Install F5 LTM on VMware Workstation:

Let’s do deployment of the F5 LTM VE appliance. The file downloaded from the F5 website is an
OVA, a special file format for virtual machines. Import this file on VMware and follow a step-by-
step wizard for the deployment. I have a VMware workstation 15.x on Windows 10 64-bit.
To open the wizard, use File > Open, and then select the OVA file.

Accept End User License Agreement just click tick I accept the terms of the license agreement.

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As first thing, it will ask you how to name your virtual machine and where to save it. Type a
name for your virtual machine whatever you like specify a storage location and click Next
button.

Sizing the VM, not all load balancers are equals. Depending on what you need to do, you can
assign to your load balancer a different number of resources. For a lab, as we are doing, you
can select the least amount of RAM and CPU needed.

The VM File will start Importing. This process will take some time, so have patience.

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Edit network settings, finish the import and then right-click on the VM and select “Edit
Settings”. Network Adapter 2 will use for internal traffic, and this is why creating a LAN
segment. This LAN segment is a virtual network that only VMware virtual machines on your PC
will see. You won’t be able to access it directly. To create a new segment, as we did, click on
LAN Segments, click Add and write a name. This new name will appear in the drop-down for all
virtual machines. Once you finish editing, simply click OK.
F5 Interface Adapter Name Configuration
Management Network Adapter Bridged.
1.1 Network Adapter 2 Connected to a dedicated LAN segment.
1.2 Network Adapter 3 NAT.
1.3 Network Adapter 4 Any configuration is okay

Our F5 virtual machine is ready to start, and we are ready to configure it. To launch your F5
virtual machine, select Power on this virtual machine from VMware. Then, a window with the
screen of the virtual machine will appear, and within a minute you will see this.
Here you can select if you want to boot BIG-IP, or the maintenance utility. Of course, we want
to boot F5 LTM, so you should select the first option. In case you don’t do that, the option
selected will launch in about 10 seconds. This means that, if you do not touch the VM during
the boot, it will always launch in F5 BIG-IP mode.

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At this point, you will see the machine loading in terminal mode, and after a few minutes you
will be prompted with a login.

F5 BIG-IP has two default users. Here you need to access with the CLI user, which is root. The
default password is simply default.

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Enter the F5 console and configure the basic settings of the device. The first thing we need to
do is give our management interface an IP address. This way, we can access our F5 appliance
from a web interface and continue the setup. To do that, simply use the config command in the
CLI. This will open a quick wizard.

Here, all you need to do is select OK with Enter. In case “OK” is not highlighted, hit tab until it is.
After that, you will see the IP address configuration of the management interface, or VMware
NIC “Network Adapter”. If this NIC is in a network with a DHCP server, F5 will get the
configuration from the DHCP server and will ask you to confirm. Since for this lab we are using a
bridged adapter for this interface. If you aren’t, you will have to enter it manually.

If you don’t like the default configuration, select No and enter the configuration manually. Once
you are satisfied, select Yes. Note the IP address, we will use it to access the web interface.

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With a browser on your PC, navigate to the IP address of the management interface in HTTPS
(HTTP wont’ work). Ignore the certificate warning, and the F5 LTM login page will appear.

Here, credentials are different. In this case, the default user is admin, and the password is
admin as well. Once you complete the login, you will start with a configuration wizard. Here we
can configure all the settings to make our F5 device operational.

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