Applies To:
Show Versions
BIG-IP versions 1.x - 4.x
- 4.2 PTF-10, 4.2 PTF-09, 4.2 PTF-08, 4.2 PTF-07, 4.2 PTF-06, 4.2 PTF-05, 4.2 PTF-04, 4.2 PTF-03, 4.2 PTF-02, 4.2 PTF-01, 4.2.0
2
Using the Setup Utility
- Creating the initial software configuration with the Setup utility
- Connecting to the BIG-IP for the first time
- Using the Setup utility for the first time
- Running the Setup utility after creating the initial software configuration
Creating the initial software configuration with the Setup utility
Once you install and connect the hardware, the next step in the installation process is to turn the system on and run the Setup utility. The Setup utility defines the initial configuration settings required to install the BIG-IP into the network. You can run the Setup utility remotely from a web browser, or from an SSH or Telnet client, or you can run it directly from the console.
Before you connect to the unit, we recommend that you gather the list of information outlined in the configuration worksheet provided with the BIG-IP. Note that the screens you see are tailored to the specific hardware and software configuration that you have. For example, if you have a stand-alone system, the Setup utility prompts you to skip the redundant system screens.
Once you have configured the base network elements with the Setup utility, you might want to further enhance the configuration of these elements. For additional information about these configuration tasks, see Chapter 3, Additional Base Network Configuration.
Connecting to the BIG-IP for the first time
The Setup utility prompts you to enter the same information, whether you run the utility from a web browser, or from the command line. When the utility completes we recommend that you reboot the unit. This automatically removes the default IP address and root password provided specifically for the purposes of running the Setup utility remotely. The BIG-IP replaces the default IP address and root password with the password and IP addresses that you define while running the utility.
Running the utility from the console or serial terminal
Before you can run the Setup utility from either the console or a serial terminal, you must first log in. Use the following default user name and password to log in.
Username: root
Password: default
After you log in, you can start the utility directly from the console or serial terminal by typing the command config. Once you complete the utility, we recommend that you reboot the BIG-IP. The BIG-IP automatically reboots if you are running the utility for the first time from the console.
Note: If you want to set up a terminal connection directly to the BIG-IP, see Using a serial terminal with the BIG-IP, on page 12-11.
Running the Setup utility remotely
You can run the Setup utility remotely only from a workstation that is on the same LAN as the unit. To allow remote connections for the Setup utility, the BIG-IP comes with two pre-defined IP addresses, and a pre-defined root password. The default root password is default, and the preferred default IP address is 192.168.1.245. If this IP address is unsuitable for your network, the BIG-IP uses an alternate IP address, 192.168.245.245. However, if you define an IP alias on an administrative workstation in the same IP network as the BIG-IP, the unit detects the network of the alias and uses the corresponding default IP address.
Once the utility finishes and the system reboots, these default IP addresses are replaced by the information that you entered in the Setup utility.
Setting up an IP alias for the default IP address before you start the unit
You must set up an IP alias for your remote workstation before you turn on the unit and start the Setup utility. The remote workstation must be on the same IP network as the unit. If you add this alias prior to booting up the BIG-IP, the unit detects the alias and uses the corresponding address.
To set up an IP alias for the alternate IP address
The IP alias must be in the same network as the default IP address you want the BIG-IP to use. For example, on a UNIX workstation, you might create one of the following aliases:
- If you want the unit to use the default IP address 192.168.1.245, then add an IP alias to the machine you want to use to connect to the unit using the following command:
ifconfig exp0 add 192.168.1.1
- If you want to use the default IP address 192.168.245.245, then add an IP alias such as:
ifconfig exp0 add 192.168.245.1
Warning: On Microsoft Windows® or Windows NT® machines, you must use a static IP address, not DHCP. Within the network configuration, add an IP alias in the same network as the IP in use on the unit. For information about adding a static IP address to a Microsoft Windows operating system, please refer to your vendor's documentation.
