Manual Chapter : Discover and import services for a BIG-IP device you added

Applies To:

BIG-IQ Centralized Management

  • 8.4.0
back-action Add A BIG-IP Device To The BIG-IQ Inventory

Discover and import services for a BIG-IP device you added

Discover and import services for a BIG-IP device you have added to BIG-IQ so you can start managing it. Use this procedure if you added a BIG-IP device, but have not yet discovered and imported its services.

Note: To discover IPS services for AFM, you must enable its discovery on BIG-IQ. See Discover and import IPS services.

When importing services, keep the following information in mind.

When BIG-IQ manages a BIG-IP device, it stores a copy of that device’s service configuration objects. BIG-IQ uses the following terms to describe object configuration settings on your BIG-IQ and BIG-IP devices:

  • Working configuration is the BIG-IP service configuration located on BIG-IQ. This is the configuration you manage, edit, and deploy to your managed BIG-IP devices.
  • Current configuration is the BIG-IP service configuration running on a BIG-IP device, which can be different than the working configuration on BIG-IQ if changes were made directly on that BIG-IP device.

There are three types of objects that can cause conflicts when importing a BIG-IP device’s services.

  • Shared - All objects shared across BIG-IP devices, such as LTM profiles and monitors, Security policies for ASM, AFM, and APM.
  • Shared version-specific - Only LTM profile and monitor objects that are specific to a BIG-IP software version.
  • Device-specific - Objects that are specific to a particular BIG-IP device and are not shared among BIG-IP devices. These are objects that have been modified directly on the BIG-IP (not recommended) rather than deployed from BIG-IQ.

  1. At the top of the screen, click Devices.

  2. On the left, click BIG-IP DEVICES.

  3. Click the name of the BIG-IP device you’re discovering and importing services for.

  4. On the left, click SERVICES.

  5. For each service this BIG-IP device is licensed for, perform the following steps:

    You must discover and import the LTM service before any others, so make sure you do that first.

    1. click the Discover button.

    2. To create a snapshot of the BIG-IQ configuration before importing services, select the Create a snapshot of the current configuration before importing check box.

    3. Click the Import button next to the service to import it.

    4. If BIG-IQ detects a conflict between the working configuration on BIG-IQ and the objects you are importing, a popup displays so you can specify how you want to resolve conflicts. You can either choose to handle all conflicts the same way, or you can specify a specific resolution for each conflict, or you can choose to resolve conflicts later by importing this device to a silo.

      • If you want to handle all conflicts the same way, you can choose Set all BIG-IQ to keep all of the object settings from the BIG-IQ working configuration. The next time you deploy a configuration to that BIG-IP device, BIG-IQ overwrites all object settings to match the settings on BIG-IQ.
      • If you want to handle all conflicts the same way, you can choose Set all BIG-IP to use all of the object settings from the BIG-IP device’s configuration to replace the object settings in the BIG-IQ working configuration. The next time you deploy a configuration, BIG-IQ overwrites the object settings for any shared objects to match the settings on this BIG-IP device.
      • If you want to handle each conflict individually, you can choose BIG-IQ to keep the object settings from the BIG-IQ working configuration. The next time you deploy a configuration to a BIG-IP device, BIG-IQ overwrites the object settings to match the settings on BIG-IQ.
      • If you want to handle each conflict individually, you can choose BIG-IP to use the object settings from the BIG-IP device’s configuration to replace the object settings in the BIG-IQ working configuration. If this is a shared object, the next time you deploy a configuration, BIG-IQ overwrites the object settings on the target BIG-IP device to match the settings from this BIG-IP device’s configuration.
      • If you want to handle each conflict individually, for conflicts in LTM monitor or profile settings you can choose Create Version. This option creates and stores a copy of the BIG-IP device’s object(s), specific to the software version on that BIG-IP device. The next time you deploy a configuration, BIG-IQ replaces that object for any target BIG-IP device running that specific version with the object on this BIG-IP. You can store multiple versions of LTM monitors or profiles. BIG-IQ deploys the appropriate stored version to your managed devices. BIG-IQ automatically resolves conflicts against the appropriate version the next time it imports services that contain LTM monitors or profiles.

    5. Click the Continue button to apply the options you selected, or click the Resolve Conflicts Later button to import this device to a silo.

    6. Click Resolve to confirm the conflict resolution options you specified.

    BIG-IQ imports the device and it’s configuration objects based on the options you specified.

  6. When you finish importing the services for a device, click Cancel to return to the BIG-IP Devices screen.

After the service(s) are imported, you can manage this device.