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Manual Chapter : Deploying BIG-IQ Virtual Edition in VMware ESXi

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BIG-IQ Centralized Management

  • 7.1.0
Manual Chapter

Deploying BIG-IQ Virtual Edition in
VMware ESXi

How do I deploy a BIG-IQ VE in
VMware ESXi
?

Before you can deploy a BIG-IQ VE in the OpenStack environment, you must have the following environmental elements in place:
  • A tenant (or admin) user account with virtual machine deployment privileges.
  • Privileges to create images (that is you must be able to upload QCOW2 files). Contact your system administrator for assistance if your account lacks the requisite permissions.
  • Sufficient free remaining computational (CPU, RAM) and disk storage quota for each BIG-IQ VE instance you plan to deploy.
  • At least one network, to be used for management access.
  • Security groups (firewall rule-sets), for control of inbound and outbound network traffic.
  • Pre-defined Flavors (virtual hardware profile definitions).
In addition, you might wish to define the following optional environmental elements:
  • Key-pairs, for SSH access (recommended).
  • Floating IP addresses, for each tenant network interface that will be externally accessible.
  • Additional networks for internal, external, and high-availability traffic as necessary.
Before you can start the tasks to deploy the BIG-IQ Virtual Edition (VE) system on
VMware ESXi
, you must first:
  • Establish a Microsoft Azure environment that includes a virtual network to which you will deploy your BIG-IP devices and BIG-IQ Virtual Edition (VE). For details, refer to
    https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/virtual-machines/
    .
  • In your Microsoft Azure environment, deploy the BIG-IP Virtual Edition (VE) machines that you plan to use to manage your application traffic. For details, refer to
    https://support.f5.com/csp/knowledge-center/cloud/Public%20Cloud/Microsoft%20Azure
    .
  • Create a resource group in your Microsoft Azure environment that enables the ports and protocols required by the applications you plan to manage on your BIG-IP VE machines. For details, refer to
    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/resource-group-portal
    .
  • Create a security group in the resource group in which you plan to deploy your BIG-IQ VE. In addition to the normal inbound and outbound security rules you use in your Azure security groups, you must include an inbound security rule for port 22 (for SSH access to your VE) and port 443 (for HTTPS access).
To deploy the BIG-IQ Virtual Edition (VE) system on
VMware ESXi
, you:
  • Use MS Azure PowerShell to load a sequence of PowerShell Cmdlets.
  • Assemble a PowerShell script that creates a BIG-IQ VE.
  • Run the script to deploy a BIG-IQ VE on Azure.
  • Log in to the new VE and use TMSH to enable the root and admin passwords.
The tasks you perform to deploy the BIG-IQ Virtual Edition (VE) system on
VMware ESXi
, depend on what you plan to do with the
VMware ESXi
:
If you plan to manage BIG-IP devices with the BIG-IQ system
If you plan to manage applications in a service scaling group housed in the AWS cloud
  • Verify that the host machine requirements are satisfied.
  • Deploy a BIG-IQ system as a virtual machine.
  • Deploy the BIG-IP systems you intend to manage.
  • After you have deployed the virtual machines, log in to the BIG-IQ VE system and run the Setup utility. Using the Setup utility, you perform basic network configuration tasks, such as assigning VLANs to interfaces.
  • Configure secure communication between the BIG-IQ system and the BIG-IP device.
  • Verify that the host machine requirements are satisfied.
  • Deploy a BIG-IQ system in the AWS cloud as a virtual machine.
    You can also manage devices in a service scaling group (SSG) from a BIG-IQ deployed outside of AWS. If you choose this option, use the hypervisor setup guide appropriate for your private cloud environment.
  • After you have deployed the virtual machines, log in to the BIG-IQ VE system and run the Setup utility. Using the Setup utility, you perform basic network configuration tasks, such as assigning VLANs to interfaces.
  • Configure an SSG to manage your applications. For detailed instructions, refer to
    F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Managing Applications in an Auto-Scaled AWS Cloud
     on
    support.f5.com
    .
If you plan to manage BIG-IP devices with the BIG-IQ system
If you plan to manage applications in a service scaling group housed in a VMware cloud
  • Verify that the host machine requirements are satisfied.
  • Deploy a BIG-IQ system as a virtual machine.
  • Deploy the BIG-IP systems you intend to manage.
  • After you have deployed the virtual machines, log in to the BIG-IQ VE system and run the Setup utility. Using the Setup utility, you perform basic network configuration tasks, such as assigning VLANs to interfaces.
  • Configure secure communication between the BIG-IQ system and the BIG-IP device.
  • Verify that the host machine requirements are satisfied.
  • Deploy a BIG-IQ system in the VMware cloud as a virtual machine.
  • After you have deployed the virtual machines, log in to the BIG-IQ VE system and run the Setup utility. Using the Setup utility, you perform basic network configuration tasks, such as assigning VLANs to interfaces.
  • Configure an SSG to manage your applications. For detailed instructions, refer to
    F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Managing Applications in an Auto-Scaled VMware Cloud
     on
    support.f5.com
    .
When you deploy a VE for managing applications in an SSG, some parameter settings you specify are different. These settings are noted where appropriate.
  • Verify that the host machine requirements are satisfied.
  • Deploy a BIG-IQ system as a virtual machine.
  • Deploy the BIG-IP systems you intend to manage.
  • After you have deployed the virtual machines, log in to the BIG-IQ VE system and run the Setup utility. Using the Setup utility, you perform basic network configuration tasks, such as assigning VLANs to interfaces.
  • Configure secure communication between the BIG-IQ system and the BIG-IP device.

