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Demonstrate use of the BIG-IP irule module to add iRules to a BIG-IP and then attach the iRules to a virtual server.
Using your text editor of choice create a new file called bigip-irule.yml
.
[student1@ansible ~]$ nano bigip-irule.yml
vim
andnano
are available on the control node, as well as Visual Studio and Atom via RDP
Ansible playbooks are YAML files. YAML is a structured encoding format that is also extremely human readable (unlike it’s subset - the JSON format).
Enter the following play definition into bigip-irule.yml
:
---
- name: BIG-IP SETUP
hosts: lb
connection: local
gather_facts: false
---
at the top of the file indicates that this is a YAML file.hosts: f5
, indicates the play is run only on the F5 BIG-IP deviceconnection: local
tells the Playbook to run locally (rather than SSHing to itself)gather_facts: no
disables facts gathering. We are not using any fact variables for this playbook.Save and Exit out of editor.
Create two dummy irules with the names ‘irule1’ and ‘irule2’
[student1@ansible ~]$ nano irule1
when HTTP_REQUEST {
log local0. "Accessing iRule1"
}
Save the file
[student1@ansible ~]$ nano irule2
when HTTP_REQUEST {
log local0. "Accessing iRule2"
}
Save the file
Next, re-open bigip-irule.yml
and add the task
. This task will use the bigip-irule
to add irules to the BIG-IP.
vars:
irules: ['irule1', 'irule2']
tasks:
- name: ADD iRules
f5networks.f5_modules.bigip_irule:
provider:
server: "{{private_ip}}"
user: "{{ansible_user}}"
password: "{{ansible_password}}"
server_port: 8443
validate_certs: false
module: "ltm"
name: "{{item}}"
content: "{{lookup('file','{{item}}')}}"
with_items: "{{irules}}"
A play is a list of tasks. Tasks and modules have a 1:1 correlation. Ansible modules are reusable, standalone scripts that can be used by the Ansible API, or by the ansible or ansible-playbook programs. They return information to ansible by printing a JSON string to stdout before exiting.
A variable 'irules'
is a list defined with two irules => ‘irule1’ and irule2’name: ADD iRules
is a user defined description that will display in the terminal output.bigip_irule:
tells the task which module to use.server: ""
parameter tells the module to connect to the F5 BIG-IP IP address, which is stored as a variable private_ip
in inventoryprovider:
parameter is a group of connection details for the BIG-IP.user: ""
parameter tells the module the username to login to the F5 BIG-IP device withpassword: ""
parameter tells the module the password to login to the F5 BIG-IP device withserver_port: 8443
parameter tells the module the port to connect to the F5 BIG-IP device withmodule: ltm
paramters tells the module which BIG-IP module(ltm) the iRule is forname: ""
parameter tells the module to create an iRule with the name ‘irule1’ and ‘irule2’content: "')}}"
parameter tells the module what content to add to the iRule using the lookup pluginvalidate_certs: "no"
parameter tells the module to not validate SSL certificates. This is just used for demonstration purposes since this is a lab.loop:
tells the task to loop over the provided list. The list in this case is the list of iRules.Do not exit the file yet.
Next, append the task
to above playbook. This task will use the bigip_virtual_server
to add attach the iRules to a Virtual Server on the BIG-IP.
- name: ATTACH iRules TO VIRTUAL SERVER
f5networks.f5_modules.bigip_virtual_server:
provider:
server: "{{private_ip}}"
user: "{{ansible_user}}"
password: "{{ansible_password}}"
server_port: 8443
validate_certs: false
name: "vip"
irules: "{{irules}}"
irules: "
is a list of irules to be attached to the virtual server ‘irule1’ and ‘irule2’Details of BIG-IP virtual_Server module or reference Exercise 1.5
Save the file and exit out of editor.
Run the playbook - exit back into the command line of the control host and execute the following:
[student1@ansible ~]$ ansible-playbook bigip-irule.yml
[student1@ansible]$ ansible-playbook bigip-irule.yml
PLAY [BIG-IP SETUP] ***********************************************************
TASK [ADD iRules] *******************************************************************************
changed: [f5] => (item=irule1)
changed: [f5] => (item=irule2)
TASK [ATTACH iRules TO VIRTUAL SERVER] ****************************************
changed: [f5]
PLAY RECAP *******************************************************************************
f5 : ok=2 changed=2 unreachable=0 failed=0
The finished Ansible Playbook is provided here for an Answer key. Click here: bigip-irule.yml.
To see the configured iRules and Virtual Server, login to the F5 load balancer with your web browser.
Grab the IP information for the F5 load balancer from the
/home/studentX/networking_workshop/lab_inventory/hosts
file, and type it in like so: https://X.X.X.X:8443/
Login information for the BIG-IP:
The list of iRules can be found by navigating the menu on the left. Click on Local Traffic-> iRules -> iRules List.
To view the Virtual Server click on Local Traffic-> Virtual Servers, click on the Virtual Server then click on the ‘resoruces’ tab and view the iRules attached to the Virtual Server
You have finished this exercise. Click here to return to the lab guide