The ZTP of BIG-IP VE on KVM workflow is used to perform the following:
1) Instantiate F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition (VE) on a KVM hypervisor.
2) License using either a BIG-IQ or Bring Your Own License (BYOL) key.
3) Integrate the workflow with an ITSM tool – ServiceNow for approvals and tracking.
4) Do basic provisioning on the new BIG-IP and add it to the AppViewX inventory.
5) Send email notifications regarding the implementation status and the new BIG-IP details.
To run the ZTP of BIG-IP VE on KVM workflow in your environment, ensure that the following pre-requisites are met:
1) Free AppViewX or AppViewX version 12.3.0 has been downloaded and installed.
1) Free AppViewX or AppViewX version 12.3.0 has been downloaded and installed.
2) The following devices have been added to the AppViewX inventory - KVM Hypervisor, BIG-IQ, DNS Name server, NTP server, SNMP server, LDAP server, Infoblox
3) A storage pool (/opt/vm/) is available in KVM within which the guest VMs will be created.
4) An image (.qcow2 format) of BIG-IP version 12.1 is available in the KVM home directory.
5) KVM has at least 2 bridges to the external network. One will be used for device management and the other for the VLAN connection.
6) The subnet of an additional interface is managed by the Infoblox IPAM.
7) The management interface given to the VM has a proper DHCP in order to assign an IP address that will be used to access it.
8) The following packages are available in KVM - nmap, routes, brctl, virsh
9) An ITSM device (ServiceNow) has been configured under the Change Management section of the AppViewX Settings module.
10) If the user prefers not to use BIG-IQ, then they have their own registration key.
11) The BIG-IQ has a registration key pool with free licenses activated in it.
12) The time zone of the BIG-IQ and the new BIG-IP VE must be maintained. A device will be added whenever the time difference between the new VE and the BIG-IQ is more than 300 seconds.
13) An SMTP server has been configured under System settings in order to receive email notifications.
The workflow has been tested and validated on the following software versions:
1) AppViewX – Free AppViewX and AVX 12.3.0
2) ServiceNow – Geneva, Eureka, Jakarta, and Istanbul
3) Infoblox – Version 7.2.X
3) Infoblox – Version 7.2.X
4) F5 (both LTM and DNS) – Version 10.x, 11.x, or 12.x