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README.md

Deploying BIG-IP VE in Google - Standalone: 3-NIC

To Do

  • Community support only. Template is not F5 supported.

Issues

  • Find an issue? Fork, clone, create branch, fix and PR. I'll review and merge into the main branch. Or submit a GitHub issue with all necessary details and logs.

Contents

Introduction

This solution uses a Terraform template to launch a 3-NIC deployment of a cloud-focused BIG-IP VE standalone device in Google GCP. Traffic flows to the BIG-IP VE which then processes the traffic to application servers. The BIG-IP VE instance is running with multiple interfaces: management, external, internal. NIC0 is associated with the external network.

The BIG-IP VEs have the Local Traffic Manager (LTM) module enabled to provide advanced traffic management functionality. In addition, the Application Security Module (ASM) can be enabled to provide F5's L4/L7 security features for web application firewall (WAF) and bot protection.

The BIG-IP's configuration, now defined in a single convenient YAML or JSON F5 BIG-IP Runtime Init configuration file, leverages F5 Automation Tool Chain declarations which are easier to author, validate and maintain as code. For instance, if you need to change the configuration on the BIG-IPs in the deployment, you update the instance model by passing a new config file (which references the updated Automation Toolchain declarations) via template's runtimeConfig input parameter. New instances will be deployed with the updated configurations.

Prerequisites

  • Important: When you configure the admin password for the BIG-IP VE in the template, you cannot use the character #. Additionally, there are a number of other special characters that you should avoid using for F5 product user accounts. See K2873 for details.
  • This template requires one or more service accounts for the BIG-IP instance to perform various tasks:
    • See Google's Understanding service accounts
    • Google Secret Manager secrets access - requires "Secrets Manager Secret Accessor"
      • Performed by VM instance during onboarding to retrieve passwords and private keys
    • Backend pool service discovery - requires "Compute Viewer"
      • Performed by F5 Application Services AS3
    • Google Cloud Monitoring (aka StackDriver) - requires "Monitoring Editor"
      • Performed by F5 Telemetry Streaming
  • This template requires a service account to deploy with the Terraform Google provider and build out all the neccessary Google objects
  • Passwords and secrets can be located in Google Cloud Secret Manager.
    • Set gcp_secret_manager_authentication to 'true'
    • Set gcp_secret_name to the Secret Manager secret name. The secret contents should contain ONLY the password as plain text.
    • Set gcp_secret_version to the secret version. If it is not provided, the latest version is retrieved.
  • This templates deploys into an EXISTING networking stack
    • You must have three VPCs: a VPC for management, an external VPC, and an internal VPC. The management VPC will have one subnet for management traffic. The External VPC will have one subnet for data traffic. The Internal VPC will have one subnet as well.
    • Firewall rules are required to pass traffic to the application
      • BIG-IP will require tcp/22 and tcp/443 on the mgmt network
      • Application access will require tcp/80 and tcp/443 on the external network
    • If you require a new network first, see the Infrastructure Only folder to get started.

Important Configuration Notes

  • Variables are configured in variables.tf
  • Sensitive variables like Google SSH keys are configured in terraform.tfvars or Google Cloud Secret Manager
    • Note: Other items like BIG-IP password can be stored in Google Cloud Secret Manager. Refer to the Prerequisites.
    • The BIG-IP instance will query Google Metadata API to retrieve the service account's token for authentication.
    • The BIG-IP instance will then use the secret name and the service account's token to query Google Metadata API and dynamically retrieve the password for device onboarding.
  • This template uses BIG-IP Runtime Init for the initial configuration. As part of the onboarding script, it will download the F5 Toolchain RPMs automatically. See the AS3 documentation and DO documentation for details on how to use AS3 and Declarative Onboarding on your BIG-IP VE(s). The Telemetry Streaming extension is also downloaded and can be configured to point to F5 Beacon, Google Cloud Monitoring (old name StackDriver), or many other consumers.
  • Files
    • bigip.tf - resources for BIG-IP, NICs, public IPs
    • main.tf - resources for provider, versions
    • f5_onboard.tmpl - onboarding script which is run by commandToExecute (user data). It will be copied to /var/lib/waagent/CustomData upon bootup. This script is responsible for downloading the neccessary F5 Automation Toolchain RPM files, installing them, and then executing the onboarding REST calls via the BIG-IP Runtime Init tool.

