Tmos Redundant Systems Config 11 2 0

BIG-IP® Redundant Systems Configuration
Guide
Version 11.2
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Legal Notices.....................................................................................................................................7
Acknowledgments............................................................................................................................9
Chapter 1: Introducing BIG-IP System Redundancy........................................13

What is BIG-IP system redundancy?.....................................................................................14
About new BIG-IP system configuration components............................................................14
About configuration synchronization......................................................................................15
Configuration overview for configuration synchronization...........................................15
About failover..........................................................................................................................16
Configuration overview for failover...............................................................................16
About redundancy setup........................................................................................................16
Serial and network failover.....................................................................................................17
Summary of troubleshooting tools..........................................................................................17
Chapter 2: Understanding Devices....................................................................19

What is a device?...................................................................................................................20
IP addresses for ConfigSync, Failover, and Mirroring............................................................20
Specifying an IP address for config sync.....................................................................21
Specifying IP addresses for failover.............................................................................21
Specifying IP addresses for connection mirroring.......................................................22
About device properties..........................................................................................................22
Device properties.........................................................................................................22
Viewing device properties............................................................................................23
Specifying values for device properties.......................................................................23
About device status................................................................................................................24
Viewing possible status types for a device..................................................................24
Viewing the status of a device.....................................................................................24
Chapter 3: Understanding Device Trust.............................................................25

What is device trust?..............................................................................................................26
Types of trust authority...........................................................................................................26
Device identity........................................................................................................................27
Device discovery in a local trust domain................................................................................27
Before you configure device trust...........................................................................................27
Adding a device to the local trust domain...............................................................................28
Managing trust authority for a device.....................................................................................28
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Table of Contents
Chapter 4: Understanding Folders.....................................................................31

What is a folder?....................................................................................................................32
Basic folder concepts.............................................................................................................32
About the root folder...............................................................................................................32
Chapter 5: Understanding Device Groups........................................................33

Types of device groups...........................................................................................................34
Before you configure a device group......................................................................................34
A note about folders and overlapping device groups..............................................................34
Working with Sync-Failover device groups.............................................................................35
Creating a Sync-Failover device group........................................................................35
Configuring failover settings on a device group...........................................................36
Sample Sync-Failover configuration............................................................................36
Working with Sync-Only device groups..................................................................................37
Creating a Sync-Only device group.............................................................................37
Enabling and disabling Automatic Sync.......................................................................38
Sample Sync-Only configuration.................................................................................38
More about device groups......................................................................................................39
Viewing a list of device group members......................................................................39
Adding a device to a device group...............................................................................39
Determining config sync status...................................................................................39
Manually synchronizing the BIG-IP configuration........................................................40
Chapter 6: Understanding Traffic Groups..........................................................41

About traffic groups................................................................................................................42
Default traffic groups on the system.......................................................................................42
About MAC masquerade addresses.......................................................................................43
Before you configure a traffic group.......................................................................................43
Creating a traffic group...........................................................................................................44
Viewing a list of traffic groups for a device.............................................................................44
Active and standby states.......................................................................................................45
Viewing the state of a traffic group..............................................................................45
Forcing a traffic group to a standby state....................................................................46
Failover objects and traffic group association.........................................................................46
Viewing failover objects for a traffic group...................................................................47
Default, current, and next active devices................................................................................47
About auto-failback.................................................................................................................48
Managing auto-failback................................................................................................48
Traffic group properties...........................................................................................................48
4
Table of Contents
Chapter 7: Working with Folders........................................................................51

Folder attributes for redundancy.............................................................................................52
Viewing redundancy attributes for the root folder...................................................................52
Configuring the traffic group attribute for the root folder.........................................................53
Configuring redundancy attributes for a specific folder..........................................................53
Chapter 8: Understanding Fast Failover............................................................55

What is fast failover?..............................................................................................................56
HA score calculation...............................................................................................................56
Configuring an HA group........................................................................................................58
5
Table of Contents
6
Legal Notices
Publication Date
This document was published on May 7, 2012.
Publication Number
MAN-0375-02
Copyright
Copyright © 2012, F5 Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.
F5 Networks, Inc. (F5) believes the information it furnishes to be accurate and reliable. However, F5 assumes
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Legal Notices
can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual,
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8
Acknowledgments
This product includes software developed by Bill Paul.

This product includes software developed by Jonathan Stone.
This product includes software developed by Manuel Bouyer.
This product includes software developed by Paul Richards.
This product includes software developed by the NetBSD Foundation, Inc. and its contributors.
This product includes software developed by the Politecnico di Torino, and its contributors.
This product includes software developed by the Swedish Institute of Computer Science and its contributors.
This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors.
This product includes software developed by the Computer Systems Engineering Group at the Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory.
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This product includes software developed for the NetBSD Project by Jason R. Thorpe.
This product includes software developed by Jason R. Thorpe for And Communications, http://www.and.com.
This product includes software developed for the NetBSD Project by Frank Van der Linden.
This product includes software developed for the NetBSD Project by John M. Vinopal.
This product includes software developed by Christos Zoulas.
This product includes software developed by the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College and
Garrett A. Wollman.
This product includes software developed by Balazs Scheidler (bazsi@balabit.hu), which is protected under
the GNU Public License.
Acknowledgments
This product includes software developed by Niels Mueller (nisse@lysator.liu.se), which is protected under
the GNU Public License.
In the following statement, This software refers to the Mitsumi CD-ROM driver: This software was developed
by Holger Veit and Brian Moore for use with 386BSD and similar operating systems. Similar operating
systems includes mainly non-profit oriented systems for research and education, including but not restricted
to NetBSD, FreeBSD, Mach (by CMU).
This product includes software developed by the Apache Group for use in the Apache HTTP server project
(http://www.apache.org/).
This product includes software licensed from Richard H. Porter under the GNU Library General Public
License (© 1998, Red Hat Software), www.gnu.org/copyleft/lgpl.html.
This product includes the standard version of Perl software licensed under the Perl Artistic License (© 1997,
1998 Tom Christiansen and Nathan Torkington). All rights reserved. You may find the most current standard
version of Perl at http://www.perl.com.
This product includes software developed by Jared Minch.
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(http://www.openssl.org/).
This product includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young (eay@cryptsoft.com).
This product contains software based on oprofile, which is protected under the GNU Public License.
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This product includes Hypersonic SQL.
This product contains software developed by the Regents of the University of California, Sun Microsystems,
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10
BIG-IP® Redundant Systems Configuration Guide
4. Neither the name of the University nor of the Laboratory may be used to endorse or promote products
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11
Acknowledgments
12
Chapter
1
Introducing BIG-IP System Redundancy
Topics:
• What is BIG-IP system redundancy?

• About new BIG-IP system configuration
components
• About configuration synchronization
• About failover
• About redundancy setup
• Serial and network failover
• Summary of troubleshooting tools
What is BIG-IP system redundancy?

The Traffic Management Operation System® (TMOS®) within the BIG-IP® system includes an underlying
architecture that makes it possible for you to create a redundant system configuration, known as device
service clustering (DSC), for multiple BIG-IP devices on a network. This redundant system architecture
provides both synchronization of BIG-IP configuration data and high availability at user-defined levels of
granularity. More specifically, you can configure a BIG-IP device on a network to:
• Synchronize some or all of its configuration data among any number of BIG-IP devices on a network
• Fail over to one of many available devices
• Mirror connections to a peer device to prevent interruption in service during failover
If you have two BIG-IP devices only, you can create either an active/standby or an active-active configuration.
With more than two devices, you can create a configuration in which multiple devices are active and can
fail over to one of many, if necessary.
By setting up a redundant system configuration, you ensure that BIG-IP configuration objects are
synchronized and can fail over at useful levels of granularity to appropriate BIG-IP devices on the network.
You also ensure that failover from one device to another, when enabled, occurs seamlessly, with minimal
interruption in application delivery.
About new BIG-IP system configuration components

BIG-IP® redundant system configuration is based on a few key components.
Devices
A device is a physical or virtual BIG-IP system, as well as a member of a local trust domain and a device
group. Each device member has a set of unique identification properties that the BIG-IP® system generates.
Device groups
A device group is a collection of BIG-IP® devices that trust each other and can synchronize, and sometimes
fail over, their BIG-IP configuration data.
Important: To configure redundancy on a device, you do not need to explicitly specify that you
want the BIG-IP device to be part of a redundant configuration. Instead, this occurs automatically
when you add the device to an existing device group.
You can create two types of devices groups:
Sync-Failover A Sync-Failover device group contains devices that synchronize configuration

data and support traffic groups for failover purposes when a device becomes
unavailable.
Sync-Only A Sync-Only device group contains devices that synchronize configuration data,
such as policy data, but do not synchronize failover objects.
A BIG-IP device can be a member of only one Sync-Failover group. However, a device can be a member
of both a Sync-Failover device group and a Sync-Only device group.
14
To minimize issues with config sync, failover, or mirroring, F5 Networks recommends as a best practice
that devices in a device group match as closely as possible with respect to hardware platform, product
licensing, and module provisioning. At a minimum, mirroring requires that the hardware platforms of the
mirrored devices match, and config sync between devices requires that the devices are running the same
version of BIG-IP system software.
Traffic groups
A traffic group is a collection of related configuration objects (such as a virtual IP address and a self IP
address) that run on a BIG-IP device and process a particular type of application traffic. When a BIG-IP
device becomes unavailable, a traffic group can float to another device in a device group to ensure that
application traffic continues to be processed with little to no interruption in service.
Device trust and trust domains

