vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

Version 11.2
 Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Legal Notices.....................................................................................................................................7
Acknowledgments............................................................................................................................9

Chapter 1:  VIPRION Overview............................................................................11

VIPRION overview.................................................................................................................12
VIPRION features...................................................................................................................12
Related documents................................................................................................................13

Chapter 2:  vCMP Overview.................................................................................15

vCMP overview......................................................................................................................16
vCMP components.................................................................................................................16
BIG-IP license considerations for vCMP................................................................................17
vCMP provisioning overview..................................................................................................17
vCMP best practices..............................................................................................................18

Chapter 3:  Initial vCMP Setup.............................................................................19

Overview: Initial vCMP setup..................................................................................................20
vCMP deployment worksheet......................................................................................20
Activating the BIG-IP license for a vCMP VIPRION.....................................................21
Modifying disk space allocation for a vCMP application volume.................................21
Provisioning the BIG-IP system for vCMP...................................................................22
Accessing the vCMP host............................................................................................22
Creating trunks............................................................................................................22
Creating VLANs...........................................................................................................23
Creating a vCMP guest...............................................................................................23
Setting a vCMP guest to the Deployed state...............................................................25
Provisioning a BIG-IP module within a guest..............................................................25
Creating self IP addresses for VLANs.........................................................................25
Overview: Verifying initial vCMP configuration.......................................................................26
Creating a pool to manage HTTP traffic......................................................................26
Creating a virtual server to manage HTTP traffic........................................................27

Chapter 4:  Create an Active-Standby Configuration........................................29

Overview: Creating an active-standby DSC configuration......................................................30
About DSC configuration on a VIPRION system.........................................................30
Task summary........................................................................................................................31
DSC prerequisite worksheet........................................................................................31

3
Table of Contents

Specifying an IP address for config sync.....................................................................32

Specifying IP addresses for connection mirroring.......................................................33
Establishing device trust..............................................................................................33
Creating a Sync-Failover device group........................................................................34
Syncing the BIG-IP configuration to the device group.................................................34
Specifying IP addresses for failover.............................................................................34
Syncing the BIG-IP configuration to the device group.................................................35
Implementation result.............................................................................................................35

Chapter 5:  Understanding Clusters...................................................................37

Cluster overview.....................................................................................................................38
Viewing cluster properties......................................................................................................38
Cluster properties........................................................................................................38
Viewing cluster member properties........................................................................................39
Cluster member properties..........................................................................................39
Enabling and disabling cluster members................................................................................40
Changing a cluster-related management IP address.............................................................40
Cluster-related IP addresses.......................................................................................40

Chapter 6:  Understanding vCMP Hosts.............................................................43

Overview: Managing vCMP hosts..........................................................................................44
Viewing host properties for slots............................................................................................44
vCMP host properties..................................................................................................44
About disk management for vCMP application volumes........................................................45
Viewing disk space allocation for a vCMP application volume....................................45
Deleting vCMP application volumes............................................................................46

Chapter 7:  Understanding vCMP Guests...........................................................47

About vCMP guests................................................................................................................48
About network modes for a vCMP guest................................................................................48
Modifying the properties of a vCMP guest.............................................................................49
Viewing the properties of a vCMP guest.....................................................................49
Overview: Blade swap for a single-slot vCMP guest..............................................................50
Disabling a vCMP guest..............................................................................................50
Determine whether a slot is available for temporary migration....................................50
Choose destination slot for migration..........................................................................51
Migrating a single slot guest........................................................................................52
Hot swapping a VIPRION blade...................................................................................53
Migrating a single slot guest........................................................................................53
Overview: Blade swap for a multi-slot vCMP guest................................................................54
About software image selection and updates..............................................................54
Disabling a vCMP guest..............................................................................................54

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 Table of Contents

Specifying the ISO image for a guest..........................................................................55

Hot swapping a VIPRION blade...................................................................................55
About software image selection and live installation..............................................................56
About vCMP guest states.......................................................................................................56
About system resource allocation..........................................................................................57
About CPU cores allocation.........................................................................................57
About physical memory allocation...............................................................................58
About virtual disks allocation.......................................................................................58
About hardware processors allocation........................................................................58
About slot assignment and persistence..................................................................................58
vCMP guest modification considerations...............................................................................59

Chapter 8:  Working with vCMP Virtual Disks....................................................61

Overview: Managing virtual disks...........................................................................................62
Detaching virtual disks from a vCMP guest...........................................................................62
Viewing virtual disks not attached to a vCMP guest...............................................................62
Attaching a detached virtual disk to a vCMP guest................................................................62
Deleting a virtual disk from the BIG-IP system.......................................................................63

Chapter 9:  Managing vCMP Statistics...............................................................65

Overview: Managing statistics................................................................................................66
Viewing virtual disk statistics..................................................................................................66
Viewing vCMP guest statistics with the BIG-IP Configuration utility.......................................66
Viewing disk usage statistics..................................................................................................67

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Table of Contents

6
Legal Notices

Publication Date
This document was published on September 28, 2012.

Publication Number
MAN-0376-02

Copyright
Copyright © 2012, F5 Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.
F5 Networks, Inc. (F5) believes the information it furnishes to be accurate and reliable. However, F5 assumes
no responsibility for the use of this information, nor any infringement of patents or other rights of third
parties which may result from its use. No license is granted by implication or otherwise under any patent,
copyright, or other intellectual property right of F5 except as specifically described by applicable user
licenses. F5 reserves the right to change specifications at any time without notice.

Trademarks
3DNS, Access Policy Manager, Acopia, Acopia Networks, Advanced Client Authentication, Advanced
Routing, APM, Application Security Manager, ARX, AskF5, ASM, BIG-IP, Cloud Extender, CloudFucious,
CMP, Data Manager, DevCentral, DevCentral [DESIGN], DNS Express, DSC, DSI, Edge Client, Edge
Gateway, Edge Portal, EM, Enterprise Manager, F5, F5 [DESIGN], F5 Management Pack, F5 Networks,
F5 World, Fast Application Proxy, Fast Cache, FirePass, Global Traffic Manager, GTM, IBR, Intelligent
Browser Referencing, Intelligent Compression, IPv6 Gateway, iApps, iControl, iHealth, iQuery, iRules,
iRules OnDemand, iSession, IT agility. Your way., L7 Rate Shaping, LC, Link Controller, Local Traffic
Manager, LTM, Message Security Module, MSM, Netcelera, OneConnect, Packet Velocity, Protocol
Security Module, PSM, Real Traffic Policy Builder, ScaleN, SSL Acceleration, StrongBox, SuperVIP, SYN
Check, TCP Express, TDR, TMOS, Traffic Management Operating System, TrafficShield, Transparent
Data Reduction, VIPRION, vCMP, WA, WAN Optimization Manager, WANJet, WebAccelerator, WOM,
and ZoneRunner, are trademarks or service marks of F5 Networks, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries,
and may not be used without F5's express written consent.
All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Export Regulation Notice

This product may include cryptographic software. Under the Export Administration Act, the United States
government may consider it a criminal offense to export this product from the United States.

RF Interference Warning
This is a Class A product. In a domestic environment this product may cause radio interference, in which
case the user may be required to take adequate measures.

FCC Compliance
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device pursuant
to Part 15 of FCC rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful
interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment. This unit generates, uses, and
Legal Notices

can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual,
may cause harmful interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment in a residential area
is likely to cause harmful interference, in which case the user, at his own expense, will be required to take
whatever measures may be required to correct the interference.
Any modifications to this device, unless expressly approved by the manufacturer, can void the user's authority
to operate this equipment under part 15 of the FCC rules.

Canadian Regulatory Compliance

This Class A digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003.

Standards Compliance
This product conforms to the IEC, European Union, ANSI/UL and Canadian CSA standards applicable to
Information Technology products at the time of manufacture.

8
Acknowledgments

This product includes software developed by Bill Paul.

This product includes software developed by Jonathan Stone.
This product includes software developed by Manuel Bouyer.
This product includes software developed by Paul Richards.
This product includes software developed by the NetBSD Foundation, Inc. and its contributors.
This product includes software developed by the Politecnico di Torino, and its contributors.
This product includes software developed by the Swedish Institute of Computer Science and its contributors.
This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors.
This product includes software developed by the Computer Systems Engineering Group at the Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory.
This product includes software developed by Christopher G. Demetriou for the NetBSD Project.
This product includes software developed by Adam Glass.
This product includes software developed by Christian E. Hopps.
This product includes software developed by Dean Huxley.
This product includes software developed by John Kohl.
This product includes software developed by Paul Kranenburg.
This product includes software developed by Terrence R. Lambert.
This product includes software developed by Philip A. Nelson.
This product includes software developed by Herb Peyerl.
This product includes software developed by Jochen Pohl for the NetBSD Project.
This product includes software developed by Chris Provenzano.
This product includes software developed by Theo de Raadt.
This product includes software developed by David Muir Sharnoff.
This product includes software developed by SigmaSoft, Th. Lockert.
This product includes software developed for the NetBSD Project by Jason R. Thorpe.
This product includes software developed by Jason R. Thorpe for And Communications, http://www.and.com.
This product includes software developed for the NetBSD Project by Frank Van der Linden.
This product includes software developed for the NetBSD Project by John M. Vinopal.
This product includes software developed by Christos Zoulas.
This product includes software developed by the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College and
Garrett A. Wollman.
This product includes software developed by Balazs Scheidler ([email protected]), which is protected under
the GNU Public License.
Acknowledgments

This product includes software developed by Niels Mueller ([email protected]), which is protected under
the GNU Public License.
In the following statement, This software refers to the Mitsumi CD-ROM driver: This software was developed
by Holger Veit and Brian Moore for use with 386BSD and similar operating systems. Similar operating
systems includes mainly non-profit oriented systems for research and education, including but not restricted
to NetBSD, FreeBSD, Mach (by CMU).
This product includes software developed by the Apache Group for use in the Apache HTTP server project
(http://www.apache.org/).
This product includes software licensed from Richard H. Porter under the GNU Library General Public
License (© 1998, Red Hat Software), www.gnu.org/copyleft/lgpl.html.
This product includes the standard version of Perl software licensed under the Perl Artistic License (© 1997,
1998 Tom Christiansen and Nathan Torkington). All rights reserved. You may find the most current standard
version of Perl at http://www.perl.com.
This product includes software developed by Jared Minch.
This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit
(http://www.openssl.org/).
This product includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young ([email protected]).
This product contains software based on oprofile, which is protected under the GNU Public License.
This product includes RRDtool software developed by Tobi Oetiker (http://www.rrdtool.com/index.html)
and licensed under the GNU General Public License.
This product contains software licensed from Dr. Brian Gladman under the GNU General Public License
(GPL).
This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/).
This product includes Hypersonic SQL.
This product contains software developed by the Regents of the University of California, Sun Microsystems,
Inc., Scriptics Corporation, and others.
This product includes software developed by the Internet Software Consortium.
This product includes software developed by Nominum, Inc. (http://www.nominum.com).
This product contains software developed by Broadcom Corporation, which is protected under the GNU
Public License.
This product contains software developed by MaxMind LLC, and is protected under the GNU Lesser General
Public License, as published by the Free Software Foundation.

10
Chapter
1
VIPRION Overview
Topics:

• VIPRION overview
• VIPRION features
• Related documents
VIPRION Overview

VIPRION overview
The VIPRION® system is a complete traffic management solution that offers high performance, reliability,
scalability, and ease of management. Based on chassis and blade technology, this system is designed to
meet the needs of large, enterprise networking environments that normally require multiple BIG-IP® systems
to process large volumes of application traffic.
The VIPRION system consists of a chassis with a four-blade capacity. The four blades work together as a
powerful system to process application traffic. Traffic comes into a single virtual server, and the system
distributes that traffic over multiple blades, using the full multi-processing capacity of each blade. Moreover,
if a blade unexpectedly becomes unavailable, another blade can complete the processing of the request.

