Installing the PTF

Apply the PTF to BIG-IP Controller, version 4.0 using the following process.  The install script saves your current configuration.

Warning for users with solid state drives:  If you have a BIG-IP Controller with a solid state drive (SSD), do not install this version of the PTF.  Please contact F5 Services for a copy of the PTF for solid state drives.

1. Click here and follow the instructions for using the F5 Networks FTP site.
   

   Use FTP in passive mode from the BIG-IP Controller to download the file.  To place FTP in passive mode, type pass from the command line before transferring the file. 

2. Download the correct PTF file to the /var/tmp/ directory on the target BIG-IP Controller.
   For crypto controllers, choose PTF-4.0-1-BSD_OS-4.1.im, for no-crypto controllers choose NOCRYPTOPTF-4.0-1-BSD_OS-4.1.im.



3. Change your directory to /var/tmp/ by typing:
   cd /var/tmp/



4. Enter the following command to install this PTF:
   For crypto, enter:  im PTF-4.0-1-BSD_OS-4.1.im
   For no-crypto, enter:  im NOCRYPTOPTF-4.0-1-BSD_OS-4.1.im


The BIG-IP Controller will automatically reboot once it completes installation.

Once you have installed the PTF software, please refer to the Configuring and using the updated software. 

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New features and enhancements

iControl, version 1.0
As of this release, you can use the iControl SDK in conjunction with the BIG-IP Controller.  iControl is a complete and cohesive architectural solution for the distribution, delivery, and control of both content and applications; with iControl, you can integrate content delivery solutions and applications into a unified solution that can be centrally managed.  For more information on using iControl, refer to the documentation provided in the iControl SDK.

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What's fixed in this PTF (PTF-01)

Type	Description	Number
Auto lasthop	Auto lasthop for non-TCP traffic on a firewall sandwich no longer leads to routing loops.	CR15088
Config sync and IP addresses	Config sync is no longer dependent on a peer IP address and its hostname IP address.	CR15017
Config sync and uptime	Config sync no longer fails after a week of uptime.	CR15383
First-Time Boot utility (web-based)	The Properties page for VLANs in the web-based First-Time Boot utility now displays correctly in Internet Explorer version 4.0.	CR15052
Gigabit NICs	The gigabit NIC now functions with older systems (for example, Pentium II).	CR14994
L2 forwarding	L2 forwarding can now forward packets to off-interface hosts.	CR15313
Lasthop routes and the ipforward cached route	The timing issue that was affecting lasthop routes and the ipforward cached route is now fixed.	CR14012
Monitors	Existing monitors are now retained when a "Monitor instance already exists" error occurs.	CR14908
Virtual servers	A virtual server with a wildcard service and an HTTP pool with port translation is now enabled.	CR14922
VLANs (maximum number)	The maximum number of VLANs allowed is now 256.	CR14798
VLAN renaming	An error no longer appears when you rename a VLAN from the Configuration utility.	CR15053
Web administrator user account	The default web administrator user account is no longer left available after configuration when using the web-based First-Time Boot Utility.	CR15054

 

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Configuring and using the updated software

This release provides the following configuration options. 

Media types

Use the following command to get a list of appropriate media types for an interface.

ifconfig -m <interface name>

Tips on setting the preferred controller in redundant BIG-IP Controller installations

If you are using the force_master flag to set a specific controller to be the preferred active unit, we recommend that you set the force_slave flag on the controller that you want to run primarily as a secondary controller.  The force-slave flag must be set if you are using network fail-over.  For more information about these flags, see the BIG-IP Reference Guide, v.4.0, Setting a specific controller to be the preferred active unit.

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Known issues

The following issues are known issues with the BIG-IP Controller, version 4.0 PTF-01 as of the release date.  For known issues subsequent to the release date, please go to AskF5.  Once you have logged in, type "known issues" and click Ask.  Select the correct version number and click Ask again.

Type	Description	Number
3dnsd	For users of the combined BIG-IP Controller and 3-DNS Controller, if you add more than one interface IP address to IIOP HOST (no-crypto) or FSSL HOST (crypto) on the BIG-IP Controller, 3dnsd may become unstable.	CR15392
Portal startup	During bigstart boot up, you may see the error message bigstart: startup portal bigstart: kill portal 10 seconds expired The portal starts correctly. You can disregard this message.	CR15401
Static routes	Static routes should not be deleted by hand once the controller is up and running or the controller will become unstable.  If you need to delete a static route, you must first delete the virtual servers and nodes that use that route.	CR15373
winmgmt service memory leaks	There are memory leaks and handle leaks associated with the winmgmt service. As as workaround, the WMI ISAPI Data Gathering agent automatically restarts the winmgmt service every hour.  You can customize this restart interval by editing the registry using the following steps: Open up the Registry Editor: You can either type regedit at the command line, or click the Start button, and click Run..., and then type regedit. Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software, create a key named "F5": Double-click the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key. Right-click Software key, and select New, then select Key. Type F5 for the new key name. Under the F5 key, create a new subkey named WMIServiceRestartInterval: Right-click the newly created F5 key, and select New, then select Key. Type WMIServiceRestartInterval for the new subkey name. Create registry settings for IntervalUnit and Interval for the WMIServiceRestartInterval subkey: Right-click the newly created WMIServiceRestartInterval key, select New and then select String Value. Change the name of the String Value to IntervalUnit, and specify an interval unit as the value data.  Valid values are: day, hour, minute, and second. Right-click the newly created WMIServiceRestartInterval key, select New, then select DWORD Value. Change the name of DWORD Value to Interval, and specify a numeric value. Close the Registry Editor to save the changes, and restart the IIS Admin Service. The Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 improves the handle leak in Winmgmt service, but, in some cases, the Virtual Memory usage of winmgmt service can still be high due to some caching operations within the winmgmt service.	CR14439

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