I finally found some time to Deploy and Configure an F5 Load Balancer in my VMware Workstation LAB. The below steps will walk you through setting up an Active/Standby pair HA configuration for BIG-IP F5 LTM 12.1.4-0.0.8.
To get a trial of BIG-IP, just register on their site, download the software and the keys will be e-mailed to you:
https://www.f5.com/trials
If you are planning to set up version 13 or 14 of BIG-IP make sure you read this post.
There are different ways to deploy the F5 but the last two places I worked in had it deployed as an active/standby configuration so I will try to mimic the same config here. Every datacenter that I have been to had multiple BIG-IP F5’s set up, I have been wanting to set this up in my lab for a while now.
The below guide will walk you through configuration of the primary and a second HA standby server. The set up is pretty simple once you go through the steps, the wizard takes care of everything but it helps if you have the networking planned ahead of time. In the below set up, my internal network is where all of my web sites are stored. The external network is where the clients will be reaching the site, so basically my external network points at the public web.
Virtual Network Editor
VMware Workstation > Edit > Virtual Network Editor
Here is what the Virtual Machine looks like
VMNet1 – Management
VMNet2 – HA
VMNet3 – Internal
VMNet0 – External
F5 HA (Primary)
1.0 Management - 192.168.16.111 (vmnet1)
1.1 HA - 192.168.88.51 (vmnet2)
1.2 Internal - 192.168.245.201 - Floating IP:192.168.245.203 (vmnet3) - Web servers behind Internal 192.168.245.20 & 30
1.3 External - 192.168.11.50 - Floating IP: 192.68.11.61 (vmnet0 bridged 192.168.11.0)F5 HA (Standby)
1.0 Management - 192.168.16.112 (vmnet1)
1.1 HA - 192.168.88.52 (vmnet2)
1.2 Internal - 192.168.245.202 - Floating IP: 192.168.245.203 (vmnet3) - Web servers behind Internal 192.168.245.20 & 30
1.3 External - 192.168.11.51 - Floating IP: 192.168.11.61 (vmnet0 bridged 192.168.11.0)Configuring the Primary
1. Log in with admin/default and type in config t to configure the management IP
2. Log into the GUI with the default username and password admin/admin
3. License the server or you will not be able to do much. I had to put mine on a network with internet access temporarily to activate it.
4. Start to configure networking
F5 HA (Primary)
1.0 Management - 192.168.16.111 (vmnet1)
1.1 HA - 192.168.88.51 (vmnet2)
1.2 Internal - 192.168.245.201 - Floating IP:192.168.245.203 (vmnet3) - Web servers behind Internal 192.168.245.20 & 30
1.3 External - 192.168.11.50 - Floating IP: 192.68.11.61 (vmnet0 bridged 192.168.11.0)This should be already set, this is your Management IP
Click Next to begin network set up
1.2 Internal – 192.168.245.201 – Floating IP:192.168.245.203 (vmnet3) – Web servers behind Internal 192.168.245.20 & 30
1.3 External – 192.168.11.50 – Floating IP: 192.68.11.61 (vmnet0 bridged 192.168.11.0)
1.1 HA – 192.168.88.51 (vmnet2)
5. NTP choose any IP, both the Primary (Standalone) and Standby HA servers will get their time from the Host machine running VMware Workstation so the time will be in sync.
6. ConfigSync configuration. Make sure both Primary and Seondary are using the same interface here. They will be syncing their configuraton across this network.
7. Choose Unicast for the Lab. For Primary Local Mirror choose the default, mine is HA network. Secondary mirror leave empty.
8. Click Finished
9. Set up of the primary is done
Configuring the Standby HA pair
- Do the exact same steps as above, configure another standalone server
F5 HA (Standby)
1.0 Management - 192.168.16.112 (vmnet1)
1.1 HA - 192.168.88.52 (vmnet2)
1.2 Internal - 192.168.245.202 - Floating IP: 192.168.245.203 (vmnet3) - Web servers behind Internal 192.168.245.20 & 30
1.3 External - 192.168.11.51 - Floating IP: 192.168.11.61 (vmnet0 bridged 192.168.11.0)2. Verify Management Network
3. 1.2 Internal – 192.168.245.202 – Floating IP: 192.168.245.203 (vmnet3) – Web servers behind Internal 192.168.245.20 & 30
4. 1.3 External – 192.168.11.51 – Floating IP: 192.168.11.61 (vmnet0 bridged 192.168.11.0)
5. 1.1 HA – 192.168.88.52 (vmnet2)
6. Set NTP then DNS etc
7. Config Sync Configuration, make sure it matches what was chosen on the primary ‘Internal’, then choose Unicast on next screen. Choose primary local mirror, leave secondary empty.
8. On Active/Standby pair section choose the first option to establish an HA configuration.
9. Choose Discover peer
10. Enter the primary details click retrieve device information
11. Click Finished
12. Do an initial sync, sync device to group
13. Device has synced succesfully
I shut down the Active server and the standby was prompted to Active so looks like its working. I will run more tests once I set up some sites for load balancing.
