized Management network topology
Data collection device
A
data collection device
(DCD) is a specially provisioned BIG-IQ system that you use to manage and store alerts, events, and statistical data from one or more BIG-IP systems. The next diagram illustrates a simplified example of how DCDs add to your BIG-IQ Centralized Management solution. Centralized Management network topology with DCDs
What elements make up a BIG-IQ solution?
A BIG-IQ solution can involve a number of different elements. The topology for these elements depends on your needs, and on whether you include data collection devices (DCDs) in your solution. A typical solution can include the following elements:
- BIG-IQ(s)
- BIG-IP devices
- Data collection devices (optional)
- Remote storage devices (optional)
BIG-IQ
Using BIG-IQ, you can centrally manage your BIG-IP devices, performing operations such as backups, licensing, monitoring, and configuration management. Because access to each area of BIG-IQ is role-based, you can limit access to users, thus maximizing work flows while minimizing errors and potential security issues.
BIG-IP device
A BIG-IP device runs a number of licensed components designed around application availability, access control, and security solutions. These components run on top of F5
Traffic Management Operating System (TMOS). This custom operating system is an event driven operating system designed specifically to inspect network and application traffic and make real-time decisions based on the configurations you provide. The BIG-IP software runs on both hardware and virtual environments.
BIG-IQ data collection device
A
data collection device
(DCD) is a specially provisioned BIG-IQ system that you use to manage and store alerts, events, and statistical data from one or more BIG-IP systems. Configuration tasks on the BIG-IP system determine when and how alerts or events are triggered. The alerts or events are sent to a BIG-IQ DCD, and the BIG-IQ retrieves them for your analysis. When you opt to collect statistical data from the BIG-IP devices, the DCD periodically (at an interval that you configure) retrieves those statistics from your devices, and then processes and stores that data.
The group of data collection devices that work together to store and manage your data are referred to as the
data collection cluster
. The individual data collection devices are generally referred to as nodes
. Remote storage device
The remote storage device is necessary only when your deployment includes a DCD and you plan to store backups of your events, alerts, and statistical data for disaster recovery requirements. Remote storage is also required so that you can retain this data when you upgrade your software.
Quorum DCD device
If you want an auto failover, high availability (HA) configuration, you must identify a DCD to serve as a
quorum device
. The quorum device is used to determine which BIG-IQ in the HA configuration is active. If communication is disrupted between the active and standby BIG-IQ in the HA pair, the BIG-IQ that can communicate with the quorum device becomes active. The quorum device is a DCD, so it can be included in a DCD cluster. But because it is a DCD, not a BIG-IQ, it cannot be used as a standby BIG-IQ in an HA configuration.Before you deploy a
BIG-IQ Centralized Management
Before you begin to deploy a BIG-IQ system, you should complete these preparations.
- Determine the deployment scenario that works best for your needs.
- Create the interfaces, communications, and networks needed to support your deployment scenario
- Configure your network (including switches and firewalls) to permit BIG-IQ network traffic to flow based on the deployment scenario you choose.
- Assemble the passwords, IP addresses, and licensing information needed for the BIG-IQ cluster components.
Things to consider when
planning a deployment
To successfully deploy a BIG-IQ Centralized Management solution, you may need to coordinate with
several people in your company.
If you use BIG-IQ virtual editions, you might need to coordinate with the people who manage
your virtual environment, so they can provision the virtual machines with the required amount of
CPUs, memory, and network interfaces. Further, you’ll need to coordinate with the people who
manage the storage for the virtual machines to make sure each virtual machine is provisioned with
the necessary storage to support the BIG-IQ environment. You also might need to provide the
virtual environment team a copy of the BIG-IQ virtual machine image (available from https://downloads.f5.com),
depending how they operate.
If you use BIG-IQ 7000 devices in your network, you need to coordinate with the people who
manage the data center where the BIG-IQ devices are housed to make arrangements for the devices
to be racked, powered on, and connected to your network.
There are also several tasks to coordinate with your networking team:
- IP address allocation for the BIG-IQ systems, depending on your deployment model.