VIPRION features
This table describes the VIPRION® system features.

Feature Description
A chassis with blades The multi-slot chassis significantly reduces the amount of rack space required for
the BIG-IP® systems by housing blades instead of traditional switch systems.
Hardware resources such as cooling and power systems, normally required for
individual BIG-IP systems, are now part of the chassis instead.
Cluster technology The VIPRION system's SuperVIP™ cluster technology is the core feature that
coordinates all of the blades into a single high-performance system. A SuperVIP
cluster is the group of slots in the VIPRION system chassis. Each slot in the cluster
represents a cluster member, and any blades that you insert into the slots of a
cluster work together to process application traffic. Cluster technology provides

12
 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

Feature Description
the processing power of multiple blades, but you manage the entire cluster as a
single system.
Live installation When you upgrade the BIG-IP software on a running system, the system
automatically upgrades the BIG-IP software on all blades in the cluster.
Cluster The primary blade automatically propagates the system configuration to all
synchronization secondary blades, even when a new blade is introduced into the cluster.
Connection mirroring Connection mirroring ensures that if a blade, or a cluster within a device service
clustering (redundant system) configuration, becomes unavailable, the system can
still process any existing connections.

Related documents
You may find it useful to have an understanding of certain background concepts before performing VIPRION®
configuration tasks.
• For more information about configuring required BIG-IP® network objects (trunks, VLANs, and self
IP addresses), refer to the BIG-IP® TMOS®: Concepts Guide.
• For more information about configuring the BIG-IP system (or vCMP® guests) to manage local area
network traffic (concepts pertaining to virtual servers, various types of traffic profiles, load balancing
pools and pool members, and so on) refer to the BIG-IP® Local Traffic Manager: Concepts Guide.
These product guides are available from the AskF5 Knowledge Base web site, http://support.f5.com.

13
VIPRION Overview

14
Chapter
2
vCMP Overview
Topics:

• vCMP overview
• vCMP components
• BIG-IP license considerations for vCMP
• vCMP provisioning overview
• vCMP best practices
vCMP Overview

vCMP overview
Virtual Clustered Multiprocessing (vCMP) is a feature of the BIG-IP® system that allows you to run multiple
instances of the BIG-IP software on a single hardware platform. vCMP® allocates a specific share of the
hardware resources to each BIG-IP instance, or vCMP guest. Each guest that you create behaves as a separate
BIG-IP device, having its own CPU, memory, and disk space. Each guest also has its own configuration
file, log files, and kernel instance.
vCMP® is built on F5 Networks' CMP technology. CMP works with cluster members. Cluster members
can be slots within a chassis or instances of the Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) on an appliance.
CMP allows cluster members to work together to form a coherent, distributed traffic-processing system to
share traffic load. vCMP takes this one step further by allowing you to create and run virtualized BIG-IP
modules, using a standards-based, purpose-built hypervisor.

Important: Before you license, provision, and configure the vCMP feature, verify that you have
correctly configured the VIPRION® system. For more information, see the relevant VIPRION
platform guide and configuration guide on the F5 Networks AskF5™ Knowledge Base web site,
http://support.f5.com.

vCMP components
A vCMP® system includes these main components.

Term Definition
BIG-IP cluster A BIG-IP® cluster is the set of available slots (cluster members) on the
chassis. You manage a BIG-IP cluster using the Clusters screens in the
BIG-IP Configuration utility.
Cluster IP address A cluster IP address is a management IP address that you assign to a cluster
to access the system. On a vCMP system, there are multiple cluster IP
addresses: one for the BIG-IP cluster (to access the vCMP host), and one
for each virtual cluster (to access each guest).
vCMP daemon This daemon, named vcmpd, performs most of the work to create and
manage guests, as well as to configure the virtual network.
vCMP guest A vCMP guest is an object that you create on the vCMP system for the
purpose of running one or more BIG-IP® modules. A guest consists of a
TMOS® instance, plus one or more BIG-IP modules. Each guest has its own
share of hardware resources that the vCMP host allocates to it, effectively
making each guest function like a separate BIG-IP device.
vCMP host The vCMP host is the system-wide hypervisor that makes it possible for
you to create, view, and manage all guests on the system. A vCMP host
allocates system resources to guests as needed.
VM A Virtual machine is the portion of a guest that resides on a slot. For
example, a guest that spans four slots comprises four VMs.
Virtual cluster A virtual cluster is similar to a normal cluster on a chassis, except that
unlike a normal cluster, a separate virtual cluster exists for each guest on

16
 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

Term Definition
the system. A virtual cluster contains only the portions of the slots that
pertain to an individual guest. For example, if a guest spans two slots, then
the two slot portions for the guest represent a virtual cluster. There is a
one-to-one correlation of a virtual cluster to a guest.
Virtual disk A virtual disk is the portion of disk space on a slot that the system has
allocated to a guest. For example, if a guest spans three slots, the system
creates three virtual disks for that guest. Each virtual disk is implemented
as an image file with an .img extension, such as guest_A.img.
Virtual management network The virtual management network contains the components necessary to
connect a guest to the management network of the vCMP host.

BIG-IP license considerations for vCMP

The BIG-IP® system license authorizes you to provision and run the vCMP® feature. Note the following
considerations:
• Each guest inherits the license of the vCMP host.
• The license must include all BIG-IP modules that are to be provisioned within the guest. Examples of
BIG-IP modules are BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager™ and BIG-IP® Global Traffic Manager™.
• The license specifies the maximum number of vCMP guests that you can deploy simultaneously.
You activate the BIG-IP system license when you initially set up the system.

vCMP provisioning overview

The BIG-IP® system allocates a portion of its resources to running vCMP®. The system also allocates various
system resources to each vCMP guest that you create. You enable this allocation through various types of
provisioning:
• First, you provision the BIG-IP system for vCMP, by logging into the chassis system and using the
Resource Provisioning screens within the BIG-IP Configuration utility. When you do this, the BIG-IP
system dedicates all but 30GB of disk space to running the vCMP feature. (The 30GB of reserved disk
space protects against any possible resizing of the file system.)
• After creating a guest, you set the State of the guest to Provisioned, which installs the guest on the host
and causes the BIG-IP system to allocate the necessary system resources (such as CPU cores and virtual
disks) to the guest. You install and provision guests one at a time; each guest takes you about 5 minutes
to set up.
• Finally, after you deploy the guest, you provision specific BIG-IP modules within each guest, by logging
into each guest and using the Resource Provisioning screens within the BIG-IP Configuration utility.
In this way, each guest can run a different combination of modules. For example, one guest can run
BIG-IP® LTM® only, while a second guest can run LTM® and BIG-IP ASM™.

Important: If you decide to increase the amount of disk space reserved for non-vCMP uses, do
this before you provision the vCMP feature.

17
vCMP Overview

vCMP best practices

F5 Networks has the following recommendations for managing a vCMP® system.

Category Recommendation
Guest configuration If you need to move a guest's configuration to another vCMP system (chassis),
copy the guest configuration and then de-allocate all virtual resources (virtual
disk, CPU cores, and so on) from the guest.
Licensing Before upgrading a guest to a newer version of BIG-IP® software later, you might
need to coordinate with the vCMP host administrator to renew the license key.
Local traffic When you are logged in to the vCMP host, do not configure local traffic features
configuration (virtual servers, pools, profiles, and so on). To configure local traffic features,
you must be logged in to a guest using the guest's cluster IP address, and the
BIG-IP LTM® module must be provisioned.
Network setup When initially setting up the BIG-IP system, physically wire each slot's
management interface to an external bridge. Access to the vCMP host could
otherwise be impaired, because vCMP guests can be deployed on any slot in the
chassis, and the primary member for a guest's virtual cluster can migrate. When
you follow this recommendation, you do not need to re-configure the vCMP host
or any external networks when the primary member of a virtual cluster changes.
Self IP address Configure self IP addresses on the vCMP guests. Because a vCMP guest acts as
configuration a fully functional BIG-IP system, configure self IP addresses on each vCMP
guest just as you would on a physical BIG-IP system. You can also configure
self IP addresses on the vCMP host to facilitate basic network connectivity tests.
However, these self IP addresses are not visible to vCMP guests.
vCMP provisioning When you provision the vCMP feature, the BIG-IP® system allocates most, but
not all, of the disk space to the vCMP application volume. The system reserves
approximately 30 GB of disk space for other uses. If you want the system to
reserve more than 30 GB of disk space, such as for installing another version of
the BIG-IP system in the future, do this prior to provisioning the vCMP feature.
Doing so after you have provisioned the vCMP feature can produce unwanted
results. When increasing the reserve space on the disk, the recommended amount
of additional space to reserve is 8 GB per BIG-IP installation.
Virtual disk When a virtual disk becomes unattached from a guest, that virtual disk remains
management on the system. To prevent unattached virtual disks from consuming disk space
over time, consider deleting unwanted virtual disks from the system.

Important: Before deciding to delete a virtual disk, make certain that

there is no potential use for it. Configuration objects for guests that
require that virtual disk for re-creation, will no longer be available.

VLAN configuration Configure VLANs on the vCMP host instead of on the guest, because VLANs
specified in the guest are not accessible on the vCMP host. Also, if two guests
each have a VLAN group, verify that the VLAN group for each guest does not
bridge the same two VLANs.

18
Chapter
3
Initial vCMP Setup
Topics:

• Overview: Initial vCMP setup

• Overview: Verifying initial vCMP
configuration
Initial vCMP Setup

Overview: Initial vCMP setup

Virtual Clustered Multi-Processing (vCMP) is a feature of the BIG-IP® system that makes it possible for
you to run multiple instances of the BIG-IP® software on a single hardware platform.
Using the following implementation, you can create one guest on a vCMP® system, and then, within the
guest, configure the basic Local Traffic Manager™ objects for processing HTTP application traffic: a pool,
an HTTP profile, and a standard virtual server. A vCMP guest is a virtual BIG-IP device.

Task summary
Activating the BIG-IP license for a vCMP VIPRION
Modifying disk space allocation for a vCMP application volume
Provisioning the BIG-IP system for vCMP
Accessing the vCMP host
Creating trunks
Creating VLANs
Creating a vCMP guest
Setting a vCMP guest to the Deployed state
Provisioning a BIG-IP module within a guest
Creating self IP addresses for VLANs

vCMP deployment worksheet

There are a number of points during the vCMP® deployment process at which you will need to make
decisions or provide values. Use this table as a prompt for gathering the answers and values you will need,
so that you can provide them when performing the vCMP initial setup.

Configuration Considerations
component
Active slots How many blades are installed (and in which slots)?
CPU core How many CPU cores do you want to allocate to each guest?
requirements
External gateway What is the gateway address (next hop) for external traffic?
address
FQDN What is the fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) for your BIG-IP® system?
Guest mode Should your guests be in bridged or isolated mode?
IP address range What is the IP address range that is valid for the vCMP guests you create?
Link aggregation Do your trunks require LACP mode?
control protocol
Network mask What is the network mask for the guest IP?
Primary cluster IP What is the primary cluster IP address? The management IP address assigned to
address the chassis' primary cluster during chassis installation is used to access the vCMP
host.

20
 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

Configuration Considerations
component
User role Do you have a user role of Administrator? You need to have a user role of
Administrator to perform the tasks in this process.

Activating the BIG-IP license for a vCMP VIPRION

To activate the vCMP® license, you need access to a browser and the base registration key. The base
registration key is a character string that the license server uses to verify the type and number of F5 Networks
products that you are entitled to license. If you do not have a base registration key, contact the F5 Networks
sales group (http://www.f5.com).
You license vCMP from the License screen of the Setup Utility.