Host machine requirements and recommendations

To successfully deploy and run the
BIG-IQ
 VE system, the host system must satisfy minimum requirements.
The host system must include these elements:
  • VMware vCloud Director. The
    BIG-IQ Virtual Edition and Supported Hypervisors Matrix
    , published on the AskF5 web site,
    support.f5.com
     identifies the versions that are supported.
  • VMware ESX or ESXi. The
    BIG-IQ Virtual Edition and Supported Hypervisors Matrix
    , published on the AskF5 web site,
    support.f5.com
     identifies the versions that are supported.
  • Microsoft Windows Server with the Hyper-V role enabled. The
    BIG-IQ Virtual Edition and Supported Hypervisors Matrix
    , published on the AskF5 web site,
    support.f5.com
     identifies the versions that are supported.
  • CentOS, Debian, Fedora, RHEL, or Ubuntu with the Xen Project package. The
    BIG-IQ Virtual Edition and Supported Hypervisors Matrix
    , published on the AskF5 web site,
    support.f5.com
     identifies the Linux versions that are supported.
  • RHEL, Ubuntu, Debian, or CentOS with the KVM package. The
    BIG-IQ Virtual Edition and Supported Hypervisors Matrix
    , published on the AskF5 web site,
    support.f5.com
     identifies the Linux versions that are supported.
  • OpenStack on Linux distribution with the native KVM package as its compute (hypervisor) node.
    The BIG-IQ Virtual Edition and Supported Hypervisors Matrix, published on
    support.f5.com
     identifies the Linux versions currently supported.
  • VMware vSphere client
  • Virtual Machine Manager
  • The OpenStack Horizon Dashboard
    Power users might prefer to use the OpenStack command line or APIs to deploy and configure the BIG-IQ VE. Consult the OpenStack API documentation for your distribution for details on how to use these APIs.
  • Connection to a common NTP source (this is especially important for each host in a redundant system configuration).
The hypervisor CPU must meet the following requirements:
  • Use a 64-bit architecture.
  • Have support for virtualization (AMD-V or Intel VT-x) enabled.
  • Support a one-to-one thread-to-defined virtual CPU ratio, or (on single-threading architectures) support at least one core per defined virtual CPU.
  • Intel processors must be from the Core (or newer) workstation or server family of CPUs.

