Operation

• The Big-IP can be configured to use either tmm or mgmt interfaces for remote authentication (LDAP, TACACS, RADIUS, etc.) traffic.
• Useful CLI commands F5
• F5 fix Guided Configuration Installation
• Flow Traffic TCP
• Flow iRule Diagram (Event order)
• Upgrade an Active-Standby Cluster
• Preserving client IP address in any TCP session
• Useful F5 Log Queries
• Clearing the LCD and the Alarm LED remotely
• APM: Variable Assign
• F5 LTM TMSH Base Config
• ASM Operation Manual
• F5 iControlREST
• F5 SNMP useful OIDs to monitor
• F5 Programming
• ASM Deployment
• F5 REST-API (iControlREST)
• F5 LTM Config Merge Procedure

The Big-IP can be configured to use either tmm or mgmt interfaces for remote authentication (LDAP, TACACS, RADIUS, etc.) traffic.

Problem

When you want configure remote authentication on a F5 BIG-IP system you need to decide where the traffic will be routed. You need to specify either tmm or the management interface for remote authentication traffic.

tmm or management interface leads to another source ip and path, this can be set with the right routing configuration.

F5 Architecture

Now the F5 BIG-IP has two network stacks, tmm and linux, the following picture explains the difference:

So, user processes can communicate over the tmm switch module or over the Mgmt Processor (linux kernel). The decision is made by setting route configuration.

Routing

BIG-IP routing tables

The BIG-IP routing table consists of a combination of routing subtables. A subtable for management routes, and a  subtable for TMM routes. Routes in the TMM subtable are defined with a lower metric than routes in the management subtable. As a result, if an equally specific route exists as both a TMM route and a management route, the system will prefer the TMM route. This also applies if the only defined management route is a default gateway, the system will prefer the TMM default gateway.

TMM switch routes are routes that the BIG-IP system uses to forward traffic through the TMM switch interfaces instead of through the management interface. Traffic sourced from a TMM (self IP) address will always use the most specific matching TMM route. Traffic sourced from a TMM address will never use a management route. When TMM is not running, the TMM addresses are not available, and all TMM routes are removed. As a result, when TMM is not running, all outbound administrative traffic uses the most specific matching management route.

The BIG-IP system maintains two kinds of routes:

Management routes

Management routes are routes that the BIG-IP system uses to forward traffic through the special management interface. The BIG-IP system stores management routes in the Linux (that is, kernel) routing table.

Management routing parameters

Viewing, deleting, and adding management IP addresses

• To view the management IP address, type the following command:

  tmsh list /sys management-ip

• To delete an existing management IP address, use the following command syntax, replacing <address> with the management IP address:

  tmsh delete /sys management-ip <address>

• To add a new management IP address, use the following command syntax, replacing <address> with the management IP address and <netmask> with the network mask:

  tmsh create /sys management-ip <address>/<netmask>

TMM routes

TMM routes are routes that the BIG-IP system uses to forward traffic through the Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) interfaces instead of through the management interface. The BIG-IP system stores TMM routes in both the TMM and kernel routing tables.

TMM routing parameters

• To view all routes on the system, type: tmsh show /net route
• To view all configured static routes on the system, type: tmsh list /net route
• To create a static route, use the following command syntax:

  create /net route <route destination/mask> <gw|pool|interface|blackhole> <IP address|pool name|VLAN/Tunnel name>

  
  Examples:

  To create a static route to the 10.10.22.0/24 network using gateway 30.30.30.158, you enter the following command:

  tmsh create /net route 10.10.22.0/24 gw 30.30.30.158

  To create a static route to a single destination host 10.10.99.111 using the gateway 30.99.99.254, you enter the following command:

  tmsh create /net route 10.10.99.111/32 gw 30.99.99.254

Links

Further information can you get on this excellent F5 documentation:

K13284: Overview of management interface routing

Useful CLI commands F5

CLI commands

tmsh on F5 is the CLI tool to get and set all config of the F5. You can get the same configuration options like in the F5 UI.

Use "tmsh" to start an interactive shell or use "tmsh show ..." directly to get an output of the command

The tmsh and tmctl utilities include commands for troubleshooting device trust and device group operations.