1. From a workstation attached to the network on which you configured the management interface, type
the following URL syntax where <management_IP_address> is the address you configured for device
management:
https://<management_IP_address>
2. At the prompts, type the user name admin and the password admin.
3. Click Log in.
The Setup Utility screen opens.
4. Click Activate.
The License screen opens.
5. In the Base Registration Key field, paste your base registration key.
6. Click Next.
The End User License Agreement (EULA) displays.
7. Review the EULA.
When you click Accept, the Platform screen opens.

Modifying disk space allocation for a vCMP application volume

When you provision the BIG-IP® system for vCMP®, the BIG-IP system dedicates all but 30GB of disk
space to running the vCMP feature. (The 30GB of reserved disk space protects against any possible resizing
of the file system.) Before provisioning the vCMP feature, you can reserve additional space for a logical
disk. Use this procedure if you decide that you need to change the amount of disk space (in megabytes) that
the system allocates to a vCMP application volume.

1. In the URL field, type the management IP address that you previously assigned to the chassis.
https://<cluster_ip_address>
The browser displays the login screen for the BIG-IP Configuration utility.
2. On the Main tab, click System > Disk Management.
The display shows the logical disks and application volumes from the perspective of the primary slot
of the BIG-IP system cluster.
3. Click the logical disk for which you want to reserve disk space.
An example of a logical disk is HD1.
4. On the menu bar, click Image List if displayed.
The screen displays a list of the installed images on the system.
5. If a list of images appears, locate the relevant image, and in the Disk column, click the logical disk name.

21
Initial vCMP Setup

6. In the Reserved (MB) field, increase the amount of disk space that you want to reserve for the logical
disk.
The more space you reserve, the less disk space is available for the vCMP application volume. The
suggested amount of additional space to allow is 8 GB per installation.
7. Click Update.

The disk for which you reserved space is now set aside from use for this instance of vCMP.

Provisioning the BIG-IP system for vCMP

You must activate the license and provision the vCMP® feature before you can create any vCMP guests.

1. On the Main tab, click System > Resource Provisioning.

2. From the vCMP list, select Dedicated.
Because you are setting up the vCMP host, not the guests, verify that all other modules are set to None.
The vCMP feature must be run as a dedicated application. You license and provision the BIG-IP®
modules on the vCMP guests once you create them.
3. Click Update.

TMOS® now functions as the hypervisor for the vCMP system.

Accessing the vCMP host

Before you can access the vCMP® host, configure the VIPRION® chassis system, including the floating
cluster management IP address. Also, you must have the Administrator user role assigned to your user
account.
Perform this task to access the vCMP host after you have created and configured the VIPRION chassis
system.

Important: After you access the vCMP host, you do not create self IP addresses on the vCMP host.
While self IP addresses on hypervisors are completely functional for basic traffic like ICMP (ping)
and verifying that the host self IP addresses work correctly is an integral part of testing and
hypervisor traffic switch verification, these self IP addresses are not visible nor useful from a guest
perspective. You create self IP addresses that process guest traffic from the individual guests,
because otherwise the guests could not "see" or make use of them.

1. From a system on the external network, display a browser window.

2. In the URL field, type the floating cluster management IP address that you previously assigned to the
chassis, as follows:
https://<cluster_ip_address>
The browser displays the login screen for the BIG-IP Configuration utility.

Creating trunks
To configure trunks for the VIPRION® system, the four external interfaces must be cabled to your Internet
gateway, external bridge, or vendor switch.
The first objects you configure are trunks that tie the internal and external vendor switch interfaces to the
corresponding VIPRION interfaces.

22
 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

1. Use a browser to log in to the VIPRION® chassis's management IP address.

This logs you in to the floating IP address for the cluster.
2. On the peer (vendor) switch on the external network, create a trunk that includes the four external
interfaces to which you have physically connected the external interfaces of the four blades.
If the peer switch is configured to use Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP), you must enable
LACP.
3. Create a trunk, and if the peer switch is configured to use LACP, enable LACP on the new trunk:
a) On the Main tab, expand Network, and click Trunks.
The Trunks screen opens.
b) At the upper right corner of the screen, click Create.
The New Trunk screen opens.
c) Assign the name trunk_ext, and assign an external interface of blade 1 to the trunk.
d) Enable LACP mode, if required.
e) Click Finished.
4. Repeat the previous step, but this time, configure a trunk that ties the vendor switch internal interface
to the VIPRION internal interface. Assign the name trunk_int.

Creating VLANs
VLANs associate with your trunks.

1. Use a browser to log in to the VIPRION® chassis's management IP address.

This logs you in to the floating IP address for the cluster.
2. On the Main tab, expand Network, and click VLANs.
The VLANs screen opens.
3. Click Create.
The New VLAN screen opens.
4. Configure a VLAN named external, and assign it to the trunk named trunk_ex as an untagged
interface.
5. Click Finished.
6. Repeat the last three steps, but this time, configure a VLAN named internal, and assign it to the trunk
named trunk_int.
7. Repeat steps 3 through 5 one more time, but this time, configure a VLAN named HA, assign it to the
trunk named trunk_int as a tagged interface.

Creating a vCMP guest

To create a vCMP® guest, you need a VIPRION® chassis system configured with a floating cluster
management IP address, some base network objects such as trunks and VLANs, and you must license and
provision the system to run the vCMP feature.
You create a vCMP guest when you want to configure and run one or more BIG-IP® modules as though
the modules were running together on their own BIG-IP device. For example, you can create a guest that
runs BIG-IP® Local Traffic Manager™ and BIG-IP® Global Traffic Manager™. A guest can run on one
available slot or all available slots of a chassis.

Note: This procedure creates a guest in Bridged mode.

23
Initial vCMP Setup

Note: When creating a guest, if you see an error message such as Insufficient disk space
on /shared/vmdisks. Need 24354M additional space., you must delete existing
unattached virtual disks until you have freed up that amount of disk space.

1. Use a browser to log in to the VIPRION® chassis's management IP address.

This logs you in to the floating IP address for the cluster.
2. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Guest List.
3. Click Create.
4. From the Properties list, select Advanced.
5. In the Name field, type a name for the guest.
6. In the Host Name field, type the host name of the BIG-IP system.
Assign a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN). If you assign a name that is not an FQDN, the system
might display an error message. If you leave this field blank, the system assigns the name
localhost.localdomain.
7. From the Number of Slots list, select either Single Slot or All Slots.
This causes the guest to reside on one slot or to span all slots. Note that once you configure a guest to
span all slots, you cannot change this value later to Single Slot, unless you first change the state of the
guest to Configured. Also note that if you decide to reconfigure an all slot guest to a single slot guest,
you cannot specify on which available single slot the guest will reside.
8. From the Management Network list, select Bridged.
9. For the Cluster IP Address setting, fill in the required information:
a) In the IP Address field, type a unique management IP address that you want to assign to the guest.
You use this IP address to access the guest when you want to manage a module running within the
guest.
b) In the Network Mask field, type the network mask for the cluster IP address.
c) In the Management Route field, type a gateway address for the cluster IP address.
10. From the Initial Image list, select an ISO image file for installing TMOS® software and the BIG-IP
license onto the guest's virtual disk. The license associated with the selected image provides access to
the correct BIG-IP modules.
11. In the Virtual Disk list, retain the default value of None.
The BIG-IP system creates a virtual disk with a default name (the guest name plus the string .img, such
as guestA.img). Note that if an unattached virtual disk file with that default name already exists, the
system displays a message, and you must manually attach the virtual disk. You can do this using the
tmsh command line interface, or use the Configuration utility to view and select from a list of available
unattached virtual disks.
12. For the VLAN List setting, select both an internal and an external VLAN name from the Available list,
and use the Move button to move the VLAN names to the Selected list.
13. From the Requested State list, select Provisioned.
This allocates all necessary resources to the guest, such as CPU cores, virtual disk, and so on.
14. Click Finish.

After clicking Finished, wait while the system installs the selected ISO image onto the guest's virtual disk.
When this process is complete, you can deploy the guest.

Note: You can also skip the Provisioned state and instead go straight to the Deployed state if you
are confident of your guest configuration. Provisioning first and then deploying makes it more

24
 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

straightforward to make changes to the slots to which your guests are allocated if you find you need
to make changes.

Setting a vCMP guest to the Deployed state

Until you deploy a vCMP® guest, your vCMP VIPRION has no medium for provisioning and running the
BIG-IP® modules that you can use to process traffic.

1. Ensure that you are still logged in to the vCMP host using the BIG-IP system's cluster IP address.
2. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Guest List.
3. In the Name column, click the name of the vCMP guest that you want to deploy.
4. From the Requested State list, select either Provisioned or Deployed.
5. Click Update.

After moving a vCMP guest to the Deployed state, wait while the guest boots and becomes accessible.
Then, you can log into the vCMP guest to provision specific BIG-IP modules.

Provisioning a BIG-IP module within a guest

Before you can access a guest to provision BIG-IP® modules, the vCMP® guest must be in the Deployed
state.
You determine which BIG-IP modules run within a guest by provisioning the modules. For example, if you
want guestA to run LTM® and GTM™, log into guestA and provision it with LTM and GTM. If you want
™
guestB to run LTM and ASM , log into guestB and provision it with BIG-IP LTM and BIG-IP ASM.
Bear in mind that guests inherit the licenses of the vCMP host on which they were created, so any BIG-IP
modules that you want to provision on a guest must be included in the license you installed with the vCMP
host.

Note: This procedure applies to guests in Bridged mode only. Guests in isolated mode can be
accessed only using vconsole and tmsh.

1. Use a browser and the management IP address that you configured for the guest to log in to the guest.
If the system prompts you to run the Setup Utility, do not. Instead, complete this task to produce an
initial configuration better suited for a vCMP guest.
The BIG-IP Configuration utility opens so that you can configure the guest.
2. On the Main tab, click System > Resource Provisioning.
3. In the Resource Provisioning (Licensed Modules) area, from the Local Traffic (LTM) list, select
Minimal, Nominal, or Dedicated, depending on your needs.
4. Click Update.

After provisioning the module from within the guest, create self IP addresses and assign a vCMP host VLAN
to each one. The vCMP host VLANs that you assign to these self IP addresses are the VLANs you created
before creating the guest.

Creating self IP addresses for VLANs

You need at least one VLAN or VLAN group configured before you create a self IP address.

25
Initial vCMP Setup

Self IP addresses enable the BIG-IP® system, and other devices on the network, to route application traffic
through the associated VLAN or VLAN group. Repeat the steps in this task for each VLAN.

1. On the Main tab, click Network > Self IPs.

The Self IPs screen opens.
2. Click Create.
The New Self IP screen opens.
3. In the Name field, type a unique name that readily identifies the VLAN to which it will associate for
the self IP.
Name the self IP for the internal VLAN Internal, name the external VLAN External, and name the
HA VLAN HA.
4. In the IP Address field, type an IP address.
This IP address must be within the address space that corresponds to the VLAN for which it is created
(Internal, External or HA).
The system accepts IP addresses in both the IPv4 and IPv6 formats.
5. In the Netmask field, type the network mask for the specified IP address.
6. From the VLAN/Tunnel list, select the VLAN to associate with this self IP address:
• For the internal network, select the VLAN that is associated with an internal interface or trunk.
• For the external network, select the VLAN that is associated with an external interface or trunk.
• For the HA network, select the VLAN that is associated with an internal interface or trunk.