Determining which default IP address is in use
After you configure an IP alias on the administrative workstation in the same IP network as the BIG-IP and you turn the system on, the BIG-IP sends ARPs on the internal VLAN to see if the preferred 192.168.1.245 IP address is in use. If the address is appropriate for your network and is currently available, the BIG-IP assigns it to the internal VLAN. You can immediately use it to connect to the unit and start the Setup utility.
If the alternate network is present on the LAN, 192.168.245.0/24, or if the node address 192.168.1.245 is in use, then the BIG-IP assigns the alternate IP address 192.168.245.245 to the internal VLAN instead.
Starting the utility from a web browser
When you start the utility from a web browser, you use the selected default IP address as the application URL.
To start the Setup utility in a web browser
- Open a web browser on a workstation connected to the same IP network as the internal VLAN of the unit.
- Type the following URL, where <default IP> is the IP address in use on the BIG-IP internal VLAN.
https://<default IP> - At the login prompt, type root for the user name, and default for the password.
The Configuration Status screen opens. - On the Configuration Status screen, click Start Wizard.
- Fill out each screen using the information from the Setup utility configuration list. After you complete the Setup utility, the BIG-IP reboots and uses the new settings you defined
Note: You can rerun the Setup utility from a web browser at any time by clicking the Setup utility link on the welcome screen.
Starting the utility from the command line
You can run the command line version of the Setup utility from the console or serial terminal, or from a remote SSH client or from a Telnet client.
To start the Setup utility from the console
- At the login prompt, type root for the user name, and default for the password.
- At the BIG-IP prompt, type the following command to start the command-line based Setup utility.
config
- Fill out each screen using the information from the Configuration worksheet. After you complete the Setup utility, the BIG-IP reboots and uses the new settings you defined.
To start the Setup utility from the command line from a remote administrative workstation
- Start an SSH client on a workstation connected to the same IP network as the internal VLAN of the unit. (See Downloading the SSH client to your administrative workstation, on page 12-3, for information on downloading the SSH client from the BIG-IP.)
- Type the following command, where <default IP> is the IP address in use on the BIG-IP internal VLAN.
ssh <default IP>
- At the login prompt, type root for the user name, and default for the password.
- At the BIG-IP prompt, type the following command to start the command-line based Setup utility.
config
- Fill out each screen using the information from the Configuration worksheet. After you complete the Setup utility, reboot the BIG-IP by typing the following command:
reboot
Note: You can rerun the Setup utility at any time using the config command.
Using the Setup utility for the first time
The following sections provide detailed information about the settings that you define in the Setup utility.
Keyboard type
Select the type of keyboard you want use with the BIG-IP. The following options are available:
- Belgian
- Bulgarian MIK
- French
- German
- Japanese - 106 key
- Norwegian
- Spanish
- Swedish
- US + Cyrillic
- US - Standard 101 key (default)
- United Kingdom
Product selection
If you are configuring a BIG-IP Cache Controller, BIG-IP FireGuard, or BIG-IP LB Controller, you must now select one of these three as your product. When you have made your selection, the features supported by that product will be enabled.
Note: You may change your product selection at a later time by running command line version of the Setup utility and selecting the Select type of BIG-IP option.
Warning: Once you have configured your system based on one of the three product selections (BIG-IP Cache Controller, BIG-IP FireGuard, or BIG-IP LB Controller), changing the product selection will most likely invalidate that configuration. Therefore, you need to change and update your configuration after you have rebooted the system under the new product selection.
Root password
A root password allows you command line administrative access to the BIG-IP system. We recommend that the password contain a minimum of 6 characters, but no more than 32 characters. Passwords are case-sensitive, and we recommend that your password contain a combination of upper- and lower-case characters, as well as numbers and special characters for example, !@#$%^&*. Once you enter a password, the Setup utility prompts you to confirm your root password by typing it again. If the two passwords match, your password is immediately saved. If the two passwords do not match, the Setup utility provides an error message and prompts you to re-enter your password.