Underlying successful operation of device groups and traffic groups is a feature known as device trust.
Device trust establishes trust relationships between BIG-IP devices on the network, through mutual
certificate-based authentication. A trust domain is a collection of BIG-IP devices that trust one another and
can therefore synchronize and fail over their BIG-IP configuration data, as well as exchange status and
failover messages on a regular basis. A local trust domain is a trust domain that includes the local device,
that is, the device you are currently logged in to.
Folders and sub folders

Folders and sub-folders are containers for the configuration objects on a BIG-IP device. For every
administrative partition on the BIG-IP system, there is a high-level folder. At the highest level of the folder
hierarchy is a folder named root. The BIG-IP system uses folders to affect the level of granularity to which
it synchronizes configuration data to other devices in the device group. You can create sub-folders within
a high-level folder, using tmsh.
Note: In most cases, you can manage redundancy for all device group members remotely from one
specific member. However, there are cases when you must log in locally to a device group member
to perform a task. An example is when resetting device trust on a device.
About configuration synchronization

When you have more than one BIG-IP® device on the local area network, you can synchronize their BIG-IP
configuration data among devices in a device group. If you want to exclude certain devices from configuration
synchronization, you simply exclude them from membership in that particular device group.
You can synchronize some types of data on a global level across all BIG-IP devices, while synchronizing
other data in a more granular way, on an individual application level to a subset of devices. For example,
you can set up a large device group to synchronize resource and policy data (such as iRules® and profiles)
among all BIG-IP devices in a data center, while setting up a smaller device group for synchronizing
application-specific data (such as virtual IP addresses) between the specific devices that are delivering those
applications.
Configuration overview for configuration synchronization

To set up configuration synchronization, you perform these tasks:
15
• Add the local device as a member of the local trust domain.

• Specify on the local device the IP address that you want the system to use when synchronizing data.
• Add the local device as a member of a Sync-Only or Sync-Failover device group.
• Assign the device group to the folder that you want to synchronize (either the root folder or a sub-folder).
Note: When you are configuring a BIG-IP® system for the first time, the Setup utility automatically
performs some or all of these tasks, depending on the preferred configuration.
About failover
When you have more than one BIG-IP® device on the local area network, you can configure a device to fail
over a user-specified set of configuration objects (that is, a traffic group) to any of the devices in a device
group. This selective failover gives you granular control of configuration objects that you want to include
in failover operations.
Group-based failover means that multiple devices are available for the BIG-IP system to choose from to
assume traffic processing for an off-line device. Also, if you want to exclude certain devices from being
peers in failover operations, you simply exclude them from membership in that particular device group.
Configuration overview for failover

To set up failover, you perform these tasks:
• Add the local device as a member of the local trust domain.
• Specify on the local device the IP addresses that you want the system to use for configuration
synchronization, failover, and mirroring.
• Add the local device as a member of a Sync-Failover device group.
• If needed, create a custom traffic group.
• Assign the relevant traffic group to the folder that you want to fail over (either the root folder or a
sub-folder).
Note: When you are configuring a BIG-IP® system for the first time, the Setup utility automatically
performs some or all of these tasks, depending on the required configuration.
About redundancy setup

The way that you set up redundancy on a BIG-IP® device depends on the required configuration.
Required Method
configuration
Existing If you want to upgrade an active/standby pair to the latest version of the BIG-IP
active/standby pair system, the upgrade software performs all redundant system configuration tasks
for you, on each device, including establishing device trust between the two systems,
creating a device group with two members, and creating a default traffic group.
16
Required Method
configuration
New active/standby If you want to set up a new pair of BIG-IP devices as an active/standby pair, you
pair simply run the Setup utility wizard (on each device), available from the BIG-IP®
Configuration utility Welcome screen. Like the upgrade procedure, the Setup utility
performs all redundant system configuration tasks for you, but based on information
you provide. This includes establishing device trust between the two systems,
creating a device group with two members, and creating a default traffic group.
Existing If you have an existing active/standby pair and want to convert it to an active-active
active/standby pair pair, you can upgrade the active/standby pair to the latest version of the BIG-IP
converted to system, and then use the BIG-IP® Configuration utility Traffic Group screens to
active-active pair convert the pair to an active-active pair.
Multiple new BIG-IP If you want to set up multiple new BIG-IP devices in a redundant system
devices configuration, you can run the Setup utility wizard, and then use the BIG-IP®
Configuration utility Platform, Device Management, and Traffic Group screens to
configure some advanced features.
Serial and network failover

When you create a device group, you can specify whether you want the BIG-IP® system to use a serial cable
or the network for failover operations.
Note: You can use serial failover only when the device group contains a maximum of two devices.
For a group with more than two devices, network failover is required. Also, if the hardware platform
is a VIPRION® platform, you must use network failover.
Summary of troubleshooting tools

The tmsh utility includes a set of debugging commands for troublehsooting Sync-Only and Sync-Failover
device group operations. For detailed reference material on tmsh commands, see the F5 Networks Technical
Support web site http://support.f5.com.
Table 1: Summary of troubleshooting tools for device groups
Debugging Tool Description

sniff-updates Displays the commit ID updates that occur over the CMI communications channel.
watch-devicegroup-device Displays information about the devices in the device group to which the local
device belongs.
watch-sys-device Displays information about the local device.
watch-trafficgroup-device Displays information about the traffic groups associated with devices in a device
group.
17
18
Chapter
2
Understanding Devices
Topics:
• What is a device?
• IP addresses for ConfigSync, Failover, and
Mirroring
• About device properties
• About device status
What is a device?
A device is a physical or virtual BIG-IP® system. Each device member has a set of unique identification
properties that the BIG-IP system generates. In addition to these properties, each BIG-IP device has
synchronization and failover connectivity information (IP addresses) that you define. Devices that are
members of the trust domain exchange their property and connectivity information through a process known
as device discovery.
Note: To configure IP connectivity (that is, ConfigSync, Failover, and Mirroring IP addresses) on
a device, you must log in locally to that device.
IP addresses for ConfigSync, Failover, and Mirroring

Each trust domain member contains device connectivity information, that is, the IP addresses that you define
on a device for configuration synchronization (ConfigSync), failover, and connection mirroring.
Note: You specify a ConfigSync address, as well as failover and mirroring addresses, for the local
device only. You do not need to specify the addresses of peer devices because devices in a device
group exchange their addresses automatically during device discovery.
ConfigSync IP address
This is the IP address that you want the BIG-IP® system to use when synchronizing configuration objects
to the local device.
By default, the system uses the self IP address of VLAN internal. This is the recommended IP address
to use for ConfigSync. You can, however, use a different self IP address for ConfigSync.
Important: A self IP address is the only type of BIG-IP system address that encrypts the data during
synchronization. For this reason, you cannot use a management IP address for ConfigSync.
Failover IP addresses
These are the IP addresses that you want the BIG-IP system to use when another device in the device group
fails over to the local device. You can specify two types of addresses: unicast and multicast.
For appliance platforms, specifying two unicast addresses should suffice. For VIPRION® platforms, you
should also retain the default multicast address that the BIG-IP system provides.
The recommended unicast addresses for failover are:
• The self IP address that you configured for either VLAN HA or VLAN internal. If you created VLAN
HA when you initially ran the Setup utility on the local device, F5 recommends that you use the self IP
address for that VLAN. Otherwise, use the self IP address for VLAN internal.
• The IP address for the local management port.
20
Mirroring IP addresses
These are the IP addresses that you want the BIG-IP system to use for connection mirroring. You specify
both a primary addresses, as well as a secondary address for the system to use if the primary address is
unavailable. If you configured VLAN HA, the system uses the associated self IP address as the default
address for mirroring. If you did not configure VLAN HA, the system uses the self IP address of VLAN
internal.
Note: On a VIPRION® system, you can mirror connections between blades within the cluster
(intra-cluster mirroring) or between the clusters in a redundant system configuration (inter-cluster
mirroring).
Specifying an IP address for config sync