Useful CLI command line troubleshooting tools

Show Commands

   116 Availability : available
      1 Availability : offline
     70 Availability : unknown

Set Commands

Backup Commands

F5 fix Guided Configuration Installation

Customers are using more and more Guided Configuration on F5 systems.
Sometimes we have the problem that GC is not working and shows a 404 not-found error or similar.

The problem is that when GC is not working properly anymore you cannot get to the GUI part to install or update GC to the actual version.

K13120484: Guided configuration cannot load page - The requested URL was not found on this server

After clicking Guided Configuration in GUI we can see:

The requested URL was not found on this server.

Recommended Actions

Follow below steps:

1. Log on to the BIG-IP APM command line. Run backup creation to have a snapshot to revert to:
   
   # make sure to be in bash mode:
   # tmsh save sys ucs $(echo $HOSTNAME | cut -d'.' -f1)-$(date +%H%M-%m%d%y)_pre
    
2. Stop the restjavad and restnoded with the following commands :
   
   # bigstart stop restjavad restnoded
    
3. Run the following commands:
   # tar -czpf /var/tmp/rest_storage_pre.tgz /var/config/rest/storage/*
    # rm -f /var/config/rest/storage; clear-rest-storage
   
   

   Important: This step will remove SSLO configuration from device - if SSLO module is in use. Also if device is managed by BIG-IQ, BIG-IP device might have to be rediscovered on BIG-IQ systems.

   
   Start the restjavad and restnoded daemons in the standby unit by running the following commands
   
   # bigstart start restjavad restnoded
    
4. After few minutes navigate to Access >> Guided Configuration to verify if the error message is no longer seen.
    
5. Raise service ticket with F5 support and share files generated with fresh Qkview with support.

New Installation of GC Components

The following shows how to proceed with curl and REST-API to do a new installation of the GC components.
You can download the actual GC at https://my.f5.com

Upload File

curl -i -sk -u <username> -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" -H "Content-Range: 0"\
 --data-binary "<filename>" "https://<f5-hostname>/mgmt/shared/file-transfer/uploads/<filename>"

Install File

curl -k -u <username> -X POST -d '{"filePath": "/var/config/rest/downloads/<filename>
"}' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' 'https://<f5-hostname>/mgmt/tm/access/bundle-install-tasks' | jq

Check installation of file

curl -k -u <username> -d '{"filePath": "/var/config/rest/downloads/<filename>"}'\
 -H 'Content-Type: application/json' 'https://<f5-hostname>/mgmt/tm/access/bundle-install-tasks' | jq

Links

Flow Traffic TCP

F5 TCP Traffic Flow Explained here: https://community.f5.com/t5/technical-forum/tcp-traffic-path-diagram/m-p/258192

Flow iRule Diagram (Event order)

F5 iRule Flow (Event Order) explained here: https://community.f5.com/t5/codeshare/irule-event-order-flowchart/ta-p/286343

Upgrade an Active-Standby Cluster

In this example we need to upgrade the F5 BIG-IP from 16.1.x to the actual version 16.1.3.5 (7.8.2023).

Download Software Image

Login to https://my.f5.com, search and download the ISO image of the version you want to upgrade:

Select the release and download the ISO:

Create System Archive (Config Backup)

On both nodes create a archive of the config and download it to your PC before upgrading.

You can do this using the WebUI (Or use the tmsh command line) browse to System - Archives and press Create button.

Reactivate License

Maybe your license needs to be reactivated to be able to do the upgrade. This process is described here:
K7727: License activation may be required before a software upgrade for BIG-IP

Use the tmsh command to see the license check date:

tmsh show sys license | grep "Service Check Date"

Reference the License Check Date table listed previously in the link above, and verify that the service check date is a later date than the license check date listed for the version to which you are upgrading.

If the service check date is earlier than the license check date a license reactivation is needed prior to upgrade.
Click the Ra-activate button under the License section:

Import downloaded ISO image

On both nodes import the downloaded ISO image to the repository on the F5 BIG-IP:

Clean installation in a Boot Location

On both nodes the uploaded image is now available in the "Available Images section":

To get a clean installation I would recommend to delete an existing volume and recreate it, it's done like this:

Click on HD1 Disk in System - Software Management : Image List

Delete the not used older volume, in the case above it is HD1.2.

