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hongdi_li_16186's avatar
hongdi_li_16186
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Aug 20, 2014

Spawn BigIp LTM VE from customized AMI

Hi,

 

I am wondering if I can create ami from my BigIp LTM Virtual Edition instance on EC2 and spawn up new BigIP from the customized ami in the future? Every time I spawn up the Pay-as-you-go F5 BigIp VE instance, it requires some initial setup(e.g. change admin password). I want to create image from the well-configured F5 instance to save some repeating work.

 

I tried but the F5 instance spawned from my ami is in INOPERATIVE status. It keeps restarting MCPD.

 

Is the BigIp VE designed to work that way? Does it require extra settings?

 

Thanks, Hongdi

 

BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
cloud
security
TMOS
TMSH
virtualization

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  • Amit_Karnik_269's avatar
    Amit_Karnik_269
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    Oct 21, 2014
    Just curious if you solved this ? Have you tried taking a UCS backup and then restoring it after you launch ?
  • hongdi_li_16186's avatar
    hongdi_li_16186
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Oct 21, 2014
    I have a workaround by using the SingleConfigurationFile(SCF) to save my custom configs. Thanks.
  • hongdi_li_16186's avatar
    hongdi_li_16186
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Oct 21, 2014

    After talking to the AWS side, I got a partial answer to this issue. According to my contact from the AWS, the image from the marketplace should be similar to the custom baked image, both of which need to reach out to the F5 license server to activate the license during launch. However, my problem is that my BigIp VE is launched within VPC which has no internet access, and thus can't contact the F5 license servers.

     

    They expect this to work theoretically if the BigIp VE is launched in EC2-classic(internet accessible). However, it didn't work for my image and still shows issue as I mentioned in the question. I suspect that my BigIp image is from a VPC instance. And some of its state baked into the custom image confused the new instance launched from non-VPC environment.

     

    Unfortunately, I don't have the knowledge to trouble shoot the issue, and F5 refuse to run support case for AWS VE instance. Bummer!