7. From the Port Lockdown list, select Allow Default.

8. Repeat the last 4 steps, but this time specify an address from your external network in step 4 and select
the VLAN named external in step 6.
9. Repeat steps 3 through 7 one more time, but this time specify an address on your internal network in
step 4 and select the VLAN named HA in step 6.
10. Click Finished.
The screen refreshes, and displays the new self IP address in the list.

The BIG-IP system can send and receive traffic through the specified VLAN or VLAN group.

Overview: Verifying initial vCMP configuration

Verifying your vCMP configuration confirms that the setup performed up to this point is functioning
properly. Once you establish that the vCMP® configuration is correct, you will likely need to create a profile,
pools, and virtual server that are tailored to your network topology before your guest can begin processing
LTM® traffic.

Task summary
Creating a pool to manage HTTP traffic
Creating a virtual server to manage HTTP traffic

Creating a pool to manage HTTP traffic

You can create a pool to manage HTTP connections.

26
 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

1. On the Main tab, click Local Traffic > Pools.

The Pool List screen opens.
2. Click Create.
The New Pool screen opens.
3. In the Name field, type a unique name for the pool.
4. For the Health Monitors setting, from the Available list, select the http monitor, and click << to move
the monitor to the Active list.
5. From the Load Balancing Method list, select how the system distributes traffic to members of this
pool.
The default is Round Robin.
6. For the Priority Group Activation setting, specify how to handle priority groups:
• Select Disabled to disable priority groups. This is the default option.
• Select Less than, and in the Available Members field, type the minimum number of members that
must remain available in each priority group in order for traffic to remain confined to that group.

7. Using the New Members setting, add each resource that you want to include in the pool:
a) Type an IP address in the Address field, or select a node address from the Node List.
b) Type 80 in the Service Port field, or select HTTP from the list.
c) (Optional) Type a priority number in the Priority field.
d) Click Add.
8. Click Finished.

The new pool appears in the Pools list.

Creating a virtual server to manage HTTP traffic

You can create a virtual server to manage HTTP traffic as either a host virtual server or a network virtual
server.

1. On the Main tab, click Local Traffic > Virtual Servers.

The Virtual Server List screen displays a list of existing virtual servers.
2. Click the Create button.
The New Virtual Server screen opens.
3. In the Name field, type a unique name for the virtual server.
4. Specify the Destination setting, using the Address field; type the IP address you want to use for the
virtual server.
The IP address you type must be available and not in the loopback network.
5. In the Service Port field, type 80, or select HTTP from the list.
6. From the HTTP Profile list, select http.
7. In the Resources area of the screen, from the Default Pool list, select a pool name.
8. Click Finished.

The HTTP virtual server appears in the list of existing virtual servers on the Virtual Server List screen.

27
Initial vCMP Setup

28
Chapter
4
Create an Active-Standby Configuration
Topics:

• Overview: Creating an active-standby DSC

configuration
• Task summary
• Implementation result
Create an Active-Standby Configuration

Overview: Creating an active-standby DSC configuration

The most common TMOS® device service clustering (DSC™) implementation is an active-standby
configuration, where a single traffic group is active on one of the devices in the device group and is in a
standby state on a peer device. If failover occurs, the standby traffic group on the peer device becomes
active and begins processing the application traffic.
To implement this DSC implementation, you can create a Sync-Failover device group. A Sync-Failover
device group with two members and one traffic group provides configuration synchronization and device
failover.
If the device with the active traffic group goes offline, the traffic group becomes active on the peer device,
and application processing is handled by that device.

About DSC configuration on a VIPRION system

The way you configure device service clustering (DSC) on a VIPRION® system varies depending on whether
the system is provisioned to run the vCMP® feature.

For non-vCMP systems

On a VIPRION system that is not provisioned for vCMP, the management IP address that you specify for
establishing device trust and enabling failover should be the system's primary cluster IP address. This is a
floating management IP address.

For vCMP systems

On a vCMP system, the devices in a device group are virtual devices, known as vCMP guests. You configure
config sync and failover to occur between equivalent vCMP guests in separate chassis.
For example, if you have a pair of VIPRION systems running vCMP, and each system has three vCMP
guests, you can create a separate device group for each pair of equivalent guests. The Table shows an
example.

Table 1: Sample device groups for two VIPRION systems with vCMP

Device groups for vCMP Device group members

Device-Group-A
• Guest1 on chassis1
• Guest1 on chassis2

Device-Group-B
• Guest2 on chassis1
• Guest2 on chassis2

Device-Group-C
• Guest3 on chassis1
• Guest3 on chassis2

By isolating guests into separate device groups, you ensure that each guest synchronizes and fails over to
its equivalent guest.

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 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

The self IP addresses that you specify per guest for config sync and failover should be the self IP addresses
that you previously configured on the guest (not the host). Similarly, the management IP address that you
specify per guest for device trust and failover should be the cluster IP address of the guest.

Task summary
Use the tasks in this implementation to create a device group that syncs the BIG-IP® configuration to the
peer device and provides failover capability if the peer device goes offline. Note that on a vCMP® system,
the devices in a specific device group are vCMP guests, one per chassis.

Task summary

DSC prerequisite worksheet

Before you set up device service clustering (DSC™), you must configure these BIG-IP® components on
each device that you intend to include in the device group.

Configuration Considerations
component
Hardware, licensing, Devices in a device group must match as closely as possible with respect to hardware
and provisioning platform, product licensing, and module provisioning. If you want to configure
mirroring, ensure that the hardware platforms of the mirrored devices match.
BIG-IP software Each device must be running BIG-IP version 11.x. This ensures successful
version configuration synchronization.
Management IP Each device must have a management IP address, a network mask, and a
addresses management route defined.
FQDN Each device must have a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) as its host name.
User name and Each device must have a user name and password defined on it that you will use
password when logging in to the BIG-IP Configuration utility.
root folder The platform properties for the root folder must be set correctly (Sync-Failover
properties and traffic-group-1).
VLANs For non-vCMP systems, you must create these VLANs on each device if you have
not already done so:
• A VLAN for the internal network, named internal
• A VLAN for the external network, named external
• A VLAN for failover communications, named HA
For vCMP® systems, you must create these VLANs on the vCMP host pertaining
to each guest that is to be included in a device group, if you have not already done
so.
Self IP addresses For non-vCMP systems, you must create these self IP addresses on each device if
you have not already done so:
• Two self IP addresses (floating and non-floating) on the same subnet for VLAN
internal.

31
Create an Active-Standby Configuration

Configuration Considerations
component
• Two self IP addresses (floating and non-floating) on the same subnet for VLAN
external.
• A non-floating self IP address on the internal subnet for VLAN HA.
For vCMP systems, you must create these self IP addresses on each vCMP guest
that is to be included in a device group if you have not already done so.

Note: When you create self IP addresses, they are floating addresses by
default because the BIG-IP system automatically adds the addresses to the
default floating traffic group, traffic-group-1. To create non-floating
self IP addresses, you must explicitly change the value of the Traffic Group
setting on the Self IP Create screen to traffic-group-local-only.

Port lockdown For self IP addresses that you create on each device, you should verify that the Port
Lockdown setting is set to Allow All, All Default, or Allow Custom. Do not
specify None.
Application-related You must create any virtual IP addresses and, optionally, SNAT translation
objects addresses, as part of BIG-IP® Local Traffic Manager™ configuration. You must
also configure any iApps™ application services if they are required for your
application. When you create these addresses or services, the objects automatically
become members of the default traffic group, traffic-group-1.
Time synchronization The times set by the NTP service on all devices must be synchronized. This is a
requirement for configuration synchronization to operate successfully.
Device certificates Verify that each device includes an x509 device certificate. Devices with device
certificates can authenticate and therefore trust one another, which is a prerequisite
for device-to-device communication and data exchange.

Specifying an IP address for config sync

Before configuring the config sync address, verify that all devices in the device group are running the same
version of BIG-IP® system software.
This task identifies the IP address that devices in the device group will use to synchronize their configuration
objects. Use the BIG-IP Configuration utility to set up config sync.

Important: You must perform this task on each device in the device group.

1. Confirm that you are logged in to the actual device you want to configure.
2. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Devices.
This displays a list of device objects discovered by the local device.
3. In the Name column, click the name of the device to which you are currently logged in.
4. From the Device Connectivity menu, choose ConfigSync.
5. For the Local Address setting, retain the displayed IP address or select another address from the list.
F5 Networks recommends that you use the default value, which is the self IP address for VLAN
internal. This address must be a non-floating self IP address and not a management IP address.

6. Click Update.

32
 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

Specifying IP addresses for connection mirroring

Before configuring mirroring addresses, verify that the mirroring peers have the same hardware platform.
This task configures connection mirroring between two devices to ensure that in-process connections are
not dropped when failover occurs. You can mirror connections between a maximum of two devices in a
device group.

Important: You must perform this task on each device in the device group.

1. Confirm that you are logged in to the actual device you want to configure.
2. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Devices.
This displays a list of device objects discovered by the local device.
3. In the Name column, click the name of the device to which you are currently logged in.
4. From the Device Connectivity menu, choose Mirroring.
5. For the Primary Local Mirror Address setting, retain the displayed IP address or select another address
from the list.
The recommended IP address is the self IP address for either VLAN HA or VLAN internal.
6. For the Secondary Local Mirror Address setting, retain the default value of None, or select an address
from the list.
This setting is optional. The system uses the selected IP address in the event that the primary mirroring
address becomes unavailable.
7. Click Update.

Establishing device trust

Verify that each BIG-IP® device that is to be part of a local trust domain has a device certificate installed
on it.
This task establishes a local trust domain between the local device (that is, the device you are logged in to)
and devices you specify during the process. A local trust domain is any number of BIG-IP devices that have
a trust relationship with one another. Perform this task on any one of the BIG-IP devices that will be in the
same device group.

1. On the Main tab, click Device Management/Device Trust, and then either Peer List or Subordinate
List.
2. In the Peer Authority Devices or the Subordinate Non-Authority Devices area of the screen, click Add.
3. Type an IP address, administrator user name, and administrator password for the remote BIG-IP® device.
This IP address can be either a management IP address or a self IP address.
4. Click Retrieve Device Information.
5. Verify that the certificate of the remote device is correct.
6. Verify that the name of the remote device is correct.
7. Verify that the management IP address and name of the remote device are correct.
8. Click Finished.

33
Create an Active-Standby Configuration

Creating a Sync-Failover device group

This task establishes failover capability between two BIG-IP® devices. If the active device in a Sync-Failover
device group becomes unavailable, the configuration objects fail over to another member of the device
group and traffic processing is unaffected. You can perform this task on any authority device within the
local trust domain.

1. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Device Groups.

The Device Groups screen displays a list of existing device groups.
2. On the Device Group List screen, click Create.
3. Type a name for the device group, select the device group type Sync-Failover, and type a description
for the device group.
4. In the Configuration area of the screen, select a host name from the Available list for each BIG-IP device
that you want to include in the device group. Use the Move button to move the host name to the Selected
list.
The Available list shows any devices that are members of the device's local trust domain but not currently
members of a Sync-Failover device group. A device can be a member of one Sync-Failover group only.
5. For Network Failover, select the Enabled check box.
6. Click Finished.

You now have a Sync-Failover device group containing two BIG-IP devices as members.

Syncing the BIG-IP configuration to the device group

Before starting this task, verify that all devices targeted for ConfigSync are members of a device group and
that device trust has been established.
This task synchronizes the BIG-IP® configuration data from the local device to all devices in the group.
This synchronization ensures that the entire redundant system configuration operates properly within the
device group. When synchronizing self IP addresses, the BIG-IP system synchronizes floating self IP
addresses only.

Important: Perform the following procedure on only one of the two devices.

1. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Device Groups.

The Device Groups screen displays a list of existing device groups.
2. In the Group Name column, click the name of the relevant device group.
3. On the menu bar, click ConfigSync.
4. Click Synchronize To Group.