BYOL Licensing

This template uses PayGo BIG-IP image for the deployment (as default). If you would like to use BYOL licenses, then these following steps are needed:

  1. Find available images/versions with "byol" in the name using Google gcloud:
        gcloud compute images list --project=f5-7626-networks-public | grep f5

        # example output...

        --snippet--
        f5-bigip-15-1-6-1-0-0-10-payg-best-1gbps-220701174029
        f5-bigip-15-1-6-1-0-0-10-payg-best-200mbps-220701173825
        f5-bigip-15-1-6-1-0-0-10-byol-all-modules-2boot-loc-0701180815
        f5-bigip-16-1-3-1-0-0-11-byol-all-modules-2boot-loc-0721055536
        ...and some more
  1. In the "variables.tf", modify image_name with the image name from gcloud CLI results
        # BIGIP Image
        variable image_name { default = "projects/f5-7626-networks-public/global/images/f5-bigip-16-1-3-1-0-0-11-byol-all-modules-2boot-loc-0721055536" }
  1. In the "variables.tf", modify license1 with a valid regkey
        # BIGIP Setup
        variable license1 { default = "" }
  1. In the "f5_onboard.tmpl", add the "myLicense" block under the "Common" declaration (example here)
        myLicense:
          class: License
          licenseType: regKey
          regKey: '${regKey}'

BIG-IQ License Manager

This template uses PayGo BIG-IP image for the deployment (as default). If you would like to use BYOL/ELA/Subscription licenses from BIG-IQ License Manager (LM), then these following steps are needed:

  1. Find BYOL image. Reference BYOL Licensing step #1.
  2. Replace BIG-IP image_name in "variables.tf". Reference BYOL Licensing step #2.
  3. In the "variables.tf", modify the BIG-IQ license section to match your environment
  4. In the "f5_onboard.tmpl", add the "myLicense" block under the "Common" declaration (example here)
        myLicense:
          class: License
          licenseType: ${bigIqLicenseType}
          bigIqHost: ${bigIqHost}
          bigIqUsername: ${bigIqUsername}
          bigIqPassword: ${bigIqPassword}
          licensePool: ${bigIqLicensePool}
          skuKeyword1: ${bigIqSkuKeyword1}
          skuKeyword2: ${bigIqSkuKeyword2}
          unitOfMeasure: ${bigIqUnitOfMeasure}
          reachable: false
          hypervisor: ${bigIqHypervisor}
          overwrite: true

Requirements

Name Version
terraform >= 1.2.0
google >= 4.57.0

Providers

Name Version
google 4.57.0
random 3.4.3

Modules

Name Source Version
bigip F5Networks/bigip-module/gcp 1.1.11

Resources

Name Type
google_compute_address.ext resource
google_compute_address.int resource
google_compute_address.mgt resource
google_compute_address.vip resource
google_compute_address.vip1 resource
google_compute_forwarding_rule.vip1 resource
google_compute_target_instance.f5vm01 resource
random_id.buildSuffix resource

