Applies To:
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BIG-IP AAM
- 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0
BIG-IP APM
- 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0
BIG-IP LTM
- 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0
BIG-IP AFM
- 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0
BIG-IP DNS
- 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0
BIG-IP ASM
- 12.1.6, 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0
Initial VIPRION Setup
Overview: Initial VIPRION system setup
After hardware installation is completed, you are ready to create a basic BIG-IP® software configuration.
The first step in configuring the BIG-IP software is to run the Setup utility to perform tasks such as activating the BIG-IP system license and provisioning BIG-IP modules. You then set up a base BIG-IP system network consisting of trunks, VLANs, and self IP addresses, as well as a management IP address for each blade in the VIPRION® cluster. You also define your Domain Name System (DNS) servers and your NTP servers.
This illustration shows a basic VLAN and trunk configuration for a standalone VIPRION system. In the illustration, the VIPRION chassis is configured with a cluster containing two active blades. Note that each VLAN consists of two interfaces, one per slot. After setting up this basic configuration, you can adjust the configuration later as needed.
![Single blade in chassis](/kb/global/manual_images/MAN-0312-07_v1/viprion_initial_config_with_trunks_1.png)
Basic VLAN and trunk configuration on a VIPRION system
Running the Setup utility
Before you begin, confirm that you have:
- Cabled the management interfaces of all slots in the chassis to all blades.
- Obtained the BIG-IP® base registration key.
About trunk configuration
For VIPRION® platforms, F5 Networks® strongly recommends that you create a trunk for each of the BIG-IP® system internal and external networks, and that each trunk contains interfaces from all slots in the cluster.
For example, a trunk for the external network should contain the external interfaces of all blades in the cluster. Configuring a trunk in this way prevents interruption in service if a blade in the cluster becomes unavailable and minimizes use of the high-speed backplane when processing traffic.
Also, you should connect the links in a trunk to a vendor switch on the relevant network.
Creating a trunk
About VLAN configuration
For the most basic BIG-IP® system configuration with redundancy enabled, you typically create multiple VLANs. That is, you create a VLAN for each of the internal and external networks, as well as a VLAN for high availability communications. You then associate each VLAN with the relevant interfaces of all cluster members on that network.
For example, for a system with a two-slot cluster, you might associate the external VLAN with interfaces 2.1/1 and 2.1/2, where 2.1/1 is on slot 1 and 2.1/2 is on slot 2.
If your hardware platform supports ePVA, you have the additional option of configuring double tagging (also known as Q-in-Q tagging) for a VLAN.
Creating a VLAN
VLANs represent a logical collection of hosts that can share network resources, regardless of their physical location on the network. You create a VLAN to associate physical interfaces with traffic destined for a specific address space. For the most basic BIG-IP® system configuration with redundancy enabled, you typically create multiple VLANs. That is, you create a VLAN for each of the internal and external networks, as well as a VLAN for high availability communications. If your hardware platform supports ePVA, you have the additional option of configuring double tagging (also known as Q-in-Q tagging) for a VLAN.
About self IP address configuration
When you do not intend to provision the vCMP® feature, you typically create self IP addresses when you initially configure the BIG-IP® system on the VIPRION® platform.
If you plan to provision vCMP, you do not need to create self IP addresses during initial BIG-IP configuration. Instead, the host administrator creates VLANs for use by guests, and the guest administrators create self IP addresses to associate with those VLANs.
Creating a self IP address
A self IP address that you create within a guest enables the guest to route application traffic through the associated VLAN or VLAN group. On vCMP systems, a guest administrator creates self IP addresses and associates them with VLANs created on the host that a host administrator published to the guest during initial guest creation.
Specifying DNS servers
- On the Main tab, click
- For each setting, in the Address field, type one or more IP addresses and click Add.
- Click Update.
Defining an NTP server
Configuration results
After you perform initial BIG-IP ®configuration, you have a standalone VIPRION® system that contains these configuration items:
- An active license
- One or more BIG-IP modules, or the vCMP® feature, provisioned
- A host name, management IP address, and management gateway defined
- Passwords for the root and admin passwords
- A valid device certificate
- A primary cluster IP address and a management IP address per slot
- Trunks for the external and internal networks
- VLANs for the external and internal networks that include all relevant interfaces for active blades
- A VLAN for high availability if redundancy is enabled
- Self IP addresses for the external and internal VLANs (if vCMP is not enabled)
Next steps
After the VIPRION® is configured with a base BIG-IP® network, the next step depends on whether you intend to use the vCMP® feature:
- If you do not intend to use vCMP, you can proceed with configuring any BIG-IP modules that you have provisioned. For example, for BIG-IP® Local Traffic Manager™, you can start by configuring various traffic profiles, creating a server pool, and creating a virtual server. You can then configure redundancy with a peer system and sync the BIG-IP configuration to the peer.
- If you intend to use vCMP, you must provision the system for vCMP only, create vCMP guests, and then configure redundancy with a peer system.
For more information on configuring the vCMP feature, BIG-IP product modules, and redundancy, access the F5 Networks® Knowledge web site at http://support.f5.com..