Manual Chapter : Getting started with VELOS

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Manual Chapter

Getting started with VELOS

The VELOS platform is a modular (chassis and blade) form factor, designed to meet the needs of large enterprise networking environments that require the ability to scale and process a large volume of increasing application workloads.
This guide walks you through getting started with a new installation of a VELOS platform, including essential steps like configuring DHCP, network settings, chassis partitions, and tenants. After you complete these procedures, your system will be running a basic configuration that includes a partition and a tenant.
Before you begin, be sure that you have this information:
  • Proposed new passwords for VELOS admin and root accounts
  • Proposed management IP addresses for system controllers, partition, and tenant (if not using DHCP)
  • IP address of DHCP server running in network (if using DHCP)
  • IP address of NTP server
  • IP address of DNS server
  • BIG-IP base registration key
For additional information on installing and configuring VELOS systems, see the VELOS and F5OS documentation at support.f5.com.

About chassis installation

For detailed information about installing your platform, see the document titled
Setting Up the VELOS CX Series AC and DC Platforms
that is included with the chassis.
At a high level, to install the chassis into your data center, you perform these tasks:
  1. Rack the chassis using the rack mount kit provided.
  2. Insert blades into the chassis, starting at slot 1.
  3. Ensure the front bezel with LCD is secured to the chassis.
  4. Connect the serial console cables, management interfaces, and networking cables.
  5. Connect the power supply and power apply power to the chassis.

About the internal chassis network

The VELOS system uses an internal chassis network for control plane and management plane communication between firmware and software on the blades and system controllers. Traffic on this internal network is firewall-protected and is not exposed to a customer’s management network. The internal chassis network uses a predefined range of IP addresses, using 100.64.0.0/12 addressing, by default.
IP addresses in the predefined range are reserved for the chassis network and cannot be used for any of the following:
  • VELOS management IP addresses for the system controllers, chassis partitions, and tenants
  • Any external service configured on the VELOS system, such as a DNS server, NTP server, and so on
  • Source IP addresses of any device used to communicate with the VELOS system (such as a laptop, workstation, or other device that connects)
If your network uses addresses in the predefined range for any of the above, you will not be able to access the VELOS system by means of the VELOS management interfaces (including the CLI, webUI, or RESTCONF APIs). This is only an issue if using 100.64.0.0/12 addresses for VELOS management IP addresses, external servers, or source IP addresses described here.
To prevent this issue, F5 provides a procedure that enables you to select a different internal IP address range during initial provisioning of a system, as an alternative to using the default range. For more information on how to change the internal network IP address range, see
VELOS Systems: Administration and Configuration
at support.f5.com.

VELOS terminology and taxonomy

These are some of the terms and taxonomy that you will encounter when configuring the VELOS system.
Term
Definition
chassis
The main component of the unit that houses the blades, system controllers, and other components. The chassis can be divided into multiple chassis partitions.
system controllers
Components of the chassis that provide a unified point for external management and connectivity to the platform and applications running in the chassis. The chassis contains a redundant pair of system controllers that provides a high bandwidth interconnect between blades and high availability. The system controllers also provide REST APIs, a system controller CLI, and a webUI.
blade
The primary hardware component that handles traffic management including disaggregation, packet classification, and traffic-steering for the VELOS platform. Up to eight blades can be installed into the slots on the chassis.
chassis partition
A virtual system or subset of the chassis that handles the management and separation of disjoint sets of blades within the chassis. Partitions form chassis level management and traffic partitions. Each chassis partition is a separate managed device – unlike the BIG-IP system’s administrative partitions within a single managed device. The partition can be managed using REST APIs, the partition CLI, and a webUI.
tenant
A guest system (similar to a vCMP guest) running software within a chassis partition (for example, a Classic BIG-IP system). Multiple tenants can be deployed in one chassis partition.
chassis terminal service
Built into the system controller software, the chassis terminal service provides a means to access the console for the system controllers and all blades.