Now you can select in Available Images the new BIG-IP iso which you want to have a clean installation and recreate the volume like here (Specify "2" in this case)

After about 1/2h the installation is finished.

Boot the new installed volume

Select now the new volume in System - Software Management : Boot Locations to reboot it:

Important
Select "Install Configuration" to "yes" in the next dialog. This is only needed on F5 Hardware and VM, not Viprion Environments.
It will convert your configuration from the old Volume to the newly booted volume then.

After the reboot the system will be ready with the new version and the converted config from the old volume.

Preserving client IP address in any TCP session

When you use a reverse proxy like the F5 BIG-IP is, there's always a big discussion how to preserving the client ip address in any TCP session.

F5 has a document describing the different possibilities:

• If the traffic is HTTP,  you can use x-forwarded-for feature.
  Note: For more information refer to: K4816: Using the X-Forwarded-For HTTP header to preserve the original client IP address for traffic translated by a SNAT object
• Preserving the client IP in layer 4 or layer 3.
  Note: There is no option can be configured in the virtual server without disabling the SNAT. This is by design as BIG-IP acts a full-proxy in most cases.
• Disabling SNAT is an option, which means no Address Translation occurs.
  Note: You must ensure that servers will use F5 as the default gateway for replying back to the client, in order to prevent asymmetric routing.
• If you are open to complex solution, you may use TCP Options to insert the client-IP into the TCP Header Options field.
  Note: Configuring the BIG-IP to insert into the TCP header of a connection can be a complicated implementation can be found in DevCentral, or F5 professional services.
  For more information refer to: DevCentral: Accessing TCP Options from iRules

You can finde the document here:

K12757773: Preserving client IP address in any TCP session

Another possible solution to the problem

You can use the Proxy Protocol to preserve a client’s IP address when that client’s connection passes through a proxy.

What is the Proxy Protocol? It is a network protocol for preserving a client’s IP address when the client’s TCP connection passes through a proxy. Without such a mechanism, proxies lose this information because they act as a surrogate for the client, relaying messages to the server but replacing the client’s IP address with their own. This distorts the logs of upstream servers because the logs incorrectly indicate that all traffic originated at the proxy.

See here: https://www.haproxy.com/blog/use-the-proxy-protocol-to-preserve-a-clients-ip-address

This protocol is often used in Kubernetes clusters for preserving the source-ip address. In this case an external load balancer talks to the ingress controller with proxy protocol.

Link: https://kubernetes.io/docs/tutorials/services/source-ip/

Useful F5 Log Queries

Introduction

If you work with F5 BIG-IP you maybe need to know for example when a cluster failover has happened or a user has done some changes.

The following will describe some useful F5 log queries which you can use on the F5 logs or any central syslog server you're sending the F5 logs to.

F5 LTM Log Queries

Check in the Admin UI at System - Logs: Local Traffic

F5 Audit Log Queries

Check in the Admin UI at System - Logs: Audit: List

Clearing the LCD and the Alarm LED remotely

Description

In some cases, you may want to remotely clear LCD warnings and the Alarm LED.
Performing this action may prevent onsite personnel from discovering and reporting an old warning, or having to teach the onsite personnel how to clear the LCD.

You can use the lcdwarn command line utility to control the LCD and the Alarm LED.
To display its usage, run the lcdwarn command without any arguments.

Note: You cannot view LCD warnings and Alarm LED messages remotely. To ensure that the alerts do not reappear, F5 recommends that you monitor the BIG-IP log files after you clear the LCD warnings or Alarm LED.

