Exercise 2.1: Using a combination of modules to delete configuration on the BIG-IP

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Table of Contents

• Objective
• Guide
• Playbook Output
• Solution
• Verifying the Solution

Objective

Demonstrate use of the different modules to delete the configuration (Nodes/Pool/Virtual Server) on the BIG-IP.

Guide

Step 1:

Using your text editor of choice create a new file called bigip-delete-configuration.yml.

[student1@ansible ~]$ nano bigip-delete-configuration.yml

vim and nano are available on the control node, as well as Visual Studio and Atom via RDP

Step 2:

Enter the following play definition into bigip-delete-configuration.yml:

---
- name: BIG-IP TEARDOWN
  hosts: lb
  connection: local
  gather_facts: false

• The --- at the top of the file indicates that this is a YAML file.
• The hosts: f5, indicates the play is run only on the F5 BIG-IP device
• connection: local tells the Playbook to run locally (rather than SSHing to itself)
• gather_facts: false disables facts gathering. We are not using any fact variables for this playbook.

Step 3

Add a tasks section with a set_fact for setting the provider values

  tasks:
    - name: Setup provider
      set_fact:
        provider:
          server: "{{private_ip}}"
          user: "{{ansible_user}}"
          password: "{{ansible_password}}"
          server_port: 8443
          validate_certs: false

Step 4

Next, add the first task using the bigip_virtual_server. This task will be identical to Exercise 1.5 - Adding a virtual server with an additional state parameter. The state: absent will remove the configuration from the F5 BIG-IP load balancer.

    - name: DELETE VIRTUAL SERVER
      f5networks.f5_modules.bigip_virtual_server:
        provider: "{{provider}}"
        name: "vip"
        state: absent

• state: absent is a parameter that tells the module to delete the configuration

Step 5

Next, add the second task using the bigip_pool. This task will be identical to Exercise 1.3 - Adding a load balancing pool with an additional state parameter set to absent.

    - name: DELETE POOL
      f5networks.f5_modules.bigip_pool:
        provider: "{{provider}}"
        name: "http_pool"
        state: absent

Step 6

Finally, add the last task using the bigip_node. This task will be identical to Exercise 1.2 - Adding nodes to F5 BIG-IP with an additional state parameter set to absent.

    - name: DELETE NODES
      f5networks.f5_modules.bigip_node:
        provider: "{{provider}}"
        name: "{{hostvars[item].inventory_hostname}}"
        state: absent
      loop: "{{ groups['web'] }}"

Save File and exit out of editor.

Step 7

The playbook will delete the virtual server, then the pool and then the nodes configured in previous exercises.

Run the playbook - exit back into the command line of the control host and execute the following:

[student1@ansible ~]$ ansible-playbook bigip-delete-configuration.yml

Playbook Output

[student1@ansible]$ ansible-playbook bigip-delete-configuration.yml

PLAY [BIG-IP TEARDOWN] ********************************************************

TASK [Setup provider] *********************************************************
ok: [f5]

TASK [DELETE VIRTUAL SERVER] **************************************************
changed: [f5]

TASK [DELETE POOL] ************************************************************
changed: [f5]

TASK [DELETE NODES] ***********************************************************
changed: [f5] => (item=node1)
changed: [f5] => (item=node2)

PLAY RECAP ********************************************************************
f5                         : ok=4    changed=3    unreachable=0    failed=0

Solution

The finished Ansible Playbook is provided here for an Answer key. Click here: bigip-delete-configuration.yml.

Verifying the Solution

Login to the F5 with your web browser to see what was configured. Grab the IP information for the F5 load balancer from the lab_inventory/hosts file, and type it in like so: https://X.X.X.X:8443/

Login information for the BIG-IP:

• username: admin
• password: provided by instructor defaults to ansible

Navigate the menu on the left and view that the configuration has been deleted

• Local Traffic Manager -> Virtual Server
• Local Traffic Manager -> Pool
• Local Traffic Manager -> Node

You have finished this exercise.

Click here to return to the lab guide