Manual Chapter :
Create BIG-IQ VE Instances Without Azure Marketplace Access
Applies To:
Show Versions
BIG-IQ Centralized Management
- 8.3.0, 8.2.0, 8.1.0, 8.0.0, 7.1.0
Create BIG-IQ VE Instances Without Azure Marketplace Access
How do I create a BIG-IQ VE instance without Azure Marketplace access
If you don't have access to BIG-IQ Centralized Management VE images in the Azure Marketplace (searching on F5 returns no results), you can upload and create your own.
To create a BIG-IQ VE instance, you'll complete these tasks:
- Download the BIG-IQ VE tar file fromdownloads.f5.com.
- Create an Azure storage account and container.
- Upload the BIG-IQ VE virtual hard disk file to the Azure container.
- Deploy the BIG-IQ VE instance.
Download the BIG-IQ VE image
The first task is to get the BIG-IQ VE tar file and extract the virtual hard disk (
.vhd
) from it. - Download the Azure-Cloud BIG-IQ VE tar file from downloads.f5.com.
- Unzip the.zipfile to your local drive.You can use 7-Zip to do this if you're using Windows.
- Extract.vhdfrom the.tarfile.You can use 7-Zip to do this if you're using Windows.
Next, upload the BIG-IQ VE .vhd file to an Azure storage account and container.
Upload the BIG-IQ VE .vhd file to the Azure container using
AZCopy
Before you can upload the BIG-IQ VE
.vhd
file to Azure, you'll have to
create the Azure container and gathered the following information: - The name of the directory where the.vhdis stored, for example:c:\vhd
- The path to the container, for example:https://teststorage.blob.core.windows.net/testcontainer
- The name of the file, for example:F5_Networks-BIGIQ-<version-build#>.vhd
- The access key for the storage account, which you can get by opening the storage account, clicking Access keys and copying the key value.
Use AZCopy to upload the BIG-IQ VE
.vhd
file to Azure to make it available
to create a BIG-IQ VE instance. Alternatively, you can use
Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer. Or, you can use the Azure portal to navigate to
the storage account container, click the
Upload
button, click the
container, and choose Page
blob
from the Blob
type list. Refer to the Azure documentation for more
information about those options.- Open a command-line and change to the AZCopy directory:cd %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\AzCopy
- Run the command:AzCopy.exe /source:c:\vhd /dest:https://teststorage.blob.core.windows.net/testcontainer /BlobType:page /pattern:F5_Networks-BIGIIQ-<version-build#>_.vhd /destkey:<key_value>
You can now create BIG-IQ VE instances from
this file.
Create a BIG-IQ VE instance from the Azure portal
After you've got the BIG-IQ VE
.vhd
file uploaded to Azure, you can
deploy BIG-IQ VE instances.Create a BIG-IQ VE image from the BIG-IQ VE
.vhd
file to deploy a
single-NIC configuration of BIG-IQ.- From the Azure portal, click .
- Click theAddbutton.
- Complete theCreate imageand clickCreate.NameName of the BIG-IQ imageLocationRegion for the BIG-IP VE.OS typeSelectLinux.Storage blobProvide the URL link to the storage account.VHDimage.Storage typePremium SSDCachingRead/WriteResource groupCreate one or choose an existing one.
- From the Azure portal, click
- Click theAddbutton.
- Complete theBasics bladeand clickOK.NameName of the BIG-IQ VELocationRegion for the BIG-IP VE (same as the BIG-IQ image).ImageSelectBrowse all public and private imagesand select the BIG-IQ image you created in step 3.SizeMake sure the instance has at least 2 vCPU and 4GB of memory. For each additional vCPU, add at least 2GB of memory.Authentication typeSelect an authentic type. SSH key is recommended.
- Complete theManagement blade, and clickNext.
- Complete theSettings bladeand clickOK.
- ForBoot Diagnostics, selectOff.
- Review the summary and clickCreate.
To view the instance, go to