- Creation of networks, VLANs, and so on dependent on your deployment model.
- Any routing configuration required to ensure traffic passes between the BIG-IQ nodes and the BIG-IP devices.
- Additional networking configuration required to support the BIG-IQ system's operation.
Finally, you might need to coordinate with your network firewall administrators, depending on the
network configuration at your company. The BIG-IQ software needs to communicate between BIG-IQ
nodes and BIG-IP systems; and, if there are firewalls in the network path, firewall rules
probably need to be configured to permit that traffic. For additional detail about required
network ports and protocols, refer to
Open ports required for data collection device cluster deployment
on support.f5.com
.Network Requirements for a BIG-IQ Centralized Management
Deployment
Determining the network configuration needed for your
deployment
There
are three common deployment scenarios for the F5 BIG-IQ system. The scenario most
appropriate for you depends on what you want to do.
What functions does your deployment need to
perform? | Which hardware components and networks do you
need? | Which deployment type should you choose? |
|---|---|---|
Manage and configure BIG-IP devices. For example,
take backups, license virtual editions, and configure local traffic and
security policies. | Simple management and configuration | All
you need is one or more BIG-IQ system and the BIG-IP devices you want to
manage. This configuration uses a single management network. |
Manage and configure BIG-IP devices. Collect and view Local Traffic, DNS, and Device
statistical data from the BIG-IP devices. Collect, manage, and view events and alerts from BIG-IP devices
provisioned with the APM®, FPS®, or ASM® components. | You need one or more BIG-IQ systems, data
collection devices, and an external storage device. This configuration
requires a single management network and an internal BIG-IQ cluster network. | Advanced management and configuration |
Manage and configure BIG-IP devices. Collect and view Local Traffic, DNS, and Device
statistical data from the BIG-IP devices. Collect, manage, and view events and alerts from BIG-IP devices
provisioned with the APM, FPS, or ASM components. Separate network traffic to support large, distributed
deployments of the F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management solution for improved
performance, security, and interactions in multiple data center
environments. Managing Disaster
Recovery Scenarios .) | You need one or more BIG-IQ systems, data
collection devices, and an external storage device. This configuration
requires an external network, a management network, and an internal BIG-IQ
cluster network. | Large-scale, distributed management and
configuration |
For optimum performance, F5 makes the following maximum round trip latency recommendations:
For connections between these components | Round trip latency cannot exceed |
|---|---|
between any two DCD or BIG-IQ devices in a DCD cluster | 75 ms. |
between the BIG-IQ CM and the BIG-IP devices it manages | 250 ms. |
between the managed BIG-IP devices and the DCDs that collect their data | 250 ms. |
Network environment for simple management and configuration
To deploy a simple management and configuration environment, all you
need is one or more BIG-IQ systems and the BIG-IP devices that you want to manage. The
number of BIG-IQ systems you need depends on how much redundancy your business requires.
A second system provides high availability failover capability. You can also add data
collection devices (DCDs) to this configuration.
The simple management and configuration uses a single management
network. The BIG-IQ system uses traffic on the management network to do these
things:
- Enable bidirectional traffic between the BIG-IQ systems and the BIG-IP devices.
- Enable traffic between the BIG-IQ systems. If you use a secondary high availability BIG-IQ system, this traffic keeps the state information synchronized.
- Provide access to the BIG-IQ user interface. You can also use it to access the BIG-IQ system using SSH if you need to use the command line interface.
The number of devices of each type that will best meet your company's needs depends
on a number of factors. Refer to the
BIG-IQ Sizing
Guidelines
on support.f5.com
for details.This figure illustrates the network topology required for a simple
management and configuration deployment and includes the optional DCDs needed for
analytics or alert and event monitoring.
Centralized Management network topology
Use the form to record the IP address for each device in the BIG-IQ
deployment.
Device type | Management IP address(es) |
|---|---|
Primary BIG-IQ system | |
Secondary BIG-IQ system | |
BIG-IP devices |
Network environment for advanced management and
configuration
To deploy the advanced management and configuration environment, you
need BIG-IQ systems, data collection devices (DCDs), and an optional external storage
device for backing up alert, event, and statistical data. The optimal topology for this
configuration uses a single management network and a DCD cluster network.
