Applies To:
Show Versions
Deploying BIG-IQ Virtual Edition
VMware ESXi deployment overview
The tasks you perform to deploy the BIG-IQ Virtual Edition (VE) system on VMware ESXi, depend on what you plan to do with the VMware ESXi:
If you plan to manage BIG-IP devices with the BIG-IQ system | If you plan to manage applications in a service scaling group housed in a VMware cloud |
---|---|
|
|
Host machine requirements and recommendations
To successfully deploy and run the BIG-IQ VE system, the host system must satisfy minimum requirements.
The host system must include these elements:
- VMware ESX or ESXi. The BIG-IQ Virtual Edition and Supported Hypervisors Matrix, published on the AskF5 web site, support.f5.com identifies the versions that are supported.
- VMware vSphere client
- The OpenStack Horizon DashboardNote: Power users might prefer to use the OpenStack command line or APIs to deploy and configure the BIG-IQ VE. Consult the OpenStack API documentation for your distribution for details on how to use these APIs.
- Connection to a common NTP source (this is especially important for each host in a redundant system configuration).
- Use a 64-bit architecture.
- Have support for virtualization (AMD-V or Intel VT-x) enabled.
- Support a one-to-one thread-to-defined virtual CPU ratio, or (on single-threading architectures) support at least one core per defined virtual CPU.
- Intel processors must be from the Core (or newer) workstation or server family of CPUs.
Deploy a BIG-IQ VE virtual machine
The first step in deploying BIG-IQ Virtual Edition (VE) is to download the OVA file to your local system. Next, you can run the Deploy OVF Template wizard from within the ESXi vSphere client or vCenter vSphere Web client. Follow the steps in this procedure to create an instance of the BIG-IQ system that runs as a virtual machine on the host system.
Power on the BIG-IQ VE virtual machine for the first time
After the system completes the initialization process, two built-in user accounts are enabled that provide you with the access you need to complete initial configuration and setup:
- The root account provides initial user access to command shells. You can use a local console connection, or you can use SSH. This account also provides access to the F5 Configuration utility. The initial root account password is default.
- The admin account provides initial user access through the web interface. The initial admin account password is admin.
Set up the management network on the BIG-IQ virtual machine
If your network has DHCP, an IP address is automatically assigned to BIG-IQ VE during deployment. You can use this address to access the BIG-IQ VE user interface or tmsh command-line utility.
If no IP address was assigned, you can assign one by using the Configuration utility.
When assigned, the management IP address appears in the Summary tab of the vSphere client. Alternatively, you can use a hypervisor generic statement, such as tmsh list sys management-ip.