Manual Chapter :
Chassis Partitions
Applies To:
Show VersionsF5OS-C
- 1.6.1
Chassis Partitions
Chassis partition overview
On the
VELOS
platform, a
chassis partition
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 separate computing clusters 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.
- TheVELOSplatform supportsF5-signed tenants only.
"None" partition overview
F5 ships blades with no software image installed and no configuration.
If a newly installed blade is not assigned to a defined chassis partition, it is
assigned automatically to the “none” partition (partition 0).
When you add a blade to the chassis, an automatic PXE boot from a
system controller installs the chassis partition image from that controller. If one
controller has been replaced but has a chassis partition image from another chassis, the
other controller recognizes the image and boots that image using PXE. If there is a
software mismatch, the system automatically upgrades the software to match the chassis
partition.
Before you remove a blade from a chassis partition, moving the blade
to the “none” partition clears the blade data so the blade can then be moved to another
chassis or chassis partition. Otherwise, you must boot the blade manually using PXE
after installation.
Chassis partition high availability (HA) overview
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, clickCHASSIS 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 canEnableorDisablea chassis partition using theEnable/Disablepartition 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.
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 F5 downloads site. 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, clickCHASSIS 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, theCreatebutton 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, clickCreate.If using thedefaultpartition, select it and clickEditinstead.
- In the list of chassis partitions, forName, 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.
- Review or editSelected Slots, which allows you to select the slots to be included in the chassis partition.
- To configure IPv4 addresses, in the IPv4 section:
- ForIP Address, type the IP address of the chassis partition.
- ForPrefix Length, enter a number from 1-32 for the length of the prefix.
- ForGateway, type the IP address of the gateway.
- To configure IPv6 addresses, in the IPv6 address section:
- ForIP Address, type the IP address of the chassis partition.
- ForPrefix Length, enter a number from 1-32 for the length of the prefix.
- ForGateway, type the IP address of the gateway.
- ForPartition Image, define the software to use for the chassis partition:
- Click eitherBundledorUnbundled.ChooseBundledif you are installing the entire operating system for the chassis partition (use the ISO Image). ChooseUnbundledif 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.
- ForConfiguration 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.
- ForImages 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.
- ForShared 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.
- ClickSave.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 selectEnabledfrom theEnabled/Disabledlist.
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, clickCHASSIS PARTITIONS.The Chassis Partitions screen opens.
- From the chassis partition list, select the chassis partition that you want to edit.
- ClickEdit.
- 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).
- ClickSave.
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, clickCHASSIS PARTITIONS.The Chassis Partitions screen opens.
- From the chassis partition list, select the chassis partition that you want to edit.
- ClickEdit.
- ForConfiguration Volume Size, enter 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.
- ForImages 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.
- ForShared 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.
- ClickSave.
Update chassis partition software from
the webUI
Verify that you have downloaded and
imported the
F5OS
image files from
F5 before you attempt to update the chassis partition software.You can update
F5OS
software on a chassis partition from the system
controller webUI. This method updates only one blade in a chassis partition at
a time and might cause an outage on any running tenants. When the installation
succeeds, the remaining blades in the chassis partition update.- Log in to the VELOS system controller webUI using an account with admin access.
- On the left, clickCHASSIS PARTITIONS.The Chassis Partitions screen opens.
- In the Partition list, select the chassis partition that you want to update.
- ClickEdit.
- Select an installation type:
- ChooseBundledto install an ISO image.
- ChooseUnbundledto install a base OS version and service version independently.
- In the Partition Image section, select the software image version (or versions if performing an unbundled upgrade).
- ClickSave.
The software installs on the blades in the
chassis partition. If, for any reason, the update is not successful, the
system reverts to the last working software version on the chassis
partition.
Configure system controller high availability from the
webUI
You should normally not need to change
system controller high availability (HA), or redundancy, to something other
than the default configuration (Auto). If needed, you can change which system
controller runs the active chassis partition instance or initiate a failover
from the active controller 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.
- ForPreferred Node, select the system controller to run the active instance of the chassis partition, or chooseAutoto let the system decide.UsingAutois 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 thanAuto, the preference is ignored unless you enableAuto Failback.
- If you really want to indicate a preference and have selected one of the system controllers (notAuto):
- SetAuto FailbacktoEnabled.
- In theFailback Delayfield, type the number of seconds to delay before initiating the failback.
- To force a failover to occur immediately, forForce Failover, clickFailover.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.configThe 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> enabledThis example creates a chassis partition namedcustomwith 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:syscon-1-active# partitions partition custom config iso-version 1.0.0-12345 mgmt-ip ipv4 address 192.0.2.20 mgmt-ip ipv4 gateway 192.0.2.254 prefix-length 24 enabled
- Commit the configuration changes.commit
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.configThe 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 shows configuring a chassis partition namedhigh1with a configuration volume size of 15, an images volume size of 50, and a shared volume size of 20:default-1(config)# partitions partition high1 config configuration-volume 15 images-volume 50 shared-volume 20
- Commit the configuration changes.commit
The system applies the customized
chassis partition volume sizes.
Update chassis partition software from the CLI
Verify that you have downloaded and
imported the
F5OS
image files from
F5 before you attempt to update the chassis partition software.You can update
F5OS
software on a chassis partition from the CLI. This method
updates only one blade in a chassis partition at a time and might cause an outage on any
running tenants. When the installation succeeds, the remaining chassis partitions
update.- Connect to the system using a management console or console server.The default baud rate and serial port configuration is 19200/8-N-1.
- 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.
