Manual Chapter :
Managing Virtual Servers
Applies To:
Show Versions
BIG-IQ Centralized Management
- 8.3.0, 8.2.0, 8.1.0, 8.0.0, 7.1.0
Managing Virtual Servers
How do I manage the objects that reside on managed devices?
The workflows for creating a new object, or for changing the settings
for objects that already reside on a managed device, are very similar. In each case, there
are four tasks to perform.
This figure illustrates the workflow to manage the objects on BIG-IP
devices. Changing the settings or creating the object is the second step in this
process.
Change managed object workflow

What virtual server management tasks can I
perform?
There are a number of ways you can use BIG-IQ Centralized Management to
manage the virtual servers on the managed BIG-IP devices:
- Create a new virtual server.
- Modify an existing virtual server.
- Clone the settings of an existing virtual server to create a new one.
- Attach a sequence of iRules to a virtual server.
- View statistics for a virtual server.
- Deploy the virtual server immediately to your managed device.You (or someone else) can also deploy your changes later. For more information about managing changes, look onsupport.F5.cominF5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Devicefor the topic:Deploying Changes.
- Add or remove permissions for a virtual server and assign them to roles that have been defined on this BIG-IQ system. For more information about managing permissions, look onsupport.F5.cominF5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Licensing and Initial Setupfor the topic:Users, User Groups, Roles, and Authentication.
Create a new virtual server
In BIG-IQ Centralized Management, you can use the
Local Traffic interface to add a virtual server to handle application traffic on a
managed device.
When you are revising
configurations on devices that belong to a high availability cluster, it is
important to let the changes synchronize to the cluster members instead of trying to
make the same changes to multiple devices. If you try to replicate changes you made
on one device in the cluster, the next config sync attempt could fail.
- At the top of the screen, clickConfiguration, then, on the left, click .The screen displays the list of virtual servers defined on this device.If you select the check box for a virtual server, you can delete it, clone it, attach iRules to it, view statistics for it, or deploy it. You can also view details about other configuration objects to which this virtual server relates.
- ClickCreate.The New Virtual Server screen opens.
- Type aNamefor the virtual server you are creating.
- If the device for which you are creating this virtual server is in a silo as part of a conflict resolution work flow, select thatSilohere; otherwise, leave the default setting.For detailed work flows explaining how you can use a silo to resolve configuration object conflicts, refer toBIG-IQ: Resolving Device Object Conflictsonsupport.f5.com.
- Select theDeviceon which to create the virtual server.Once you select this option, the Configuration and Resources settings provide options based on your selected device.
- ForPartition, type the name of the BIG-IP device partition on which you want to create the virtual server.In the AS3 user interface, the BIG-IP device partition to which services deploy is referred to as thetenant. Do not deploy any objects to a partition that has been used to deploy AS3 application services using the Configuration tab. For additional detail about partitions and tenants, refer toAS3 tenant name detailsin theManaging BIG-IQ AS3 templatesarticle onsupport.f5.com
- Specify theDestination Addressthat you want this virtual server to use.
- To use one specific address, selectHost, and type the IP address of the destination that you want this virtual server to send its traffic to.
- To use a list of addresses, selectAddress List, and select the list of addresses that you want this virtual server to send its traffic to.
- In theService Portfield, type a service port number, or select a type from the list.When you select a type from the list, the value in theService Portfield changes to reflect the associated default, which you can change.
- Specify the additional settings needed to suit the requirements for this virtual server.The remaining parameters on this screen are optional and perform the same function as they do when you configure a virtual server on a BIG-IP device.For details about the purpose or function of a particular setting, refer to theAbout Virtual Serverschapter in theBIG-IP Local Traffic Management: Basicsguide on.support.f5.com
- ClickSave & Close.The system creates the new virtual server with the settings you specified.
When you finish specifying the settings for
the new virtual server, you should evaluate and then deploy your changes to the target
device. Until you deploy these changes, objects on the managed device are not
changed.
Clone a virtual server
You can use the BIG-IQ Local Traffic
interface to create a new virtual server based on the specifications for an
existing one. This can be a great time saver when you need to create several
virtual servers that use a number of similar settings.
