Manual Chapter :
Getting Started with BIG-IQ Virtual Edition
Applies To:
Show Versions
BIG-IQ Centralized Management
- 8.3.0, 8.2.0, 8.1.0, 8.0.0
Getting Started with BIG-IQ Virtual Edition
What is BIG-IQ Virtual Edition?
BIG-IQ Virtual Edition (VE) is a version of F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management that runs as a
virtual machine
on specifically-supported hypervisors. BIG-IQ VE emulates a hardware-based BIG-IQ system running a VE-compatible version of BIG-IQ software.BIG-IQ VE compatibility with VMware ESXi
VMware ESXi
The BIG-IQ Virtual Edition (VE) software includes support for a growing
list of public and private cloud platforms. For a list of the supported platforms, refer to
the BIG-IQ Virtual Edition Supported Platforms
matrix.
This BIG-IQ version only supports the
Hypervisors
identified in this
guide. Installation attempts on unsupported platforms might not be successful.Hypervisor guest definition requirements
The
ESXi
virtual machine guest
environment for the BIG-IQ Virtual Edition (VE), at minimum, must include:- 4 virtual CPUsThe amount of reserved CPU must match the amount of CPU allocated to the virtual machine.
- 32 GB RAMThe amount of reserved RAM must match the amount of RAM allocated to the virtual machine.
- 1 VMXNET3 virtual network adapter
- 1 virtual network adapter
- At least 128GB disk
If you do not supply at least the minimum virtual
configuration limits, it produces unexpected results.
The resources required for a BIG-IQ virtual
machine depend to some degree on what you intend to do with it. Refer to
Determine the resources required for deployment
on
support.f5.com
for
details.There are
also some maximum configuration limits to consider for deploying a BIG-IQ VE virtual
machine, such as:
- CPU reservation can be up to 100 percent of the defined virtual machine hardware. For example, if the hypervisor has a 3 GHz core speed, the reservation of a virtual machine with 2 CPUs can be only 6 GHz or less.
- To achieve optimum performance limits, all allocated CPU and RAM must be reserved, and virtual disks should be deployed Thick (allocated up front).
Determine your image and resource requirements
The BIG-IQ Virtual Edition (VE) software images available for download
are available in two images sizes. Once installed and configured, the standard image makes
120 Gb of disk space available for storage and the large image provides 500 Gb.
If you choose the 500 Gb image, only 120 Gb of the 500 Gb is allocated
initially. You must allocate extra disk space beyond 120 Gb before you can use it. Usually,
the extra storage space is for DCDs. However, there are also situations in which BIG-IQ
systems 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-IP
or BIG-IQ software so you can move back and forth between BIG-IP or BIG-IQ versions. If
needed, you can also expand the available disk space up to 1.9 Tb. The optimal size for
your installation depends on how you plan to use it.
In BIG-IQ version 7.1.0, the size requirement for the
/var directory increased from 10 to 25 Gb. If you are updating from a previous version, you
might need to allocate additional disk space to accommodate this requirement.
The following table lists the minimum resources
for deploying a BIG-IQ. Refer to
When does a BIG-IQ system need
additional resources?
and When does a DCD need
additional resources?
(below) for guidance on when you need to exceed these
minimums. Deployment type |
Device Type |
CPU |
RAM |
Disk Space |
|---|---|---|---|---|
BIG-IQ deployment with statistics
collection enabled, as well as alerts and events. |
BIG-IQ |
8 |
32 Gb |
Generally, 120 Gb; or 500 Gb 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 |
8 |
32 Gb |
Generally, 120 Gb; or 500 Gb if extra space is
needed. |
DCD |
8 |
32 Gb |
Initially, 500 Gb. VE disk space can be extended
further as needed. |
|
BIG-IQ deployment without statistics collection,
alerts, or events. |
BIG-IQ |
8 |
32 Gb |
Generally, 120 Gb; or 500 Gb if extra space is
needed. |
License Manager. |
BIG-IQ |
4 |
32 Gb |
120 Gb |
F5 has tested the CPU, RAM and disk space
combinations listed in the table. Other higher allocations may be possible. Generally,
increasing CPU and RAM support more managed devices, services, or data collection (events,
alerts, statistics), and increasing disk space to store more data on the BIG-IQ or DCDs.
When does a BIG-IQ system need additional resources?
When the number of BIG-IP devices you are managing from BIG-IQ
deployment exceeds the specified thresholds, F5 recommends that you allocate 8 CPUs and
64 Gb of RAM to your BIG-IQ systems.
The following table lists the threshold for each BIG-IP service,
depending on the number of BIG-IP devices you are managing.
A BIG-IQ managing devices |
Needs 64 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 does a DCD 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
. DCD Image Sizing
Considerations
TMOS (the architecture underlying BIG-IP and
BIG-IQ) imposes a size limit of 1.9Tb for each BIG-IQ VE. When you calculate how many
BIG-IQ VE instances your solution requires based on data storage, it's important to
understand how much of that 1.9Tb is available for data storage.
- TMOS reserves half of the disk for upgrades.
- Space consumed by your data's Elasticsearch replicas cuts the effective storage in half again.
There are a couple more image size
factors to consider:
- F5 does not support external data storage of BIG-IQ data except for backups and snapshots.
- F5 in-house testing confirms up to 20 DCDs in one Elasticsearch cluster.
BIG-IQ: Sizing Guidelines
on support.f5.com