Before configuring the config sync address, verify that all devices in the device group are running the same
version of BIG-IP® system software.
This task identifies the IP address that devices in the device group will use to synchronize their configuration
objects. Use the BIG-IP Configuration utility to set up config sync.
Important: You must perform this task on each device in the device group.
1. Confirm that you are logged in to the actual device you want to configure.
2. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Devices.
This displays a list of device objects discovered by the local device.
3. In the Name column, click the name of the device to which you are currently logged in.
4. From the Device Connectivity menu, choose ConfigSync.
5. For the Local Address setting, retain the displayed IP address or select another address from the list.
F5 Networks recommends that you use the default value, which is the self IP address for VLAN
internal. This address must be a non-floating self IP address and not a management IP address.
6. Click Update.
Specifying IP addresses for failover

This task specifies the local IP addresses that you want other devices in the device group to use for failover
communications with the local device. You must perform this task on each device in the device group.
Note: The failover addresses that you specify must belong to route domain 0.
4. From the Device Connectivity menu, choose Failover.
5. For the Failover Unicast Configuration settings, retain the displayed IP addresses.
You can also click Add to specify additional IP addresses that the system can use for failover
communications. F5 Networks recommends that you use the self IP address assigned to the HA VLAN.
21
6. If the BIG-IP® system is running on a VIPRION® platform, then for the Use Failover Multicast Address
setting, select the Enabled check box.
7. If you enable Use Failover Multicast Address, either accept the default Address and Port values, or
specify values appropriate for the device.
If you revise the default Address and Port values, but then decide to revert back to the default values,
click Reset Defaults.
8. Click Update.
After you perform this task, other devices in the device group can send failover messages to the local device
using the specified IP addresses.
Specifying IP addresses for connection mirroring

Before configuring mirroring addresses, verify that the mirroring peers have the same hardware platform.
This task configures connection mirroring between two devices to ensure that in-process connections are
not dropped when failover occurs. You can mirror connections between a maximum of two devices in a
device group.
Important: You must perform this task on each device in the device group.
4. From the Device Connectivity menu, choose Mirroring.
5. For the Primary Local Mirror Address setting, retain the displayed IP address or select another address
from the list.
The recommended IP address is the self IP address for either VLAN HA or VLAN internal.
6. For the Secondary Local Mirror Address setting, retain the default value of None, or select an address
from the list.
This setting is optional. The system uses the selected IP address in the event that the primary mirroring
address becomes unavailable.
7. Click Update.
About device properties
Device properties
The following table lists and describes the properties of a device.
Property Description
Device name The name of the device, such as siterequest.
Host name The host name of the device, such as www.siterequest.com
Device address The IP address for the management port.
22
Serial number The serial number of the device.
Platform MAC address The MAC address for the management port.
Description A user-created description of the device.
Location The location of the device, such as Seattle, Bldg. 1
Contact The name of the person responsible for this device.
Comment Any user-specified remarks about the device.
Status The status of the device, such as Device is active
Time zone The time zone in which the device resides.
Platform ID An identification for the platform.
Platform name The platform name, such as BIG-IP 8900.
Software version The BIG-IP version number, such as BIG-IP 11.0.0.
Active modules The complete list of active modules, that is, the modules for which the device is
licensed.
Viewing device properties

On each member of the local trust domain, the BIG-IP ®system generates a set of information. This
information consists of properties such as the device name, serial number, and management IP address. By
default, every BIG-IP device in the local trust domain has a set of device properties. You can use the BIG-IP
Configuration utility to view these properties.

2. In the Name column, click the name of the device for which you want to view properties.
This displays a table of properties for the device.
Specifying values for device properties

Using the BIG-IP® Configuration utility, you can specify values for a few of the properties for a device.
The device properties that you can specify are a description, a location, contact information, and a comment
about the device. All of these property values are optional.

2. In the Name column, click the name of the device for which you want to view properties.
This displays a table of properties for the device.
3. In the Description field, type a description of the device.
4. In the Location field, type a location for the device.
5. In the Contact field, type contact information for the device.
6. In the Comment field, type a comment about the device.
7. Click Update.
23
About device status

A BIG-IP® device can have any status shown in the following table.
Table 2: Device status
Status Description
Active A minimum of one floating traffic group is currently active on the device. This status applies
to Sync-Failover device groups only.
Forced An administrator has intentionally made the device unavailable for processing traffic.
offline
Offline The device is unavailable for processing traffic.
Standby The device is available for processing traffic, but all traffic groups on the device are in a
standby state. This status applies to Sync-Failover device groups only.
Unknown The status of the device is unknown.
Viewing possible status types for a device

You can view a list of possible status types for a device.

2. In the status column, click Status.
This displays a list of all possible status types for a device.
Viewing the status of a device

Use this procedure to view the status of a device in a device group.

2. In the Name column, locate the name of the device for which you want to view status.
3. In the Status column, view the status of the device.
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Chapter
3
Understanding Device Trust
Topics:
• What is device trust?

• Types of trust authority
• Device identity
• Device discovery in a local trust domain
• Before you configure device trust
• Adding a device to the local trust domain
• Managing trust authority for a device
What is device trust?

Before any BIG-IP® devices on a local network can synchronize configuration data or fail over to one
another, they must establish a trust relationship known as device trust. Device trust between any two BIG-IP
devices on the network is based on mutual authentication through the signing and exchange of x509
certificates.
Devices on a local network that trust one another constitute a trust domain. A trust domain is a collection
of BIG-IP devices that trust one another and can therefore synchronize and possibly fail over their BIG-IP
configuration data, as well as exchange status and failover messages on a regular basis. A local trust domain
is a trust domain that includes the local device, that is, the device you are currently logged in to. You can
synchronize a device's configuration data with either all of the devices in the local trust domain or to a
subset of devices in the local trust domain.
Note: You can add devices to a local trust domain from a single device on the network. You can
also view the identities of all devices in the local trust domain from a single device in the domain.
However, to maintain or change the authority of each trust domain member, you must log in locally
to each device.
Types of trust authority

Within a local trust domain, in order to establish device trust, you designate each BIG-IP® device as either
a certificate signing authority or a subordinate non-authority. For each device, you also specify peer
authorities.
Certificate signing authorities

A certificate signing authority can sign x509 certificates for another BIG-IP device that is in the local trust
domain. For each authority device, you specify another device as a peer authority device that can also sign
certificates. In a standard redundant system configuration of two BIG-IP devices, both devices are typically
certificate signing authority devices.
Important: For security reasons, F5 Networks recommends you limit the number of authority
devices in a local trust domain to as few as possible.
Subordinate non-authorities
A subordinate non-authority device is a device for which a certificate signing authority device signs its
certificate. A subordinate device cannot sign a certificate for another device. Subordinate devices provide
an additional level of security because in the case where the security of an authority device in a trust domain
is compromised, the risk of compromise is minimized for any subordinate device. Designating devices as
subordinate devices is recommended for device groups with a large number of member devices, where the
risk of compromise is high.
26
Peer authorities
A peer authority is another device in the local trust domain that can sign certificates if the certificate signing
authority is not available. In a standard redundant system configuration of two BIG-IP devices, each device
is typically a peer authority for the other.
Device identity
The devices in a BIG-IP® device group use x509 certificates for mutual authentication. Each device in a
device group has an x509 certificate installed on it that the device uses to authenticate itself to the other
devices in the group.
Device identity is a set of information that uniquely identifies that device in the device group, for the purpose
of authentication. Device identity consists of the x509 certificate, plus this information:
• Device name
• Host name
• Platform serial number
• Platform MAC address
• Certificate name
• Subjects
• Expiration
• Certificate serial number
• Signature status
Tip: From the Device Trust: Identity screen in the BIG-IP Configuration utility, you can view the
x509 certificate installed on the local device.
Device discovery in a local trust domain

When a BIG-IP® device joins the local trust domain and establishes a trust relationship with peer devices,
the device and its peers exchange their device properties and device connectivity information. This exchange
of device properties and IP addresses is known as device discovery.
For example, if a device joins a trust domain that already contains three trust domain members, the device
exchanges device properties with the three other domain members. The device then has a total of four sets
of device properties defined on it: its own device properties, plus the device properties of each peer. In this
exchange, the device also learns the relevant device connectivity information for each of the other devices.
Before you configure device trust

Before you configure device trust, you should consider the following:
• Only version 11.x or later systems can join the local trust domain.
27
• You can manage device trust when logged in to a certificate signing authority only. You cannot manage
device trust when logged in to a subordinate non-authority device.
• If you reset trust authority on a certificate signing authority by retaining the authority of the device, you
must subsequently recreate the local trust domain and the device group.
• As a best practice, you should configure the config sync and mirroring addresses on a device before you
add that device to the trust domain.
Adding a device to the local trust domain

Verify that each BIG-IP® device that is to be part of a local trust domain has a device certificate installed
on it.
Follow these steps to log in to any BIG-IP® device on the network and add one or more devices to the local
system's local trust domain.
Note: Any BIG-IP devices that you intend to add to a device group at a later point must be members
of the same local trust domain.
1. On the Main tab, click Device Management/Device Trust, and then either Peer List or Subordinate
List.
2. In the Peer Authority Devices or the Subordinate Non-Authority Devices area of the screen, click Add.
3. Type an IP address, administrator user name, and administrator password for the remote BIG-IP® device.
This IP address can be either a management IP address or a self IP address.
4. Verify that the certificate of the remote device is correct.
5. Verify that the name of the remote device is correct.
6. Verify that the management IP address and name of the remote device are correct.
7. Click Retrieve Device Information.
The local device and the devices you specified in this procedure now have a trust relationship and are
therefore qualified to join a device group.
Managing trust authority for a device