With the addition of the DCD cluster, you can manage alerts and events on your
managed devices as well as monitor performance analytics.
The number of devices of each type that will best meet your company's needs depends
on a number of factors. Refer to the
BIG-IQ Sizing
Guidelines
on support.f5.com
for details.The BIG-IQ system uses traffic on the management network to do these
things:
- Enable bidirectional traffic between the BIG-IQ systems and the BIG-IP devices.
- Enable traffic between the BIG-IQ systems. If you use a secondary high availability BIG-IQ system, this traffic keeps the state information synchronized.
- Provide access to the BIG-IQ user interface. You can also use it to access the BIG-IQ system using SSH if you need to run manual commands.
The DCD cluster network is used to replicate data to maintain the
BIG-IQ Centralized Management cluster.
It is best practice to
isolate the traffic between BIG-IQ cluster nodes for performance and improved
security.
This figure illustrates the optimal network topology for an advanced
management and configuration deployment.
Centralized management and enhanced monitoring network
topology
Use the form to record the IP addresses for the devices in the BIG-IQ
deployment.
Device type | Management IP addresses | DCD cluster IP addresses |
|---|---|---|
Primary BIG-IQ system | ||
Secondary BIG-IQ system | ||
Data collection device management IP
addresses | ||
BIG-IP devices | ||
Remote storage device |
Network environment for large-scale, distributed
management and configuration
To deploy a large-scale, distributed
management and configuration environment, you need
BIG-IQ systems, data collection devices, and an
optional external storage device for backing up
alert, event, and statistical data. This
configuration needs a management network, a DCD
cluster network, and an internal (or traffic)
network.
The BIG-IQ system uses traffic on the
management network to do these things:
- Enable traffic between the BIG-IQ systems. If you use a secondary high availability BIG-IQ system, this traffic keeps the state information synchronized.
- Provide access to the BIG-IQ user interface. You can also use it to access the BIG-IQ system using SSH if you need to run manual commands.
The DCD cluster network is used to provide
communication between the BIG-IQ system and the DCD
nodes, and to replicate data that maintains the
BIG-IQ Centralized Management cluster.
It is best practice to
isolate the traffic between BIG-IQ cluster nodes
for performance and improved security.
The internal (traffic) network is used to route
bidirectional traffic between the BIG-IQ Centralized
Management cluster and the BIG-IP devices.
With the addition of the DCD cluster, you can manage alerts and events on your
managed devices as well as monitor performance analytics.
The number of devices of each type that will best meet your company's needs depends
on a number of factors. Refer to the
BIG-IQ Sizing
Guidelines
on support.f5.com
for details.This figure illustrates the network topology
required for this deployment.
Centralized
management, enhanced monitoring, and improved
performance network topology
Use the form to record the IP addresses for
the devices in the BIG-IQ deployment.
Device type | Management IP
addresses | DCD cluster network
IP addresses | Internal network IP
addresses |
|---|---|---|---|
Primary BIG-IQ
system | |||
Secondary BIG-IQ
system | |||
Data collection
device management IP addresses | |||
BIG-IP
devices | |||
Remote storage
device |
Determine the resources required for deployment
The CPU, RAM, and disk space requirements for the devices in your BIG-IQ deployment are determined by a number of factors, including:
- How many BIG-IP devices your BIG-IQ deployment manages, and which services are provisioned on the managed BIG-IP devices?
- Does your BIG-IQ deployment collect statistics data from your managed BIG-IP devices??
- Does your BIG-IQ deployment collect alerts and events data, from the managed BIG-IP devices?
When you deploy the BIG-IQ software, you can choose 95 GB or 500 GB of disk space. If you choose 500 GB, only 95 GB of the 500 GB is allocated initially. You must allocate extra disk space beyond 95 GB before you can use it. Usually, the extra storage space is for DCDs. However, there are also situations in which BIG-IQ devices can use the extra space. For example, you might want to store a large number of UCS backups. Or, your business needs might require you to store multiple versions of the BIG-IQ software so you can upgrade back and forth between BIG-IQ versions.