- At the top of the screen, clickConfiguration, then, on the left, click .The screen displays the list of virtual servers defined on this device.If you select the check box for a virtual server, you can delete it, clone it, attach iRules to it, view statistics for it, or deploy it. You can also view details about other configuration objects to which this virtual server relates.
- Select the check box associated with the existing virtual server that you want to clone.
- Click theClonebutton.The BIG-IQ creates a new virtual server using the settings of the one you selected, and opens the Virtual Servers - Clone screen so you can modify parameters that you need to change.
- To create this object as part of conflict resolution work flow, select theSiloyou want to create it in; otherwise, leave the default setting (None).For detailed work flows explaining how you can use a silo to resolve configuration object conflicts, refer toResolving Device Object Conflictsonsupport.f5.com.
- Modify the parameters for the new virtual server as needed.Two virtual servers cannot share the sameDestination Address,Protocol, andVLAN.In the AS3 user interface, the BIG-IP device partition to which services deploy is referred to as thetenant. Do not deploy any objects to a partition that has been used to deploy AS3 application services using the Configuration tab. For additional detail about partitions and tenants, refer toAS3 tenant name detailsin theManaging BIG-IQ AS3 templatesarticle onsupport.f5.com
- When you are satisfied with the settings for the new virtual server, clickSave & Close.The system creates the new virtual server with the settings you specified.
When you finish specifying the
settings for the new virtual server, the next step is to evaluate and then
deploy your changes to the target device. Until you deploy these changes,
objects on the managed device are not changed.
Attach iRules to virtual servers
You can use the BIG-IQ Local Traffic interface to
attach iRules to a set of virtual servers. Adding an iRule sequence to a group of
servers all at once can save time and help you cut down on errors that result from
performing repetitive tasks.
- At the top of the screen, clickConfiguration, then, on the left, click .The screen displays the list of virtual servers defined on this device.If you select the check box for a virtual server, you can delete it, clone it, attach iRules to it, view statistics for it, or deploy it. You can also view details about other configuration objects to which this virtual server relates.
- Select the check boxes associated with the virtual servers to which you want to attach iRules.
- ClickAttach iRules, and then clickAttach iRulesagain to confirm.The Bulk Attach iRules screen opens.
- To specify which iRules to attach to the selected virtual servers, select them in theAvailable iRuleslist, and move them to theiRules to be Attachedlist.
- Specify the order in which you want the iRules to attach using the up and down arrows .
- ForLocation, specify the list position to attach these iRules.
- To add the rules to the beginning of the existing list, clickAttach to top of each virtual server's iRules list.
- To add the rules to the end of the existing list, clickAttach to bottom of each virtual server's iRules list.
- Use theDuplicate Policysetting to specify whether to keep the iRule list order for iRules that are already attached to the virtual servers.
- To keep the existing list order, clickKeep virtual servers' existing rules list order.
- To change the existing list order to what you specified previously, clickReorder virtual servers' existing rules to preserve selected rules order.
- ClickSave & Close.
Once you have finished revising the settings
for this virtual server, you must evaluate and then deploy your changes to the target
device. Until you deploy these changes, objects on the managed device are not
changed.
Statistics collection profiles
Analytics allows your system to collect system and traffic data from the virtual servers
on your managed BIG-IP devices. Once collected traffic data is displayed in graphical
charts where you can drill down for more specific details to better understand network
performance on certain devices, IP addresses, memory and CPU utilization, and so on. You
can focus the statistics in the charts on different categories such as applications or
virtual servers. There are two different kinds of analytics profiles that can be
applied to your virtual servers, HTTP and TCP analytics.
- HTP Analytics profiles
- HTTP is used to for collecting web application statitics. For HTTP traffic, Analytics provides detailed metrics such as transactions per second, server and client latency, request and response throughput, and sessions. You can view metrics for applications, virtual servers, pool members, transaction outcomes,URLs, specific countries, and additional detailed statistics about application traffic running through the BIG-IP system.Transaction counters for response codes, user agents, HTTP methods, countries, and IP addresses provide statistical analysis of HTTP traffic that is going through the system. You can capture HTTP traffic for examination, and have the system send alerts so you can troubleshoot problems and immediately react to sudden changes.In addition Analytics uses this profile type to
- TCP Analytics profile
- TCP is used for collecting L4 traffic data. Reports show details about RTT (round trip time), goodput, connections, and packets. For TCP, you can also view statistics for delay analysis. Within these categories, you can display information by the requests side, applications, virtual servers, remote host IP addresses, subnet addresses, next hops, countries, cities, continents, or user provided keys. You can use the reports to gather information about TCP flows to better understand what is happening on your network. For example, you could view the charts by applications, then examine RTT averages, packet loss, and connection length to investigate user complaints about client/server latency.