Except for non-floating self IP addresses, the entire set of BIG-IP configuration data is replicated on each
device in the device group.

Specifying IP addresses for failover

This task specifies the local IP addresses that you want other devices in the device group to use for failover
communications with the local device. You must perform this task on each device in the device group.

Note: The failover addresses that you specify must belong to route domain 0.

34
 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

1. Confirm that you are logged in to the actual device you want to configure.
2. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Devices.
This displays a list of device objects discovered by the local device.
3. In the Name column, click the name of the device to which you are currently logged in.
4. From the Device Connectivity menu, choose Failover.
5. For the Failover Unicast Configuration settings, retain the displayed IP addresses.
You can also click Add to specify additional IP addresses that the system can use for failover
communications. F5 Networks recommends that you use the self IP address assigned to the HA VLAN.
6. If the BIG-IP® system is running on a VIPRION® platform, then for the Use Failover Multicast Address
setting, select the Enabled check box.
7. If you enable Use Failover Multicast Address, either accept the default Address and Port values, or
specify values appropriate for the device.
If you revise the default Address and Port values, but then decide to revert back to the default values,
click Reset Defaults.
8. Click Update.

After you perform this task, other devices in the device group can send failover messages to the local device
using the specified IP addresses.

Syncing the BIG-IP configuration to the device group

Before starting this task, verify that all devices targeted for ConfigSync are members of a device group and
that device trust has been established.
This task synchronizes the BIG-IP® configuration data from the local device to all devices in the group.
This synchronization ensures that the entire redundant system configuration operates properly within the
device group. When synchronizing self IP addresses, the BIG-IP system synchronizes floating self IP
addresses only.

Important: Perform the following procedure on only one of the two devices.

1. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Device Groups.

The Device Groups screen displays a list of existing device groups.
2. In the Group Name column, click the name of the relevant device group.
3. On the menu bar, click ConfigSync.
4. Click Synchronize To Group.

Except for non-floating self IP addresses, the entire set of BIG-IP configuration data is replicated on each
device in the device group.

Implementation result
You now have a Sync-Failover device group set up with an active-standby configuration. In this configuration,
each traffic group is initially configured to be active on one device. If one device goes offline, the traffic
group that was active on that device becomes active on the other device in the group. Application processing
for both traffic groups continues without interruption.

35
Create an Active-Standby Configuration

36
Chapter
5
Understanding Clusters
Topics:

• Cluster overview
• Viewing cluster properties
• Viewing cluster member properties
• Enabling and disabling cluster members
• Changing a cluster-related management IP
address
Understanding Clusters

Cluster overview
The slots in a VIPRION® chassis work together as a single, powerful unit. This entity is called a cluster.
The size of the cluster depends on the number of running blades installed in the chassis. Blades in the cluster
share the overall workload, and can be configured to mirror each others’ connections, so that if a blade is
taken out of service or becomes unavailable for some reason, any in-process connections remain intact.
When a blade is installed in a slot and turned on, it automatically becomes a member of the cluster.
One of the first tasks performed as part of the platform installation is to insert blades and assign a unique
cluster IP address to the primary blade in the cluster. The cluster IP address is a floating management IP
address used to access the primary blade to configure the system. If the primary blade becomes unavailable
for any reason, the primary designation moves to a different blade, and the cluster IP address floats to that
blade. This ensures that you can always access the cluster using the cluster IP address, even when the primary
blade changes.
When you log on to the system using the cluster IP address, you can configure features such as trunks,
VLANs, administrative partitions, and virtual servers. If you have a redundant system configuration, you
can configure failover IP addresses, as well as connection mirroring between clusters.

Viewing cluster properties

You can use the BIG-IP® Configuration utility to view the properties for the cluster.

1. Use a browser to log in to the VIPRION® chassis's management IP address.

This logs you in to the floating IP address for the cluster.
2. On the Main tab, click System > Clusters.
The Cluster screen opens, showing the properties of the cluster, and listing the cluster members.

Cluster properties
The Cluster screen displays the properties of the cluster.

Property Description
Name Displays the name of the cluster.
Cluster IP Address Displays the IP address assigned to the cluster. Click
this IP address to change it.
Network Mask Displays the network mask for the cluster IP address.
Primary Member Displays the number of the slot that holds the primary
blade in the cluster.
Software Version Displays the version number of the BIG-IP® software
that is running on the cluster.
Software Build Displays the build number of the BIG-IP software
that is running on the cluster.

38
 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

Property Description
Hotfix Build Displays the build number of any BIG-IP software
hotfix that is running on the cluster.
Chassis 400-level BOM Displays the bill-of-materials (BOM) number for the
chassis.
Status Displays an icon and descriptive text that indicates
whether there are sufficient available members of
the cluster.

Viewing cluster member properties

You can use the BIG-IP® Configuration utility to view the properties for cluster members.

1. Use a browser to log in to the VIPRION® chassis's management IP address.

This logs you in to the floating IP address for the cluster.
2. On the Main tab, click System > Clusters.
The Cluster screen opens, showing the properties of the cluster, and listing the cluster members.
3. To display the properties for one cluster member, click the slot number of that member.
The Cluster Member properties screen opens, showing the properties of that member.

Cluster member properties

In addition to displaying the properties of the cluster, the Cluster screen also lists information about members
of the cluster. The table lists the information associated with each cluster member.

Property Description
Status The Status column indicates whether the cluster
member is available or unavailable.
Slot The Slot column indicates the number of the slot.
Click this number to display the properties of that
cluster member.
Blade serial number The Blade Serial Number column displays the serial
number for the blade currently in that slot.
Enabled The Enabled column indicates whether that cluster
member is currently enabled.
Primary The Primary column indicates whether that cluster
member is currently the primary slot.
HA State The HA State column indicates whether the cluster
member is used in a redundant system configuration
for high availability.

39
Understanding Clusters

Enabling and disabling cluster members

To gracefully drain the connections from a cluster member before you take that blade out of service, you
can mark that cluster member disabled. Before you can return that member to service, you need to enable
it.

Important: Perform this task while logged in to the vCMP® host; not from a guest.

1. Use a browser and the cluster management IP address of the vCMP® host to log in to the vCMP host
(hypervisor) and access the BIG-IP® Configuration utility.
2. On the Main tab, click System > Clusters.
The Cluster screen opens, showing the properties of the cluster, and listing the cluster members.
3. Locate the cluster member you want to enable or disable, and select the box to the left of the Status icon.
4. Click Enable or Disable/Yield.

Changing a cluster-related management IP address

You can use the BIG-IP® Configuration utility to view or change the properties for a vCMP® cluster.

Important: Perform this task while logged in to the vCMP host; not from a guest.

1. Use a browser and the cluster management IP address of the vCMP® host to log in to the vCMP host
(hypervisor) and access the BIG-IP® Configuration utility.
2. On the Main tab, click System > Clusters.
The Cluster screen opens, showing the properties of the cluster, and listing the cluster members.
3. On the menu bar, click Management IP Address.
The Management IP Address screen opens.
4. Locate the specific management IP address or cluster member IP address that you would like to change,
and type the new IP address.
5. Click Update.

The specific management IP address or cluster member IP address that you edited is changed. You can now
use that new address to access the cluster.

Cluster-related IP addresses
The cluster-related addresses that you can modify are defined in the table.

Setting Type Setting Description

Cluster IP address IP Address Specifies the management IP address that you want to
assign to the cluster. This IP address is used to access
the Configuration utility, as well as to function as a
cluster identifier for the peer cluster in a device service
clustering configuration.

40
 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

Setting Type Setting Description

Cluster IP address Network Mask Specifies the network mask for the cluster IP address.
Cluster IP address Management Route Specifies the gateway for the cluster IP address.
Typically, this is the default route.
Cluster Member IP Slot 1 IP Address Specifies the management IP address associated with
Address slot 1 of the cluster. You can also set this value to None.
Cluster Member IP Slot 2 IP Address Specifies the management IP address associated with
Address slot 2 of the cluster. You can also set this value to None.
Cluster Member IP Slot 3 IP Address Specifies the management IP address associated with
Address slot 3 of the cluster. You can also set this value to None.
Cluster Member IP Slot 4 IP Address Specifies the management IP address associated with
Address slot 4 of the cluster. You can also set this value to None.

41
Understanding Clusters

42
Chapter
6
Understanding vCMP Hosts
Topics:

• Overview: Managing vCMP hosts

• Viewing host properties for slots
• About disk management for vCMP
application volumes
Understanding vCMP Hosts

Overview: Managing vCMP hosts

With vCMP® initial setup successfully completed to process application traffic, you will likely want to
manage the configuration of the vCMP host to optimize performance.
The vCMP host is the system-wide hypervisor that makes it possible for you to create, view, and manage
all guests on the system. A vCMP host allocates system resources to guests as needed.
vCMP host configuration encompasses these activities:
• Viewing host properties
• Creating additional VLANs for guests if needed
• Adding additional vCMP guests
• Managing application volumes

Note: To manage a vCMP system, you must have the Administrator user role assigned to your user
account.

Important: Do not configure BIG-IP® module features (such as BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager™
virtual servers, pools, and profiles) when logged in to the vCMP host. Use the vCMP host to create
and manage vCMP guests and to perform Layer 2 network configuration only. Attempting to
configure BIG-IP modules while logged in to the vCMP host produces unwanted results. Always
log in to the relevant vCMP guest to configure the features of a BIG-IP module.

Viewing host properties for slots

You must have created at least one vCMP® guest on the system to view host properties.
Use the BIG-IP® Configuration utility to view the host properties for all slots on the system or for a single
slot. The host properties that you can view are:
• The state of each guest
• The slot numbers on which each guest runs
• The number of CPU cores allocated to each guest

1. Use a browser to log in to the VIPRION® chassis's management IP address.

This logs you in to the floating IP address for the cluster.
2. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Host Properties.
3. View host properties for all slots, or in the upper right corner of the screen, from the View list, select a
slot number.

The screen displays the host properties for the chosen slots.

vCMP host properties

This topic describes the vCMP® host properties on the BIG-IP® system.

44
 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

Property Name Value Description

State Configured, Provisioned, or The state of the named guest.
Deployed
On Slots One or more numeric values in the The slot numbers pertaining to each guest.
range of 1 through 4.
Number of Cores A numeric value The number of CPU cores currently
allocated to the named guest.

About disk management for vCMP application volumes

You can view a vCMP® application volume on the system, control the amount of physical disk space that
the BIG-IP® system allocates to a vCMP volume, or delete a vCMP volume. The BIG-IP system creates a
vCMP application volume when you initially provision the vCMP feature.
You control the amount of disk space that the BIG-IP system allocates to a vCMP application volume by
using the Disk Management screens of the BIG-IP Configuration utility. The Disk Management screens
allow you to reserve an amount of disk space for other uses, so that the system does not allocate all available
disk resources to the vCMP application volume.

Important: When you provision the vCMP feature, the BIG-IP system allocates most, but not all,
of the disk space to the vCMP application volume. The system reserves approximately 30 GB of
disk space for other uses. If you want the system to reserve more than 30 GB of disk space (such
as for installing another version of the BIG-IP system in the future), do this before you provision
the vCMP feature. Doing so after you have provisioned the vCMP feature produces unwanted
results. When increasing the reserve space on the disk, the recommended amount of space to reserve
is 8 GB per BIG-IP installation.

Note: If the disk space for the host approaches the maximum threshold, the vCMP system displays
a warning message about depleted disk space.

Viewing disk space allocation for a vCMP application volume

You can use this procedure to view the amount of disk space, in megabytes, that the system has allocated
to a vCMP® application volume.

