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Manual Chapter : Managing Virtual Servers

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BIG-IQ Centralized Management

  • 6.0.0
Manual Chapter
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Managing Virtual Servers

How do I change object settings on a managed device?

To change the object settings on a managed device, there are four tasks to perform.

This figure illustrates the workflow you perform to manage the objects on BIG-IP® devices. Changing the settings is the second step in this process.

Workflow for changing object settings on a managed device

Change managed object workflow

What virtual server management tasks can I perform?

There are a number of ways you can use BIG-IQ® Centralized Management to manage the virtual servers on the managed BIG-IP® devices:

  • Create a new virtual server.
  • Modify an existing virtual server.
  • Clone the settings of an existing virtual server to create a new one.
  • Attach a sequence of iRules® to a virtual server.
  • View statistics for a virtual server.
  • Deploy the virtual server immediately to your managed device.
    Note: You (or someone else) can also deploy your changes later. For more information about managing changes, look on support.F5.com in F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Device for the topic: Deploying Changes.
  • Add or remove permissions for a virtual server and assign them to roles that have been defined on this BIG-IQ system. For more information about managing permissions, look on support.F5.com in F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Licensing and Initial Setup for the topic: Users, User Groups, Roles, and Authentication.

Create a new virtual server

In BIG-IQ Centralized Management, you can use the Local Traffic interface to add a virtual server to a managed device.
Important: When you are revising configurations on devices that belong to a high availability cluster, it is important to let the changes synchronize to the cluster members instead of trying to make the same changes to multiple devices. If you try to replicate changes you made on one device in the cluster, the next config sync attempt could fail.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Configuration, then, on the left, click LOCAL TRAFFIC > Virtual Servers .
    The screen displays the list of virtual servers defined on this device.
  2. Click Create.
    The New Virtual Server screen opens.
  3. In the Name field, type in a name for the virtual server you are creating.
  4. From the Device list, select the device on which to create the virtual server.
  5. For the Destination Address, type the IP address of the destination that you want this virtual server to send its traffic to.
  6. In the Service Port field, type a service port number, or select a type from the list.
    When you select a type from the list, the value in the Service Port field changes to reflect the associated default, which you can change.
  7. Specify the additional settings needed to suit the requirements for this virtual server.
    The remaining parameters on this screen are optional and perform the same function as they do when you configure a virtual server on a BIG-IP device.
    Note: For details about the purpose or function of a particular setting, refer to the BIG-IP reference information on support.f5.com.
  8. Click Save & Close.
    The system creates the new virtual server with the settings you specified.

Clone a virtual server

You can use the BIG-IQ Local Traffic interface to create a new virtual server based on the specifications for an existing one. This can be a great time saver when you need to create several virtual servers that use a number of similar settings.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Configuration, then, on the left, click LOCAL TRAFFIC > Virtual Servers .
    The screen displays the list of virtual servers defined on this device.
  2. Select the check box associated with the existing virtual server that you want to clone.
  3. Click the Clone button.
    The BIG-IQ creates a new virtual server using the settings of the one you selected and opens the Virtual Servers -Clone screen so you can modify parameters you need to change.
  4. Modify the parameters for the new virtual server as needed.
    Important: Two virtual servers cannot share the same Destination Address, Protocol, and VLAN.
  5. When you are satisfied with the settings for the new virtual server, click Clone.
    The system creates the new virtual server with the settings you specified.

Attach iRules to virtual servers

You can use the BIG-IQ Local Traffic interface to attach iRules to a set of virtual servers. Adding an iRule sequence to a group of servers at once can save time and help you cut down on errors that result from performing repetitious tasks.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Configuration, then, on the left, click LOCAL TRAFFIC > Virtual Servers .
    The screen displays the list of virtual servers defined on this device.
  2. Select the check boxes associated with the virtual servers to which you want to attach iRules.
  3. Click Attach iRules.
    The Bulk Attach iRules screen opens.
  4. To specify which iRules to attach to the selected virtual servers, select them in the Available iRules list, and move them to the iRules to be Attached list.
  5. Specify the order in which you want the iRules to attach using the up and down arrows.
  6. For Location, specify the list position to attach these iRules.
    • To add the rules to the beginning of the existing list, click Attach to top of each virtual server's iRules list.
    • To add the rules to the end of the existing list, click Attach to bottom of each virtual server's iRules list.
  7. Use the Duplicate Policy setting to specify whether to keep the iRule list order for iRules that are already attached to the virtual servers.
    • To keep the existing list order, click Keep virtual servers' existing rules list order.
    • To change the existing list order to what you specified previously, click Reorder virtual servers' existing rules to preserve selected rules order.
  8. Click Save & Close.

Change virtual server settings

Using the BIG-IQ user interface to make revisions to your virtual server configurations simplifies managing your devices.
Important: If you revise configurations on devices that belong to a high availability cluster, the synchronizes BIG-IQ cluster members automatically when you deploy the change. Do not try to make the same changes to multiple devices. If you try to replicate changes you made on one device in the cluster, the next config sync attempt could fail.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Configuration, then, on the left, click LOCAL TRAFFIC > Virtual Servers .
    The screen displays the list of virtual servers defined on this device.
  2. Click the name of the virtual server that you want to change.
    If you select the check box for the virtual server instead of the name, there are a couple of unique operations that you can perform. You can either clone a virtual server to create a new one based on the selected server (see Cloning a virtual server), or you can attach iRules to several virtual servers at once (see Attaching iRules to virtual servers).
    The Properties screen for the virtual server opens.
  3. Make changes to the properties you want to modify.
    Note: For detailed information on the impact of using a particular profile parameter value, refer to the BIG-IP Local Traffic Management: Profiles Reference on support.F5.com.
  4. When you are satisfied with the changes you have made, click Save & Close.
    The revisions you saved are made, and the Properties screen for the selected object closes.
Changes that you make are made only to the pending version. The pending version serves as a repository for changes you stage before deploying them to the managed device. Object settings for the pending version are not the same as the object settings on the actual BIG-IP device until they are deployed or discarded.
To apply the working configuration settings to the BIG-IP device, you now need to deploy the revisions.
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