Manual Chapter : Managing Virtual Servers

Applies To:

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BIG-IQ Centralized Management

  • 5.3.0
Manual Chapter

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.
  2. Under LOCAL TRAFFIC, select Virtual Servers.
  3. Click Create.
    The New Virtual Server screen opens.
  4. For Name, type in a name for the virtual server you are creating.
  5. From Device, select the device on which to create the virtual server.
  6. For Partition, type the name of the BIG-IP® device partition on which you want to create the virtual server.
  7. For Description, type in a brief description for the virtual server you are creating.
  8. If you want the virtual server and its resources to be available for load balancing, for State (on BIG-IQ), select Enabled.
  9. For Source Address, type an IP address or network from which the virtual server will accept traffic.
    For this setting to work, you must specify a value other than 0.0.0.0/0 or ::/0 (that is, any/0, any6/0). In order to maximize the utility of this setting, specify the most specific address prefixes that include your customer addresses, but exclude addresses outside of their range.
  10. For Destination Address, type the IP address of the destination you want to add to the Destination list.
  11. For Service Port, 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.
  12. To configure the virtual server so that its status contributes to the associated virtual address status, select the check box for Notify Status to Virtual Address.
    When this setting is disabled, the status of the virtual server does not contribute to the associated virtual address status. When you enable route advertisement of virtual addresses, this status impacts the behavior of the system.
  13. To specify configuration parameters for this virtual server, expand Configuration and continue with the next sixteen steps. Otherwise, skip to step 32 in this procedure.
  14. For Type, select the type of network service provided by this virtual server. The default is Standard.
    Note: For details on the significance of choosing one option over another, refer to the BIG-IP documentation about virtual servers available on support.f5.com.
  15. For Protocol, select the network protocol name you want the system to use to direct traffic on this virtual server. The default is TCP. The Protocol setting is not available when you select Performance (HTTP) as the type.
    Note: For details on the significance of choosing one option over another, refer to the BIG-IP documentation about virtual servers available on support.f5.com.
  16. For the VLANs and Tunnel Traffic setting, select the VLANs and tunnels for which the virtual server is enabled or disabled. The default is All VLANs and Tunnels. If you select another option, the system presents additional settings.
    Note: For details on the significance of choosing one option over another, refer to the BIG-IP documentation about virtual servers available on support.f5.com.
  17. From the Source Address Translation list, select the type of address translation pool used for implementing selective and intelligent source address translation.
    Note: For details about the significance of choosing one option over another, refer to the BIG-IP documentation about virtual servers available on support.f5.com.
  18. For Connection Limit , type the maximum number of concurrent connections allowed for the virtual server.
  19. For Connection Rate Limit , type the maximum number of connections-per-second allowed for a pool member.
    When the number of connections-per-second reaches the limit for a given pool member, the system redirects additional connection requests. This helps detect Denial of Service attacks, where connection requests flood a pool member. Setting the limit to 0 turns off connection limits.
  20. From Connection Rate Limit Mode, select the scope of the rate limit defined for the virtual server.
    Note: For details on the significance of choosing one option over another, refer to the BIG-IP documentation about virtual servers available on support.f5.com.
  21. If you want the system to translate the virtual server address, select Address Translation.
    This option is useful when the system is load balancing devices that have the same IP address.
  22. If you want the system to translate the virtual server port, select Port Translation.
    This option is useful when you want the virtual server to load balance connections to any service. The default is enabled.
  23. From Source Port, select how you want the system to preserve the connection's source port.
    Note: For details on the significance of choosing one option over another, refer to the BIG-IP documentation about virtual servers available on support.f5.com.
  24. To replicate client-side traffic (that is, prior to address translation) to a member of a specified pool, select that pool from the Clone Pool (Client) list.
  25. To replicate server-side traffic (that is, prior to address translation) to a member of a specified pool, select that pool from the Clone Pool (Server) list, select the device on which to create the virtual server.
  26. Use the Auto Last Hop list to specify whether you want the system to send return traffic to the MAC address that transmitted the request, even if the routing table points to a different network or interface.
  27. From Last Hop Pool, select the pool the system uses to direct reply traffic to the last hop router.
  28. If you want the system to allow IPv6 hosts to communicate with IPv4 servers, select NAT64.
  29. To specify the virtual server score in percent, type that value in the VS Score field.
    Global Traffic Manager™ (GTM™) uses this value to load balance traffic in a proportional manner.
  30. To specify additional resource details for this virtual server, expand Resources and continue with the next two steps. Otherwise, skip to the last step in this procedure.
  31. To specify which iRules® are enabled for this virtual server, use the arrow buttons to move iRules between the Available and Enabled lists.
    iRules are applied in the order in which they are listed.
  32. For Default Pool, select the pool name that you want the virtual server to use as the default pool.
    A load balancing virtual server sends traffic to this pool automatically, unless an iRule directs the server to send the traffic to another pool.
  33. For Default Persistence Profile, select the name of the default profile you want the virtual server to use to maintain session persistence.
  34. For Fallback Persistence Profile, select the name of the fallback profile you want the virtual server to use to maintain session persistence.
    Note: You can select Default Persistence Profile alone, or you can select both. That is, if you use Fallback Persistence Profile, you must also select a Default Persistence Profile. For additional detail about how fallback persistence profiles work, refer to SOL30483109: Overview of Fallback Persistence on AskF5.com
  35. 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.
  2. Under LOCAL TRAFFIC, select Virtual Servers.
    The screen displays the list of virtual servers defined on all of the devices managed by this BIG-IQ.
  3. Select the check box associated with the existing virtual server that you want to clone.
  4. 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.
  5. Modify the parameters for the new virtual server as needed.
    Important: Two virtual servers cannot share the same Destination Address, Protocol, and VLAN.
  6. 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.
  2. Under LOCAL TRAFFIC, select Virtual Servers.
    The screen displays the list of virtual servers defined on this device.
  3. Select the check boxes associated with the virtual servers to which you want to attach iRules.
  4. Click Attach iRules.
    The Bulk Attach iRules screen opens.
  5. 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.
  6. Specify the order in which you want the iRules to attach using the up and down arrows.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  2. Under LOCAL TRAFFIC, select Virtual Servers.
    The screen displays a list of the virtual servers that are defined on this BIG-IQ.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.