Deployment type | Device Type | CPU | RAM | Disk Space |
|---|---|---|---|---|
BIG-IQ deployment with statistics collection enabled, as well as alerts and events. | BIG-IQ | 8 See When do the BIG-IQ devices need additional resources? | 32 GB See When do the BIG-IQ devices need additional resources? | Generally, 95 GB; or 500GB if extra space is needed. |
DCD | 8 | 32 GB | Initially, 500 GB. VE disk space can be extended further as needed. | |
BIG-IQ deployment with alerts and events enabled. | BIG-IQ | 4 See When do the BIG-IQ devices need additional resources? | 16 GB See When do the BIG-IQ devices need additional resources? | Generally, 95 GB; or 500GB if extra space is needed. |
DCD | 4 See When do the DCDs need additional resources? | 16 GB See When do the DCDs need additional resources? | Initially, 500 GB. VE disk space can be extended further as needed. | |
BIG-IQ deployment without statistics collection, alerts, or events. | BIG-IQ | 4 or 8 See When do the BIG-IQ devices need additional resources? | 16, 32, or 64 GB See When do the BIG-IQ devices need additional resources? | Generally, 95 GB; or 500GB if extra space is needed. |
CPU and RAM pairings other than those listed above have not been tested.
When do the BIG-IQ devices need additional resources?
When the number of managed BIG-IP devices in your BIG-IQ deployment exceeds the specified thresholds, F5 recommends that you allocate 8 CPUs and either 32 or 64 GB of RAM to your BIG-IQ devices.
The following table lists the threshold for each BIG-IP service. For example, if your BIG-IQ deployment manages more than 32 BIG-IP devices provisioned with Access, allocate additional resources to your BIG-IQ devices.
A BIG-IQ managing devices... | Needs 32 GB to manage more than: |
|---|---|
provisioned with Access | 32 devices |
provisioned with ADC | 80 devices |
provisioned with ASM | 40 devices |
provisioned with DNS | 100 devices |
provisioned with FPS | 50 devices |
deployed in a VMware service scaling group | 100 devices |
deployed in an AWS or Azure service scaling group | 50 devices |
This is a rough approximation. Depending on the number of objects on each BIG-IP device. When your managed BIG-IP devices are provisioned with multiple modules, the RAM requirement increases.
When do the DCDs need additional resources?
For a broader consideration of the factors that can impact the CPU, RAM, and disk space requirements for DCD devices, refer to the
BIG-IQ Centralized Management DCD Sizing Guide
.For work flows that describe how to manage your disk space, refer to the
BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Data Collection
Device Disk Space Management Guide
on support.f5.com
. Port requirements for a BIG-IQ solution
The BIG-IQ systems and data collection devices require bidirectional
communication with the BIG-IP devices in your network to successfully manage them. The
ports required must be open to allow for this required two-way communication. You might
have to contact a firewall or network administrator to verify that these ports are open, or
to have them opened if they are not.
The ports required for your BIG-IQ solution depend on a number of
factors such as the services running on the devices you manage, the BIG-IP version running
on those devices, and the number of subnets configured on your network.