Host name
The host name identifies the BIG-IP itself. Host names must be fully qualified domain names (FQDNs). The host portion of the name must start with a letter, and must be at least two characters. The name, or host part of the name, must be 39 characters or less. The label part of the name must be 63 characters or fewer. For example:
<host 39 characters or less>.<label 63 characters or less>.net
Configuring a default gateway pool
If a BIG-IP does not have a predefined route for network traffic, the unit automatically sends traffic to the pool that you define as the default gateway pool. You can think of the default gateway pool as a pool of default routes. Typically, a default gateway pool is set to two or more gateway IP addresses. If you type more than one default gateway IP address, the additional gateways provide high availability for administrative connections. If a gateway in the default gateway pool becomes inactive, existing connections through the inactive gateway are routed through another gateway in the default gateway pool. If you type one IP address, no pool is created and the address is entered as the default route.
Warning: All default gateway IP addresses you add to the default gateway pool must be in the same IP network as the BIG-IP.
Redundant system settings
There are two types of settings you need to define for redundant systems: unit IDs, and fail-over IP addresses.
Unit IDs
The default unit ID number is 1. If this is the first unit in the redundant system, use the default. When you configure the second unit in the system, type 2. These unit IDs are used for active-active redundant configuration.
Choosing a fail-over IP address
A fail-over IP address is the IP address of the unit which will take over if the current unit fails. Type in the IP address configured on the internal interface of the other BIG-IP in the redundant pair.
Setting the interface media type
Configure media settings for each interface. The media type options depend on the network interface card included in your hardware configuration. The Setup utility prompts you with the settings that apply to the interface installed in the unit. The BIG-IP supports the following types:
- auto
- 10baseT
- 10baseT, FDX
- 100baseTX
- 100baseTX, FDX
- Gigabit Ethernet
Note: For best results, choose the auto setting. In some cases, devices configured for the auto media are incompatible, and the proper duplex setting will not be negotiated. In these cases you may need to set the media settings to the same speed and duplex on this device and the corresponding switch or host. Check your switch or hub documentation for this information.
Warning: The configuration utility lists only the network interface devices that it detects during system boot. If the utility lists only one interface device, the network adapter may have come loose during shipping. Check the LED indicators on the network adapters to ensure that they are working and are connected.
Configuring VLANs and IP addresses
You can create a new VLAN or use the default internal and external VLANs to create the BIG-IP configuration.
Determine whether you want to have security turned on for a VLAN, or off for the VLAN. Then, type the IP address settings for the VLAN. The IP address settings include:
- Security settings
- IP address, netmask, and broadcast
- Floating self IP address, netmask, and broadcast
We recommend that you set the floating self IP address as the default route for target devices, such as servers. The floating self IP address is owned by the active unit in an active/standby configuration.
Note: The IP address of the external VLAN is not the IP address of your site or sites. The IP addresses of the sites themselves are specified by the virtual IP addresses associated with each virtual server you configure.
Assigning interfaces to VLANs
After you configure the VLANs you want to use on the BIG-IP, you can assign interfaces to the VLANs. If you use the default internal and external VLANs, we recommend that you assign at least one interface to the external VLAN, and at least one interface to the internal VLAN. The external VLAN is the one on which the BIG-IP receives connection requests. The internal VLAN is typically the one that is connected to the network of servers, firewalls, or other equipment that the BIG-IP load balances.
Associating the primary IP address and VLAN with the host name
After you assign interfaces to VLANs, you can choose one VLAN/IP address combination as the primary IP address to associate with the unit host name.
Configuring remote web server access
The BIG-IP web server provides the ability to set up remote web access on each VLAN. When you set up web access on a VLAN, you can connect to the web-based configuration utility through the VLAN. To enable web access, specify a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for each VLAN. The BIG-IP web server configuration also requires that you define a user ID and password. If SSL is available, the configuration also generates authentication certificates.