Inputs

Name Description Type Default Required
ssh_key public key used for authentication in /path/file format (e.g. /.ssh/id_rsa.pub) string n/a yes
AS3_URL URL to download the BIG-IP Application Service Extension 3 (AS3) module string "https://github.com/F5Networks/f5-appsvcs-extension/releases/download/v3.43.0/f5-appsvcs-3.43.0-2.noarch.rpm" no
DO_URL URL to download the BIG-IP Declarative Onboarding module string "https://github.com/F5Networks/f5-declarative-onboarding/releases/download/v1.36.1/f5-declarative-onboarding-1.36.1-1.noarch.rpm" no
FAST_URL URL to download the BIG-IP FAST module string "https://github.com/F5Networks/f5-appsvcs-templates/releases/download/v1.24.0/f5-appsvcs-templates-1.24.0-1.noarch.rpm" no
INIT_URL URL to download the BIG-IP runtime init string "https://cdn.f5.com/product/cloudsolutions/f5-bigip-runtime-init/v1.6.0/dist/f5-bigip-runtime-init-1.6.0-1.gz.run" no
TS_URL URL to download the BIG-IP Telemetry Streaming module string "https://github.com/F5Networks/f5-telemetry-streaming/releases/download/v1.32.0/f5-telemetry-1.32.0-2.noarch.rpm" no
bigIqHost This is the BIG-IQ License Manager host name or IP address string "" no
bigIqHypervisor BIG-IQ hypervisor string "gce" no
bigIqLicensePool BIG-IQ license pool name string "" no
bigIqLicenseType BIG-IQ license type string "licensePool" no
bigIqPassword Admin Password for BIG-IQ string "Default12345!" no
bigIqSkuKeyword1 BIG-IQ license SKU keyword 1 string "key1" no
bigIqSkuKeyword2 BIG-IQ license SKU keyword 2 string "key2" no
bigIqUnitOfMeasure BIG-IQ license unit of measure string "hourly" no
bigIqUsername Admin name for BIG-IQ string "admin" no
customImage A custom SKU (image) to deploy that you provide. This is useful if you created your own BIG-IP image with the F5 image creator tool. string "" no
customUserData The custom user data to deploy when using the 'customImage' paramater too. string "" no
dns_server Leave the default DNS server the BIG-IP uses, or replace the default DNS server with the one you want to use string "169.254.169.254" no
dns_suffix DNS suffix for your domain in the GCP project string "example.com" no
extSubnet External subnet string null no
extVpc External VPC network string null no
f5_password BIG-IP Password or Google secret name (value should be Google secret name when gcp_secret_manager_authentication = true, ex. my-bigip-secret) string "Default12345!" no
f5_username User name for the BIG-IP string "admin" no
gcp_project_id GCP Project ID for provider string null no
gcp_region GCP Region for provider string "us-west1" no
gcp_secret_manager_authentication Whether to use secret manager to pass authentication bool false no
gcp_secret_name The Secret Manager secret name string null no
gcp_secret_version The version of the secret to get. If it is not provided, the latest version is retrieved. string "latest" no
gcp_zone_1 GCP Zone 1 for provider string "us-west1-a" no
image_name F5 SKU (image) to deploy. Note: The disk size of the VM will be determined based on the option you select. Important: If intending to provision multiple modules, ensure the appropriate value is selected, such as AllTwoBootLocations or AllOneBootLocation. string "projects/f5-7626-networks-public/global/images/f5-bigip-16-1-3-3-0-0-3-payg-best-plus-25mbps-221222234728" no
intSubnet Internal subnet string null no
intVpc Internal VPC network string null no
libs_dir Directory on the BIG-IP to download the A&O Toolchain into string "/config/cloud/gcp/node_modules" no
license1 The license token for the 1st F5 BIG-IP VE (BYOL) string "" no
machine_type Google machine type to be used for the BIG-IP VE string "n1-standard-8" no
mgmtSubnet Management subnet string null no
mgmtVpc Management VPC network string null no
ntp_server Leave the default NTP server the BIG-IP uses, or replace the default NTP server with the one you want to use string "0.us.pool.ntp.org" no
projectPrefix This value is inserted at the beginning of each Google object (alpha-numeric, no special character) string "demo" no
resourceOwner This is a tag used for object creation. Example is last name. string null no
svc_acct Service Account for VM instance string null no
telemetry_privateKeyId ID of private key for the 'svc_acct' used in Telemetry Streaming to Google Cloud Monitoring. If you are not using this feature, you do not need this secret in Secret Manager. string "" no
telemetry_secret Contains the value of the 'svc_acct' private key. Currently used for BIG-IP telemetry streaming to Google Cloud Monitoring (aka StackDriver). If you are not using this feature, you do not need this secret in Secret Manager. string "" no
timezone If you would like to change the time zone the BIG-IP uses, enter the time zone you want to use. This is based on the tz database found in /usr/share/zoneinfo (see the full list here). Example values: UTC, US/Pacific, US/Eastern, Europe/London or Asia/Singapore. string "UTC" no
vm_name Name of 1st BIG-IP. If empty, default is 'bigip1' string + prefix + random_id string "" no