You can use a Reset Device Trust wizard in the BIG-IP® Configuration utility to manage the certificate
authority of a BIG-IP device in a local trust domain. Specifically, you can:
• Retain the current authority (for certificate signing authorities only).
• Regenerate the self-signed certificate for a device.
• Import a user-defined certificate authority.
Caution: If you reset trust authority on a certificate signing authority by retaining the authority
of the device, you must subsequently recreate the local trust domain and the device group. If you
reset trust authority on a subordinate non-authority, the BIG system removes the non-authority
device from the local trust domain. You can then re-add the device as an authority or non-authority
device.
28
1. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Device Trust > Local Domain.
2. In the Trust Information area of the screen, click Reset Device Trust.
3. Choose a certificate signing authority option, and then click Update.
The system asks you to confirm your choice.
When you confirm your choice, the system changes the Authority Type.
29
30
Chapter
4
Understanding Folders
Topics:
• What is a folder?
• Basic folder concepts
• About the root folder
Understanding Folders
What is a folder?
At the most basic level, a folder is a container for BIG-IP® configuration objects on a BIG-IP device. A
folder can also contain sub-folders. All BIG-IP system objects reside in folders or sub-folders. Virtual
servers, pools, and self IP addresses are examples of objects that reside in folders or sub-folders on the
system.
You can use folders to set up full or granular synchronization and failover of BIG-IP configuration data in
a device group. You can synchronize and fail over all configuration data on a BIG-IP device, or you can
synchronize and fail over objects within a specific folder only.
Basic folder concepts

For every administrative partition on the BIG-IP® system, the BIG-IP system creates an equivalent folder
with the same name. In the context of the BIG-IP system, a folder is a container for BIG-IP system objects.
Folders resemble standard UNIX directories, in that the system includes a hierarchy of folders and includes
a root folder (represented by the / symbol) that is the parent for all other folders on the system.
You can create sub-folders within a high-level folder, using tmsh. For example, if you have a high-level
folder (partition) within the root folder named Customer1, you can use tmsh to create a sub-folder, such
as App_B, within Customer1. If you create a pool named my_pool within the sub-folder, the name of the
pool becomes /Customer1/App_B/my_pool.
About the root folder

At the highest-level, the BIG-IP® system includes a root folder. The root folder contains all BIG-IP
configuration objects on the system, by way of a hierarchical folder and sub-folder structure within it.
By default, the BIG-IP system assigns a Sync-Failover device group and a traffic group to the root folder.
All folders and sub-folders under the root folder inherit these default assignments.
32
Chapter
5
Understanding Device Groups
Topics:
• Types of device groups

• Before you configure a device group
• A note about folders and overlapping device
groups
• Working with Sync-Failover device groups
• Working with Sync-Only device groups
• More about device groups
Types of device groups

You can create two types of devices groups:
Sync-Failover A Sync-Failover device group contains devices that synchronize configuration data
and support traffic groups for failover purposes when a device becomes unavailable.
A maximum of eight devices is supported in a Sync-Failover device group.
Sync-Only A Sync-Only device group contains devices that synchronize configuration data, such
as policy data, but do not synchronize failover objects. A maximum of 32 devices is
supported in a Sync-Only device group.
A BIG-IP® device can be a member of only one Sync-Failover group. However, a device can be a member
of both a Sync-Failover device group and a Sync-Only device group.
Before you configure a device group

The following configuration restrictions apply to Sync-Failover device groups:
• A device can be a member of one Sync-Failover device group only.
• On each device in a Sync-Failover device group, the BIG-IP® system automatically assigns the device
group name to the root and /Common folders. This ensures that the system synchronizes any traffic
groups for that device to the correct devices in the local trust domain.
• The BIG-IP system creates all traffic-groups in the /Common folder, regardless of the partition to which
the system is currently set.
• If no Sync-Failover device group is defined on a device, then the system sets the device group value
that is assigned to the root and /Commonfolders to None.
• By default, on each device, the BIG-IP system assigns a Sync-Failover device group to any sub-folders
of the root or /Common folders that inherit the device group attribute.
A note about folders and overlapping device groups

Sometimes when one BIG-IP® object references another, one of the objects gets synchronized to a particular
device, but the other object does not. This can result in an invalid device group configuration.
For example, suppose you create two device groups that share some devices but not all. In the following
illustration, Device A is a member of both Device Group 1 and Device Group 2.
34
Figure 1: One device with membership in two device groups
Device Group 1 is associated with folder /Common, and Device Group 2 is associated with the
sub-folder /Common/my_app. This configuration causes Device A to synchronize all of the data in folder
/Common to Device B only, and not to Device C. The only data that Device A synchronizes to Device
C is the data in sub-folder my_app.
Now suppose that you created a pool in the my_app folder. When you created the pool members in that
sub-folder, the BIG-IP system automatically created the associated node addresses, putting them in folder
/Common. This results in an invalid configuration, because the node data in folder /Common does not get
synchronized to the device on which the nodes' pool members reside, Device C. When an object is not
synchronized to the device on which its referenced objects reside, an invalid configuration results.
Working with Sync-Failover device groups

One of the types of device groups that you can create is a Sync-Failover type of device group. A Sync-Failover
device group contains devices that synchronize configuration data and fail over to one another when a device
becomes unavailable. A maximum of eight devices is supported in a Sync-Failover device group.
A device in a trust domain can belong to one Sync-Failover device group only.
For devices in this type of device group, the BIG-IP® system uses both the device group and the traffic
group attributes of a folder to make decisions about which devices to target for synchronizing the contents
of the folder, and which objects to include in failover.
In the simplest configuration, you can use the BIG-IP Configuration utility to:
1. Create a Sync-Failover device group containing all of local BIG-IP devices.
2. Assign the device group to the root folder as the default device group.
3. Assign the default traffic group, traffic-group-1, to the root folder as the default traffic group.
The result is that all folders inherit the default device group and the default traffic group as their device
group and traffic group attribute values, causing all BIG-IP configuration data on a BIG-IP device to
be synchronized to all devices in that device group, and the objects in traffic-group-1 to fail over to
another member of the device group when a device becomes unavailable.
Creating a Sync-Failover device group

This task establishes failover capability between two or more BIG-IP devices. If the active device in a
Sync-Failover device group becomes unavailable, the configuration objects fail over to another member of
35
the device group and traffic processing is unaffected. You can perform this task on any authority device
within the local trust domain.
1. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Device Groups.

The Device Groups screen displays a list of existing device groups.
2. On the Device Group List screen, click Create.
3. Type a name for the device group, select the device group type Sync-Failover, and type a description
for the device group.
4. In the Configuration area of the screen, select a host name from the Available list for each BIG-IP device
that you want to include in the device group. Use the Move button to move the host name to the Selected
list.
The Available list shows any devices that are members of the device's local trust domain but not currently
members of a Sync-Failover device group. A device can be a member of one Sync-Failover group only.
5. For Network Failover, select the Enabled check box.
6. Click Finished.
You now have a Sync-Failover type of device group containing BIG-IP devices as members.
Configuring failover settings on a device group

You use this procedure to configure some failover settings for a specific device group.

2. In the Group Name column, click the name of a device group.
3. On the menu bar, click Failover.
4. In the Link Down Time on Failover field, use the default value of 0.0, or specify a new value.
This setting specifies the amount of time, in seconds, that interfaces for any VLANs on external devices
are down when a traffic group fails over and goes to the standby state. Specifying a value other than
0.0 for this setting causes other vendor switches to use the specified time to learn the MAC address of
the newly-active device.
5. Click Save Changes.
Sample Sync-Failover configuration

You can use a Sync-Failover device group in a variety of ways. This sample configuration shows two
separate Sync-Failover device groups in the local trust domain. Device group A is a standard active/standby
configuration. Only Bigip1 normally processes traffic for application A. This means that Bigip1 and
Bigip2 synchronize their configurations, and Bigip1 fails over to Bigip2 if Bigip1 becomes unavailable.
Bigip1 cannot fail over to Bigip3 or Bigip4 because those devices are in a separate device group.
Device group B is also a standard active/standby configuration, in which Bigip3 normally processes traffic
for application B. This means that Bigip3 and Bigip4 synchronize their configurations, and Bigip3 fails
over to Bigip4 if Bigip3 becomes unavailable. Bigip3 cannot fail over to Bigip1 or Bigip2 because
those devices are in a separate device group.
36
Figure 2: Example illustration of a Sync-Failover device group
Working with Sync-Only device groups

One of the types of device groups that you can create is a Sync-Only device group. A Sync-Only device
group contains devices that synchronize configuration data with one another, but their configuration data
does not fail over to other members of the device group. A maximum of 32 devices is supported in a
Sync-Only device group.
A device in a trust domain can be a member of more than one Sync-Only device group. A device can also
be a member of both a Sync-Failover group and a Sync-Only group.
A typical use of a Sync-Only device group is one in which you configure a device to synchronize the contents
of a specific folder to a different device group than to the device group to which the other folders are
synchronized.
Creating a Sync-Only device group

Follow these steps to create a Sync-Only type of device group. You can perform this task on any BIG-IP®
device within the local trust domain.