1. Use a browser and the cluster management IP address of the vCMP host to log in to the vCMP host
(hypervisor) and access the BIG-IP Configuration utility.
2. On the Main tab, click System > Disk Management.
The display shows the logical disks and application volumes from the perspective of the primary slot
of the BIG-IP system cluster.
3. Click the logical disk for which you want to reserve disk space.
An example of a logical disk is HD1.
4. On the menu bar, click Image List if displayed.
The screen displays a list of the installed images on the system.
5. If a list of images appears, locate the relevant image, and in the Disk column, click the logical disk name.

45
Understanding vCMP Hosts

6. In the Contained Application Volumes area of the screen, in the Volume column, locate the vCMP
application volume.
7. In the Size (MB) column, view the size of the application volume, in megabytes.

Deleting vCMP application volumes

Sometimes, you might need to de-provision the vCMP® feature to perform certain disk management tasks.
For example, you might want to increase the amount of disk space that the BIG®-IP system reserves for
non-vCMP uses such as an additional installation location. In this case, you must first de-provision the
vCMP feature, and then explicitly delete the vCMP application volume from the system, before increasing
the reserve amount. Once you have increased the reserve amount, you can re-provision the vCMP feature,
thereby creating a new vCMP application volume.

1. Use a browser and the cluster management IP address of the vCMP host to log in to the vCMP host
(hypervisor) and access the BIG-IP Configuration utility.
2. On the Main tab, click System > Disk Management.
The display shows the logical disks and application volumes from the perspective of the primary slot
of the BIG-IP system cluster.
3. Click the logical disk for which you want to reserve disk space.
An example of a logical disk is HD1.
4. On the menu bar, click Image List if displayed.
The screen displays a list of the installed images on the system.
5. If a list of images appears, locate the relevant image, and in the Disk column, click the logical disk name.
6. In the Contained Application Volumes area of the screen, in the Volume column, locate the vCMP
application volume.
7. To the left of the application volume name, check the box.
8. Click Delete.

46
Chapter
7
Understanding vCMP Guests
Topics:

• About vCMP guests

• About network modes for a vCMP guest
• Modifying the properties of a vCMP guest
• Overview: Blade swap for a single-slot vCMP
guest
• Overview: Blade swap for a multi-slot vCMP
guest
• About software image selection and live
installation
• About vCMP guest states
• About system resource allocation
• About slot assignment and persistence
• vCMP guest modification considerations
Understanding vCMP Guests

About vCMP guests

A vCMP® guest is an object that you create on the vCMP system for the purpose of running one or more
BIG-IP® modules. For example, a typical guest might run both BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager™ and BIG-IP
Global Traffic Manager™. Each guest has its own portion of system resources (such as CPU cores and disk
space) allocated to it, which makes the guest appear as if it were a separate BIG-IP device. On a vCMP
system, you can run up to sixteen guests simultaneously, depending on licensing and hardware type.
In addition to running BIG-IP modules, each guest contains its own instance of TMOS®. This TMOS instance
gives you the ability to provision, configure, and manage certain network components (such as self IP
addresses) and any BIG-IP modules within the guest.
The illustration shows three guests running on a BIG-IP system. Guest 1 runs on a single slot only. Guest
2 and Guest 3 each run on all available slots.

Figure 1: Example illustration of guests running on a BIG- IP system

Important: In addition to other considerations, when considering whether to create a single slot
or multi-slot guest, bear in mind that recovery from a blade hot swap is much more straightforward
for multi-slot guests.

About network modes for a vCMP guest

You can configure each vCMP® guest to operate in one of two modes: Bridged or Isolated. The mode you
choose specifies whether the guest is bridged to or isolated from the vCMP host's management network.

48
 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

About the Bridged network mode

Bridged mode is the default network mode for a vCMP guest. This mode provides full Layer 2 access
between guests, and creates a bridge between each guest's management interface, the host's management
interface, and devices connected to the host's front-panel management port. Typically, you configure a
guest's management port to be on the same IP network as the host's management port, with a gateway
identical to the host's management gateway. This allows you to make TCP connections (for SSH, HTTP,
and so on) easily from either the host or the external network to the guest, or from the guest to the host or
external network. Although the guest and the host share the host's Ethernet connection, the guest appears
as a separate device on the local network, with its own MAC address and IP address.

About the Isolated network mode

Isolated mode isolates the guest from the management network. As in Bridged mode, a guest in Isolated
mode cannot communicate with other guests on the system. Also, the only way that a guest can communicate
with the vCMP host is through the console port or through a self IP address on the guest that allows traffic
through port 22.

Note: Although a guest in Isolated mode cannot communicate directly with the management network,
you can configure the guest to communicate to external networks indirectly. You do this by
configuring network routing or a firewall on the guest's operating system.

About deployed guests and network modes

If the guest is already deployed:
• Setting the network mode from Bridged to Isolated causes the vCMP host to remove all of the guest's
management interfaces from its bridged management network. This has the effect of immediately
disconnecting the guest's VMs from the physical management network.
• Setting the network mode from Isolated to Bridged causes the vCMP host to dynamically add the guest's
management interfaces to the bridged management network. This immediately connects all of the guest's
VMs to the physical management network.
Changing this property while the guest is in the Configured or Provisioned state has no immediate effect.

Modifying the properties of a vCMP guest

You can use the BIG-IP® Configuration utility to modify the properties of an existing vCMP® guest.

1. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Guest List.

2. In the Name column, click the name of the vCMP guest that you want to modify.
3. From the Properties list, select Advanced.
4. Change the values of the properties you want to modify.
5. Click Update.

Viewing the properties of a vCMP guest

You can use the BIG-IP® Configuration utility to view the properties of vCMP® guests.

1. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Guest List.

49
Understanding vCMP Guests

2. In the Name column, click the name of the vCMP guest that you want to view.

The system displays the properties of the guest.

Overview: Blade swap for a single-slot vCMP guest

This task guides you through the process of migrating your guest to another slot for the duration of the hot
swap process and then migrating it back after the swap. Although this task preserves your guest and all of
its settings, the easier (and preferable) method is to just save the BIG-IP® configuration objects configured
on your guest (as a UCS file), create a new guest, and then import the UCS file to the new guest.
For more information on archiving and importing BIG-IP configuration objects, refer to the F5 Networks
AskF5® Knowledge Base web site, http://support.f5.com.
When you swap out a blade that hosts a single slot vCMP® guest, migrate the guest to another slot before
you swap out the blade to preserve the BIG-IP configuration objects through the swap process.
Migrating a single-slot guest to another slot copies the virtual disk and its associated configuration objects.
When you swap out the blade and redeploy the guest, the guest can resume traffic processing.

Disabling a vCMP guest

When you disable a guest, the BIG-IP® system deallocates its resources (such as CPU cores, physical
memory, and virtual disks). Once disabled, you can edit the vCMP® guest, or you can migrate the guest to
another slot and its resources are available for consumption by another guest.

1. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Guest List.

2. In the Name column, find the name of the vCMP guest that you want to disable.
3. Select the check box to the left of the guest name.
4. Click Disable.
The BIG-IP system releases the resources dedicated to the guest.

Determine whether a slot is available for temporary migration

When you are preparing to migrate a guest, it's helpful to know on which slot the BIG-IP® system will create
the next guest. Knowing where the next guest will be created helps you make certain that the guest migrates
to a slot other than the one you are preparing to swap.

Guest resource allocation sequence

The BIG-IP ®system uses a sequential pattern to determine the chassis slot and CPU cores to which single-slot
guests deploy. You control to which slot your guest migrates by knowing this pattern and making sure that
the slot to which you want the guest to deploy is the next open resource. You open a slot by disabling its
guests; you fill a slot by deploying a temporary guest as placeholder. The table lists the order in which cores
and slots are allocated to deploying guests.

50
 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

Slot CPU Cores 0 and CPU Cores 2 and CPU Cores 4 and CPU Cores 6 and
# 1 3 5 7
Slot Fills first Fills fifth Fills ninth Fills thirteenth
1
Slot Fills second Fills sixth Fills tenth Fills fourteenth
2
Slot Fills third Fills seventh Fills eleventh Fills fifteenth
3
Slot Fills fourth Fills eighth Fills twelfth Fills sixteenth
4

Choose destination slot for migration

When you migrate your single-slot guest from a slot about to be hot swapped, you determine where that
guest will migrate by analyzing the existing guest allocation and making sure that the next open resource
is on a different slot.

1. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Guest List.

2. Analyze the vCMP® guest allocation to determine on which slot the vCMP software will deploy the
next guest.
3. Your next step depends on the slot to which the vCMP software will deploy the next guest.
If the next vCMP guest Then you need to:
deploys on:
a slot other than the slot on No action is required. Perform the Migrating a single slot guest task.
which it currently resides:
the slot on which it currently
• If you intend to swap out the blade in slot 1:
resides:
1. Disable the single-slot guests on slot 1.
2. Create temporary guests to fill slot 1, so that when you enable
the real single slot guests, the host will migrate them to a slot
other than slot 1.
3. Migrate the guest.

• If you intend to swap out a blade in a slot other than slot 1:

1. Disable the single-slot guests on that slot.
2. Disable a corresponding number of guests on slot 1, so that
when you enable the real single slot guests, the host will
migrate them to slot 1.
3. Migrate the guest.

Creating a temporary guest

Before starting this task you should be logged in to the vCMP® host using its management IP address, and
in the process of migrating a single slot guest from a blade that is about to be hot swapped.

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Understanding vCMP Guests

Creating a temporary guest is a useful technique when you need to control the slot to which the vCMP host
will migrate a vCMP guest. The temporary guest consumes resources on the blade you are preparing to
swap, so that when you migrate a guest, the vCMP host must migrate the guest to a different blade.

1. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Guest List.

2. Click Create.
3. From the Properties list, select Basic.
4. In the Name field, type a name for the guest.
5. In the Host Name field, type the host name localhost.localdomain.
6. In the Number of Slots list, retain the default value, Single Slot.
This causes the guest to run on one slot only.
7. From the Management Network list, select Bridged.
8. For the Cluster IP Address setting, fill in the required information:
a) In the IP Address field, type a unique management IP address that you want to assign to the guest.
You use this IP address to access the guest when you want to manage a module running within the
guest.
b) In the Network Mask field, type the network mask for the cluster IP address.
c) In the Management Route field, type a gateway address for the cluster IP address.
9. From the Virtual Disk list, select the default value, None.
10. Click Finish.

After you click Finished, the system creates a guest that consumes the next set of CPUs on the targeted
slot.

Disabling a vCMP guest

When you disable a guest, the BIG-IP® system deallocates its resources (such as CPU cores, physical
memory, and virtual disks). Once disabled, you can edit the vCMP® guest, or you can migrate the guest to
another slot and its resources are available for consumption by another guest.

1. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Guest List.

2. In the Name column, find the name of the vCMP guest that you want to disable.
3. Select the check box to the left of the guest name.
4. Click Disable.
The BIG-IP system releases the resources dedicated to the guest.

Migrating a single slot guest

For this task you must be logged in to the vCMP® host using its management IP address, and you are in the
process of migrating a single slot guest from a blade so that it can be hot swapped. Additionally, this task
begins when you have either temporarily disabled guests or created dummy guests so that when you re-deploy
the guest, it will migrate to the slot you intend.
When you re-deploy a guest that has been disabled (change its state from configured to deployed), the vCMP
host migrates that guest to the next open set of available resources. Use this procedure to migrate the guest
from the blade before you perform the hot swap, and then use this procedure again to migrate the guest
back to the blade after the hot swap.

52
 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

Important: Migrating a single slot guest to another slot is essential before performing a blade
hot-swap if you want to preserve the BIG-IP® configuration objects defined for that guest.