Outputs

Name Description
f5vm01_ext_private_ip f5vm01 external primary IP address (self IP)
f5vm01_ext_public_ip f5vm01 external public IP address (self IP)
f5vm01_mgmt_name f5vm01 management device name
f5vm01_mgmt_pip_url f5vm01 management public URL
f5vm01_mgmt_private_ip f5vm01 management private IP address
f5vm01_mgmt_public_ip f5vm01 management public IP address
public_vip Public IP for the BIG-IP listener (VIP)
public_vip_url public URL for application

Installation Example

To run this Terraform template, perform the following steps:

  1. Clone the repo to your favorite location
  2. Modify terraform.tfvars with the required information
    # BIG-IP Environment
    f5_username = "admin"
    f5_password = "Default12345!"
    ssh_key     = "~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub"
    mgmtVpc     = "xxxxx-net-mgmt"
    extVpc      = "xxxxx-net-ext"
    intVpc      = "xxxxx-net-int"
    mgmtSubnet  = "xxxxx-subnet-mgmt"
    extSubnet   = "xxxxx-subnet-ext"
    intSubnet   = "xxxxx-subnet-int"
    dns_suffix  = "example.com"

    # BIG-IQ Environment
    bigIqUsername = "admin"
    bigIqPassword = "Default12345!"

    # Google Environment
    projectPrefix  = "mydemo123"
    gcp_project_id = "xxxxx"
    gcp_region     = "us-west1"
    gcp_zone_1     = "us-west1-a"
    svc_acct       = "xxxxx@xxxxx.iam.gserviceaccount.com"
    resourceOwner  = "myLastName"
  1. Initialize the directory
    terraform init
  1. Test the plan and validate errors
    terraform plan
  1. Finally, apply and deploy
    terraform apply
  1. When done with everything, don't forget to clean up!
    terraform destroy

Configuration Example

The following is an example configuration diagram for this solution deployment. In this scenario, all access to the BIG-IP VE device is direct to the BIG-IP via the management interface. The IP addresses in this example may be different in your implementation.

Configuration Example

Documentation

For more information on F5 solutions for Google, including manual configuration procedures for some deployment scenarios, see the Google GCP section of F5 CloudDocs. Also check out the Using Cloud Templates for BIG-IP in Google on DevCentral. This particular standalone example is based on the BIG-IP Quickstart F5 GDM Cloud Template on GitHub.

Creating Virtual Servers on the BIG-IP VE

In order to pass traffic from your clients to the servers through the BIG-IP system, you must create a virtual server on the BIG-IP VE. In this template, the AS3 declaration creates 1 VIP listening on 0.0.0.0/0:80 as an example.

Note: These next steps illustrate the manual way in the GUI to create a virtual server

  1. Open the BIG-IP VE Configuration utility
  2. Click Local Traffic > Virtual Servers
  3. Click the Create button
  4. Type a name in the Name field
  5. Type an address (ex. 0.0.0.0/0) in the Destination/Mask field
  6. Type a port (ex. 80) in the Service Port
  7. Configure the rest of the virtual server as appropriate
  8. Select a pool name from the Default Pool list
  9. Click the Finished button
  10. Repeat as necessary for other applications

Redeploy BIG-IP for Replacement or Upgrade

This example illustrates how to replace or upgrade the BIG-IP VE.

  1. Change the image_name variable to the desired release
  2. Revoke the problematic BIG-IP VE's license (if BYOL)
  3. Run command
terraform taint module.bigip.google_compute_instance.f5vm01
terraform taint google_compute_target_instance.f5vm01
terraform taint google_compute_forwarding_rule.vip1
  1. Run command
terraform apply

Troubleshooting

Serial Logs

Review the serial logs for the Google virtual machine. Login to the Google Cloud console, open "Compute Engine", then locate your instance...click it. Then review the serial logs for errors.

Onboard Logs

Depending on where onboard fails, you can attempt SSH login and try to troubleshoot further. Inspect the /config/cloud directory for correct runtime init YAML files. Inspect the /var/log/cloud location for error logs.

F5 Automation Toolchain Components

F5 BIG-IP Runtime Init uses the F5 Automation Toolchain for configuration of BIG-IP instances. Any errors thrown from these components will be surfaced in the bigIpRuntimeInit.log (or a custom log location as specified below).

Help with troubleshooting individual Automation Toolchain components can be found at F5's Public Cloud Docs: