F5 Agent for Claude Code

An interactive Python agent that connects directly to F5 BIG-IP via iControl REST API for real-time monitoring and querying.

Architecture

┌─────────────────┐    HTTPS/443     ┌─────────────────┐
│   F5 Agent      │ ◄─────────────► │   F5 BIG-IP     │
│                 │  iControl REST   │  172.16.10.10   │
│ ┌─────────────┐ │     API          │                 │
│ │ Interactive │ │                  │ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ CLI Thread  │ │                  │ │   Pools     │ │
│ └─────────────┘ │                  │ │   Members   │ │
│                 │                  │ │   Virtuals  │ │
│ ┌─────────────┐ │                  │ │   Logs      │ │
│ │ Background  │ │                  │ └─────────────┘ │
│ │ Monitor     │ │                  │                 │
│ │ (30s poll)  │ │                  │                 │
│ └─────────────┘ │                  │                 │
└─────────────────┘                  └─────────────────┘
        │
        ▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ Network Engineer│
│ Command Prompt  │
│                 │
│ > status        │
│ > pools         │ 
│ > summary       │
│ > quit          │
└─────────────────┘

Features

• Interactive CLI Interface - Real-time command prompt for querying F5 state
• Background Monitoring - Continuous 30-second polling with state change alerts
• Token-based Authentication - Secure iControl REST API access
• Multi-threaded Design - Monitor and interact simultaneously
• Real-time State Detection - Instant alerts when pool members change state
• Comprehensive Querying - Pools, virtual servers, logs, and health summaries

Setup

1. Create and activate a virtual environment:

# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv f5-agent-env

# Activate virtual environment (macOS/Linux)
source f5-agent-env/bin/activate

# Activate virtual environment (Windows)
f5-agent-env\Scripts\activate

2. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Configure your F5 credentials in f5_agent.py:

F5_HOST = "172.16.10.10"
F5_USERNAME = "admin" 
F5_PASSWORD = "W3lcome098!"

Usage

Run the agent:

python f5_agent.py

The agent will:

• Connect to F5 management interface at https://172.16.10.10
• Authenticate using token-based auth
• Start interactive command interface
• Monitor pool member states in background
• Allow real-time queries and state inspection

Interactive Commands

Once running, you can use these commands:

• help - Show available commands
• status - Show overall F5 connection status
• pools - List all pools and member states
• pool <name> - Show detailed info for specific pool
• virtual - Show virtual servers and their status
• logs - Show recent system logs
• summary - Show health summary with percentages
• quit - Exit the agent

The agent continuously monitors in the background and will alert you to any pool member state changes.

Example Session

$ python f5_agent.py
[2025-08-20 10:30:15] Starting F5 Interactive Agent
[2025-08-20 10:30:15] Target: 172.16.10.10
Type 'help' for commands or 'quit' to exit
------------------------------------------------------------
[2025-08-20 10:30:15] Authentication successful

> status
F5 Status for 172.16.10.10:
Connected: Yes
Last updated: 2025-08-20 10:30:20
Pool members: 8 total, 6 up, 2 down

> pools
Pool Status:
  web_pool: 3/4 members up
    ✓ web1 (10.1.1.10) - up
    ✓ web2 (10.1.1.11) - up  
    ✓ web3 (10.1.1.12) - up
    ✗ web4 (10.1.1.13) - down
  
  api_pool: 3/4 members up
    ✓ api1 (10.1.2.10) - up
    ✓ api2 (10.1.2.11) - up
    ✓ api3 (10.1.2.12) - up
    ✗ api4 (10.1.2.13) - down

> summary
F5 Health Summary for 172.16.10.10:
Overall Health: 75.0%
Pool Members: 6/8 operational

Members DOWN:
  ✗ web_pool/web4 (10.1.1.13)
  ✗ api_pool/api4 (10.1.2.13)

Virtual Servers: 4/4 enabled
Last Check: 2025-08-20 10:30:25

> pool web_pool
Pool 'web_pool' Details:
  Member: web1
    Address: 10.1.1.10
    State: up
    Session: enabled
    Connection Limit: 1000

  Member: web2  
    Address: 10.1.1.11
    State: up
    Session: enabled
    Connection Limit: 1000

[2025-08-20 10:31:22] STATE CHANGE: web_pool/web4 down -> up
> 
Pool 'web_pool' now 4/4 members up!

> quit
Goodbye!

Data Flow

1. Authentication - Agent authenticates with F5 using admin credentials
2. Background Thread - Starts continuous monitoring (30s intervals)
3. Interactive Thread - Waits for user commands at prompt
4. API Calls - Each command triggers specific iControl REST endpoints:
   • status → /mgmt/tm/ltm/pool (member counts)
   • pools → /mgmt/tm/ltm/pool + /mgmt/tm/ltm/pool/{name}/members
   • virtual → /mgmt/tm/ltm/virtual
   • logs → /mgmt/tm/sys/log
5. State Tracking - Background thread compares states and alerts on changes
6. Real-time Updates - State changes interrupt user prompt immediately

Advantages

• Real-time data access
• Can get more than just logs (stats, config, etc.)
• Can take actions (disable pool members, etc.)
• Direct API access without intermediate systems