Attaching a statistics collection profile
To view centralized traffic data in BIG-IQ, you must
license and provision AVR to on your virtual servers' host device. For more information
about configuring statistics collection, see
BIG-IQ Monitoring and Reports
on support.F5.com
. You can collect traffic statistics by attaching an
Analytics profile to your virtual server.
- At the top of the screen, clickConfiguration, then, on the left, click .The screen displays the list of virtual servers defined on this device.If you select the check box for a virtual server, you can delete it, clone it, attach iRules to it, view statistics for it, or deploy it. You can also view details about other configuration objects to which this virtual server relates.
- Click the name of the virtual server.
- To add Analytics to HTTP layer traffic, select a profile from theHTTP Analytics Profilefield.The system has a default HTTP Analytics profile. You can edit this profile, or create a child profile, by going to. For more information about the HTTP analytics profile settings, refer toBIG-IP Analytics: Implementationsonsupport.F5.com.
- To add Analytics to TCP layer traffic, select a profile from theTCP Analytics Profilefield.The system has a default HTTP Analytics profile. You can edit this profile, or create a child profile, by going to. For more information about theTCP analytics profile settings, refer toBIG-IP Analytics: Implementationsonsupport.F5.com.
- When you are satisfied with the changes you have made, clickSave & Close.The revisions you saved are made, and the Properties screen for the selected object closes.
Changes that you make are made only to the
pending version. The
pending version
serves as a
repository for changes you stage before deploying them to the managed device. Object
settings for the pending version are not the same as the object settings on the actual
BIG-IP device until they are deployed or discarded. Once you have finished revising the settings
for this virtual server, the next step is to evaluate and then deploy your changes to
the target device. Until you deploy these changes, objects on the managed device are not
changed.
Change virtual server settings
Using the BIG-IQ user interface to make revisions
to your virtual server configurations simplifies managing your devices by giving you a
single interface to control all of your devices.
If you revise configurations on devices that belong to a high
availability cluster, this synchronizes BIG-IQ cluster members automatically when
you deploy the change. Do not try to make the same changes to multiple devices. If
you try to replicate changes you made on one device in the cluster, the next config
sync attempt could fail.
- At the top of the screen, clickConfiguration, then, on the left, click .The screen displays the list of virtual servers defined on this device.If you select the check box for a virtual server, you can delete it, clone it, attach iRules to it, view statistics for it, or deploy it. You can also view details about other configuration objects to which this virtual server relates.
- Click the name of the virtual server that you want to change.If you select the check box for the virtual server instead of the name, there are a couple of unique operations that you can perform. You can either clone a virtual server to create a new one based on the selected server (seeCloning a virtual server), or you can attach iRules to several virtual servers at once (seeAttaching iRules to virtual servers).The Properties screen for the virtual server opens.
- Make changes to the properties you want to modify.For detailed information on the impact of using a particular virtual server value, refer toBIG-IP Local Traffic Management: Basicsonsupport.F5.com.
- If this object is in a silo as part of a conflict resolution work flow, the name of thatSilodisplays here; otherwise, this field is blank.For detailed work flows explaining how you can use a silo to resolve configuration object conflicts, refer toResolving Device Object Conflictsonsupport.f5.com.
- When you are satisfied with the changes you have made, clickSave & Close.The revisions you saved are made, and the Properties screen for the selected object closes.
Changes that you make are made only to the
pending version. The
pending version
serves as a
repository for changes you stage before deploying them to the managed device. Object
settings for the pending version are not the same as the object settings on the actual
BIG-IP device until they are deployed or discarded. Once you have finished revising the settings
for this virtual server, the next step is to evaluate and then deploy your changes to
the target device. Until you deploy these changes, objects on the managed device are not
changed.