- Verify that the image you want to install is listed, and the status isready.show image partition stateThis verifies that the ISO is imported properly to the image server on the system controllers, and the system controllers can access these images when the blade reboots. The imported file replicates automatically to the standby controller.A summary similar to this excerpt displays:syscon-1-active# show image partition state VERSION OS IN PARTITION CONTROLLER STATUS DATE SIZE USE NAME ID ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.6.0-7890 1 ready 2022-12-28 783.94MB false VERSION SERVICE IN PARTITION CONTROLLER STATUS DATE SIZE USE NAME ID ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.6.0-7890 1 ready 2022-12-28 1.76GB false VERSION ISO IN PARTITION CONTROLLER STATUS DATE SIZE USE NAME ID ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.6.0-7890 1 ready 2022-12-28 3.13GB false default 1 VERSION OS IN PARTITION CONTROLLER STATUS DATE SIZE USE NAME ID ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.6.0-7890 2 ready 2022-12-28 783.94MB false VERSION SERVICE IN PARTITION CONTROLLER STATUS DATE SIZE USE NAME ID ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.6.0-7890 2 ready 2022-12-28 1.76GB false VERSION ISO IN PARTITION CONTROLLER STATUS DATE SIZE USE NAME ID ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.6.0-7890 2 ready 2022-12-28 3.13GB false default 1
- Change to config mode.configThe CLI prompt changes to include(config).
- Set the ISO version for the chassis partition so that its member blades are updated.partitions partition <name> set-version iso-version <version> proceed [ yes | no ]By default, you will be prompted to confirm the software update. Typeyesto proceed. To bypass the confirmation prompt, includeproceed yesat the end of the command sequence.This example shows updating the ISO version on the default chassis partition:syscon-1-active(config)# partitions partition default set-version iso-version 1.6.0-7890These examples show updatingos-versionandservice-version:Update OS version on the default chassis partition:syscon-1-active(config)# partitions partition default set-version os-version 1.6.0-7890Update service version on the default chassis partition:syscon-1-active(config)# partitions partition default set-version service-version 1.6.0-7890
- When the compatibility check succeeds, enteryesto proceed with the installation process.A summary similar to this excerpt displays:syscon-1-active(config)# partitions partition default set-version iso-version 1.6.0-7890 Partition database compatibility check succeeded. Changing running partition software version will interrupt tenant operation. Proceed? [yes/no]: yes result Version update successful.
The software on the selected chassis
partition updates to the specified version. The blades might reboot, depending
on the changes in the install. After a successful update, the software
installs on the remaining blades.
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 slotsA summary similar to this example, which shows that all slots are still assigned to the default chassis partition, displays:syscon-1-active# show running-config slots slots slot 1 partition default ! slots slot 2 partition default ! slots slot 3 partition default ! slots slot 4 partition default ! slots slot 5 partition default ! slots slot 6 partition default ! slots slot 7 partition default ! slots slot 8 partition default !
- Change to config mode.configThe CLI prompt changes to include(config).
- Add the slot to a specified chassis partition.slots slot [ default | <slot-number> | none ] partition <partition-name>This example adds slot1to a chassis partition namedcustompartition:syscon-1-active# slots slot 1 partition custompartition
- Repeat to add slots to other chassis partitions.
- Commit the configuration changes.commit
- Return to user (operational) mode.end
- Confirm that the chassis partitions and slots are correctly configured on the system.show running-config slotsA summary similar to this example displays:syscon-1-active# show running-config slots slots slot 1 partition custompartition ! slots slot 2 partition default ! slots slot 3 partition default ! slots slot 4 partition default ! slots slot 5 partition default ! slots slot 6 partition default ! slots slot 7 partition default ! slots slot 8 partition default !
After adding slots to chassis
partitions, the blade reboots to install the appropriate chassis partition
software.
Remove a slot from a chassis partition from the CLI
You can remove slots from a chassis
partition.
- 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 slotsA summary similar to this example displays:syscon-1-active# show running-config slots slots slot 1 partition default ! slots slot 2 partition default ! slots slot 3 partition default ! slots slot 4 partition default ! slots slot 5 partition default ! slots slot 6 partition default ! slots slot 7 partition default ! slots slot 8 partition default !
- Change to config mode.configThe CLI prompt changes to include(config).
- Remove a specified slot from a chassis partition.slots slot <slot-number> partition noneThis example removes slot number 8 from a chassis partition:syscon-1-active# slots slot 8 partition none
- Commit the configuration changes.commit
- Return to user (operational) mode.end
- Confirm that the chassis partitions and slots are correctly configured on the system.show running-config slots
Show chassis partitions from the CLI
You can show the chassis partitions that were
created on the system controllers, as well as the chassis partition volume sizes, from
the CLI.
- 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.
- Show the chassis partitions that are currently configured on the system.show partitionsIn this example, the chassis has three chassis partitions: default, part2, part3, and part4:default-1# show partitions PARTITION NAME CONTROLLER ID STATUS ----------------------------------------------- default 1 1 running-standby 2 1 running-active none 1 0 disabled 2 0 disabled part2 1 5 running 2 5 running part3 1 2 running-standby 2 2 running-active part4 1 3 running-standby 2 3 running-active
- Show the chassis partition volume sizes.show partitions volumesIn 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 slotsIn this example, all of the slots are assigned to the default chassis partition:default-1# show running-config slots slots slot 1 partition default ! slots slot 2 partition default ! slots slot 3 partition default ! slots slot 4 partition default ! slots slot 5 partition default ! slots slot 6 partition default ! slots slot 7 partition default ! slots slot 8 partition default !