Deploy a VMware ESXi BIG-IQ VE virtual machine

The first step in deploying BIG-IQ Virtual Edition (VE) is to download the OVA file to your local system. Next, you can run the Deploy OVF Template wizard from within the ESXi vSphere client or vCenter vSphere Web client. Follow the steps in this procedure to create an instance of the BIG-IQ system that runs as a virtual machine on the host system.
Do not modify the configuration of the BIG-IQ VE guest environment with settings less powerful than the ones recommended in this document. This includes the settings for the CPU, RAM, and network adapters. Doing so might produce unexpected results.
  1. In a browser, open the F5 Downloads page (
    ://downloads.f5.com
    ).
  2. On the Downloads Overview page, select
    Find a Download
    .
  3. Under Product Line, select
    Centralized Management
    .
  4. Under Name, select the release you want to install.
  5. If the End User Software License is displayed, read it and then click
    I Accept
    .
  6. Determine which BIG-IQ Virtual Edition file package to download.
    • If you are installing a BIG-IQ, download the file name that ends in
      ide.ova
       or
      -scsi.ova
      .
    • If you are installing a Data Collection Device, download the file name that ends in
      LARGE-ide.ova
       or
      LARGE-scsi.ova
      .
    The BIG-IQ file package creates a 120Gb disk footprint at installation.
    The Data Collection Device file package creates a 500Gb disk footprint at installation.
  7. Start your vSphere Client and log in.
    If the ESXi host is being managed by vCenter Server, you should complete the deployment from the vCenter vSphere Web Client instead.
  8. From the vSphere Client File menu, choose Deploy OVF Template.
    The Deploy OVF Template wizard starts.
  9. In the Source pane, click
    Deploy from file or URL
    , and, using the
    Browse
     button, locate the OVF file, open it, and then click
    Next
    .
    For example:
    \MyDocuments\Work\Virtualization\<
    BIG-IQ_OVF_filename
    >
    The OVF Template Details pane opens.
  10. Verify that the OVF template details are correct, and click
    Next
    .
    This displays the End-User License Agreement (EULA).
  11. Read and accept the license agreement, and click
    Next
    .
    The Name and Location pane opens.
  12. In the
    Name
     field, type a name for the F5 VE virtual machine, such as:
    smith_f5_ve
    .
  13. In the Inventory Location area, select a folder name and click
    Next
    .
  14. From the
    Configuration
     list, select the number of CPUs and disks required for your system, and then click
    Next
    .
    The Configuration pane appears only when you use the SCSI version of the OVA packages: it is absent when you deploy with one of the IDE packages. The IDE packages will deploy their VE with 4 CPUs and 16 Gb RAM.
    For production use, CPU, RAM, and disk space requirements for deploying a BIG-IQ are determined by a number of factors. For details about the ideal settings for your use, refer to
    When do I need extra resources?
     on
    support.f5.com
    . You can adjust the CPU and memory settings after you complete the initial deployment and power off the virtual machine.
  15. If the host system is controlled by VMware vCenter Server, the Host Cluster screen opens. Choose the preferred host and click
    Next
    . Otherwise, proceed to the next step.
  16. In the
    Datastore
     field, type the name of data source your system will use, in the
    Available space
     field, type in the amount of space your system needs (in Gigabytes), and then click
    Next
    .
    The Network Mapping dialog box opens.
  17. Map the Source Networks to the Destination Networks in your inventory.
    1. Map the source network
      Management
       to the name of the appropriate management network in your inventory.
      The network used for this interface is usually the same subnet as the vCenter Server, ESXi Host and NSX Manager.
    2. If you choose to manage the BIG-IP devices using an interface other than management, you can map the source network
      Internal
       to that non-management network.
      An example of a destination internal network is
      Private Access
      .
    3. Leave the source network
      External
       at its default setting. This network is not used in most configurations.
      An example of a destination external network is
      Public Access
      .
    4. When you have the destination networks correctly mapped, click
      Next
      .
      The Ready to Complete screen opens.
  18. Verify that all deployment settings are correct, and click
    Finish
    .

