Release Notes : F5 SSL Orchestrator Release Notes version 15.1.0-7.2

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F5 SSL Orchestrator

  • 15.1.0
Release Notes
Updated Date: 11/03/2021

Summary:

This release note documents the version 7.2 release of F5 SSL Orchestrator.

Contents:

Platform support

SSL Orchestrator standalone base license is supported on the following platforms:

Platform name Platform ID
i2800 C120
i4800 C115
i5800 C121
i7800 C118
i10800 C122
i11800 Discovery Extreme C123
i15800 Endeavour D116
High Performance F5 SSL Orchestrator Virtual Edition (VE) options:
  • 8 CPU
  • 16 CPU
  • 16 GB RAM or greater
Z100
Note: You must always set a large management provisioning.

 

Chassis name
Platform ID
VPR-22XX, VPR-24XX, VPR-4480, VPR-4800                                           ---
C2100 ---
C2200 D114
C4400 J100
Note: SSL Orchestrator 7.2 requires BIG-IP version 15.1.0. Refer to the Installing and Upgrading SSL Orchestrator section for complete installation and upgrade information.
Note: The supported platform information applies to the most recent release version.
Note: Search for supported Platform ID information that applies to Platform names.

If SSL Orchestrator is the standalone base license installed on your system, you can add the following modules:

  • URLF Filtering (subscription)
  • IPI (subscription)
  • Network HSM
  • Access Policy Manager (APM)
  • Secure Web Gateway (SWG)
  • Advanced Routing

 

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) base license with SSL Orchestrator as an add-on is supported on any available iSeries, Bourne, and VIPRION platforms:

Platform name
2000, i2000
4000, i4000
5000, i5000
7000, i7000
10000, i10000
11000, i11000
12000 (Bourne)
i15000
Chassis name: VPR-22XX, VPR-24XX, VPR-4480, VPR-4800
Note: SSL Orchestrator 7.2 requires BIG-IP version 15.1.0. Refer to the Installing and Upgrading SSL Orchestrator section for complete installation and upgrade information.
Note: The supported platform information applies to the most recent release version.

Guided Configuration browser support

The Guided Configuration acts as the template for SSL Orchestrator. This release supports the following browsers and versions for use with Guided Configuration for SSL Orchestrator:

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 11.x - Only 32-bit browsers are supported.
  • Mozilla Firefox 55.x
  • Google Chrome 61.x

User documentation for this release

For a comprehensive list of documentation that is relevant to this release, refer to the SSL Orchestrator Documentation page.

Features in SSL Orchestrator

F5 recommends you review the entire SSL Orchestrator release notes and setup guide prior to upgrading and configuring a deployment.

Note: The SSL Orchestrator upgrade workflow has changed. Reviewing the release note section on Installing and Upgrading SSL Orchestrator provides you with the details necessary for fulling any prerequisites and required steps that streamline the process.

Guided Configuration for SSL Orchestrator

Guided configuration is meant to guide you through setting up a particular use case on the SSL Orchestrator system. Each template requests minimal input and provides contextual help to assist users during setup. The current version of the Guided Configuration is displayed on the landing page. When a later upgrade becomes available, you can use the available link next to the version number to download it from downloads.f5.com then upload and install Guided Configuration for SSL Orchestrator on BIG-IP. Prior to installing and upgrading to the latest version of SSL Orchestrator, ensure that you read the release notes and setup guide for any prerequisites, task details, or troubleshooting and recovery steps during installation or upgrade.

Guided Configuration for SSL Orchestrator TLS 1.3 support

TLS 1.3 support is provided in Guided Configuration for SSL Orchestrator for inbound cases, both clientssl and serverssl, for enhanced performance and security.

SSL Orchestrator Topologies

SSL Orchestrator configuration topologies define the type of traffic (transparent or explicit) and the direction of traffic flow (inbound or outbound) you wish to inspect. These deployment settings, which can be modified as needed without undeploying a configuration, are complimented by SSL management settings that assist you in defining inbound decryption and outbound decryption, setting your service types (such as HTTP, ICAP, Layer 2/Layer 3 inline, and receive-only/TAP services) and creating your service policies by defining per-request and per-session policy settings that can be managed through a virtual policy editor.

  • Outbound transparent proxy
  • Outbound explicit proxy
  • Inbound reverse proxy
  • Outbound layer 2
  • Inbound layer 2

The Existing Application topology is an inbound topology that allows you to create services, service chains, and security policies and attach them to an existing reverse proxy BIG-IP application.

Licensing and Provisioning for SSL Orchestrator Access Integration

Updated SSL Orchestrator Setup Utility with resource provisioning capabilities for licensed and unlicensed modules.

Multi-Layered Security

In order to solve specific security challenges, security administrators are accustomed to manually chaining together multiple point products, creating a bare-bones “security chain” consisting of multiple services. A typical chain may include components like Data Leak Prevention (DLP) scanners, Web Application Firewalls (WAF), Intrusion Prevention and Detection Systems (IPS and IDS), Malware Analysis tools, Secure Web Gateways (SWG), and more. In this model, all user sessions are provided the same level of security, as this “daisy chain” of services is hard-wired.