2. On the Device Group List screen, click Create.
3. Type a name for the device group, select the device group type Sync-Only, and type a description for
the device group.
37
4. Select an IP address and host name from the Available list for each BIG-IP device that you want to
include in the device group. Use the Move button to move the host name to the Includes list.
The list shows any devices that are members of the device's local trust domain.
5. For Automatic Sync, select the Enabled check box.
6. Click Finished.
You now have a Sync-Only type of device group containing BIG-IP devices as members.
Enabling and disabling Automatic Sync

For Sync-Only device groups, you can choose to either automatically or manually synchronize configuration
data in a device group.
Note: For Sync-Failover device groups, the BIG-IP® system supports manual synchronization only.
You can use the BIG-IP Configuration utility to enable or disable automatic synchronization. When enabled,
this feature causes any BIG-IP device in the device group to synchronize its configuration data to the other
members of the device group whenever that data changes.

2. In the Group Name column, click the name of the relevant device group.
3. On the menu bar, click ConfigSync.
4. For Automatic Sync, clear or select the Enabled check box.
5. Click Update.
Sample Sync-Only configuration

The most common reason to use a Sync-Only device group is to synchronize a specific folder containing
policy data that you want to share across all BIG-IP® devices in a local trust domain, while setting up a
Sync-Failover device group to fail over the remaining configuration objects to a subset of devices in the
domain. In this configuration, you are using a Sync-Only device group attribute on the policy folder to
override the inherited Sync-Failover device group attribute. Note that in this configuration, Bigip1 and
Bigip2 are members of both the Sync-Only and the Sync-Failover groups.
Figure 3: Sync-Only Device Group
38
To implement this configuration, follow this process.

1. Create a Sync-Only device group on the local device, adding all devices in the local trust domain as
members.
2. Create a Sync-Failover device group on the local device, adding a subset of devices as members.
3. On the folder containing the policy data, use tmsh to set the value of the device group attribute to
the name of the Sync-Only device group.
4. On the root folder, retain the default Sync-Failover device group assignment.
More about device groups
Viewing a list of device group members

You can list the members of a device group and view information about them, such as their management
IP addresses and host names.

The screen shows a list of the device group members.
Adding a device to a device group

You must ensure that the device you are adding is a member of the local trust domain.
Use this procedure to add a member to an existing device group.

3. In the Members area of the screen, select a host name from the Available list for each BIG-IP device
that you want to include in the device group. Use the Move button to move the host name to the Selected
list.
The Available list shows any devices that are members of the device's local trust domain but not currently
members of a Sync-Failover device group. If you are attempting to add a member to a Sync-Failover
group and you do not see the member name in the list, it is possible that the device is already a member
of another Sync-Failover device group. A device can be a member of one Sync-Failover group only.
4. Click Update.
Determining config sync status

You can use the BIG-IP® Configuration utility to view the ConfigSync status of a device group and each
of its members.

39
Manually synchronizing the BIG-IP configuration

You can manually synchronize the BIG-IP® configuration to or from other device group members. To
determine if a manual config sync is necessary, you can list the members of the device group and view the
synchronization status of each member.
Note: When synchronizing self IP addresses, the BIG-IP system synchronizes floating self IP
addresses only. Static self IP addresses are not synchronized. Also, for Sync-Only device groups,
you can configure automatic synchronization.

4. Determine which option to select for synchronization.
Option Description
Synchronize To Group Synchronizes the configuration data on the local device to all
device group members.
Synchronize From Group Synchronizes the configuration data on other device group
members to the local member.
Except for static self IP addresses, the entire set of BIG-IP configuration data is replicated on each device
in the device group.
40
Chapter
6
Understanding Traffic Groups
Topics:
• About traffic groups

• Default traffic groups on the system
• About MAC masquerade addresses
• Before you configure a traffic group
• Creating a traffic group
• Viewing a list of traffic groups for a device
• Active and standby states
• Failover objects and traffic group association
• Default, current, and next active devices
• About auto-failback
• Traffic group properties
About traffic groups

A traffic group is a collection of related configuration objects that run on a BIG-IP® device. Together, these
objects process a particular type of traffic on that device. When a BIG-IP device becomes unavailable, a
traffic group floats (that is, fails over) to another device in a device group to ensure that application traffic
continues to be processed with little to no interruption in service. In general, a traffic group ensures that
when a device becomes unavailable, all of the failover objects in the traffic group fail over to any one of
the devices in the device group, based on the number of active traffic groups on each device.
A traffic group is initially active on the device on which you create it, until the traffic group fails over to
another device. For example, if you initially create three traffic groups on Device A, these traffic groups
remain active on Device A until one or more traffic groups fail over to another device. If you want to balance
the traffic group load among all devices in the device group, you can intentionally cause a traffic group to
fail over to another device. You do this using the Force to Standby option of the Configuration utility.
Important: Although a specific traffic group can be active on only one device in a device group,
the traffic group actually resides and is in a standby state on all other device group members, due
to configuration synchronization.
Only certain types of configuration objects can belong to a traffic group. Examples of traffic group objects
are self IP addresses and virtual IP addresses.
An example of a set of objects in a traffic group is an iApps™ application service. If a device with this traffic
group is a member of a device group, and the device becomes unavailable, the traffic group floats to another
member of the device group, and that member becomes the device that processes the application traffic.
When a traffic group fails over to another device in the device group, the device that the system selects is
normally the device with the least number of active traffic groups. When you initially create the traffic
group on a device, however, you specify the device in the group that you prefer that traffic group to run on
in the event that the available devices have an equal number of active traffic groups (that is, no device has
fewer active traffic groups than another). Note that, in general, the system considers the most available
device in a device group to be the device that contains the fewest active traffic groups at any given time.
Note: A Sync-Failover device group can support a maximum of 15 traffic groups.
Default traffic groups on the system

When you initially run the Setup utility on a device or upgrade from a previous BIG-IP® version, the system
creates two default traffic groups:
• A default traffic group named traffic-group-1 initially contains the floating self IP addresses that
you configured for VLANs internal and external, as well as any iApps™ application services,
virtual IP addresses, NATs, or SNAT translation addresses that you have configured on the device.
• A default non-floating traffic group named traffic-group-local-only contains the static self IP
addresses that you configured for VLANs internal and external. Because the device is not a member
of device group, the traffic group never fails over to another device.
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About MAC masquerade addresses

A MAC masquerade address is a unique, floating Media Access Control (MAC) address that you create
and control. You can assign one MAC masquerade address to each traffic group on a BIG-IP device. By
assigning a MAC masquerade address to a traffic group, you indirectly associate that address with any
floating IP addresses (services) associated with that traffic group. With a MAC masquerade address per
traffic group, a single VLAN can potentially carry traffic and services for multiple traffic groups, with each
service having its own MAC masquerade address.
A primary purpose of a MAC masquerade address is to minimize ARP communications or dropped packets
as a result of a failover event. A MAC masquerade address ensures that any traffic destined for the relevant
traffic group reaches an available device after failover has occurred, because the MAC masquerade address
floats to the available device along with the traffic group. Without a MAC masquerade address, on failover
the sending host must relearn the MAC address for the newly-active device, either by sending an ARP
request for the IP address for the traffic or by relying on the gratuitous ARP from the newly-active device
to refresh its stale ARP entry.
The assignment of a MAC masquerade address to a traffic group is optional. Also, there is no requirement
for a MAC masquerade address to reside in the same MAC address space as that of the BIG-IP device.
Note: When you assign a MAC masquerade address to a traffic group, the BIG-IP system sends a
gratuitous ARP to notify other hosts on the network of the new address.
Before you configure a traffic group

The following configuration restrictions apply to traffic groups:
• On each device in a Sync-Failover device group, the BIG-IP® system automatically assigns the default
floating traffic group name to the root and /Common folders. This ensures that the system fails over
any traffic groups for that device to an available device in the device group.
• The BIG-IP system creates all traffic-groups in the /Common folder, regardless of the partition to which
the system is currently set.
• Any traffic group named other than traffic-group-local-only is a floating traffic group.
• You can set a traffic group on a folder to a floating traffic group only when the device group set on the
folder is a Sync-Failover type of device-group.
• If there is no Sync-Failover device group defined on the device, you can set a floating traffic group on
a folder that inherits its device group from root or /Common .
• Setting the traffic group on a failover object to traffic-group-local-only prevents the system
from synchronizing that object to other devices in the device group.
• You can set a floating traffic group on only those objects that reside in a folder with a device group of
type Sync-Failover.
• If no Sync-Failover device group exists, you can set floating traffic groups on objects in folders that
inherit their device group from the root or /Common folders.
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Creating a traffic group

If you intend to specify a MAC masquerade address when creating a traffic group, you must first create the
address, using an industry-standard method for creating a locally administered MAC address.
Perform this task when you want to create a traffic group for a BIG-IP® device. You can perform this task
on any BIG-IP device within the device group, and the task creates a traffic group on that device. To cause
the traffic group to run on another device in the device group, use the Force to Standby button. Forcing a
traffic group into a standby state on the local device causes the traffic group to become active on a remote
device.
Important: This procedure creates a traffic group but does not associate it with failover objects.
You associate a traffic group with specific failover objects when you create or modify each object.
For some objects, such as floating self IP addresses and iApps™ application services, you can use
the BIG-IP® Configuration utility. For other objects, you use tmsh.
1. On the Main tab, click Network > Traffic Groups.

