BIG-IQ Standalone — OpenShift vNIC (OVN-K localnet)

Overview

This guide describes how to deploy a standalone BIG-IQ Central Manager Virtual Edition (VE) instance on Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization (KubeVirt) using virtio-based networking with OVN-Kubernetes localnet topology.

This deployment model uses a virtio vNIC bridged to the node br-ex interface through OVN-Kubernetes localnet networking. It is recommended for:

• Single-node OpenShift (SNO) deployments
• OpenShift environments without SR-IOV-capable hardware
• Lab, evaluation, and general-purpose virtualization deployments

Tested Versions

Prerequisites

Ensure the following requirements are met before deployment.

Verify OpenShift Virtualization is running:

oc get pods -n openshift-cnv | grep -E "virt-operator|virt-controller|virt-handler"

Verify the NMState Operator is running:

oc get pods -n openshift-nmstate

Deployment Workflow

The deployment process consists of the following steps:

1. Create the BIG-IQ namespace
2. Configure the OVN-Kubernetes localnet bridge mapping
3. Create the NetworkAttachmentDefinition (NAD)
4. Import the BIG-IQ QCOW2 image
5. Deploy the BIG-IQ virtual machine
6. Verify VM connectivity and access
7. Complete post-deployment configuration

Create the Namespace

Create the namespace used for BIG-IQ resources:

oc create namespace f5-bigiq --dry-run=client -o yaml | oc apply -f -

Configure the OVN-Kubernetes Localnet Bridge Mapping

Configure a NodeNetworkConfigurationPolicy (NNCP) to map the net-mgmt localnet network to the node br-ex bridge.

Example nncp.yaml:

apiVersion: nmstate.io/v1
kind: NodeNetworkConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: ovs-vms
spec:
  desiredState:
    ovn:
      bridge-mappings:
      - localnet: net-mgmt
        bridge: br-ex
        state: present
  nodeSelector:
    node-role.kubernetes.io/worker: ''

1. Apply the configuration:

oc apply -f nncp.yaml

2. Wait for the policy to become available:

oc wait nncp ovs-vms --for condition=Available --timeout=2m

3. Verify status:

oc get nncp ovs-vms

Create the NetworkAttachmentDefinition

Create a NetworkAttachmentDefinition (NAD) for the management network.

Example nad.yaml:

apiVersion: "k8s.cni.cncf.io/v1"
kind: NetworkAttachmentDefinition
metadata:
  name: net-mgmt
  namespace: f5-bigiq
spec:
  config: '{
    "cniVersion": "0.3.1",
    "name": "net-mgmt",
    "type": "ovn-k8s-cni-overlay",
    "topology": "localnet",
    "netAttachDefName": "f5-bigiq/net-mgmt"
  }'

1. Apply the configuration:

oc apply -f nad.yaml -n f5-bigiq

2. Verify the NAD:

oc get network-attachment-definitions -n f5-bigiq

Import the BIG-IQ QCOW2 Image

Create a DataVolume to import the BIG-IQ QCOW2 image.

Example bigiq-datavolume.yaml:

apiVersion: cdi.kubevirt.io/v1beta1
kind: DataVolume
metadata:
  name: bigiq842-datavolume
  namespace: f5-bigiq
  annotations:
    cdi.kubevirt.io/storage.usePopulator: "false"
spec:
  pvc:
    accessModes:
    - ReadWriteMany
    resources:
      requests:
        storage: 200Gi
  source:
    http:
      url: http://<YOUR_HTTP_SERVER>/BIG-IQ-<VERSION>.qcow2

Update the image URL before applying the configuration.

1. Apply the DataVolume:

oc apply -f bigiq-datavolume.yaml -n f5-bigiq

2. Monitor the import process:

oc get datavolume bigiq842-datavolume -n f5-bigiq -w

3. If the import is stuck, check the importer pod logs:

oc get pods -n f5-bigiq
oc logs -n f5-bigiq -l app=containerized-data-importer

Deploy the BIG-IQ Virtual Machine

Deploy the standalone BIG-IQ virtual machine.

Example bigiq.yaml:

apiVersion: kubevirt.io/v1
kind: VirtualMachine
metadata:
  name: bigiq1-vm
  namespace: f5-bigiq
  labels:
    f5type: bigiq-ve
  annotations:
    k8s.v1.cni.cncf.io/networks: "f5-bigiq/net-mgmt"
spec:
  runStrategy: Always
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        f5type: bigiq-ve
        bigiq-unit: unit-1
    spec:
      domain:
        cpu:
          sockets: 1
          cores: 4
          threads: 2
        resources:
          requests:
            memory: 16Gi
          limits:
            memory: 32Gi
        devices:
          networkInterfaceMultiqueue: true
          disks:
          - name: bigiq1-datavolume
            disk:
              bus: virtio
          interfaces:
          - name: mgmt
            bridge: {}
      volumes:
      - name: bigiq1-datavolume
        dataVolume:
          name: "bigiq841-datavolume"
      networks:
      - name: mgmt
        multus:
          networkName: f5-bigiq/net-mgmt

1. Apply the VM configuration:

oc apply -f bigiq.yaml -n f5-bigiq

2. Monitor VM startup:

oc get vm,vmi -n f5-bigiq -w

Wait until the VM status is Running.

Verify the Deployment

1. Verify the VM and VMI status:

oc get vm bigiq1-vm -n f5-bigiq
oc get vmi bigiq1-vm -n f5-bigiq

2. Retrieve the management IP address:

oc get vmi bigiq1-vm -n f5-bigiq \
-o jsonpath='{.status.interfaces[*].ipAddress}'

3. Verify HTTPS access:

curl -skL --max-time 15 -o /dev/null -w "HTTP %{http_code}\n" \
https://<VM_IP>/ui/login/

4. Access the BIG-IQ UI:

https://<VM_IP>/ui/login/

5. Access the VM through SSH:

ssh root@<VM_IP>

Default Credentials

You are prompted to change the passwords during initial login.

Post-Deployment Configuration

Complete the following tasks after deployment:

• Apply a valid BIG-IQ license
• Change default passwords
• Configure DNS settings
• Configure NTP settings
• Configure the system hostname

Resource Sizing Guidance

The example VM specification is intended for lab environments.

For production deployments:

• Increase vCPU allocation as needed
• Allocate a minimum of 2 GiB memory per vCPU
• Configure memory limits equal to memory requests for guaranteed allocation

Restart the VM after modifying resource allocations:

virtctl restart bigiq1-vm -n f5-bigiq

Troubleshooting

VM is Unschedulable

Reduce CPU or memory allocation, or free resources on the worker node.

VM Has No Network Connectivity

Verify:

• NNCP status is Available
• NAD exists in the correct namespace
• br-ex bridge mapping is configured correctly

DataVolume Import Fails

Verify:

• HTTP image URL is reachable from the cluster
• Storage class supports the required access mode
• Sufficient storage capacity is available

VM Fails to Boot

Verify the QCOW2 image checksum and re-import the image if necessary.

Cleanup

Delete the VM:

oc delete vm bigiq1-vm -n f5-bigiq

Delete the DataVolume:

oc delete datavolume bigiq842-datavolume -n f5-bigiq

Delete the NetworkAttachmentDefinition:

oc delete -f nad.yaml -n f5-bigiq

Delete the NNCP:

oc delete nncp ovs-vms

Delete the namespace:

oc delete namespace f5-bigiq