Setting Up F5 Management via CLI: Guide

Setting up F5 Management via CLI is a critical skill for network administrators looking to optimize their F5 BIG-IP systems. This guide will walk you through the necessary steps to configure the management interface using command-line tools, ensuring efficient administration and monitoring of your network infrastructure.

By mastering these configurations, you can enhance your operational capabilities. For those seeking to deepen their knowledge, F5 Networks training offers comprehensive resources and hands-on experience to excel in managing F5 technologies.

Tasks

Configure the Switch interfaces on the respective access VLANs as per the below table.

Configure IP address 10.10.0.254/24 on interface E0 (Management) and IP address 10.10.10.254/24 on E1 (External) of the workstation.

Configure IP address 10.10.0.245/24 and gateway IP 10.10.0.254 on management interface Mgmt on BIGIP-SYSTEM. Also, assign fully qualified hostname as BIGIP- SYSTEM.UNINETS.COM

F5 LTM Certification Training CourseJoin the F5 LTM training class and get knowledge on F5 LTM Technologies.Explore course

Licensing and provisioning the BIGIP-SYSTEM for both LTM and ASM modules.

Configure the network on BIGIP-SYSTEM as follows.

Configure Linux Servers with IP addresses 10.1.20.1/24 and 10.1.20.2/24 on WebServer01 and WebServer02 respectively.

Configuration and Verification

First configure the switch access ports as per given in the task. Take console access and configure the switch. Also save the configuration in the end.

Now you configure the IP address on E0 of the workstation which is connected to the switch on port Eth2/0. This is used for management connectivity. Login to the WorkStation (no username and password). When you get the window prompt accept the internet setting and public network. Click Close to continue.

If you go to the adaptor settings, there you see three network interfaces in use. E0 is used for management, E1 is used for external and E2 is used for internet.

Note: Internally Local Area Connection is mapped to E0, Local Area Connection 2 is mapped to E1, and Local Area Connection 5 is mapped to E2.

Assign IP address 10.10.0.254 and subnet 255.255.255.0 on interface E0

Assign IP address 10.10.10.254 and subnet 255.255.255.0 on interface E1

E2 is already obtaining an IP address from the Internet cloud via DHCP in the range 192.168.1.0/24 (DO NOT use this subnet in your network) and no need to change this setting.

Now open CMD and verify the configured IP addresses provided on workstation interfaces

Take the console of the BIGIP-SYSTEM device and login to it using the default username and password. The device may take up to 5 minutes to boot.

Username: root

Password: default

The default management IP address 192.168.1.245/24 and can be seen as

You can configure the management IP address either using CLI or GUI, here we are using configuration utility for changing the management IP address on BIGIP device.

It asks whether you want to use automatic configuration of the IP address, here you click on No

It first asks to change the IP address and Netmask, assign the IP address and Netmask as mentioned in the task

It is not mandatory to set the default gateway on the F5 device, however, it may sometimes be required when you install licenses directly through the internet on F5. In our case, we are providing the gateway just for the sack of having it but we will install licensing through a workstation that already has an internet connection.

By default, there is a gateway configured, you can change it as per your requirement.

Once you accept the setting for system management connectivity, you will automatically come out of that window. Here now you can verify the changed management IP

At this point, workstation interface E0 and mgmt interface of BIGIP-SYSTEM are in the same subnet and they are connected to switch interfaces Eth0/0 and Eth2/0 respectively. These switch ports are already assigned in the same management VLAN 10.

Go to the workstation and check the connectivity to the BIGIP-SYSTEM device.

Open putty available on a workstation and use BIGIP-SYSTEM IP address to take SSH access.

The first time it will ask to accept the SSH public key so click on yes

Use the default username and password for CLI to log in!

Username: root

Password: default

Go to the TMSH and configure its hostname, however you can also configure the hostname via GUI.

Now you already have reachability and SSH access to the BIGIP-SYSTEM, take the GUI access by using its management IP address 10.10.0.245 on chrome web browser. Use HTTPS for this purpose and accept and proceed with the self-signed certificate.

Click on Advance to accept the self-signed certificate25.

Once you click on proceed it will ask for a GUI username and password, use the default username and password (admin/admin)

In conclusion, successfully setting up F5 Management via CLI is essential for effective network administration and optimization of F5 BIG-IP systems. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can enhance your skills and ensure efficient management of your network infrastructure.

To further advance your expertise, consider enrolling in IT infrastructure courses that cover F5 technologies and best practices.