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Manual Chapter : Deploying iWorkflow Virtual Edition

Applies To:

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F5 iWorkflow

  • 2.3.0, 2.2.0
Manual Chapter
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About VE Hyper-V deployment

To deploy the iWorkflow™ Virtual Edition (VE) system on Hyper-V, you perform these tasks:

  • Verify the host machine requirements.
  • Deploy an iWorkflow™ system as a virtual machine.
  • Deploy a BIG-IP® system.
  • After you have deployed the virtual machines, log in to the iWorkflow VE system and run the Setup utility. Using the Setup utility, you perform basic network configuration tasks, such as assigning VLANs to interfaces.
  • Configure secure communication between the iWorkflow system and the BIG-IP device.

Host machine requirements and recommendations

To successfully deploy and run the iWorkflow™ VE system, the host system must satisfy minimum requirements.

The host system must include these elements:

  • Microsoft® Windows Server® with the Hyper-V® role enabled. The Virtual Edition and Supported Hypervisors Matrix, published on the AskF5™ web site, http://support.f5.com identifies the versions that are supported.
  • Connection to a common NTP source (this is especially important for each host in a redundant system configuration)
Important: The hypervisor CPU must meet the following requirements:
  • 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.

Deploying the iWorkflow VE virtual machine

The first steps in deploying iWorkflow™ VE are to open the ZIP file and extract the virtual hard drive (VHD) file, and save it to the server running with the Hyper-V® role enabled. Next, you configure the virtual machine using Hyper-V Manager and the Settings window.

Important: Do not modify the configuration of the Hyper-V guest environment with settings less powerful than the ones recommended in this document. This includes the settings for the CPU, RAM, and network adapters. Doing so might produce unexpected results.
  1. In a browser, open the F5 Downloads page (https://downloads.f5.com).
  2. Download the iWorkflow v2.x/Virtual Edition file package. The file name ends in .vhd.zip
    The file package creates a 95GB disk footprint at installation.
  3. Extract the file from the Zip archive and save it where your VHD files reside on the Hyper-V server.
    Note: The name of the file is similar to iWorkflow-<version_number>.<build_number>.vhd.
  4. Start Hyper-V Manager, log in to the Hyper-V server, and from the Actions pane, click New > Virtual Machine .
    The New Virtual Machine Wizard opens.
  5. In the Name field, type a name for the F5 VE virtual machine, such as: smith_f5_ve and click Next.
  6. In the Memory field, type 4096 and click Next.
    Tip: To increase performance, you can specify a value up to 65535.
  7. For the Connection setting, select Management and click Next.
  8. Map the source network HA to the name of a high-availability network in your inventory.
    An example of a destination high-availability network is HA.
  9. Select the Use an existing virtual hard disk check box, browse to the location where you saved your VHD file, select the larger of the two files, open it, and click Next.
    The file name will be similar to iWorkflow-<version_number>.<build_number>.vhd.
  10. In the Summary page, review your settings and click Finish.
    The New Virtual Machine Wizard closes, and the new F5 VE shows in the Virtual Machines list.
  11. From the Virtual Machines list, select the new F5 VE.
    The name of the F5 VE appears in the bottom half of the Actions pane.
  12. In the lower half of the Actions pane, click Settings.
    The Settings window for the selected F5 VE opens.
  13. From the Hardware list, select Processor, and then change the Number of logical processors to 4, and increase the Virtual machine reserve (percentage) to 100.
  14. Click Add Hardware, select Storage and click Add.
  15. In the Inventory pane, select IDE Controller, and in the details pane select Hard Drive and click Add.
  16. Under Media, select Virtual Hard Disk, then browse to the location where you saved your VHD files, and select the smaller of the two files.
    The file name will be similar to iWorkflow-<version_number>.<build_number>.DATASTOR.LTM.vhd
  17. Click Apply to save your Storage settings.
  18. Click Add Hardware, select Network Adapter, click Add, and specify a management NIC.
    Note: For iWorkflow, you need only a single network adapter.
  19. In the Management area, click Automatic Stop Action and select Shut down the guest operating system.
    This setting ensures that the F5 VE virtual machine restarts with all previously-configured virtual hardware, and at the current system time.
  20. Click OK to save your changes and close the Settings window.

Power on the iWorkflow VE virtual machine

Power on the virtual machine so that you can begin assigning IP addresses.
  1. Open the Hyper-V Manager client.
  2. Select the virtual machine that you want to power on.
  3. From the Action menu, choose Start.
    The status icon changes to indicate that the virtual machine is on. The virtual machine boots and becomes ready for configuration.

There are two default accounts used for initial configuration and setup:

  • The root account provides access locally, or using SSH, or using the F5 Configuration utility. The root account password is default.
  • The admin account provides access through the web interface. The admin account password is admin.

You should change passwords for both accounts before bringing a system into production.

Accessing the iWorkflow VE management user interface

If your network has DHCP, an IP address is automatically assigned to iWorkflow™VE during deployment. You can use this address to access the iWorkflowVE user interface or tmsh command-line utility.

If no IP address was assigned, you can assign one by using the iWorkflowConfiguration utility.

  1. In the Hyper-V Manager, locate and highlight the virtual machine to which you want to assign the management IP address.
  2. In the Actions pane, choose Connect.
    The console screen opens. After a few seconds, a login prompt appears.
  3. At the password prompt, type default.
  4. Type config and press Enter.
    The F5 Management Port Setup screen opens.
  5. Click OK.
  6. If you want DHCP to automatically assign an address for the management port, select Yes. Otherwise, select No and follow the instructions for manually assigning an IP address and netmask for the management port.

You can use a hypervisor generic statement, such as tmsh list sys management-ip to confirm that the management IP address has been properly assigned.

You can now log into the iWorkflow VE user interface, and license and provision iWorkflow VE.
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