The Setup utility guides you through a series of screens to set up remote web access.
- The first screen prompts you to select the VLAN you want to configure for web access. After you select an interface to configure, the utility prompts you to type a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the interface. You can configure web access on one or more interfaces.
- After you configure the interface, the utility prompts you for a user name and password. After you type a user name and password, the utility prompts you for a vendor support account. The vendor support account is not required.
- The certification screen prompts you for country, state, city, company, and division.
Warning: If you ever change the IP addresses or host names on the BIG-IP interfaces, you must reconfigure the BIG-IP web server and the portal to reflect your new settings.
You can also add users to the existing password file, change a password for an existing user, or recreate the password file, without actually repeating the remote web server configuration process.
Warning: If you have modified the remote web server configuration outside of the configuration utility, be aware that some changes may be lost when you run the Setup utility. This utility overwrites the httpd.conf file and openssl.conf.
Setting the time zone
Next, you need to specify your time zone. This ensures that the clock for the BIG-IP is set correctly, and that dates and times recorded in log files correspond to the time zone of the system administrator. Scroll through the list to find the time zone at your location. Note that one option may appear with multiple names. Select the time zone you want to use, and press the Enter key to continue.
Configuring the DNS proxy forwarding settings
This option is only available if you do not have the 3-DNS module installed. You need to complete this step only if you want machines inside your BIG-IP managed network to use DNS servers outside of that network (for example, for reverse DNS lookup from a web server).
Specify the DNS name server and domain name for DNS proxy forwarding by the BIG-IP. For more information on DNS proxy forwarding see Configuring DNS on the BIG-IP, on page 12-8.
If you have the 3-DNS module installed, please refer to the 3-DNS documentation for more information about configuring DNS.
Configuring remote administrative access
After you configure remote web access, the Setup utility prompts you to configure remote command line access. On most BIG-IP units, the first screen you see is the Configure SSH screen, which prompts you to type an IP address for SSH command line access. If SSH is not available, you are prompted to configure access through Telnet and FTP instead.
When you configure shell access, the Setup utility prompts you to create a support account for that method. You can use this support account to provide a support engineer access to the BIG-IP.
When the Setup utility prompts you to enter an IP address for administration, you can type a single IP address or a list of IP addresses, from which the BIG-IP will accept administrative connections (either remote shell connections, or connections to the web server on the BIG-IP). To specify a range of IP addresses, you can use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard character in the IP addresses.
The following example allows remote administration from all hosts on the 192.168.2.0/24 network:
192.168.2.*
Note: For administration purposes, you can connect to the BIG-IP floating self IP address, which always connects you to the active unit in an active/standby redundant system. To connect to a specific unit, connect directly to the IP address of that BIG-IP.
Configuring remote access for noncrypto-enabled versions of the system
The Telnet and FTP configuration options are presented only if you do not have a full crypto-enabled version of the BIG-IP. If you have a crypto-enabled version of the software, you are prompted to configure SSH.
Configuring Telnet
Use this option to configure the Telnet server on a BIG-IP only. The Setup utility prompts you to configure each service independently. This allows you to enable Telnet.
The utility prompts you for a configuration address for each service from which administrators may access the BIG-IP. You can use wildcard characters (*) to include all addresses from a specific part of the network. This utility also prompts you to create a support account for access by technical support.
If inetd is not currently configured, this utility configures inetd for the requested services. If the ports for Telnet are closed, this utility opens the ports to permit Telnet connections to the BIG-IP.
Configuring FTP
Use this option to configure FTP on the BIG-IP. The Setup utility prompts you for an IP address from which administrators may access the BIG-IP with FTP. You can use wildcard characters (*) to include all addresses from a specific part of the network. This utility also prompts you to create a support account for access by technical support.
If the service port for FTP is closed, this utility opens the service port to permit FTP connections to the BIG-IP.
