F5 Big-IP Networks plugin

9 minute readExtensibilityDeveloper productivity

F5 Big-IP Networks provides a load balancer that is a device that acts as a reverse proxy and distributes network or application traffic across a number of servers. Load balancers are used to increase capacity (concurrent users) and reliability of applications.

This plugin provides integration with F5 Big IP Loadbalancer through its Rest API.

Plugin version 3.1.2.2021022310

Revised on Feb 24, 2021

Document convention

In all plugin procedures, parameter description for mandatory/required parameters are shown in bold italics.

Plugin configurations

Plugin configurations are sets of parameters that apply across some or all of the plugin procedures. They reduce repetition of common values, create predefined parameter sets for end users, and securely store credentials where needed. Each configuration is given a unique name that is entered in designated parameters on procedures that use them.

Creating plugin configurations

To create plugin configurations in CloudBees CD, do these steps:

  • Go to Administration > Plugins to open the Plugin Manager.

  • Find the EC-BigIp-3.1.2.2021022310 row.

  • Click Configure to open the Configurations page.

  • Click Create Configuration.

Configuration Parameters

Parameter Description

Configuration Name

The name for the created configuration.

Description

Description for the configuration.

Protocol

Specifies whether to preceed hostname with https:// or leave http://

Host

Host name of the iControlREST API instance.

URL Path to API

URL Base Path to iControlREST (if any) that needs to be added to <protocol>://<host>:<port> in order to resolve the endpoint.

For example if the URL path to iControlREST is http://myhost:2000/f5 enter /f5 and if the URL path to iControlREST is http://myhost:2000 leave this field blank.

API server port

Server port for example 443

Type Of Authentication

Specifies how a particular consumer is authenticated to the system.

  • HTTP BASIC Authentication

  • Token Based Authentication

BigIp API Credentials

Enter credentials required to perform basic authentication.

Authentication Provider

The identifier of the internal or external authentication provider: local, tmos.

Depends on Token Based Authentication.

Check Connection?

If checked, the configuration will be saved only if the test request with given credentials succeeds.

Debug Level

This option sets debug level for logs. If info is selected, only summary information will be shown, for debug, there will be some debug information and for trace the whole requests and responses will be shown.

Configuration form

Plugin procedures

LTM - config sync

Synchronizes the local BIG-IP device to the device group

LTM - config sync parameters

Parameter Description

Configuration Name

Previously defined plugin configuration.

Device Group Name

Name of the Sync-Failover or Sync-Only device group

Result Property Sheet

Results will be saved into this property/property sheet

Form sample

LTM - create or update balancing pool

Create or update balancing pool configuration

LTM - create or update balancing pool parameters

Parameter Description

Configuration Name

Previously defined plugin configuration.

Update Action

This parameter controls the update of a balancing pool if one with the same name exists already:

  • Do Nothing (Default) — Take no action, return silently.

  • Remove and Create — Remove existing balancing pool and Create a new one.

  • Selective Update — Update existing balancing pool for only parameters which have changed.

  • Throw exception — Do not update. Throw an error.

Partition Name

Name of the partition.

Pool Name

Name of the balancing pool.

Optional Parameters

Semicolon separated list of values in the format parameter=value Available parameters:

  • description - User defined description.

  • allowNat - Specifies whether the pool can load balance NAT connections. The default value is yes.

  • allowSnat - Specifies whether the pool can load balance SNAT connections. The default value is yes.

  • appService - The application service to which the object belongs.

  • autoscaleGroupId - Autoscale-group ID to which pool members belong to.

  • gatewayFailsafeDevice - Specifies that the pool is a gateway failsafe pool in a redundant configuration. This string identifies the device that will failover when the monitor reports the pool member down. By default the device string is empty.

  • ignorePersistedWeight - Do not count the weight of persisted connections on pool members when making load balancing decisions.

  • ipTosToClient - Specifies the Type of Service (ToS) level to use when sending packets to a client. 65534 (mimic) specifies that the system sets the ToS level of outgoing packets to the same ToS level of the most-recently received incoming packet. The default value is 65535 (pass-through).

  • ipTosToServer - Specifies the Type of Service (ToS) level to use when sending packets to a server. 65534 (mimic) specifies that the system sets the ToS level of outgoing packets to the same ToS level of the most-recently received incoming packet. The default value is 65535 (pass-through).

  • linkQosToClient - Specifies the Quality of Service (QoS) level to use when sending packets to a client. The default value is 65535 (pass-through).

  • linkQosToServer - Specifies the Quality of Service (QoS) level to use when sending packets to a server. The default value is 65535 (pass-through).