2. On the Traffic Group List screen, click Create.
3. In the Name field, type a name for the new traffic group.
4. In the Description field, type a description for the new traffic group.
5. Select a default device (a remote device) for the new traffic group.
6. In the MAC Masquerade Address field, type a MAC masquerade address.
When you specify a MAC masquerade address, you reduce the risk of dropped connections when failover
occurs. This setting is optional.
7. Select or clear the check box for the Auto Failback option.
• Select causes the traffic group to be active on its default device whenever that device is as available,
or more available, than another device in the group.
• Clear causes the traffic group to remain active on its current device until failover occurs again.
8. If auto-failback is enabled, in the Auto Failback Timeout field, type the number of seconds after which
auto-failback expires.
9. Confirm that the displayed traffic group settings are correct.
10. Click Finished.
You now have a floating traffic group with a default device specified.
Viewing a list of traffic groups for a device

You can view a list of the traffic groups that you previously created on the device.

2. In the Name column, view the names of the traffic groups on the local device.
44
Active and standby states

During any config sync operation, each traffic group within a device group is synchronized to the other
device group members. Therefore, on each device, a particular traffic group is in either an active state or a
standby state. In an active state, a traffic group on a device processes application traffic. In a standby state,
a traffic group on a device is idle.
When a device with an active traffic group becomes unavailable, the active traffic group floats to another
device, choosing whichever device in the device group is most available at that moment. The term floats
means that on the target device, the traffic group switches from a standby state to an active state.
The following illustration shows a typical device group configuration with two devices and one traffic group
(named my_traffic_group). In this illustration, the traffic group is active on Device A and standby on
Device B.
Figure 4: Traffic group states before failover
If failover occurs, the traffic group floats to the other device. In the following illustration, Device A has
become unavailable, causing the traffic group to float to Device B and process traffic on that device. The
traffic group is now standby on Device A.
Figure 5: Traffic group states after failover
Viewing the state of a traffic group

You can use the BIG-IP® Configuration utility to view the current state of all traffic groups on the device.

2. In the Failover Status area of the screen, view the state of all traffic groups on the device.
45
Forcing a traffic group to a standby state

This task causes the selected traffic group on the local device to switch to a standby state. By forcing the
traffic group into a standby state, the traffic group becomes active on another device in the device group.
For device groups with more than two members, you can choose the specific device to which the traffic
group fails over. This task is optional.
1. Log in to the device on which the traffic group is currently active.

3. In the Name column, locate the name of the traffic group that you want to run on the peer device.
4. Select the check box to the left of the traffic group name.
If the check box is unavailable, the traffic group is not active on the device to which you are currently
logged in. Perform this task on the device on which the traffic group is active.
5. Click Force to Standby.
This displays target device options.
6. Choose one of these actions:
• If the device group has two members only, click Force to Standby. This displays the list of traffic
groups for the device group and causes the local device to appear in the Next Active Device column.
• If the device group has more than two members, then from the Target Device list, select a value
and click Force to Standby.
The selected traffic group is now active on another device in the device group.
Failover objects and traffic group association

The types of configuration objects that you can associate with a floating traffic group are:
• iApps™ application services
• Virtual IP addresses
• NATs
• SNAT translation addresses
• Self IP addresses
You can associate configuration objects with a traffic group in these ways:
• You can rely on the folders in which the objects reside to inherit the traffic group that you assign to the
root folder.
• You can create an iApp application service, assigning a traffic group to the application service in that
process.
• You can use tmsh to directly associate an object or a folder with a traffic group. Whenever you use
tmsh to create configuration objects such as self IP addresses, virtual IP addresses, and SNAT translation
addresses, the system automatically associates these objects with whichever traffic group you specify
on the command line when you create the object.
• You can use the BIG-IP® Configuration utility to directly associate a traffic group with a folder or
sub-folder.
• You can use the BIG-IP Configuration utility to directly associate a traffic group with self IP address
when you create or modify the self IP address.
46
Important: The association of a traffic group with a virtual IP address or a SNAT translation
address in the BIG-IP Configuration utility exists but is hidden. By default, floating objects that
you create with the BIG-IP Configuration utility are associated with traffic-group-1.
Non-floating objects are associated with traffic-group-local-only. You can change these
associations by using tmsh to modify the properties of those objects.
Viewing failover objects for a traffic group

You can use the BIG-IP® Configuration utility to view a list of all failover objects associated with a specific
traffic group. For each failover object, the list shows the name of the object, the type of object, and the
folder in which the object resides.

2. In the Name column, click the name of the traffic group for which you want to view the associated
objects.
This displays a list of all failover objects for the traffic group.
Default, current, and next active devices

Within a Sync-Failover type of device group, each BIG-IP® device has a specific designation with respect
to a traffic group. That is, a device in the device group can be a default device, as well as a current device
or a next active device.
Table 3: Default, current, and next active devices
Target device Description

Default Device A default device is a device that you specify on which a traffic group runs after failover.
A traffic group fails over to the default device in these cases:
• When you have enabled auto-failback for a traffic group.
• When all available devices in the group are equal with respect to the number of active
traffic groups. For example, suppose that during traffic group creation you designated
Device B to be the default device. If failover occurs and Device B and Device C
have the same number of active traffic groups, the traffic group will fail over to Device
B, the default device.
The default device designation is a user-modifiable property of a traffic group. You actively
specify a default device for a traffic group when you create the traffic group.
Current A current device is the device on which a traffic group is currently running. For example,
Device if Device A is currently processing traffic using the objects in Traffic-Group-1, then
Device A is the current device. If Device A becomes unavailable and Traffic-Group-1
fails over to Device C (currently the device with the fewest number of active traffic
groups), then Device C becomes the current device. The current device is system-selected,
and might or might not be the default device.
Next Active A next active device is the device currently designated to accept a traffic group if failover
Device of a traffic group should occur. For example, if traffic-group-1 is running on Device
A, and the designated device for future failover is currently Device C, then Device C
47
Target device Description

is the next active device. The next active device can be either system- or user-selected,
and might or might not be the default device.
About auto-failback
The failover feature includes an option known as auto-failback. When you enable auto-failback, a traffic
group that has failed over to another device fails back to its default device whenever that default device is
available to process the traffic. This occurs even when other devices in the group are more available than
the default device to process the traffic.
If auto-failback is not enabled for a traffic group and the traffic group fails over to another device, the traffic
group runs on the failover (now current) device until that device becomes unavailable. In that event, the
traffic group fails over to the most available device in the group. The traffic group only fails over to its
default device when the availability of the default device equals or exceeds the availability of another device
in the group.
Managing auto-failback
You can use the BIG-IP® Configuration utility to manage the auto-failback option for a traffic group.