For further information on how to configure ports for BIG-IP interfaces,
refer to: https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K15612
Daemons running on BIG-IQ
Before you install or upgrade BIG-IQ Centralized Management,
it's important to take inventory of the status of the running daemons. Then after you upgrade,
you can verify that they're in the same state, and make any necessary modifications. To view the
daemons, type the following command:
admin@(ip-10-1-1-4)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)# show /sys service
.Daemon | Example of status |
|---|---|
admd | down, Not provisioned |
alertd | run (pid 6579) 22 hours |
apmd | down, Not provisioned |
asm | down, Not provisioned |
autodosd | down, Not provisioned |
avrd | down, Not provisioned |
bigd | run (pid 5338) 22 hours |
bigiqsnmpd | run (pid 5035) 22 hours |
captured | down, Not provisioned |
cbrd | run (pid 6117) 22 hours |
chmand | run (pid 5678) 22 hours |
clusterd | down, Not required |
cman | cluster is running |
corosync | (pid 22585) is running 22 hours |
csyncd | run (pid 5038) 22 hours |
datasyncd | down, Not provisioned |
dnscached | down, Not provisioned |
dosl7d | down, Not provisioned |
dosl7d_attack_monitor | down, Not provisioned |
dwbld | down, Not provisioned |
elasticsearch | run (pid 5041) 22 hours |
errdefsd | run (pid 6112) 22 hours |
eventd | run (pid 5043) 22 hours |
evrouted | run (pid 6583) 22 hours |
f5_update_checker | down, No action required |
fpuserd | down, Not provisioned |
fslogd | down, Not provisioned |
grafana | run (pid 6107) 22 hours |
gtmd | down, Not provisioned |
guiserver | run (pid 6105) 22 hours |
gunicorn | run (pid 6587) 22 hours |
hwpd | down 22 hours, normally up |
icontrolportald | run (pid 5337) 22 hours |
iprepd | run (pid 6113) 22 hours |
istatsd | run (pid 6109) 22 hours |
lacpd | down, not required |
lind | run (pid 6116) 22 hours |
mcpd | run (pid 6110) 22 hours |
merged | run (pid 6938) 22 hours |
mgmt_acld | down, Not provisioned |
monpd | run (pid 6578) 22 hours |
named | run (pid 4855) 22 hours |
nokiasnmpd | down, Not enabled |
ntlmconnpool | run (pid 6111) 22 hours |
pabnagd | down, Not logging node |
pacemakerd | (pid 23004) is running 22 hours |
pccd | down, Not provisioned |
pgadmind | run (pid 7310) 22 hours |
pkcs11d | down, Not required |
restjavad | run (pid 4853) 22 hours |
rethinkdb | run (pid 15058) 21 hours, 1 start |
scriptd | run (pid 5344) 22 hours |
sdmd | down, sdmd is not provisioned |
searchd | run (pid 5343) 22 hours |
sflow_agent | run (pid 6937) 22 hours |
shmmapd | down, Not provisioned |
snmpd | run (pid 5674) 22 hours |
sod | run (pid 4810) 22 hours |
statsd | run (pid 5336) 22 hours |
syscalld | run (pid 6939) 22 hours |
tamd | run (pid 5679) 22 hours |
tmipsecd | run (pid 5341) 22 hours |
tmm | run (pid 6581) 22 hours |
tmrouted | run (pid 6581) 22 hours |
tokumond | run (pid 7311) 22 hours |
tokumx | run (pid 6580) 22 hours |
webd | run (pid 6941) 22 hours |
wr_urldbd | down, Not provisioned |
zrd | down, Not provisioned |
zxfrd | run (pid 5034) 22 hours |
Passwords required for BIG-IQ system deployment
To install and configure a BIG-IQ system or data collection device (DCD) cluster, you use the default passwords for all of the devices. For DCD clusters, if you intend to schedule regular snapshots of your logging data (as recommended), you need root access credentials for the machine on which you plan to store these snapshots.
User Name | Default Password | Access Rights/Role |
|---|---|---|
admin | admin | This user type can access all aspects of the BIG-IQ system from the system's user interface. |
root | default | This user has access to all aspects of the BIG-IQ system from the system's console command line. |
Licenses required for
BIG-IQ system deployment
To install and configure a BIG-IQ system or data collection
device cluster, you need a license for each device.
BIG-IP device configuration requirements for viewing statistics in BIG-IQ
Before you can enable statistics collection for centralized management, you must ensure that the BIG-IP device has the proper configuration. The proper configuration varies depending on the version of the BIG-IP device. The minimum supported BIG-IP device is version 12.1.0. BIG-IQ has limited visibility for BIG-IP devices prior to 13.1.0.5.
For details about how to configure statistics visibility, based on the BIG-IP version, see
Enabling statistics collection during device discovery
.For details on how to access statistic information, based on the BIG-IP version and service, refer to
Statistics compatibility and visibility
.