Configuring NTP support
You can synchronize the time on the unit to a public time server by using Network Time Protocol (NTP). NTP is built on top of TCP/IP and assures accurate, local timekeeping with reference to clocks located on the Internet. This protocol is capable of synchronizing distributed clocks, within milliseconds, over long periods of time. If you choose to enable NTP, make sure UDP port 123 is open in both directions when the unit is behind a firewall.
Configuring NameSurfer for zone file management
If you have the 3-DNS module installed, you can configure NameSurfer to handle DNS zone file management. We strongly recommend that you configure NameSurfer to handle zone file management by selecting NameSurfer to be the master on the unit. If you select NameSurfer as the master, NameSurfer converts the DNS zone files on the system, becomes the authoritative DNS, and automatically processes changes and updates to the zone files. (You can access the NameSurfer application directly from the Configuration utility for the 3-DNS module.)
Running the Setup utility after creating the initial software configuration
You normally run the Setup utility when the system is first installed as part of the installation procedure. However, you can also use the command line Setup utility to change existing settings at any time. This section describes running the Setup utility to change settings after you run it initially.
To run the Setup utility from the command line, type in the following command:
config
After you complete the initial configuration, the Setup utility presents a menu of individual configuration options.
The Setup utility menu is divided into two different sections. The Setup utility includes the following required configuration options:
- Set the default gateway pool
- Configure VLANs and networking
- Set host name
- Set the root password
- Configure web servers
- Specify type of BIG-IP (some versions of BIG-IP)
- Steps for redundant systems (redundant systems only)
The following configuration selections are optional:
- Configure DNS
- Configure FTP
- Set keyboard type
- Define time servers
- Configure NameSurfer (3-DNS module)
- Initialize the iControl portal
- Configure RSH
- Configure SSH
- Configure telnetd
- Set time zone
Figure 2.1 The Setup utility menu. Some of these options may not be available on your system.
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x x
x x
x Choose the desired configuration function from the list below. x
x x
x x
x (A) All configuration steps (R) Steps for redundant systems x
x x
x REQUIRED x
x (E) Set default gateway pool (V) Configure VLANs & networking x
x (H) Set host name (W) Configure web servers x
x (P) Set root password x
x x
x OPTIONAL x
x (D) Configure DNS (O) Configure remote access x
x (F) Configure FTP (S) Configure SSH x
x (I) Initialize iControl portal (T) Configure Telnetd x
x (K) Set keyboard type (U) Configure RSH x
x (M) Define time servers (Z) Set time zone x
x (Q) Quit x
x x
x Enter Choice: x
x x
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Options available only through the Setup utility menu
This section contains descriptions of options that are available only through the Setup utility menu. These options include:
- Initializing the iControl portal
- Configuring RSH
- Configuring remote access
Initialize the iControl portal
This option is available in the menu only after you create the initial software configuration. Select this option to configure the CORBA ports (IIOP and FSSL). This option prompts you for a list of IP addresses or host names you want to embed as objects in the Portal object reference. Typically, in a redundant system, this list includes the fail-over IP address of the other BIG-IP in the redundant system.
This option prompts you to set the Portal to use IP addresses instead of DNS names. If the Portal is set to use IP addresses, the BIG-IP does not have to do a DNS lookup.
In addition to these settings, you can change the following iControl portal settings:
- You can set the security mode of the portal. You can allow the portal to handle non-secure requests.
- You can change the name of the Portal object reference file.
- You can specify the Portal PID file name.
Configuring RSH
This option is available only in the menu after you create the initial software configuration. Use this option to configure the remote shell (rshd) server. This utility prompts you for an IP address from which administrators may access the BIG-IP. You can use wildcard characters (*) to include all addresses from a specific part of the network. This utility also prompts you to create a support account for access by technical support.
If inetd is not currently configured, this utility configures inetd for the remote shell server (rshd). If the service port for rsh is closed, this utility opens the service port to permit rsh connections to the system.
Configuring remote access
This option is available only in the menu after you create the initial software configuration. Use this options to modify remote access settings.
