is a kind of virtual system or subset of the chassis that
handles the management and separation of disjoint sets of blades within the chassis. The
chassis has eight slots, which can contain up to eight blades. One or more slots are
assigned to a chassis partition, which then controls whatever blade is inserted into it
(if any).
The chassis can be divided into multiple chassis partitions, and a chassis
partition can have multiple tenants. A
tenant
is a
guest system running software (for example, a
BIG-IP
system).
The chassis, chassis partitions, and tenants in the chassis
partitions each have separate sets of users, and they have different functions
at the different levels. The chassis administrator manages the whole chassis
and creates chassis partitions. The chassis partition administrator manages
their chassis partition only.
Within the
VELOS
system, a chassis administrator can
create chassis partitions then allocates one or more slots that work as a separate
computing cluster for traffic. A chassis might contain multiple chassis partitions, and
a slot might belong to only one chassis partition at a time. For example, an 8-slot
chassis could potentially have up to 8 chassis partitions, one slot each.
The
VELOS
system comes initially preconfigured with one
default
chassis partition.
The slots for all blades are automatically assigned as members of the default chassis
partition. The blades in the chassis can be used that way, so they work together as one
powerful system to process network traffic, or reconfigured into multiple chassis
partitions that are organized into smaller subsets of the chassis.
These are chassis partition attributes:
A chassis is divided into distinct sets of slots
called chassis partitions.
A slot (and the blade it contains, if any) can be part
of only one chassis partition.
Each chassis partition is an independently managed
entity with its own addressable management stack. The system controller is
responsible for isolating traffic between chassis partitions.
Each chassis partition provides REST APIs, a CLI, and
a webUI to use to perform management tasks.
The chassis partition administrator configures L2
networking, deploys tenants, and performs other administrative duties
within the chassis partition.
Each chassis partition can have multiple tenants.
Tenants can span multiple slots in a chassis
partition.
The
VELOS
platform supports
F5
-signed tenants only.
Chassis partition high availability (HA)
The chassis partition is designed so that all of the chassis
partition configuration data is constantly stored in an active location and
replicated to a standby location. It is already configured for high
availability. The active and standby instances of a single partition are
always on different system controllers—one is on system controller 1, and the
other is on system controller 2. The active chassis instance, however, might
not always reside on the active system controller. The active and standby
chassis partition instances swap roles during a failover event.
Configuration data is not shared between chassis partitions.
Each chassis partition runs its own software image. Chassis partition
configuration data is kept independent from other chassis partitions.
Chassis partition management from the webUI
Display chassis partition information from the webUI
You can view details on how the chassis partitions are configured on your
VELOS
system from the system controller webUI.
Log in to the VELOS system controller webUI using an account with admin access.
On the left, click
CHASSIS PARTITIONS
.
The Chassis Partitions screen opens.
Review the chassis partition data:
Examine the graphic to see how many slots are in use. Those in use are highlighted.
Review the chassis partition list to see how many chassis partitions currently exist, which slots are associated with each partition, the management IP address of each, whether the chassis partition is Enabled or Disabled, and the operational status.
Perform other tasks as needed regarding chassis partition management:
From here, you can create, edit, or delete chassis partitions.
You can
Enable
or
Disable
a chassis partition using the
Enable/Disable
partition list.
Here is a sample Chassis Partitions screen with two chassis partitions: one named custpart, which uses the two slots that contain blades, and the other, default, which is assigned four empty slots. The custpart partition is Enabled and running. Additional information may also be available on this screen.
Example of chassis partitions screen
Create a chassis partition from the webUI
Before creating a chassis partition, make sure you
have chassis partition software images in the Software Management area. You can download
the latest versions from the
F5
downloads website. When creating
a chassis partition, you will need to specify which image to install and run.
The
VELOS
system initially comes
preconfigured with one
default
chassis partition that you can use instead of having to
create custom chassis partitions. The slots for all blades are automatically
assigned as members of the default chassis partition. The blades in the chassis can
be used that way or reconfigured into multiple chassis partitions that are organized
into smaller subsets of the chassis.
You create chassis partitions by
dividing the chassis into subsets of blades from the system controller webUI.
You assign one or more blades to form the chassis partition. Associating more
blades with a chassis partition provides greater computing power to
accommodate the workload requirements for tenants deployed on that chassis
partition.
Log in to the VELOS system controller webUI using an account with admin access.
On the left, click
CHASSIS PARTITIONS
.
The Chassis Partitions screen displays a graphical view of the VELOS chassis, which shows available slots, which slots contain blades, how many chassis partitions currently exist, which slots are associated with the chassis partition, and whether the chassis partitions are enabled or disabled.
If all slots are assigned to the default chassis
partition, the
Create
button will be unavailable. Before you can create a new chassis partition, you
first need to select one or more slots and remove them from the default chassis
partition.
On the chassis graphic, select the slots to associate with the chassis partition you are creating.
Make sure the slots you select are not already in use by other partitions.