Virtual Clustered Multiprocessing (vCMP)

SSL Orchestrator supports Virtual Clustered Multiprocessing (vCMP) to provision and manage multiple hosted instances of the BIG-IP software on a single hardware platform.

Classification Engine

Classification Engine provides a rich set of methods based on context to dynamically determine how best to optimize the flow through the security stack. Context can minimally come from the following:

  • Source IP/subnet
  • Destination IP/subnet
  • IP intelligence category - Subscription
  • IP geolocation
  • Host and domain name
  • URL filtering category - Subscription
  • Destination port
  • Protocol

Other classifiers with greater flexibility are also available in the SSL Orchestrator VPE and with iRules to optimize and evaluate additional information.

Deployment Modes

SSL Orchestrator provides multiple deployment modes to address a variety of user needs. It can be deployed in any of the following modes:
  • Single device mode
  • High availability (HA) active/standby mode

In addition, the system can detect and transparently handle an explicit proxy between SSL Orchestrator and the internet.

SSL Orchestrator Analytics

SSL Orchestrator analytics provide a customizable view into your SSL Orchestrator statistics, and enable you to flexibly choose the information you want to view based on specified ranges of time that you can select and adjust.

Statistics generated:

  • Hit Count
  • Client Bytes Out Per Second
  • Duration
  • Server Bytes In
  • Server Bytes In Per Second
  • Hit Count Per Second
  • Server Bytes Out Per Second
  • Client Bytes In
  • Client Bytes In Per Second
  • Client Bytes Out
  • Server Bytes Out

Statistics are generated for the following dimensions:

  • Client Cipher Names
  • Client Cipher Versions
  • Server Cipher Names
  • Server Cipher Versions
  • Virtual Servers
  • Site IP Addresses
  • Traffic Types
  • Decryption Status
  • Policy Actions
  • Service Paths
  • URL Categories
  • Applications
  • Application Families
  • IP Reputation
  • Destination Countries

L7 Application Protocol Settings

SSL Orchestrator supports L7 application protocol settings allowing you to select a protocol to listen for specific traffic (IMAP, SMTPS, POP3, FTP, HTTP) to be processed.

Fixes

Note: The following bugs are applicable to the SSL Orchestrator iAppLX (UI and BIG-IP configuration automation) and not BIG-IP (SSL Orchestrator traffic processing). Refer to the corresponding BIG-IP release notes for further detail about your version.

ID number Description
852517 The TAP service deployment in the high availability (HA) environment fails while showing the following error message: Invalid ARP static entry, the IP address already exists. Fix: The deployment failure on TAP service no longer occurs. 
857533 The SSL Orchestrator deployment may fail with an error such as <object name> is already exist in the system. This occurs mostly in a high availability (HA) environment and is due to a previous deployment timing out or when an HA deployment fails only on one side. This results in SSL Orchestrator failing to redeploy. Fix: The validation logic related to deploying SSL Orchestrator after a deployment failure occurs is now fixed.
857937 When viewing the Services page, data fails to display in the "Pool Member Status" column. This issue is often seen on the standby device and occasionally on the active device. Fix: The pool member status information will now always populate and the "Pool Member Status" column on the Service page will also properly populate.
858909 When using the Chrome browser, categories with long names cannot be deleted. After the category "Advanced Malware Command and Control" has been added to a policy list, and the list of rules is long enough to create a scroll bar, you are unable to delete the category "Advanced Malware Command and Control" because the element to delete it is behind the scrollbar. Workaround: Use a different browser such as Firefox or Edge. Fix: The window should be wide enough that the X is no longer hidden behind the scrollbar.
862565 In Interception Rules, the Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) profiles fail during a topology deployment. Fix: Selecting POP3 profiles in Interception Rules no longer results in a deployment failure.
863433 SSL Orchestrator deployment fails after upgrading to a new RPM version after a service was already deployed. Fix: The SSL Orchestrator deployment no longer fails after upgrading to a new RPM version after a service was already deployed.
874929 During the SSL configuration of SSL Orchestrator, some SSL certificates are not displayed in the UI when the certificates list contains bundled certificates. In result, you are unable to use the UI to assign a certificate bundle as a certificate. Fix: All the certificates, including bundled certificates, can be selected in the SSL configuration of SSL Orchestrator UI.
887109 Upgrading from SSL Orchestrator 5.6+ (5.6, 5.7, 5.8) or 6.3 to 7.0 or 7.1 leads to redeployment error "HAAwareICRDeployProcessor: Error: transaction failed:"0.0.0.0%0%0/0" Invalid route domain". Workaround: Go to the topology with the error and manually fix the error from the Interception Rule screen and then redeploy. Fix: Fixed the double injection of the %0 to make sure the upgrade path succeeds.
898065 On SSL Orchestrator RPM 7.2.16/7.1.9.1.9, the non-floating self IP generated over high availability (HA) devices conflicts when the service generates the same non-floating Self IP across all high availability (HA) devices. This causes traffic to be intermittently dropped. Fix: The issue where the same non-floating Self IP address was being created on all devices is fixed and no longer causes traffic to be intermittently dropped.
898137 SSL Orchestrator’s high availability (HA) delete all function fails and shows an error after attempting to delete the configuration from a device in HA mode. In result, an SSL Orchestrator HA configuration cannot be deleted and cleaned up. Workaround: SSH to both HA devices, clean up the blocks related to SSL Orchestrator, and then clean up application services belonging to the SSL Orchestrator deployment. Fix: A fix was added allowing SSL Orchestrator to clean up configurations on HA devices.

