18/11/2021 20:47 Amazon Web Services: Solutions 101

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Amazon Web Services: Solutions 101¶

You can create BIG-IP VE configurations quickly, reliably, and without being an expert in cloud or
BIG-IP VE by using the AWS CloudFormation templates (CFTs) on https://github.com/F5Networks
(https://github.com/F5Networks).

Each CFT creates a pre-configured BIG-IP VE solution, saving you the time and effort involved in a
manual configuration.

CFTs can create solutions like these and many others:

Two BIG-IP VE instances with failover/high availability

A standard 3-NIC BIG-IP VE, with internal, external, and management VLANs

Additionally, each CFT can:

Introduce a BIG-IP VE into an existing environment (useful when you already have apps in the
cloud and want to add BIG-IPs), or
Create all new resources (useful when you want to test how a configuration works).

 Note

AWS CFTs that create new resources are in an experimental folder in GitHub and F5
does not support them. However, you’re welcome to play with them to see how things
work.

Working in GitHub¶

GitHub is a source control system where CFTs and related resources live.

To get started with AWS CFTs, visit https://github.com/F5Networks/f5-aws-cloudformation

(https://github.com/F5Networks/f5-aws-cloudformation). This is the landing page for the latest
release of AWS CFTs created by F5.

The CFTs that F5 supports are in a folder called supported.

The experimental folder contains CFTs that have not been as rigorously tested as the supported
CFTs, but that you can still use in test environments.

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The quickest, easiest way to deploy a CFT is to open the folder called supported and navigate until
you find the CFT you want.

Then view the associated README, scroll down, and click . The CFT opens in the
AWS Management Console.

To deploy the solution, follow the steps in the wizard.

 Important

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If you have never deployed an instance in AWS before, you must go to the AWS
Marketplace (https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace) and accept the software licensing
terms, or the deployment will fail.

When you search for BIG-IP and continue to subscribe, you will see a button that looks
like this:

Accept the terms before running a CFT.

How to copy a CFT¶

To create your own copy of the CFTs and avoid accidentally editing someone else’s CFT, do one of
the following:

Create a clone¶

To create a personal copy of the project and its CFTs, the easiest thing to do is click
in the top right.

You can then download a zip file, use Git from the command line or SSH, or if you have GitHub
Desktop installed, download and work with the files there.

For more information about installing Git, see this page (https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-
Started-Installing-Git).

To use Git from the command line, open a command window, navigate to the folder where you want
to put the content, and type git clone with the URL.

For example, git clone https://github.com/F5Networks/f5-aws-cloudformation.git

Create a fork¶

If you want a web-accessible location for your personal CFTs, create a fork of the F5 GitHub project.

To do this, click in the top right. You can edit files in your fork without affecting anyone
else’s work.

Best practices¶

How you work in GitHub is up to you, but here are some do’s and don’ts:

Do create a clone or fork of the project and mess with files there.

Don’t create a branch when you’re in the f5networks project. The developers at F5 use these
branches to manage their workflow.
Don’t use experimental templates in production environments. F5 does not support it.

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Do use supported templates, and edit only the custom configuration section detailed below.

How to edit a CFT¶

Each CFT contains the code required to deploy a specific BIG-IP VE solution.

If you want the CFT to perform addition configuration of the BIG-IP VE, you can. For example, you
can add tmsh commands to configure a virtual server to receive traffic for your application.

The following example shows how to customize a 3-NIC configuration.

1. In your personal copy of the project, click the supported folder and then standalone > 3nic. A list
of files appears.

2. Determine which template makes sense, based on the F5 license.

3. For this example, open your local copy of f5-existing-stack-hourly-3nic-bigip.template .

4. Now add custom content to configure BIG-IP VE. Find the section of the template that looks like
this:

"### START CUSTOM CONFIGURATION\n",

"### END CUSTOM CONFIGURATION"

This is the only section of the file that you can edit if you want F5 to support the CFT.

5. In this section, you can paste custom content. For example:

"### START CUSTOM CONFIGURATION\n",

"tmsh create ltm node demo_node fqdn { name testinstance.westus.cloudapp.azure.com
"tmsh create sys application service Test-Instance-HTTP template f5.http variables
"### END CUSTOM CONFIGURATION\n"

This code instantiates an HTTP iAPP, which sets up a VIP and an FQDN pool membership. When
the BIG-IP deployment is complete, the application is ready as well.

How to deploy a CFT¶

You can deploy a template a few different ways.

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AWS Management Console¶

To deploy the CFT, you can log in to the AWS Management Console and go to CloudFormation.
Ensure you are in the correct region, and then deploy your CFT.

For more information about how to use CFTs in AWS, see this AWS walkthrough
(http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/GettingStarted.Walkthrough.html).

Bash¶

If you’d prefer to use bash , most CFTs have a corresponding bash example.

For an example of a bash script, see this file (https://github.com/F5Networks/f5-aws-

cloudformation/blob/master/supported/standalone/3nic/deploy_via_bash.sh).

Save the .sh file and then in bash , run the corresponding command, called Example Command at
the top of the file.

The command looks like this snippet:

# Example Command: ./deploy_via_bash.sh --stackName <value> --licenseType Hourly --s

View release details¶

By default, the main GitHub page shows the latest release of the CFTs. Every six weeks or so, F5
releases a new version.

F5 recommends you use the latest release whenever possible.

The file called aws-bigip-version-matrix.md (https://github.com/F5Networks/f5-aws-

cloudformation/blob/master/aws-bigip-version-matrix.md) shows a list of releases, for example:

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The most recent release is the default when you go to https://github.com/F5Networks/f5-aws-

cloudformation (https://github.com/F5Networks/f5-aws-cloudformation).

To choose an older release, select a branch tag. For example:

What is an AMI ID?¶

When you’re working with CFTs, it’s good to know about AMI IDs. An AMI is an Amazon Machine
Image.

Every BIG-IP VE image in the AWS Marketplace has an image identifier, or AMI ID.

When you view any F5 offering in the Marketplace, you can continue past the first page, and view
AMI IDs on the Manual Launch tab:

The CFTs include lists of AMI IDs. These IDs determine which image AWS uses when it creates the
BIG-IP VE instance.

Get help¶

To ask questions of the F5 dev team and other community members, join the F5 Slack channel
(https://f5cloudsolutions.herokuapp.com).
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