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Manual Chapter : Setting up an AWS Cloud Environment

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BIG-IQ Centralized Management

  • 6.0.0
Manual Chapter
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Setting up an AWS Cloud Environment

Add AWS cloud and environment details

BIG-IQ® needs the credentials and parameters for your AWS cloud provider and cloud environment so it can communicate with the BIG-IP® devices it manages in your service scaling group. Also, if you choose to use a BYOL license for the devices in this SSG, you need to activate a pool of BYOL licenses, and then provide details about the license server when you configure the cloud environment.



Specify credentials required to connect to an AWS cloud

You create a new AWS cloud provider to tell BIG-IQ how to connect to your AWS environment.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Applications then, on the left, click ENVIRONMENTS > Cloud Providers .
  2. Click Create.
  3. Type a Name for the provider you are creating.
  4. To help identify this provider when you want to use it later, type a brief description Description for the provider you are creating.
  5. From the Provider Type list, select AWS.
    Under Provider Details, fields display that you use to specify your AWS credentials.
  6. Type your Access Key ID and Secret Access Key , and then click Test to confirm your connection.
  7. Click Save & Close.
The system creates the new provider account, which is now ready to be used in a cloud environment.
Before you can use this provider in a service scaling group, you need to specify the cloud environment details.

Activate a pool of BYOL licenses

Before you can activate a BYOL license, you need to purchase it from F5 Networks. Once you complete your purchase, you get your base registration key, typically in the form of an email.
Important: If you use the AWS marketplace licensing option, skip this task.

When you choose the BYOL license option, you need to activate a pool of licenses that the BIG-IQ can use for the new BIG-IP VE devices that the service scaling group (SSG) creates in the cloud. You can use this procedure to automatically contact the F5 license server for activation.

Note: To activate a pool license for AWS, you must be running BIG-IQ version 5.4.0 or later.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Devices.
  2. On the left, click LICENSE MANAGEMENT > Licenses .
  3. Click the Add License button.
  4. In the License Name field, type a name to identify this license.
  5. In the Base Registration Key field, type or paste the registration key, and into the Add-on Keys field, type or paste any associated add-on keys.
  6. For the Activation Method setting, select Automatic.
  7. Click the Activate button at the bottom of the screen.
  8. Review the user legal agreement and if you agree, select the I have read and agree to the terms of this license check box.
When the activation status displays as Active, you can use this pool of licenses in the cloud environment configuration you define for an AWS SSG.

Create a new AWS cloud environment

A service scaling group (SSG) manages the resources needed to run your application by prompting the creation or deletion of BIG-IP VE virtual instances as needed. You create a cloud environment that describes the details of the AWS VPC in which those instances exist. You also specify details that describe the instances that the SSG creates in this environment.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Applications then, on the left, click ENVIRONMENTS > Cloud Environments .
  2. Click Create.
    The Create Application screen opens.
  3. Give this environment a name and an optional description.
  4. From the Device Template list, select the device template you want to use to configure new BIG-IP VE devices when scaling out.
  5. For Cloud Provider, select your AWS cloud provider and then select the region it's in from the Region list.
    Under AWS Properties, fields display that you use to specify details about the AWS environment.
  6. From the VPC list, select the name of the virtual private cloud you created for this environment.
    The subnets defined for this VPC are listed under Available.
  7. For Restricted Source Address, using the CIDR format, specify the addresses that you want to be able to access this SSG.
    For example 12.12.0.0/16.
    Only addresses that match your entry will have access to this SSG (IP addresses that use 12.12.xxx.xxx in the example above).
  8. For SSH Key Name, select the SSH key you want to use for this environment.
  9. For Services To Deploy, select the F5 service you want to use for this environment.
    The Local Traffic and Application Visibility Reporting modules are selected by default. This is the minimum viable configuration for an SSG.
  10. For License Type, select the kind of license that you want to use for the devices created in this environment.
    Choose BYOL if you have purchased a BYOL license or Utility if you want AWS to bill you on an hourly basis for the licenses you consume.
    If you choose BYOL, additional fields are displayed under BYOL License Information.
  11. For AMI Image, select the AMI you want to use for the devices created in this environment.
    Note: For access to the BIG-IP image you must subscribe and agree to the software terms in AWS.
  12. For Instance Type, select the name of the kind of instance you want to use for the devices created in this environment.
  13. If you are defining an SSG that uses a the AWS marketplace license, skip to the last step to save your settings.
  14. If you selected BYOL, supply the following information:
    1. For BIG-IQ IP Address, type the address of the BIG-IQ that acts as the license server for your AWS environment.
    2. For BIG-IQ User, type the user name for the admin account on the BIG-IQ AWS license server.
    3. For BIG-IQ Password, type the password for the admin account on the BIG-IQ AWS license server.
    4. For BIG-IQ License Pool Name, type the name of the license pool on the BIG-IQ AWS license server.
    5. If the license you activated includes offerings, for Offering Name, type the name of the particular offering from the license pool just specified that you want to use to license devices in this SSG.
    6. For Unit of Measure, select the interval that you want F5 to use when billing you for this license.
      The hourly interval is most expensive, but the time that you are billed more closely matches your actual use. Decide on what works best for your situation.
  15. Click Save & Close.
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