Install and upgrade SSL Orchestrator

If you previously installed SSL Orchestrator 15.1.0-7.2 (build 16) and encountered bug 898065 (where the non-floating self IP address generated over high availability (HA) devices conflicted when the service generated the same non-floating self IP address across all HA devices, causing traffic to be intermittently dropped), F5 recommends you upgrade to the latest 15.1.0-7.2 build (build 18.0) and then delete and reconfigure the specific service configured in SSL Orchestrator 15.1.0-7.2 (build 16) described in bug 898065.

Note: To verify, check both HA devices by selecting Network > Self IPs and review whether the non-floating self IP addresses across both devices are duplicated. If they are, follow the above procedure to fix.

If you previously installed SSL Orchestrator 15.1.0-7.2 (build 16) but did not encounter bug 898065, F5 recommends you upgrade to the latest 15.1.0-7.2 build (build 18.0). SSL Orchestrator build 18.0 contains the non-floating self IP address conflict issue fix (898065) from build 16.0 and an additional HA issue fix (898137).

If you did not previously install SSL Orchestrator 15.1.0-7.2 and you currently have a version of SSL Orchestrator prior to 5.0, or are installing SSL Orchestrator for the first time, refer to the complete installation and upgrade instructions for F5 SSL Orchestrator in the SSL Orchestrator: Setup version 15.1.0-7.0 guide.

To install the F5 SSL Orchestrator 7.2 and you do not have an existing SSL Orchestrator add-on license, or a previous version of SSL Orchestrator installed, download the image from downloads.f5.com. For complete step-by-step installation instructions, see the BIG-IP Systems: Upgrading Software guide. 

To upgrade to the newest version of SSL Orchestrator from a previous version prior to 5.0, or you have an existing add-on license, follow the recommended upgrade steps found in the SSL Orchestrator recommended upgrade procedure section in the SSL Orchestrator: Setup guide. This procedure walks you through the uninstallation and deletion of existing SSL Orchestrator applications and RPM before installing the new ISO image.

If you do not follow the recommended upgrade procedure to undeploy your previous SSL Orchestrator deployments, as well as uninstall your previous version of the application, further manual steps are required to reset your environment and undeploy the previous version. See the Upgrade from previous SSL Orchestrator versions using the recovery procedure task steps in the SSL Orchestrator: Setup guide based on the previous version of SSL Orchestrator you are upgrading from and your access to the BIG-IP Applications LX menu.

These upgrade steps are required since previously deployed SSL Orchestrator configurations cannot be rolled forward or imported into the new version of SSL Orchestrator. Following one of the recommended upgrade procedures will assist you in preparing your system for a clean installation.

Note: If you are implementing a high availability environment for SSL Orchestrator, review the Setting up SSL Orchestrator in a High Availability Environment section in the SSL Orchestrator: Setup guide for more detailed information.

Contacting F5

North America 1-888-882-7535 or (206) 272-6500
Outside North America, Universal Toll-Free +800 11 ASK 4 F5 or (800 11275 435)
Additional phone numbers Regional Offices
Web http://www.f5.com
Email support@f5.com

Additional resources

You can find additional support resources and technical documentation through a variety of sources.

F5 Support

https://f5.com/support :: Self-solve Options

Free self-service tools give you 24x7 access to a wealth of knowledge and technical support. Whether it is providing quick answers to questions, training your staff, or handling entire implementations from design to deployment, F5 services teams are ready to ensure that you get the most from your F5 technology.

AskF5 Knowledge Base

https://support.f5.com/csp/home

The storehouse for thousands of knowledgebase articles that help you manage your F5 products more effectively. Whether you want to browse periodically to research a solution, or you need the most recent news about your F5 products, AskF5 is your source.

BIG-IP iHealth Diagnostics and BIG-IP iHealth Viewer

https://f5.com/support/tools/ihealth

BIG-IP iHealth Diagnostics identifies issues, including common configuration problems and known software issues. It also provides solutions and links to more information. With BIG-IP iHealth Viewer, you can see the status of your system at-a-glance, drill down for details, and view your network configuration.

F5 DevCentral

https://devcentral.f5.com/

Collaborate and share innovations including code samples, new techniques, and other tips, with more than 300,000 F5 users worldwide. DevCentral is the place to ask questions, find solutions, learn to harness the power of F5’s powerful scripting language, iRules, and much more.

Communications Preference Center

https://interact.f5.com/F5-Preference-Center.html

Here, you can subscribe to a number of communications from F5. For information about the types of notifications F5 provides, see K9970: Subscribing to email notifications regarding F5 products.