1. Ensure that you are still logged in to the vCMP host using the BIG-IP system's cluster IP address.
2. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Guest List.
3. In the Name column, click the name of the vCMP guest that you want to deploy.
4. From the Requested State list, select either Provisioned or Deployed.
5. Click Update.

The guest migrates to the next available set of resources. It takes some time for the guest to boot and become
accessible.

Hot swapping a VIPRION blade

You can hot swap a VIPRION® blade when you need to replace it. Steps for performing a hot swap are
platform dependent.

Refer to the appropriate platform guide for instructions on removing and replacing a blade on an active
VIPRION chassis.
Options Description
For VIPRION 2400 chassis Refer to "Removing a blade" and "Installing a blade" in the
Platform Guide: VIPRION 2400.
For VIPRION 4400 chassis Refer to "Removing a blade" and "Installing a blade" in the
Platform Guide: VIPRION 4400.

Once the new blade boots, the vCMP® host adds it to the cluster, and you can migrate guests to it.

Migrating a single slot guest

For this task you must be logged in to the vCMP® host using its management IP address, and you are in the
process of migrating a single slot guest from a blade so that it can be hot swapped. Additionally, this task
begins when you have either temporarily disabled guests or created dummy guests so that when you re-deploy
the guest, it will migrate to the slot you intend.
When you re-deploy a guest that has been disabled (change its state from configured to deployed), the vCMP
host migrates that guest to the next open set of available resources. Use this procedure to migrate the guest
from the blade before you perform the hot swap, and then use this procedure again to migrate the guest
back to the blade after the hot swap.

Important: Migrating a single slot guest to another slot is essential before performing a blade
hot-swap if you want to preserve the BIG-IP® configuration objects defined for that guest.

1. Ensure that you are still logged in to the vCMP host using the BIG-IP system's cluster IP address.
2. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Guest List.
3. In the Name column, click the name of the vCMP guest that you want to deploy.
4. From the Requested State list, select either Provisioned or Deployed.
5. Click Update.

53
Understanding vCMP Guests

The guest migrates to the next available set of resources. It takes some time for the guest to boot and become
accessible.

Overview: Blade swap for a multi-slot vCMP guest

When you swap out a blade that hosts a multi-slot vCMP® guest, the configuration objects for that guest
exist on the other blades, so they are automatically preserved through the swap process.
When a multi-slot guest sees a new blade active in the cluster, the vCMP system:
• allocates a new virtual disk for the multi-slot guest on the new blade
• deploys the guest
• joins the guest to the vCMP virtual cluster of the multi-slot guest
• copies the BIG-IP ® configuration that is active on the primary slot in the virtual cluster to the newly
joined guest member

Important: If the initial-image specified in the guest configuration on the vCMP host is no longer
physically available, then virtual disk creation on the newly inserted blade will fail because the
vCMP system will not find the ISO image file it needs to create the virtual disk.

About software image selection and updates

When you create a multi-slot vCMP® guest, you choose the ISO image to install for that guest. If you
subsequently perform a hot swap on one of the blades on which that guest resides, that initial ISO image is
used to recreate the guest.
A serious issue can arise if you have upgraded the BIG-IP ®software version in the interim between the
initial install and the hot swap, but you have not changed the ISO image to correspond with the upgraded
software.
To change the initial image for a guest, you need to edit that guest. To edit the guest you must first disable
it.

Important: You may choose to not change the ISO image in cases where the upgrade is temporary
(for example you might be trying out a specific software update to see if it addresses an issue, and
after evaluating that update, you may well choose to go back to the prior software version). As long
as the ISO image version of the other cluster members matches the version currently specified at
the time you perform the hot swap, the guest will re-create successfully.

Disabling a vCMP guest

When you disable a guest, the BIG-IP® system deallocates its resources (such as CPU cores, physical
memory, and virtual disks). Once disabled, you can edit the vCMP® guest, or you can migrate the guest to
another slot and its resources are available for consumption by another guest.

1. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Guest List.

2. In the Name column, find the name of the vCMP guest that you want to disable.
3. Select the check box to the left of the guest name.

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 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

4. Click Disable.
The BIG-IP system releases the resources dedicated to the guest.

Specifying the ISO image for a guest

The file that the vCMP® host reads to re-create the virtual disk for a guest must reside in the host's
/shared/images folder to be available as an Initial Image selection on the Guest List screen. If the file
is not present, it may well be on the vCMP guest's /shared/images folder. If this is the case, you must
copy that file to the proper folder on the host and wait for the host to validate it.
Before you start this task, you must have already disabled the vCMP guest so that you can edit its settings,
and the necessary ISO file must be in place on the vCMP host.
When performing a BIG-IP ®software upgrade, you have the option of changing the ISO image version to
match. Once you decide to keep that software version for processing traffic, you should change the ISO
image version so that the vCMP host can recreate the virtual disk for the vCMP guest if one of the blades
requires a hot swap.

1. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Guest List.

2. In the Name column, click the name of the vCMP guest that you want to modify.
3. From the Properties list, select Advanced.
4. From the Initial Image list, select the ISO image file for creating the guest's virtual disk that matches
the other guests in the cluster.
5. Click Update.

The ISO image needed to re-create the guest's virtual disk is now correctly set so that the impact of hot
swapping a blade will have only a temporary impact.

Hot swapping a VIPRION blade

You can hot swap a VIPRION® blade when you need to replace it. Steps for performing a hot swap are
platform dependent.

Refer to the appropriate platform guide for instructions on removing and replacing a blade on an active
VIPRION chassis.
Options Description
For VIPRION 2400 chassis Refer to "Removing a blade" and "Installing a blade" in the
Platform Guide: VIPRION 2400.
For VIPRION 4400 chassis Refer to "Removing a blade" and "Installing a blade" in the
Platform Guide: VIPRION 4400.

Once the new blade boots, the vCMP® host adds it to the cluster, and you can migrate guests to it.

55
Understanding vCMP Guests

About software image selection and live installation

When you initially create a vCMP® guest, you choose the ISO image to install for that guest. Then, when
you move the guest to the Provisioned state, the vCMP host installs that ISO image onto each of the
newly-created virtual disk images pertaining to that guest.

Important: The initial software image is used only when the system first creates the virtual disk
images. Subsequent software upgrades are done within the guest using the live installation process.

About vCMP guest states

A vCMP® guest is always in one of these states:
Configured
This is the initial (and default) state for newly-created guests. In this state, the guest is not running, and
no resources are allocated to the guest. The BIG-IP® system does not create virtual disks for a guest
until you set that guest to the Provisioned state. If you move a guest from another state to the Configured
state, the BIG-IP system does not delete the virtual disks previously attached to that guest. The guest's
virtual disks persist on the system. Other resources, however, such as CPU cores, are automatically
de-allocated. When the guest is in the Configured state, you cannot configure the BIG-IP modules that
are licensed to run within the guest; instead, you must first provision and deploy the guest, then you can
provision the BIG-IP modules within the guest.
Provisioned
When you move a vCMP guest to the Provisioned state, the system allocates resources (CPU, memory,
network interfaces, and disk space) to that guest. The system also creates virtual disks for the guest and
installs the selected ISO image on them. A guest does not run while in the Provisioned state.
Deployed
After provisioning a guest, you deploy it. When deploying a guest for the first time, the system installs
an instance of the guest host on the guest's virtual disk. For guests in this state, the BIG-IP system
attempts to start and maintain a VM on each slot for which the guest has resources allocated. If you
reconfigure the properties of a guest after its initial deployment, the system immediately propagates
some of those changes to all of that guest's VMs. The changes that the system immediately propagates
are: Host name, cluster IP Address (including network mask and management route), and the list of
allowed VLANs.
When you set up and deploy multiple guests at once, there is good reason to move each guest first to the
Provisioned state. This allows you to verify that the guest allocations are satisfactory before you commit
the guests to full deployment. This allows you to confirm that the virtual disk installations are successful
before deploying the guests. If there is a problem with one guest’s allocation or virtual disk installation,
you might need to rearrange the resource allocations for your guests. Keeping the guests in the Provisioned
state until you are confident in your allocations prevents you from having to shut down deployed guests to
make these changes.

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 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

About system resource allocation

The system resources that the BIG-IP® system allocates to each guest are: CPU cores, physical memory,
and virtual disk space. The system allocates resources to a guest when you set the state of the guest to
Provisioned.

About CPU cores allocation

For single-slot guests, when the system allocates CPU cores to a guest, the system determines the best slot
for the guest to run on. The system selects the slot with the most unallocated CPU cores. For all-slot guests,
the system allocates CPU cores from every available slot.
The number of CPU cores that the BIG-IP® system assigns to each guest depends on whether you configure
the guest to run on a single slot or on all available slots of the system:

Guest type CPU core allocation

Single slot The system allocates one or more CPU cores to the guest.
All slot The system allocates two CPU cores from each available slot. For example, if
three slots are available, the system allocates two CPU cores from each slot, totaling
six CPU cores for that guest. The maximum number of CPU cores that the system
can allocate to a guest is eight.

This illustration shows that the BIG-IP system has allocated two CPU cores to guest1, which is deployed
on slot 1. Note that guest0 has no CPU cores allocated to it because the guest has not yet been deployed.

Figure 2: BIG-IP system with CPU core allocations for guests

Note the following:

57
Understanding vCMP Guests

• You cannot directly configure CPU core allocation. CPU core allocation is always determined by whether
you configure a guest to be a single-slot or all-slot guest, and by the number of slots available.
• If an unavailable slot becomes available later, the system automatically re-allocates the CPU cores to
each all-slot guest and to any single-slot guests previously allocated to this slot.
• If rebooted for any reason, the BIG-IP system persists any single-slot guest to the same slot, thereby
retaining the same CPU core allocation for that guest. However, if you change a guest's state at any time
from Deployed to Configured, the BIG-IP system de-allocates the CPU cores for that guest.

About physical memory allocation

The BIG-IP® system allocates a portion of the total system memory to each guest.

About virtual disks allocation

A virtual disk is a portion of the total disk space on the BIG-IP® system that the system allocates to a vCMP®
guest. The system allocates one virtual disk to each slot on which the guest resides. Although each virtual
disk for a guest has a fixed, maximum size limit, the actual size of a virtual disk is the amount of space that
the guest actually uses on that slot.
The maximum size limit for a guest is 100GB, and the typical footprint of a new guest (when viewed from
the host) is around 5GB.
You cannot explicitly create virtual disks; instead, the BIG-IP system creates virtual disks whenever you
set the state of a guest to Provisioned and the guest does not already have an attached virtual disk.

About hardware processors allocation

On systems that include SSL and compression hardware processors, the vCMP® feature shares these hardware
resources among all guests on the system.

About slot assignment and persistence

You can configure a single vCMP® guest to run on either one slot or all slots of the system:
• If you configure a guest to run on a single slot only, the guest resides on one slot.
• If you configure the guest to run on all slots of the system, the guest spans all available slots. For example,
if you configure a guest to span all slots of the system, and the system contains three available slots,
then the guest spans three slots. If a fourth slot becomes available later, the guest then scales to span all
four slots, thereby increasing the processing power for that guest.

Important: For guests that you configure to run on a single slot, in the event of a reboot, the vcmp
daemon migrates the guest to the next available allocation location.

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 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

vCMP guest modification considerations

Before modifying a vCMP® guest, be aware of the following facts in regard to vCMP guest properties.

Property name Note

Host Name If the guest is in the Deployed state, the system immediately propagates the
modification to all of the guest's VMs.
Cluster IP Address The system immediately propagates the modification to all VMs of the
guest, if the guest is in the Deployed state.
Virtual Disk If you change this value from a specific file name to None, the BIG-IP®
system detaches that virtual disk file from the guest. In this case, the virtual
disk remains on the system as an unattached virtual disk. If you want to
delete the virtual disk, you must do this explicitly, using the Virtual Disk
List screen of the BIG-IP Configuration utility.