  • loadBalancingMode - Specifies the modes that the system uses to load balance name resolution requests among the members of this pool. See "help pool" for a description of each loading balancing mode.

  • minActiveMembers - Specifies the minimum number of members that must be up for traffic to be confined to a priority group when using priority-based activation. The default value is 0 (zero). An active member is a member that is up (not marked down) and is handling fewer connections than its connection limit.

  • minUpMembers - Specifies the minimum number of pool members that must be up; otherwise, the system takes the action specified in the min-up-members-action option. Use this option for gateway pools in a redundant system where a unit number is applied to a pool. This indicates that the pool is only configured on the specified unit.

  • minUpMembersAction - Specifies the action to take if the min-up-members-checking is enabled and the number of active pool members falls below the number specified in min-up-members. The default value is failover.

  • minUpMembersChecking - Enables or disables the min-up-members feature. If you enable this feature, you must also specify a value for both the min-up-members and min-up-members-action options.

  • monitor - Specifies the health monitors that the system uses to determine whether it can use this pool for load balancing. The monitor marks the pool up or down based on whether the monitor(s) are successful. You can specify a single monitor, multiple monitors "http and https", or a "min" rule, "min 1 of \{ http https }". You may remove the monitor by specifying "none".

  • tmPartition - Displays the administrative partition within which the pool resides.

  • queueDepthLimit - Specifies the maximum number of connections that may simultaneously be queued to go to any member of this pool. The default is zero which indicates there is no limit.

  • queueOnConnectionLimit - Enable or disable queuing connections when pool member or node connection limits are reached. When queuing is not enabled, new connections are reset when connection limits are met.

  • queueTimeLimit - Specifies the maximum time, in milliseconds, a connection will remain enqueued. The default is zero which indicates there is no limit.

  • reselectTries - Specifies the number of times the system tries to contact a pool member after a passive failure. A passive failure consists of a server-connect failure or a failure to receive a data response within a user-specified interval. The default is 0 (zero), which indicates no reselect attempts.

  • serviceDownAction - Specifies the action to take if the service specified in the pool is marked down. The default value is none.

  • slowRampTime - Specifies, in seconds, the ramp time for the pool. This provides the ability to cause a pool member that has just been enabled, or marked up, to receive proportionally less traffic than other members in the pool. The proportion of traffic the member accepts is determined by how long the member has been up in comparison to the slow-ramp-time setting for the pool. For example, if the load-balancing-mode of a pool is round-robin, and it has a slow-ramp-time of 60 seconds, when a pool member has been up for only 30 seconds, the pool member receives approximately half the amount of new traffic as other pool members that have been up for more than 60 seconds. After the pool member has been up for 45 seconds, it receives approximately three quarters of the new traffic. The slow ramp time is particularly useful when used with the least-connections-member load balancing mode. The default value is 10.

  • trafficAccelerationStatus - Not described in the official documentation. Please consult: F5 Support

Result Property Sheet

Results will be saved into this property/property sheet.
Form Sample

LTM - get pool list

Get balancing pool list

LTM - get pool list parameters

Parameter Description

Configuration Name

Previously defined plugin configuration.

Result Property Sheet

Results will be saved into this property/property sheet.
Form Sample

LTM - get balancing pool

Get pool configuration

LTM - get balancing pool parameters

Parameter Description

Configuration Name

Previously defined plugin configuration.

Partition Name

Name of the partition.

Pool Name

Name of the balancing pool.

Result Property Sheet

Results will be saved into this property/property sheet.
Form Sample

LTM - delete balancing pool

Delete balancing pool configuration

LTM - delete balancing pool parameters

Parameter Description

Configuration Name

Previously defined plugin configuration.

Partition Name

Name of the partition.

Pool Name

Name of the balancing pool.

Result Property Sheet

Results will be saved into this property/property sheet.
Form Sample

Pool member operations

LTM - create or update pool member

Create the set of pool members that are associated with a load balancing pool

LTM - create or update pool member parameters

Parameter Description

Configuration Name

Previously defined plugin configuration.

Update Action

This parameter controls the update of a balancing pool member if one with the same name exists already:

  • Do Nothing (Default) — Take no action, return silently.

  • Remove and Create — Remove existing balancing pool member and Create a new one.

  • Selective Update — Update existing balancing pool member for only parameters which have changed.

  • Throw exception — Do not update. Throw an error.

Partition Name

Name of the partition.

Pool Name

Name of the balancing pool.

Member Name

A name for this member.

Optional Parameters

Semicolon separated list of values in the format parameter=value Available parameters:

  • description - User defined description.

  • address - IP address of a pool member if a node by the given name does not already exist.

  • appService - The application service to which the object belongs.