The slots you select need not have blades installed when creating a chassis partition. For example, you can set up partitions before additional blades are available and install them later.
To create a new partition, click
Create
.
If using the
default
partition,
select it and click
Edit
instead.
In the list of chassis partitions, for
Name
, type a name for the chassis partition.
Partition names must consist only of alphanumerics (0-9, a-z, A-Z), must begin with a letter, and are limited to 31 characters.
To configure IPv4 addresses, in the IPv4 section:
For
IP Address
, type the IP address of the chassis partition.
For
Prefix Length
, enter a number from 1-32 for the length of the prefix.
For
Gateway
, type the IP address of the gateway.
To configure IPv6 addresses, in the IPv6 address section:
For
IP Address
, type the IP address of the chassis partition.
For
Prefix Length
, enter a number from 1-32 for the length of the prefix.
For
Gateway
, type the IP address of the gateway.
Review
Selected Slots
,
which shows the slots you selected in the chassis graphic to be
included in the chassis partition.
For
Partition Image
,
define the software to use for the chassis partition:
Click either
Bundled
or
Unbundled
.
Choose
Bundled
if
you are installing the entire operating system for the chassis
partition (use the ISO Image). Choose
Unbundled
if you are installing a service update (specify Base OS
Version and Service Versions to use).
Select the previously uploaded
software image (or images) to run on the chassis
partition.
For
Configuration Volume Size
, select the desired configuration
volume in increments of 1 GB.
The default value is 10 GB, with a
minimum of 5 GB and a maximum of 15 GB.
For
Images Volume Size
, select the desired storage volume for all
tenant images in increments of 1 GB.
The default value is 15 GB, with a minimum of 5 GB and a maximum of 50
GB.
For
Shared Volume Size
, select the desired user data (tcpdump
captures, QKView data, etc.) volume in increments of 1 GB.
The default value is 10 GB, with a minimum of 5 GB and a maximum of 20
GB.
You can change the configuration, images, and shared volume sizes of chassis
partitions from the chassis partition webUI. After volume sizes are configured,
their sizes can be increased but not reduced.
Click
Save
.
A new chassis partition is created, enabled, and shown in the chassis partition list.
If the chassis partition does not change automatically to the Enabled state, you can manually select
Enabled
from the
Enabled/Disabled
list.
You can now log in to the chassis
partition using its management IP address to access the chassis partition
webUI and CLI.
Edit a chassis partition from the webUI
You can edit a chassis partition if
you need to change its configuration from the system controller webUI.
Log in to the VELOS system controller webUI using an account with admin access.
On the left, click
CHASSIS PARTITIONS
.
The Chassis Partitions screen opens.
From the chassis partition list, select
the chassis partition that you want to edit.
Click
Edit
.
Adjust the settings as needed.
For example, you can add available slots
to a chassis partition or delete slots from a chassis partition (so they can be added to another
partition).
Click
Save
.
Configure the size of chassis partition volumes from the
webUI
You can change the configuration, images, and shared
volume sizes of chassis partitions from the system controller webUI. After
volume sizes are configured, their sizes can be increased but not reduced.
Log in to the VELOS system controller webUI using an account with admin access.
On the left, click
CHASSIS PARTITIONS
.
The Chassis Partitions screen opens.
From the chassis partition list, select the
chassis partition that you want to edit.
Click
Edit
.
For
Configuration Volume
Size
, type the desired configuration volume in
increments of 1 GB.
The default value is 10 GB,
with a minimum of 5 GB and a maximum of 15 GB.
For
Images Volume Size
,
type the desired storage volume for all tenant images in increments of
1 GB.
The default value is 15 GB,
with a minimum of 5 GB and a maximum of 50 GB.
For
Shared Volume Size
,
type the desired storage volume for shared data, including tcpdump,
QKView, and core files, in increments of 1 GB.
The default value is 10 GB,
with a minimum of 5 GB and a maximum of 20 GB.
Click
Save
.
Configure high availability for chassis partitions from the webUI
You should not need to change chassis partition to something other than the default configuration (Auto), but you can opt to change it or initiate a failover from the active chassis partition to the standby from the chassis partition webUI.
Log in to the VELOS chassis partition webUI using an account with admin access.
On the left, click
SYSTEM SETTINGS
High Availability
.
For
Preferred Node
, select the system controller to run the active instance of the chassis partition, or choose
Auto
to let the system decide.
Using
Auto
is strongly recommended.
Hardware health conditions of the system controllers always take precedence. If one of the system controllers is not healthy, the chassis partition will ignore the preference and synchronize with the healthy system controller.
If you select a preferred node other than auto, the preference is ignored unless you enable
Auto Failback
.
If you really want to indicate a preference and have selected one of the system controllers (not auto):
Set
Auto Failback
to
Enabled
.
In the
Failback Delay
field, type the number of seconds to delay before initiating the failback.
To force a failover to occur immediately, for
Force Failover
, click
Failover
.
You would only do this only if you want the current standby system controller to become the active system controller.