2. In the Name column, click the name of the traffic group for which you want to view the associated
objects.
This displays a list of all failover objects for the traffic group.
3. In the General Properties and Failover Settings area of the screen, select or clear the Auto Failback
option.
• Select causes the traffic group to be active on its default device whenever that device is as available
or more available than another device in the group.
• Clear causes the traffic group to remain active on its current device until failover occurs again.
4. If auto-failback is enabled, in the Auto Failback Timeout field, type the number of seconds after which
auto-failback expires.
5. Click Update.
Traffic group properties

This table lists and describes the properties of a traffic group.
Name The name of the traffic group, such as Traffic-Group-1.
Partition / Path The name of the folder or sub-folder in which the traffic group resides.
Description A user-defined description of the traffic group.
48
Default Device The device with which a traffic group has some affinity when auto-failback is not
enabled.
Current Device The device on which a traffic group is currently running.
Next Active Device The device currently most available to accept a traffic group if failover of that traffic
group should occur.
MAC Masquerade A user-created MAC address that floats on failover, to minimize ARP
Address communications and dropped connections.
Auto Failback The condition where the traffic group tries to fail back to the default device whenever
possible.
Auto Failback The number of seconds before auto failback expires. This setting appear only when
Timeout you enable the Auto Failback setting.
Floating A designation that makes if possible for the traffic group to float to another device
in the device group when failover occurs.
49
50
Chapter
7
Working with Folders
Topics:
• Folder attributes for redundancy

• Viewing redundancy attributes for the root
folder
• Configuring the traffic group attribute for the
root folder
• Configuring redundancy attributes for a
specific folder
Folder attributes for redundancy

Folders have two specific redundancy attributes that enable granular synchronization and failover of BIG-IP®
system data within a device group. These two attributes are a device group name and a traffic group name.
Device group name

This attribute determines the scope of the synchronization, that is, the specific devices to which the system
synchronizes the contents of the associated folder. When you create a Sync-Failover device group on a
BIG-IP device, the system assigns that device group name as an attribute of folder root. Any other folders
that you subsequently create on a device group member then inherit that same device group name, by default.
The result is that when you enable config sync for the local device, the contents of the root folder and any
sub-folders are synchronized across the members of the specified device group.
If you want to synchronize a specific sub folder across only a subset of device group members, you can
create a second, smaller Sync-Only device group in which the local device is also a member, and then
change the sub folder's device group attribute to the new Sync-Only device group name. All objects within
that sub folder are then synchronized to the Sync-Only device group, while objects outside of that sub folder
are still synchronized to the members of the larger Sync-Failover device group.
Note: The device group assigned to a folder must contain the local BIG-IP device. Also, you cannot
remove the local BIG-IP device from the Sync-Failover device group assigned to a folder.
Traffic group name

This attribute determines the scope of a failover action, that is, the specific configuration objects that will
fail over if the device becomes unavailable. If you enabled failover on a device (as part of running the Setup
utility or upgrading from a previous BIG-IP version), the device contains the default traffic group named
traffic-group-1. The system assigns this traffic group name by default as an attribute of folder root.
Any other folders that you subsequently create on a device group member inherit that same traffic group
name, by default. The result is that when the local device is a member of a Sync-Failover device group, all
failover objects within the rootfolder and its hierarchy fail over based on the definition of the specified
traffic group.
You can assign a different traffic group to a specific sub folder. For example, you can create an iApps™
application in a sub folder and change the inherited traffic group value of traffic-group-1 to a traffic
group that you create, such as traffic-group-2. You can then manually cause traffic-group-2 to
fail over to another device so that the iApp application runs on a separate device from traffic-group-1.
Viewing redundancy attributes for the root folder

You can view the device group and traffic group attributes assigned to the root folder. All eligible
configuration objects in the root folder hierarchy synchronize to the named device group, and all failover
objects in the hierarchy fail over with the named traffic group.
Note: All folders and sub-folders in the root folder hierarchy inherit these attribute values, by
default.
52
1. On the Main tab, click System > Platform.

The Platform screen opens.
2. For the Redundant Device Configuration setting, view the device group and the traffic group attributes.
Configuring the traffic group attribute for the root folder

If you have two or more traffic groups defined on the BIG-IP® system, you can configure the traffic group
attribute assigned to the root folder. By default, this value is traffic-group-1.
Note: All folders and sub folders in the root folder hierarchy inherit this attribute value, by default.
1. On the Main tab, click System > Platform.

The Platform screen opens.
2. If the system includes two or more traffic groups, then for the Default traffic group setting, select a
traffic group from the list.
3. Click Update.
By default, all failover objects in the rootfolder hierarchy fail over with the named traffic group, when
failover occurs.
Configuring redundancy attributes for a specific folder

Because a high-level folder exists on the BIG-IP® system for each administrative partition, you can use a
partition to set up granular, folder-based synchronization and failover of BIG-IP configuration data in a
device group. For example, instead of synchronizing all configuration data in folder root to the same device
group, the BIG-IP system can synchronize objects within a specific folder, such as policy objects, to a
different device group. You do this by viewing the settings of the partition that corresponds to the specific
folder to which you want to assign a different device group.
1. On the Main tab, expand System and click Users.

The Users List screen opens.
2. On the menu bar, click Partition List.
3. In the Name column, click the partition name that corresponds to the relevant high-level folder.
4. For the Device Group setting, clear the check box labeled Inherit device group from root folder and
from the list, select the name of a device group.
5. For the Traffic Group setting, clear the check box labeled Inherit traffic group from root folder and
from the list, select the name of a traffic group.
6. Click Update.
The contents of the folder corresponding to the specified partition now will synchronize to the specified
device group and will fail over with the specified traffic group.
53
54
Chapter
8
Understanding Fast Failover
Topics:
• What is fast failover?

• HA score calculation
• Configuring an HA group
What is fast failover?

The BIG-IP® system includes a feature known as fast failover. Fast failover is a feature that is based on the
concept of an HA group. An HA group is a set of trunks, pools, or clusters (or any combination of these)
that you want the BIG-IP system to use to calculate an overall health score for a device in a redundant
system configuration. A health score is based on the number of members that are currently available for
any trunks, pools, and clusters in the HA group, combined with a weight that you assign to each trunk, pool,
and cluster. The device that has the best overall score at any given time becomes or remains the active
device.
Note: To use the fast failover feature, you must first create a redundant system configuration.
The fast failover feature is designed for a redundant configuration that contains a maximum of two devices
in a device group, with one active traffic group.
Note: Only VIPRION® systems can have a cluster as an object in an HA group. For all other
platforms, HA group members consist of pools and trunks only.
An HA group is typically configured to fail over based on trunk health in particular. Trunk configurations
are not synchronized between units, which means that the number of trunk members on the two units often
differs whenever a trunk loses or gains members. The HA group feature makes it possible for failover to
occur based on changes to trunk health instead of on system or VLAN failure.
Only one HA group can exist on the BIG-IP system. By default, the HA group feature is disabled.
To summarize, when you configure the HA group, the process of one BIG-IP device failing over to the
other based on HA scores is noticeably faster than if failover occurs due to a hardware or daemon failure.
HA score calculation
The BIG-IP® system calculates an HA score based on these criteria:
• The number of available members for each object (such as a trunk)
• The weight that you assign to each object in the HA group
• The threshold you specify for each object (optional)
• The active bonus value that you specify for the HA group
A weight value
A weight is a health value that you assign to each object in the HA group (that is, pool, trunk, and cluster).
The weight that you assign to each object must be in the range of 10 through 100.
The maximum overall score that the BIG-IP system can potentially calculate for a device is the sum of the
individual weights for the HA group objects, plus the active bonus value. There is no limit to the sum of
the object weights for the HA group as a whole.
56
A threshold value
For each object in an HA group, you can specify an optional setting known as a threshold. A threshold is
a value that specifies the number of object members that must be available to prevent failover. If the number
of available members is less than the threshold, the BIG-IP system assigns a score of 0 to the object, so that
the score of that object no longer contributes to the overall score of the device.
For example, if a trunk in the HA group has four members and you specify a threshold value of 3, and the
number of available trunk members falls to 2, then the trunk contributes a score of 0 to the total device
score.
If the number of available object members equals or exceeds the threshold value, or you do not specify a
threshold, the BIG-IP system calculates the score as described previously, by multiplying the percentage
of available object members by the weight for each object and then adding the scores to determine the
overall device score.
The threshold that you define for pools can be less than or equal to the number of members in the pool. For
clusters, the threshold can be less than or equal to the number of possible blades in the chassis, and for
trunks, the threshold can be less than or equal to the number of possible members in a trunk for that platform.
Tip: Do not configure the tmsh attribute min-up-members on any pool that you intend to include
in the HA group.
An active bonus value

An active bonus is an amount that the BIG-IP system automatically adds to the overall score of the device
running an active traffic group. An active bonus ensures that the device remains active when its score would
otherwise temporarily fall below the score of the device running the standby traffic group. The active bonus
that you configure can be in the range of 0 to 100.
A common reason to specify an active bonus is to prevent failover due to flapping, the condition where
failover occurs frequently as a trunk member switches between availability and unavailability. In this case,
you might want to prevent the HA scoring feature from triggering failover each time a trunk member is
lost. You might also want to prevent the HA scoring feature from triggering failover when you make minor
changes to the BIG-IP system configuration, such as adding or removing a trunk member.
Suppose that the HA group on each device contains a trunk with four members, and you assign a weight of
30 to each trunk. Without an active bonus defined, if the trunk on one device loses some number of members,
failover occurs because the overall calculated score for that device becomes lower than that of a peer device.
You can prevent this failover from occurring by specifying an active bonus value.
Although you specify an active bonus value on each device, the BIG-IP system uses the active bonus
specified on the active device only, to contribute to the score of the active device. The BIG-IP system never
uses the active bonus on the standby device to contribute to the score of the standby device.
Note: An exception to this behavior is when the active device score is 0. If the score of the active
device is 0, the system does not add the active bonus to the active device score.
To decide on an active bonus value, calculate the trunk score for some number of failed members (such as
one of four members), and then specify an active bonus that results in a trunk score that is greater than or
equal to the weight that you assigned to the trunk.
For example, if you assigned a weight of 30 to the trunk, and one of the four trunk members fails, the trunk
score becomes 23 (75% of 30), putting the device at risk for failover. However, if you specified an active
bonus of 7 or higher, failover would not actually occur, because a score of 7 or higher, when added to the
score of 23, is greater than or equal to 30.
57
Configuring an HA group
To configure the BIG-IP® system so that failover can occur based on an HA score, you must specify values
for the properties of an HA group. The system makes it possible for you to configure one HA group only;
you cannot create additional HA groups. Once you have configured HA group properties, the BIG-IP system
uses that configuration to calculate an overall HA score for each device in the redundant system configuration.
1. On the Main tab, click System > High Availability.

