Manual Chapter : Optimizing Configuration Management with Templates

Applies To:

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BIG-IQ Centralized Management

  • 5.2.0
Manual Chapter

About configuration templates

BIG-IQ® can manage multiple devices simultaneously. These devices can be located in several data centers that may be located in many different locations. To help you easily manage required configuration changes to DNS, NTP, SMTP, and Syslog for a large number of devices, you can use configuration templates.

To start, you create a configuration template, then deploy that template to certain devices. This can save a significant amount of time because you are not required to log in to each device individually to make configuration changes.

Creating a configuration template

You can create a configuration template to deploy a specific configuration to one or more managed devices. Centrally managing these deployments from BIG-IQ® Device eliminates the need to log in to each device individually to specify or update a configuration.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Devices.
  2. On the left, click CONFIG TEMPLATES > Templates .
  3. Near the top of the screen, click the Create button.
  4. In the Name and Description fields, type a name and a short description to identify this template.
  5. From the Add New Object list, select the object you want to add to this template, and then click the Add button.
    The screen refreshes to display the property fields for the object.
  6. In each property field, define the new object property's values.
    You can add additional values for some properties by clicking the + sign next to the property field.
    For specific information about the configuration options for BIG-IP, refer to the BIG-IP system documentation.
  7. For each property, select one of these conditions:
    Option Description
    Fixed The value you define for this option is fixed. A user cannot change this value when deploying the template.
    Optional The value you define for this option is the default. Users can leave this default or specify their own value when deploying the template.
    Required You do not define a value for this option. The users must specify a value when they deploy the template.
  8. After you add all of the objects you want to this template, click the Save & Close button at the bottom of the screen.
This template is now available for deployment to managed BIG-IP® devices.

Deploying a configuration template to managed devices

You must create a configuration template before you can deploy it to a managed device.
Deploying a configuration template saves time when you want to make a similar change to several managed BIG-IP® devices.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Devices.
  2. On the left, click CONFIG TEMPLATES > Deployments .
  3. Near the top of the screen, click the Create button.
  4. From the Config Template list, select the template you want to deploy.
  5. In the Deployment Name field, specify the name for this configuration template deployment.
  6. From the Available list, click the devices you want to deploy the configuration template to, and then click -> to move it to the Included list.
  7. Click the Next button at the bottom of the screen, navigating to the components required for this template, and specifying the configuration.
  8. Click the Deploy button.
BIG-IQ® applies this configuration to the specified BIG-IP devices.