Chassis partition management from the CLI
Create a chassis partition from the CLI
The
VELOS
system includes one
preconfigured chassis partition that includes all slots, by default. You can create
additional chassis partitions but you need to remove the slots associated with the
default chassis partition first.
Log in to the command line interface
(CLI) of the system controller using an account with admin
access.
When you log in to the system,
you are in user (operational) mode.
Change to config mode.
config
The CLI prompt changes to
include
(config)
.
Create a chassis partition by naming the
chassis partition and specifying the ISO version, management IP
address (IPv4), gateway IP address, prefix length (1-32), and then
enabling the chassis partition.
Chassis partition names must
consist of only alphanumerics (0-9, a-z, A-Z), must begin with a
letter, and are limited to 31 characters.
partitions partition
<
partition-name
> config iso-version <
iso-version
> mgmt-ip ipv4 address <
address
>
gateway <
gateway-ip
> prefix-length <
prefix-length
> ipv6 address <
address
>
gateway <
gateway-ip
> prefix-length <
prefix-length
> enabled
This example creates a chassis
partition named
custom
with an IPv4 IP address of 192.0.2.20, a
gateway address of 192.0.2.254, a prefix length of 24, and enables the
chassis partition:
The system creates the chassis
partition. You can now log in to the chassis partition using its management IP
address to access the chassis partition webUI, the chassis partition CLI over SSH, or use the
REST API.
Configure chassis partition volume sizes from the CLI
You can change the configuration, images, and
shared volume sizes of chassis partitions from the CLI. After volume sizes are
configured, their sizes can be increased but not reduced.
Log in to the command line interface
(CLI) of the system controller or chassis partition using an account
with admin access.
When you log in to the system,
you are in user (operational) mode.
Change to config mode.
config
The CLI prompt changes to
include
(config)
.
Configure the chassis partition volume
sizes.
partitions partition <
partition-name
>
config configuration-volume <
configuration-size
>
images-volume <
images-size
> shared-volume
<
shared-size
>
This example configures a chassis
partition named
high1
with a configuration volume size of 15, an images volume size of 50, and a
shared volume size of 20:
The system configures the chassis partition
volume sizes.
Log in to a new chassis partition from the CLI
After you have created a chassis
partition, you can enable it and log in to it using the default admin username
and password.
Use SSH to log in to the chassis
partition using the management IP address.
This example shows the
admin user logging in to partition1:
ssh admin@192.0.2.20
admin@192.0.2.20's password:
Last login: Fri, Oct 30 08:02:15 2020 from 192.0.2.20
Welcome to the F5OS Chassis Partition Management CLI
admin connected from 192.0.2.20 using ssh on partition1
partition1#
You can work in the chassis partition to set up
networking parameters, configure the interface, VLANS, and LAG. You can also add
VELOS
system users, if needed, set up logging, and install and
deploy a tenant in the chassis partition.
Add a slot to a chassis partition from the CLI
Before you can use a chassis
partition, you must add slots to the chassis partition. Slots can be assigned
to one partition only.
Log in to the command line interface
(CLI) of the system controller using an account with admin
access.
When you log in to the system,
you are in user (operational) mode.
Show how chassis partitions and slots
are currently configured on the system.
show running-config
slots
A summary similar to this example,
which shows that all slots are still assigned to the default chassis
partition, displays:
In this example, the configuration, images, and shared volume sizes display
for the chassis partition named
"abc":
default-1# show partitions volumes
VOLUME TOTAL AVAILABLE
NAME CONTROLLER NAME SIZE SIZE
-----------------------------------------------
abc 1 config 5G 5.0G
images 5G 5.0G
shared 7G 7.0G
Show how the slots are currently
configured on the system.
show running-config
slots
In this example, all of the
slots are assigned to the default chassis partition:
You can show the status of chassis
partition redundancy from the chassis partition CLI.
Log in to the command line interface
(CLI) of the chassis partition using an account with admin
access.
When you log in to the system,
you are in user (operational) mode.
Show the chassis partition redundancy
configuration.
show system
redundancy
This example shows a
chassis partition with two assigned
slots.
default-1# show system redundancy
system redundancy state mode auto
system redundancy state auto-failback disabled
system redundancy state auto-failback failback-delay 30
system redundancy state current-active controller-2
system redundancy state status redundant
SERVICES
NAME STATUS FAULT STARTUP TIME LAST TRANSITION OS VERSION VERSION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
blade-1 replica false 2021-11-13 17:38:22 2021-11-13 17:38:23 1.3.0-10781 1.3.0-12345
blade-2 replica false 2021-11-13 17:38:31 2021-11-13 17:38:31 1.3.0-10781 1.3.0-12345
controller-1 standby false 2021-11-13 17:32:48 2021-11-13 17:32:48 1.3.0-10781 1.3.0-12345
controller-2 active false 2021-11-13 17:31:50 2021-11-13 17:32:18 1.3.0-10781 1.3.0-12345