Power on the BIG-IQ VE virtual machine for the first time

You power on the virtual machine so that you can make the BIG-IQ Virtual Edition (VE) accessible from the console.
  1. In the vCloud Director web interface, click
    My Cloud
    vApps
    .
  2. In the main vSphere client window, click the Administration menu.
  3. In the XenCenter client window, select the Server View.
  4. Open the Hyper-V Manager client.
  5. Select the virtual machine that you want to power on.
  6. Open Virtual Machine Manager.
  7. From the OpenStack dashboard, click
    Project
    Compute
    Instances
     to display the Instances page, and then click
    Start Instance
    .
  8. Right click the virtual machine that you want to power on, and then from the popup menu, select
    Open
    .
    The virtual machine opens, but in a powered-off state.
  9. From the toolbar, select
    Power on the virtual machine
     (right-arrow).
    The virtual machine boots and then displays a login prompt.
  10. Select the vApp you want to power on.
  11. Click the Summary tab, and in the Commands area, click
    Power On
    .
    The status icon changes to indicate that the virtual machine is on. Note that the system will not process traffic until you configure the virtual machine from its command line or through its web interface.
  12. Click the
    Start
     icon.
    If you do not see the
    Start
     icon, look at the tool bar under the View menu.
    The status icon changes to indicate that the virtual machine is on. The virtual machine boots and becomes ready for configuration.
  13. From the Action menu, choose Start.
    The status icon changes to indicate that the virtual machine is on. The virtual machine boots and becomes ready for configuration.
  14. Click
    Start
    .
    The virtual machine starts.
  15. Please consult the Xen Project documentation for the specific steps required for powering on the virtual machine.
After the system completes the initialization process, two built-in user accounts are enabled that provide you with the access you need to complete initial configuration and setup:
  • The root account provides initial user access to command shells. You can use a local console connection, or you can use SSH. This account also provides access to the F5 Configuration utility. The initial root account password is
    default
    .
  • The admin account provides initial user access through the web interface. The initial admin account password is
    admin
    .
You should change passwords for both accounts before bringing a system into production.
Before you can access this BIG-IQ VE instance, you must set up the management interface.
You might also need to modify this instance's MTU settings before you can connect to it.
  • To configure external access to the Web interface using a floating IP address, you must modify this instance's MTU settings. Refer to
    Set BIG-IQ VE MTU values to pass traffic between tenant and external networks
     on
    support.f5.com
     for details.
  • To configure a connection using a direct uplink between the external network and the BIG-IQ VE management interface, it might not be necessary to change the MTU settings. With a direct uplink, traffic does not pass through an Open-vSwitch router.

Set up the management network on the BIG-IQ virtual machine

If your network has DHCP, an IP address is automatically assigned to BIG-IQ VE during deployment. You can use this address to access the BIG-IQ VE user interface or
tmsh
 command-line utility.
If no IP address was assigned, you can assign one by using the Configuration utility.
Do not use VMware tools to configure the IP address: the BIG-IQ system will not use these changes.
How you set up the BIG-IQ Virtual Edition (VE) management user interface depends on how the network interfaces are attached.
  • If the interfaces attach to a tenant network subnet that allocates IP addresses from a pre-defined static IP pool, an IP address is automatically assigned to the interface during deployment. In this case, you must use this address to access the BIG-IQ VE user interface or
    tmsh
     command-line utility.
  • If the interfaces (whether attached to tenant or external networks) are allocated their IP addresses using a DHCP server, then an IP address is automatically assigned to the BIG-IQ VE interface during deployment. You can use this address to access the BIG-IQ VE user interface or
    tmsh
     command-line utility.
  • If the interfaces attach to a tenant or external network without a mechanism for allocating IP addresses, you must manually assign an unused address to the network interface that complies with the required subnet criteria.
In your initial access to the BIG-IQ VE user interface, you should set the management address as manual (static).
  1. In the vSphere client, click
    Launch Virtual Machine Console
    .
    The console screen opens. After a few seconds, a login prompt appears.
  2. At the <username> login prompt, type
    root
    .
  3. In the XenCenter client screen, select the Server View.
  4. In the Resources pane, select the virtual machine.
  5. Click the Console tab.
    You might need to click the console area and press Enter to activate the console.
  6. At the local host login prompt, type
    root
    .
  7. From the OpenStack dashboard, click
    Project
    Compute
    Instances
     to display the Instances page, and then select the check box for the instance you want to access.
  8. On the right side of the screen, from the Actions list, select
    Console
     to open a console session for this BIG-IQ VE instance.
  9. In the Hyper-V Manager, locate and highlight the virtual machine to which you want to assign the management IP address.
  10. In the Actions pane, select
    Connect
    .
    The console screen opens. After a few seconds, a login prompt appears.
  11. At the login prompt, type
    root
    .
  12. At the password prompt, type
    default
    .
  13. Type
    config
     and press Enter.
    The F5 Management Port Setup screen opens.
  14. Click
    OK
    .
  15. Determine how to assign the management port:
    • If you want DHCP to automatically assign an address for the management port, select
      Yes
      .
    • To manually assign an IP address and netmask for the management port, select
      No
       and follow the instructions to set the IPv4 address, network mask, and management route (gateway address).
When assigned, the management IP address appears in the Summary tab of the vSphere client. Alternatively, you can use a hypervisor generic statement, such as
tmsh list sys management-ip
.
You can use the shell command
tmsh list sys management-ip
 to confirm that the management IP address has been properly assigned.
You can now log in to the BIG-IQ VE user interface, and license and provision the VE.

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