Manual Chapter :
Working with DSC Devices
Applies To:
Show Versions
BIG-IP AAM
- 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1
BIG-IP APM
- 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1
BIG-IP Analytics
- 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1
BIG-IP Link Controller
- 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1
BIG-IP LTM
- 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1
BIG-IP AFM
- 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1
BIG-IP PEM
- 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1
BIG-IP DNS
- 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1
BIG-IP ASM
- 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1
Working with DSC Devices
About IP addresses for config sync, failover, and mirroring
Each trust domain member contains device connectivity information, that is, the IP addresses that you define on a device for configuration synchronization (config sync), failover, and connection mirroring.
Note: You specify a config sync address, as well as failover and mirroring addresses,
for the local device only. You do not need to specify the addresses of peer devices because
devices in a device group exchange their addresses automatically during device discovery.
Config sync IP address
This is the IP address that you want the BIG-IP® system to use when synchronizing configuration objects to the local device.
By default, the system uses the self IP address of VLAN internal. This is the recommended IP address to use for config sync. You can, however, use a different self IP address for config sync.
Important: A self IP address is the only type of BIG-IP system address that encrypts
the data during synchronization. For this reason, you cannot use a management IP address for
config sync.
Failover IP addresses
These are the IP addresses that you want the BIG-IP system to use when another device in the device group fails over to the local device. You can specify two types of addresses: unicast and multicast.
For appliance platforms, specifying two unicast addresses should suffice. For VIPRION® platforms, you should also retain the default multicast address that the BIG-IP system provides.
The recommended unicast addresses for failover are:
- The self IP address that you configured for either VLAN HA or VLAN internal. If you created VLAN HA when you initially ran the Setup utility on the local device, F5 recommends that you use the self IP address for that VLAN. Otherwise, use the self IP address for VLAN internal.
- The IP address for the local management port.
Mirroring IP addresses
These are the IP addresses that you want the BIG-IP system to use for connection mirroring. You specify both a primary address, as well as a secondary address for the system to use if the primary address is unavailable. If you configured VLAN HA, the system uses the associated self IP address as the default address for mirroring. If you did not configure VLAN HA, the system uses the self IP address of VLAN internal.
Note: On a VIPRION® system, you can mirror connections between blades within the cluster
(intra-cluster mirroring) or between the clusters in a redundant system configuration
(inter-cluster mirroring).
About device properties
From the local BIG-IP® device, you can view or configure the properties of any device within the local trust domain, including the local device.
Viewing device properties
On each member of the local trust domain, the BIG-IP ®system
generates a set of information. This information consists of properties such as the
device name, serial number, and management IP address. By default, every BIG-IP device
in the local trust domain has a set of device properties. You can use the BIG-IP
Configuration utility to view these properties.
Specifying values for device properties
Using the BIG-IP® Configuration utility, you can specify
values for a few of the properties for a device. The device properties that you can
specify provide information about the device for you to refer to when needed. For the
HA Capacity property in particular, you can specify a relative capacity of the device
compared to other BIG-IP devices in a Sync-Failover device group, as a way to affect the
device that the BIG-IP system chooses as the next-active device. All of these property
values are optional.
Device properties
The following table lists and describes the properties of a device.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Device name | The name of the device, such as siterequest. |
| Host name | The host name of the device, such as www.siterequest.com |
| Device address | The IP address for the management port. |
| Serial number | The serial number of the device. |
| Platform MAC address | The MAC address for the management port. |
| Description | A user-created description of the device. |
| Location | The location of the device, such as Seattle, Bldg. 1 |
| Contact | The name of the person responsible for this device. |
| Comment | Any user-specified remarks about the device. |
| HA Capacity | An arbitrary, user-specified value that represents the capacity of the device relative to other device group members. |
| Status | The status of the device, such as Device is active |
| Time zone | The time zone in which the device resides. |
| Platform ID | An identification for the platform. |
| Platform name | The platform name, such as BIG-IP 8900. |
| Software version | The BIG-IP version number, such as BIG-IP 11.0.0. |
| Active modules | The complete list of active modules, that is, the modules for which the device is licensed. |
About device status
A BIG-IP® device can have any status shown in the following table.
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Active | A minimum of one floating traffic group is currently active on the device. This status applies to Sync-Failover device groups only. |
| Forced offline | An administrator has intentionally made the device unavailable for processing traffic. |
| Offline | The device is unavailable for processing traffic. |
| Standby | The device is available for processing traffic, but all traffic groups on the device are in a standby state. This status applies to Sync-Failover device groups only. |
| Unknown | The status of the device is unknown. |
Viewing possible status types for a device
You can view a list of possible status types for a device.
Viewing the status of a device
You can view the status of a device in a device group. Viewing the status of a
device can help with troubleshooting or to verify that the devices in the device group
are working properly.
Device status
At all times, the BIG-IP® system displays a specific status for each device in a device group.
| Device status | Description |
|---|---|
| Active | The device is available and is processing traffic on the network. If the device is a member of a Sync-Failover device group, this status indicates that at least one traffic group is active on the device. |
| Forced Offline | An authorized user has intentionally taken the device offline, usually for maintenance purposes. |
| Offline | The device is offline for a reason other than being forced offline by an authorized user. |
| Standby | The device is available but is not processing traffic on the network. This applies to devices in a Sync-Failover device group only, and all traffic groups on the device are Standby traffic groups only. |
| Unknown/Not Watched | The BIG-IP system cannot determine the status of the device. This status usually occurs when the device has not yet joined a device group. |
