LTM essentials

LTM is shiped with OS, you dont need to install it. It has also preconfigured IP address. However you need to active license. License reactivation must be done also after upgrades. LTM does not have pre configured default route.

Initial setup consist of couple of steps depending what I need to setup. Basically it is:

  • setup mgmt address on mgmt interface (by default 192.168.1.245/24)
  • license the system
  • configur administrator access

For easy setup proces you can use configuration sheet.

Setup mgmt address

When you login via console port to F5 LTM default user is root and pass default. To change mgmt ip address you must run configuration script from console. You run it by typing „config“. Then script prompts you for ip address, mask and default route.

Licensing

BIG IP offers two types of licensing. Automatic and Manual. Automatic is if you have internet access. Manual how you can guess is without Internet access. To activate one of these methods you must access GUI of LB. Default username is admin and pass admin. Firts login to LB has unactivate license, so license activation window pop up to activate the device. Click on activate, then you can choose between manual or automatic. If you choose automatic you dont have to take care of the rest. In case you dont have Internet access you have to choose manual method, which generates for you dossier number. You either copy that number or store it to file. Then you put dossier number from some PC to F5 licensing servers and they will generate license for you. You put the license and then you should reboot the LB.

Configuring admin access

After your license is activated and LB rebooted, LB will prompt the setup utility for the configuring of admin access. You can configure root user for CLI and admin user for gui, hostname, ip addresses for management, etc… If you click next in the setup utility, next window will pop up with two different method of network configuration. Basic and advanced. Basic allows you to create two vlans (internal and external), assign interfaces and ip addresses to these vlans. Extended will navigate you to the GUI.

GUI

Most of the things for LTM will be configured through the Local traffic tab.

lb

 

Backing UP configuration

You can backup configuration of LTM via UCS (User configuration set). It contains series of files, license and can be downloaded. You can access it via System – Archives. Here you can create or download UCS.

Resource provisioning

In the System tab you can find resource provisioning. There are 4 modes you can configure for each module you are licensed for provisioning:

  • None/Disabled – Specifies that a module is not provisioned. A module that is not provisioned does not run.
  • Dedicated – Specifies that the system allocates all CPU, memory, and disk resources to one module. When you select this option, the system sets all other modules to None (Disabled).
  • Nominal – Specifies that, when first enabled, a module gets the least amount of resources required. Then, after all modules are enabled, the module gets additional resources from the portion of remaining resources.
  • Minimum – Specifies that when the module is enabled, it gets the least amount of resources required. No additional resources are ever allocated to the module.

Lights out management

F5 LB is running two OS. TMM (traffic management microkernel) is for primary use. Then there is AOM(always on management)/SCCP(switch card control processor) for lights out management. Which one for light outs is used depends on hardware platform used.

To be able to access lights out operating system you must configure it with IP address. The best time to do it is during initial setup. You have to be in the console terminal of the TMM and pres „ESC“ and then pres „(„. AOM/SCCP pops up.