2. On the menu bar, click HA Group.
3. In the HA Group Properties area of the screen, in the HA Group Name field, type a name for the HA
group.
4. Verify that the Enable check box is selected.
5. In the Active Bonus field, specify an integer the represents the amount by which you want the system
to increase the overall score of the active device.
The purpose of the active bonus is to prevent failover when minor or frequent changes occur to the
configuration of a pool, trunk, or cluster.
6. For the Pools setting, in the Available box, click a pool name and use the Move button to move the pool
name to the Selected box.
This populates the table that appears along the bottom of the screen with information about the pool.
7. For the Trunks setting, in the Available box, click a trunk name and use the Move button to move the
trunk name to the Selected box.
This populates the table that appears along the bottom of the screen with information about the trunk.
8. For the Clusters setting (VIPRION® platforms only), in the Available box, click a cluster name and
use the Move button to move the cluster name to the Selected box.
9. In the table displayed along the bottom of the screen, for the Threshold setting, for each pool or trunk
in the HA group, optionally specify an integer for a threshold value.
10. For the Weight setting, for each pool or trunk in the HA group, specify an integer for the weight. The
allowed weight for an HA group object ranges from 10 through 100.
This value is required.
11. Click Create.
You now have an HA group that the BIG-IP system can use to calculate an HA score for failover.
58
Index
Index
A configuration synchronization
about 15
active/standby pair setup 16 automating 38
active-active pair overview of 15
conversion to 16 performing manually 40
active bonus values 56 preventing 43
active state scope of 52
defined 45 connection mirroring
administrative partitions about 20
and folders 53 configuring 22
ARP communications 43 connections
authentication preserving on failover 22
and device identity 27 current devices
and local trust domains 26 defined 47
authority
changing 26
authority devices
D
and device trust 27 default devices
auto-failback feature and failback 48
defined 48 defined 47
managing 48 default traffic groups
Automatic Sync described 42
enabling 37 device availability 48
auto synchronization defined 42
enabling and disabling 38 device discovery
availability defined 27
during failover 42 for device trust 28
device group assignments
B to /Common folder 34
to root folder 34
BIG-IP versions device group attribute
and device trust 27 described 52
viewing on root folder 52
device group members
C adding 39
certificate authority viewing 39
importing 28 device group membership 34
managing and retaining 28 device groups
certificates and root folder 32
for device trust 28 configuration restrictions for 34
certificate signing authorities creating 35, 37
described 26 defined 14
resetting trust on 28 types of 34
config sync, See configuration synchronization device group subset 52
config sync address device identity
specifying 21 defined 27
ConfigSync IP addresses 20 device objects
ConfigSync status defined 14
determining 39 device properties
config sync status about 20
viewing 39 configuring 23
configuration objects listed 22
and traffic group associations 46 viewing 23
59
Index
devices G
and mirroring limit 22
defined 20 granular failover
discovering 27 using folders for 53
excluding from config sync 15 granularity
running traffic groups on 47 of synchronization 15
selecting for failover 42, 47 granular synchronization
device service clustering using folders for 53
about 14 with folders 32
device status gratuitous ARPs 43
types of 24
device status types
viewing 24
H
device trust HA groups
about 26 configuring 58
adding domain members 28 defined 56
defined 14 purpose of 58
managing 27 HA scores
resetting 27 calculating 56, 58
purpose of 56
F health scores, See HA scores
failback
defined 48
I
failover iApps applications
and default traffic groups 42 and traffic group associations 46
and dropped packets 43 and traffic groups 42
and failback 48 information exchange 27
and HA scores 56, 58 interfaces
and traffic groups 42 and downtime 36
scope of 52 IP address connectivity 20
failover configuration IP addresses
overview of 16 for redundancy 20
failover devices
selecting 47
failover IP addresses L
about 20
specifying 21 local trust domain
failover objects and device group members 39
associating with traffic groups 44 and device groups 35, 37
viewing 47 defined 26, 28
failover settings joining 27
configuring 36
fast failover 56 M
floating IP addresses
and traffic groups 42 MAC masquerade addresses
floating traffic groups defined 43
and traffic group states 45 members, See device group members
folder attributes mirroring IP addresses 20
changing 53 multiple device setup 16
described 52
folder hierarchy 32
folder inheritance 35
N
folders network failover
and administrative partitions 32, 53 about 17
and traffic group associations 46 configuring 35
associating device groups with 34 next active devices
defined 14, 32 defined 47
Force to Standby option 44
60
Index
O Sync-Only device groups (continued)

example of 38
object referencing 34
T
P
threshold values 56
peer authorities traffic group attribute
described 26 described 52
policy data viewing on root folder 52
and Sync-Only groups 34 traffic group properties 48
policy-sharing 38 traffic groups
activating 44
and auto-failback feature 48
R and defaults 42
redundancy attributes and failover 42
configuring 53 and failover objects 44, 47
redundant system configuration and root folder 32
described 14 and Sync-Failover groups 34
root folder attributes assigning MAC masquerade addresses to 43
configuring 53 associating objects with 46
viewing 52 configuration restrictions for 43
root folder contents 32 defined 14, 42
forcing to standby state 44, 46
for remote devices 46
S inheriting 46
maximum number supported 42
self IP addresses viewing list of 44
and traffic group associations 46 traffic group states
self-signed certificates defined 45
regenerating 28 viewing 45
serial failover 17 troubleshooting tools 17
SNATs trust authority
and traffic group associations 46 managing and resetting 28
standby state trust domains, See local trust domain
defined 45 trust relationships
forcing to 46 between devices 26
static self IP addresses
and traffic groups 42
status, See ConfigSync status V
status types
for devices 24 VIPRION platforms
viewing 24 and network failover 17
subordinate non-authorities VIPRION system
described 26 mirroring connections on 20
resetting trust on 28 virtual IP addresses
Sync-Failover configuration and traffic group associations 46
example of 36 VLANs
Sync-Failover device groups and traffic groups 42
creating 35
described 34 W
Sync-Failover groups
about 35 weight values 56
synchronization
performing manually 40
Sync-Only device groups
X
and auto synchronization 38 x509 certificates
creating 37 and device identity 27
described 34 and device trust 26
61
Index
62

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BIG-IP® Redundant Systems Configuration

Chapter 1: Introducing BIG-IP System Redundancy........................................13

Chapter 2: Understanding Devices....................................................................19

Chapter 3: Understanding Device Trust.............................................................25

Chapter 4: Understanding Folders.....................................................................31

Chapter 5: Understanding Device Groups........................................................33

Chapter 6: Understanding Traffic Groups..........................................................41

Chapter 7: Working with Folders........................................................................51

Chapter 8: Understanding Fast Failover............................................................55

Export Regulation Notice

Canadian Regulatory Compliance

This product includes software developed by Bill Paul.

• What is BIG-IP system redundancy?

What is BIG-IP system redundancy?

About new BIG-IP system configuration components

You can create two types of devices groups:

Sync-Failover A Sync-Failover device group contains devices that synchronize configuration

Device trust and trust domains

Folders and sub folders

About configuration synchronization

Configuration overview for configuration synchronization

• Add the local device as a member of the local trust domain.

Configuration overview for failover

About redundancy setup

Serial and network failover

Summary of troubleshooting tools

Table 1: Summary of troubleshooting tools for device groups

Debugging Tool Description

IP addresses for ConfigSync, Failover, and Mirroring

Specifying an IP address for config sync

Specifying IP addresses for failover

Specifying IP addresses for connection mirroring

About device properties

Viewing device properties

1. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Devices.

Specifying values for device properties

1. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Devices.

About device status

Table 2: Device status

Viewing possible status types for a device

1. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Devices.

Viewing the status of a device

1. On the Main tab, click Device Management > Devices.

• What is device trust?

What is device trust?

Types of trust authority

Certificate signing authorities

Device discovery in a local trust domain

Before you configure device trust

Adding a device to the local trust domain

Managing trust authority for a device

Basic folder concepts

About the root folder

• Types of device groups

Types of device groups

Before you configure a device group

A note about folders and overlapping device groups

Figure 1: One device with membership in two device groups

Working with Sync-Failover device groups