APM: Variable Assign

Variable assign best practice

Username / Domain Management

get username

session.logon.last.username

extract CN from certificate subject and set it in username variable

set subject [split [mcget {session.ssl.cert.subject}] ",="]; 
foreach {name value} $subject {
    if {[string trim $name] equals "CN"} { 
        return [string trim $value]; 
    } 
} 

session.logon.last.username

combine username and domain variables

expr { "[mcget {session.logon.last.domain}]\\[mcget {session.logon.last.username}]" }

session.ad.last.attr.userPrincipalName

Get the UPN when using AD-Auth. This variable is filled out with the UPN from the AD and can be used in the VPE.

remove UPN from session.logon.last.username:

expr { [string range [mcget {session.logon.last.username}] 0 [expr [string first "@" [mcget {session.logon.last.username}] 0] -1] ] }

session.logon.last.ntdomain

extract NT domain name from logon name

if { [mcget {session.logon.last.username}] contains "\\" } { 
    set username [string tolower [mcget {session.logon.last.logonname}]];  
    return [string range $username 0 [expr {[string first "\\" $username] -1}] ];  
} else {  
    return {}  
}

one-line code

expr {[set username [string tolower [mcget {session.logon.last.logonname}]]] contains "\\" ? [string range $username 0 [expr {[string first "\\" $username] -1}] ] : "" }

session.logon.last.domain

static assignment from ntdomain

switch [string tolower [mcget {session.logon.last.ntdomain}]] { 
    "domain1" { return "domain1.local" } 
    "domain2" { return "domain2.local" }  
    default { return "default.local" } 
} 

session.logon.last.username

Extract username name from logonname (full username from logon page even if split domain from username is checked)

set username [string trim [mcget {session.logon.last.logonname}]];
if { $username contains "\\" } {
     return [string range $username [expr {[string first "\\" $username] +1}] end ];
} else { return $username }

session.logon.last.upn

Extract UPN value from Certificate X509Extension

set extension [string tolower [mcget {session.ssl.cert.x509extension}]];  
return [string range $extension [expr {[string first "othername:upn<" $extension] +14}] [expr {[string last ">" $extension] -1}] ];

Session / Timeout Management

session.inactivity_timeout

Change inactivity session timeout based on a checkbox on the logon page (logon variable trusted)

if { [mcget {session.logon.last.trusted}] == 1 } { return {5400} } else { return {1800} }

one-line code (5400 seconds if condition before ? success, 1800 seconds else)

expr { [mcget {session.logon.last.trusted}] == 1 ? {5400} : {1800}}

session.inactivity_timeout

Change inactivity session timeout based on client type (iOS, Android and WindowsPhone : half of inactivity timeout configured in profile parameters)

expr { [mcget {session.client.platform}] == "WindowsPhone" || [mcget {session.client.platform}] == "Android" || [mcget {session.client.platform}] == "iOS" ? [mcget {session.inactivity_timeout}]/2 : [mcget {session.inactivity_timeout}] }

session.max_session_timeout

force to close the session à 17:00

expr { [clock scan "17:00"] - [mcget {session.user.starttime}] }

session.max_session_timeout

After a AD query which retreive attribute logonHours, force to close the session when user at the end of allowed logon hours

set maximumSessionSeconds 604800
if {[set logonHours [mcget {session.ad.last.attr.logonHours}]] != "" && $logonHours != "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF"} {
    #convert string to binary string
    binary scan [binary format H* $logonHours] b* logon_hours_binary_string
    # evaluate the number of seconds from last sunday
    set time_from_sunday [expr {[clock seconds] - [clock scan "last sunday"]}];
    # search in string next hours with 0 value
    set current_index [expr {$time_from_sunday / 3600}];
    # convert the index to number of seconds from last sunday
    if {[set next_denied_index [string first 0 $logon_hours_binary_string$logon_hours_binary_string $current_index]] == $current_index } {return 0}
    # evaluate number on seconds to disconnect time
    return [expr { $next_denied_index*3600 - $time_from_sunday}]
} else { return $maximumSessionSeconds}

Windows Info

session.windows_info_os.last.fqdn

search and return FQDN hostname in computer names list after windows Info Box

foreach x [split [mcget {session.windows_info_os.last.computer}] "|"] {
    if { $x ends_with ".f5demo.lab" } {
        return $x
    }
}

session.windows_info_os.last.computer_name

search FQDN hostname in computer names list after windows Info Box, then return shortname (without domain name)

foreach x [split [mcget {session.windows_info_os.last.computer}] "|"] {
    if { $x ends_with ".f5demo.lab" } {
        return [lindex [split $x "."] 0]
    }
}

