NGINX Instance Manager for Docker

This repository helps deploying NGINX Instance Manager on containerized clusters by creating a docker image.

It is also available as part of official NGINX Demos

Docker image creation

Docker image creation is supported for:

• NGINX Instance Manager 2.4.0+
• Security Monitoring 1.0.0+
• NGINX App Protect WAF compiler

The image can optionally be built with Second Sight support

Tested releases

This repository has been tested on amd64 and arm64 architectures with:

• NGINX Instance Manager 2.4.0, 2.5.0, 2.5.1, 2.6.0, 2.7.0, 2.8.0, 2.9.0, 2.9.1, 2.10.0, 2.10.1, 2.11.0, 2.12.0, 2.13.0, 2.13.1, 2.14.0, 2.14.1, 2.15.0, 2.15.1, 2.16.0
• Security Monitoring 1.0.0, 1.1.0, 1.2.0, 1.3.0, 1.4.0, 1.5.0, 1.6.0, 1.7.0, 1.7.1
• NGINX App Protect WAF compiler v3.1088.2, v4.100.1, v4.2.0, v4.218.0, v4.279.0, v4.402.0, v4.457.0, v4.583.0, v4.641, v4.762

Prerequisites

This repository has been tested with:

• Docker 20.10+ to build the image
• Private registry to push the target Docker image
• Kubernetes cluster with dynamic storage provisioner enabled: see the example
• NGINX Ingress Controller with VirtualServer CRD support (see https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/configuration/virtualserver-and-virtualserverroute-resources/)
• Access to F5/NGINX downloads to fetch NGINX Instance Manager 2.4.0+ installation .deb file (when running in manual mode)
• Valid NGINX license certificate and key to fetch NGINX Instance Manager packages (when running in automated mode)
• Linux host running Docker to build the image

How to build

The install script can be used to build the Docker image using automated or manual install:

$ ./scripts/buildNIM.sh
NGINX Instance Manager Docker image builder

 This tool builds a Docker image to run NGINX Instance Manager

 === Usage:

 ./scripts/buildNIM.sh [options]

 === Options:

 -h                     - This help
 -t [target image]      - Docker image name to be created
 -s                     - Enable Second Sight (https://github.com/F5Networks/SecondSight/) - optional

 Manual build:

 -n [filename]          - NGINX Instance Manager .deb package filename
 -w [filename]          - Security Monitoring .deb package filename - optional
 -p [filename]          - WAF policy compiler .deb package filename - optional

 Automated build:

 -i                     - Automated build - requires cert & key
 -C [file.crt]          - Certificate file to pull packages from the official NGINX repository
 -K [file.key]          - Key file to pull packages from the official NGINX repository
 -W                     - Enable Security Monitoring - optional
 -P [version]           - Enable WAF policy compiler, version can be any [v3.1088.2|v4.100.1|v4.2.0|v4.218.0|v4.279.0|v4.402.0|v4.457.0|v4.583.0] - optional

 === Examples:

 Manual build:
        ./scripts/buildNIM.sh -n nim-files/nms-instance-manager_2.6.0-698150575~focal_amd64.deb \
                -w nim-files/nms-sm_1.0.0-697204659~focal_amd64.deb \
                -p nim-files/nms-nap-compiler-v4.2.0.deb \
                -t my.registry.tld/nginx-nms:2.6.0

 Automated build:
        ./scripts/buildNIM.sh -i -C nginx-repo.crt -K nginx-repo.key
                -W -P v4.583.0 -t my.registry.tld/nginx-nms:latest

Automated build

1. Clone this repo
2. Get your license certificate and key to fetch NGINX Instance Manager packages from NGINX repository
3. Build NGINX Instance Manager Docker image using:

NGINX Instance Manager

./scripts/buildNIM.sh -t YOUR_DOCKER_REGISTRY/nginx-nim2:automated -i -C certs/nginx-repo.crt -K certs/nginx-repo.key

NGINX Instance Manager, Security Monitoring and WAF Policy Compiler

./scripts/buildNIM.sh -t YOUR_DOCKER_REGISTRY/nginx-nim2:automated -i -C certs/nginx-repo.crt -K certs/nginx-repo.key -W -P v4.457.0

Manual build

1. Clone this repository
2. Download NGINX Instance Manager 2.4.0+ .deb installation file for Ubuntu 20.04 and copy it into nim-files/
3. Optional: download Security Monitoring .deb installation file for Ubuntu 20.04 and copy it into nim-files/
4. Optional: download WAF Policy Compiler .deb installation file for Ubuntu 20.04 and copy it into nim-files/
5. Build NGINX Instance Manager Docker image using the provided script

Example:

cd nim-files

apt-cache madison nms-instance-manager
apt-get download nms-instance-manager=2.15.1-1175574316~focal

apt-cache madison nms-sm
apt-get download nms-sm=1.7.1-1046510610~focal

apt-cache search nms-nap-compiler
apt-get download nms-nap-compiler-v4.815.0

cd ..