Note: Guests in the Provisioned or Deployed state do not allow

modification of this property. You can only modify the Virtual Disk
property by first changing the State property to Configured.

VLAN List The system immediately propagates the modification to all VMs of the
guest, if the guest is in the Deployed state.
State If you change this value from Deployed or Provisioned to Configured,
the BIG-IP system automatically de-allocates all resources except for the
guest's virtual disk.
Management Network Changing the value of the Network Mode property while the guest is in
the Deployed state, has consequences:
• Changing the mode from Bridged to Isolated causes the vCMP host to
remove all of the guest's management interfaces from its bridged
management network. This has the effect of immediately disconnecting
the guest's VMs from the physical management network.
• Changing the mode from Isolated to Bridged causes the vCMP host to
dynamically add the guest's management interfaces to the bridged
management network. This immediately connects all of the guest's VMs
to the physical management network.
Changing the Network Mode property while the guest is in the Configured
or Provisioned state has no immediate effect.

59
Understanding vCMP Guests

60
Chapter
8
Working with vCMP Virtual Disks
Topics:

• Overview: Managing virtual disks

• Detaching virtual disks from a vCMP guest
• Viewing virtual disks not attached to a vCMP
guest
• Attaching a detached virtual disk to a vCMP
guest
• Deleting a virtual disk from the BIG-IP
system
Working with vCMP Virtual Disks

Overview: Managing virtual disks

With vCMP® initial setup successfully completed to process application traffic, you will likely want to
manage the configuration of your vCMP virtual disks to optimize performance.

Detaching virtual disks from a vCMP guest

Before you can detach a virtual disk from a guest, you must change the Requested State property on the
guest to Configured.
You can detach a virtual disk from the guest, but retain the virtual disk on the BIG-IP® system so that you
can attach it to another guest later. To detach a virtual disk from a vCMP® guest, you modify the guest's
properties by setting the Virtual Disk property to None.

Attention: Unattached virtual disks consume disk space on the system. To prevent unattached
virtual disks from depleting available disk space, routinely monitor the number of unattached virtual
disks that exist on the system.

1. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Guest List.

2. In the Name column, click the name of the vCMP guest that you want to view.
3. From the Virtual Disk list, select the default value, None.
4. Click Update.

The vCMP guest no longer has any virtual disk attached to it.

Viewing virtual disks not attached to a vCMP guest

You can view virtual disks that are not attached to a vCMP® guest, so you can monitor virtual disks that
may be unused, but still consuming disk space.

1. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Virtual Disk List.

2. Locate the Virtual Disk List area of the screen.
3. To the right of the list of virtual disk names, note any disks that do not have any guest names associated
with them. These disks are unattached.

Attaching a detached virtual disk to a vCMP guest

Before you begin this task, ensure that:
• The guest to which you are attaching the virtual disk is in the Configured state.
• The virtual disk cannot currently be attached to another guest.

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 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

It is possible for a virtual disk to become detached from a vCMP™ guest. A disk that is no longer attached
to a guest is known as an unattached virtual disk.
You can attach an unattached virtual disk to another guest either when you create the guest or when you
modify the Virtual Disk property of a guest.

1. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Guest List.

2. In the Name column, click the name of the vCMP guest that you want to view.
3. From the Properties list, select Advanced.
4. From the Virtual Disk list, select a file name.
The guest uses the newly-selected virtual disk when being deployed.
5. Click Update.

Deleting a virtual disk from the BIG-IP system

Using the BIG-IP® Configuration utility, you can delete a virtual disk from the system. You do this by using
the Virtual Disk List screen.

Important: This is the only way to delete a virtual disk from the system. If you delete the associated
guest instead, the system retains the virtual disk for re-use by another guest later.

1. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Virtual Disk List.

2. Locate the Virtual Disk List area of the screen.
3. In the Name column, locate the name of the virtual disk that you want to delete.
4. To the left of the virtual disk name, select the check box.
5. Click Delete.
The system prompts you to confirm the delete action.
6. Click Delete.

63
Working with vCMP Virtual Disks

64
Chapter
9
Managing vCMP Statistics
Topics:

• Overview: Managing statistics

• Viewing virtual disk statistics
• Viewing vCMP guest statistics with the
BIG-IP Configuration utility
• Viewing disk usage statistics
Managing vCMP Statistics

Overview: Managing statistics

With vCMP® initial setup successfully completed to process application traffic, you will likely want to
analyze your vCMP statistics to better manage performance.

Viewing virtual disk statistics

Using the BIG-IP® Configuration utility, you can view information about the virtual disks that are currently
allocated to vCMP® guests:
• The virtual disk names
• The slot number corresponding to each virtual disk image
• The size in gigabytes of each virtual disk
• The name of the guest to which each virtual disk is currently allocated

1. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Virtual Disk List.

2. Locate the Virtual Disk List area of the screen.

The following table shows sample statistics for three separate virtual disks.

Virtual Disk Name Slot ID Operating System Status Disk use

GuestA.img 1 TMOS Ready 64.4G
GuestB.img 1 Unknown Unknown 64.4G
GuestC.img 1 TMOS Ready 64.4G

Viewing vCMP guest statistics with the BIG-IP Configuration utility

Using the BIG-IP® Configuration utility, you can list the names of, and information about, the vCMP®
guests that are currently on the system.

1. Log out of the guest.

2. On an external system, open a browser window and access the vCMP host, using the vCMP host's
management IP address.
3. Using your user credentials, log in to the BIG-IP Configuration utility.
4. On the Main tab, click vCMP.

The system displays a list of vCMP guest names, as well as this information:
• The state configured for the guest
• The slot numbers on which the guest is running or slated to run
• The guest's management IP address and netmask

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 vCMP® and VIPRION® Systems: Configuration

Viewing disk usage statistics

Using the BIG-IP® Configuration utility, you can view information about the vCMP® disk usage:
• Disk name
• The slot numbers corresponding to the disk name
• The number of virtual disks
• The total vCMP application volume size, in gigabytes
• The available vCMP application volume size, in gigabytes

1. On the Main tab, click vCMP > Virtual Disk List.

2. Locate the Disk Usage area of the screen.

The following table shows sample statistics.

Disk Slot ID Number of Virtual Total Volume Size Available Volume

Disks (GB) Size (GB)
HD1 2 1 84 14

67
Managing vCMP Statistics

68
 Index

Index
A connection mirroring
configuring 33
allocating connections
CPU cores 57 creating pools for 26
physical memory 58 preserving on failover 33
virtual disks 58 core allocation 44, 57
allocation CPU core allocation 44, 57
for vCMP application volume 21, 45 CPU cores
application volumes 16 and guest states 56
as resource 57
creating second traffic group 30
B
background concepts 13 D
base registration key, about 21
BIG-IP clusters Deployed state
defined 16 described 56
BIG-IP modules deployment worksheet 20
and guest states 56 device discovery
blade for device trust 33
hot swapping 53, 55 device groups
Bridged mode creating 34
described 48 devices
bridges and mirroring limit 33
and management interfaces 18 device trust
establishing 33
disk space
C and vCMP application volume 45
cluster definition 38 consuming 18
cluster IP address modifying 21
modifying 40 reserving 16, 17, 18
cluster IP addresses viewing 45
defined 16 disk usage 67
cluster management IP addresses DSC prerequisites 31
configuring 22 DSC worksheet 31
cluster member properties
described 39 E
viewing 39
cluster members Ethernet connection
enabling and disabling 40 sharing 48
cluster properties
described 38
viewing 38
F
cluster-related IP addresses failover IP addresses
described 40 specifying 34
clusters, See BIG-IP clusters floating IP addresses
See also virtual clusters configuring 22
CMP system 16 front-panel management port 48
config sync address
specifying 32
configuration synchronization G
syncing to group 34, 35
Configured state guest accessibility 18
described 56 guest configuration
moving and copying 18

69
Index

guest properties 59 M
viewing 49
guests MAC addresses 48
and management network 48 management gateways 48
and VLAN groups 18 management interfaces
configuring for LTM 20, 62, 66 bridging 48
configuring LTM on 26 wiring 18
creating 23 management IP address 38
defined 16, 48 management IP addresses
migrating, multi-slot 55 configuring 22
migrating, single-slot 50, 52, 53, 54 management network
modifying and deleting 49 and guests 48
number of 48 management ports 48
provisioning BIG-IP modules for 25 memory
setting to Deployed state 25 as resource 57
states of and CPU allocation 44 migration
upgrading 18 of virtual cluster members 18
guest states modes
described 56 of guests 48
listed 44 module instances
guest-to-external-network communication 48 running 48
guest-to-guest communication 48 multi-slot guests
guest-to-host TCP connections 48 migrating 54
guest-to-vCMP host communication 48
N
H
network, See management network
host, See vCMP host network failover
host properties 44 configuring 34
hosts network modes
managing 44 changing 48
hypervisor 44 described 48
hypervisors 16
P
I
persistence
initial vCMP configuration 26 and slot assignments 58
ISO images pools
and guest states 56 creating for HTTP traffic 26
selecting and installing 56 pre-deployment questions 20
selecting and updating 54 Provisioned state
Isolated mode and resource allocation 57
described 48 described 56
setting 54, 56
provisioning
L and resource allocation 18
license, activating for vCMP 21 provisioning sequence 17
license keys
renewing 18 R
licenses
activating 22 reserve space
licensing increasing 46
and guests 17 resource allocation
live install process 56 about 57
local trust domains and guest states 56
and device groups 34 resources
defined 33 allocating 17, 18
LTM configuration for guests 48
and vCMP host 18

70
 Index

S vcmpd daemon
defined 16
self IP addresses vCMP guests
creating 18, 25 See also guests
self IPs about 16
and VLANs 25 See also guests
single-slot guest vCMP host
and deployment sequence 50 accessing 22
and temporary migration 50 and LTM configuration 18
single-slot guests and slot assignments 58
migrating 50 and VLAN configuration 18
single slot migration defined 16
choosing destination 51 vCMP host properties
size described 44
of vCMP application volume 45 viewing 44
slot assignments vCMP host-to-guest TCP connections 48
and persistence 58 vCMP system
slots provisioning 16
and guest states 56 VIPRION
number of 44 defined 12
viewing properties for 44 VIPRION features
software upgrades 54, 56 described 12
states VIPRION system licenses 22
of guests 44 VIPRION systems
statistics provisioning 22
and disk usage 67 virtual clusters
viewing for guests 66 defined 16
viewing for virtual disks 66 virtual disk images 54, 56
Sync-Failover device groups virtual disks
creating 34 and disk space consumption 18
system provisioning 22 and guest states 56
system resource allocation, See resource allocation attaching 62
system resources defined 16
allocating 17 deleting 63
detaching and re-attaching 62
viewing unattached 62
T virtual disk space
TCP connections as resource 57
to vCMP host or guest 48 virtual disk statistics
TMOS hypervisors 16 viewing 66
traffic group virtual machines 16
creating a second 31 virtual management network
creating non-default 30 defined 16
trunks virtual resources
creating external 22 de-allocating 18
trust domains, See local trust domains virtual servers
creating for HTTP traffic 27
VLAN configuration
U and vCMP host 18
VLAN groups
upgrade process 54 and guests 18
VLANs
V and self IP addresses 25
creating external 23
vCMP VMs
creating temporary guest 51 defined 16
vCMP application volume disconnecting 48
and disk space 45 propagating changes to 56
and disk space allocation 21, 45 volumes, See vCMP application volume
creating and deleting 46

71
Index

X x509 certificates (continued)

for device trust 33
x509 certificates

72