  • connectionLimit - Specifies the maximum number of concurrent connections allowed for a pool member. The default value is 0 (zero).

  • dynamicRatio - Specifies a range of numbers that you want the system to use in conjunction with the ratio load balancing method. The default value is 1.

  • ephemeral - Specifies if member is ephemeral.

  • inheritProfile - Specifies whether the pool member inherits the encapsulation profile from the parent pool. The default value is enabled. If you disable inheritance, no encapsulation takes place, unless you specify another encapsulation profile for the pool member using the profiles attribute.

  • logging - Specifies whether the pool member’s monitor(s) actions will be logged. Logs are stored in /var/log/monitors/.

  • monitor - Displays the health monitors that are configured to monitor the pool member, and the status of each monitor. The default value is default.

  • priorityGroup - Specifies the priority group within the pool for this pool member. The priority group number specifies that traffic is directed to that member before being directed to a member of a lower priority. The default value is 0.

  • rateLimit - Specifies the maximum number of connections per second allowed for a pool member.

  • ratio - Specifies the ratio weight that you want to assign to the pool member. The default value is 1.

  • session - Enables or disables the pool member for new sessions. The default value is user-enabled.

  • state - user-down forces the pool member offline, overriding monitors. user-up reverts the user-down. When user-up, this displays the monitor state.

  • trafficAccelerationStatus - Not described in the official documentation. Please consult: F5 Support

Result Property Sheet

Results will be saved into this property/property sheet.
Form Sample

LTM - change pool member status

Change pool member status

LTM - change pool member status parameters

Parameter Description

Configuration Name

Previously defined plugin configuration.

Partition Name

Name of the partition.

Pool Name

Name of the balancing pool.

Member Name

Name of the member.

Status

Desired status of the pool member:

  • Enabled (All traffic allowed)

  • Disabled (Only persistent or active connections allowed)

  • Forced Offline (Only active connections allowed)

Details:

Result Property Sheet

Results will be saved into this property/property sheet.
Form Sample

LTM - get member list

Get all pool members that make up a load balancing pool

LTM - get member list parameters

Parameter Description

Configuration Name

Previously defined plugin configuration.

Partition Name

Name of the partition.

Pool Name

Name of the balancing pool.

Result Property Sheet

Results will be saved into this property/property sheet.
Form Sample

LTM - get pool member

Get a specified pool member from a load balancing pool

LTM - get pool member parameters

Parameter Description

Configuration Name

Previously defined plugin configuration.

Partition Name

Name of the partition.

Pool Name

Name of the balancing pool.

Member Name

A name for this member.

Result Property Sheet

Results will be saved into this property/property sheet.
Form Sample

LTM - delete pool member

Delete a specified pool member from a load balancing pool

LTM - delete pool member parameters

Parameter Description

Configuration Name

Previously defined plugin configuration.

Partition Name

Name of the partition.

Pool Name

Name of the balancing pool.

Member Name

A name for this member.

Result Property Sheet

Results will be saved into this property/property sheet.
Form Sample

Release notes

EC-BigIp 3.1.2

Authentication token is renewed after the step is finished.

EC-BigIp 3.1.1

Improved error details in case of failure

EC-BigIp 3.1.0

Add checking connection while creating/editing a configuration

Add Token Based Authentication

EC-BigIp 3.0.1

Renaming to "CloudBees"

Remove excessive information from help

EC-BigIp 3.0.0

Procedure Interfaces in this version of the Plugin have been changed for Usability and Robustness. If a previous major version (i.e., version ⇐ 2.X) of this plugin exists in your environment, this version of the plugin will not promote, until you demote the previous major version. This approach is taken in order to provide you with an opportunity to understand refactoring impacts upon upgrade. Please make sure you understand the impact before upgrading to this version of the plugin. The following is the list of key changes made to this plugin.

  • New procedure LTM - Config sync.

  • New Field Update Action added to LTM - Create or update balancing pool to control update behavior.

  • New Field Update Action added to LTM - Create or update pool member to control update behavior.

  • Existing procedure LTM - Manage balancing pool removed.

  • Existing procedure LTM - Manage pool member removed.

EC-BigIp 2.0.2

  • The plugin icon has been updated.

EC-BigIp 2.0.1

  • Documentation cleanup.

EC-BigIp 2.0.0

  • Plugin revision.

EC-BigIp 1.0.2

  • Added new parameter 'Path to BigIp' for all procedures.

EC-BigIp 1.0.1

  • Fixed the step picker for procedure "Add Members to Pool"

EC-BigIp 1.0.0

  • 4.1 XML parameter panels ready.

  • 4.1 help page format ready.

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