./scripts/buildNIM.sh \
        -t my-private-registry/nginx-instance-manager:2.15.1-nap-v4.815.0-manualbuild \
        -n nim-files/nms-instance-manager_2.15.1-1175574316~focal_amd64.deb \
        -w nim-files/nms-sm_1.7.1-1046510610~focal_amd64.deb \
        -p nim-files/nms-nap-compiler-v4.815.0_4.815.0-1~focal_amd64.deb

Configuring and running

1. Edit manifests/1.nginx-nim.yaml and specify the correct image by modifying the "image" line and configure NGINX Instance Manager username, password and the base64-encoded license file for automated license activation.

image: your.registry.tld/nginx-nim2:tag
[...]
env:
  ### NGINX Instance Manager environment
  - name: NIM_USERNAME
    value: admin
  - name: NIM_PASSWORD
    value: nimadmin
  - name: NIM_LICENSE
    value: "<BASE64_ENCODED_LICENSE_FILE>"

To base64-encode the license file the following command can be used:

base64 -w0 NIM_LICENSE_FILENAME.lic

Additionally, parameters user by NGINX Instance Manager to connect to ClickHouse can be configured:

env:
  [...]
  - name: NIM_CLICKHOUSE_ADDRESS
    value: clickhouse
  - name: NIM_CLICKHOUSE_PORT
    value: "9000"
  ### If username is not set to "default", the clickhouse-users ConfigMap in 0.clickhouse.yaml shall be updated accordingly
  - name: NIM_CLICKHOUSE_USERNAME
    value: "default"
  ### If password is not set to "NGINXr0cks", the clickhouse-users ConfigMap in 0.clickhouse.yaml shall be updated accordingly
  - name: NIM_CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD
    value: "NGINXr0cks"

2. If Second Sight was built in the image, configure the relevant environment variables. See the documentation at https://github.com/F5Networks/SecondSight/#on-kubernetesopenshift

env:
  ### Second Sight Push mode
  - name: STATS_PUSH_ENABLE
    #value: "true"
    value: "false"
  - name: STATS_PUSH_MODE
    value: CUSTOM
    #value: PUSHGATEWAY
  - name: STATS_PUSH_URL
    value: "http://192.168.1.5/callHome"
    #value: "http://pushgateway.nginx.ff.lan"
  ### Push interval in seconds
  - name: STATS_PUSH_INTERVAL
    value: "10"

3. Check / modify files in /manifests/certs to customize the TLS certificate and key used for TLS offload

4. Start and stop using

./scripts/nimDockerStart.sh start
./scripts/nimDockerStart.sh stop

5. After starting NGINX Instance Manager it will be accessible from outside the cluster at:

NGINX Instance Manager GUI: https://nim2.f5.ff.lan NGINX Instance Manager gRPC port: nim2.f5.ff.lan:30443

and from inside the cluster at:

NGINX Instance Manager GUI: https://nginx-nim2.nginx-nim2 NGINX Instance Manager gRPC port: nginx-nim2.nginx-nim2:443

Second Sight REST API (if enabled at build time - see the documentation at https://github.com/F5Networks/SecondSight):

• https://nim2.f5.ff.lan/f5tt/instances
• https://nim2.f5.ff.lan/f5tt/metrics
• Push mode (configured through env variables in manifests/1.nginx-nim.yaml)

Grafana dashboard: https://grafana.nim2.f5.ff.lan - see configuration details

Running pods are:

$ kubectl get pods -n nginx-nim2 -o wide
NAME                          READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE    IP            NODE       NOMINATED NODE   READINESS GATES
clickhouse-7bc96d6d56-jthtf   1/1     Running   0          5m8s   10.244.1.65   f5-node1   <none>           <none>
grafana-6f58d455c7-8lk64      1/1     Running   0          5m8s   10.244.2.80   f5-node2   <none>           <none>
nginx-nim2-679987c54d-7rl6b   1/1     Running   0          5m8s   10.244.1.64   f5-node1   <none>           <none>

6. For NGINX Instances running on VM/bare metal only: after installing the nginx-agent on NGINX Instances to be managed with NGINX Instance Manager 2, update the file /etc/nginx-agent/nginx-agent.conf and modify the line:

grpcPort: 443

into:

grpcPort: 30443

and then restart nginx-agent

Additional tools

• Grafana dashboard for telemetry
• Docker compose

Starting NGINX Instance Manager

On Kubernetes

$ ./scripts/nimDockerStart.sh start
namespace/nginx-nim2 created
Generating a RSA private key
...................+++++
...............................+++++
writing new private key to 'nim2.f5.ff.lan.key'
-----
secret/nim2.f5.ff.lan created
deployment.apps/nginx-nim2 created
service/nginx-nim2 created
service/nginx-nim2-grpc created 
virtualserver.k8s.nginx.org/vs-nim2 created

$ kubectl get pods -n nginx-nim2 -o wide
NAME                          READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE    IP            NODE       NOMINATED NODE   READINESS GATES
clickhouse-7bc96d6d56-jthtf   1/1     Running   0          5m8s   10.244.1.65   f5-node1   <none>           <none>
grafana-6f58d455c7-8lk64      1/1     Running   0          5m8s   10.244.2.80   f5-node2   <none>           <none>
nginx-nim2-679987c54d-7rl6b   1/1     Running   0          5m8s   10.244.1.64   f5-node1   <none>           <none>

NGINX Instance Manager GUI is now reachable from outside the cluster at:

• Web GUI: https://nim2.f5.ff.lan
• gRPC: nim2.f5.ff.lan:30443
• Second Sight: see usage

On docker-compose

See docker-compose

Stopping NGINX Instance Manager

On Kubernetes

$ ./scripts/nimDockerStart.sh stop
namespace "nginx-nim2" deleted

On docker-compose

See docker-compose