Machine Cert

To allow machine certificate revocation validation, add a variable assign with 2 following variables before OCSP or CRLDP boxes.

session.ssl.cert.whole

store machine certificate as it was user certificate

expr {[mcget {session.check_machinecert.last.cert.cert}]}

session.ssl.cert.certissuer

store machine certificate issuer as it was user certificate issuer

expr {[mcget {session.check_machinecert.last.cert.issuer}]} 

HTTP auth returned cookie parsing

session.custom.http_auth_mycookie

extract from HTTP auth cookie list the cookie value of mycookie

expr { [lindex [regexp -inline {mycookie=([^;\\\r]*)} [mcget session.http.last.response_cookie]] 1] }

replace portal or network access Webtop by full webtop if unsupported resource are assigned

Webtop can be:

• Portal webtop : define an internal web server as home page
• Network access Webtop : start automatically Network access when connected

• Full Webtop : display all assigned ressources in one page hosted on the F5.

  Some customers want to assign different webtop based on assigned ressources.

• one portal ressource only -> portal webtop

• one Network access ressource only -> Network Access ressource
• more than one portal ressource -> Full webtop
• more than one Network access ressource -> Full webtop
• RDP, Application tunnel, SAML ressources assigned -> Full Webtop

In Advanced ressource assign, the last assigned webtop is applied to the session. If the user is assigned non portal ressource (ex : RDP) and portal webtop, he will not be allowed to connect.

session.assigned.webtop

this code code is used if portal or network access webtop are assigned and number of resources is supported only with full webtop

set fullwt /Common/wt-Full;
set wt [mcget {session.assigned.webtop}];
set pa [llength [mcget {session.assigned.resources.pa}]];
set at [llength [mcget {session.assigned.resources.at}]];
set na [llength [mcget {session.assigned.resources.na}]];
set rd [llength [mcget {session.assigned.resources.rd}]];
set saml [llength [mcget {session.assigned.resources.saml}]];
if {$rd || $at || $saml || ([expr { $pa + $na }] > 1)} {set wt $fullwt};
unset fullwt;
unset pa;
unset at;
unset na;
unset rd;
unset saml;
return $wt;

one-line code. Don't forget to replace "/Common/wt-Full" with your own webtop full in expression.

expr { [llength [concat [mcget {session.assigned.resources.rd}] [mcget {session.assigned.resources.at}] [mcget {session.assigned.resources.atsaml}]]] || [llength [concat [mcget {session.assigned.resources.pa}] [mcget {session.assigned.resources.na}]]] >1 ? "/Common/wt-Full" : [mcget {session.assigned.webtop}]}

Same condition for Advanced resource Assign condition. This condition doesn't match with previous rules in the same Advanced resource assign. must be in a dedicated resource assign box.

expr { [llength [concat [mcget {session.assigned.resources.rd}] [mcget {session.assigned.resources.at}] [mcget {session.assigned.resources.atsaml}]]] || [llength [concat [mcget {session.assigned.resources.pa}] [mcget {session.assigned.resources.na}]]] >1}

For Kerberos SSO

when working with Kerberos SSO, 2 variable sources must be set:

• username : must be equal to user sAMAccountName

• domain : must be equal to user FQDN domain

  When working on access policy with multiple SSO method depending on the URI, Host header or some other parameters, you may have conflict on default SSO variables.

  For example, for Exchange :

• activesync SSO profile is basic with username format is NTDOMAIN\username

• Autodiscover SSP profile can be NTLM with

  • username format is username
  • domain format is NTDOMAIN

• OWA SSO profile can be kerberos with

  • username : must be equal to user sAMAccountName
  • domain : must be equal to user FQDN domain like DOMAIN.LOCAL (different than NT Domain)

  default SSO variables are :

• session.sso.token.last.username

• session.sso.token.last.password
• session.logon.last.domain

to support multiple SSO on the same Access policy, I recommende to set new variables based on previous AD Query

session.krbsso.username

expr {[mcget {session.ad.last.attr.sAMAccountName}]}

session.krbsso.domain

expr {[mcget {session.ad.last.actualdomain}]}

Links

Thank you for this: https://devcentral.f5.com/s/articles/apm-variable-assign-examples-1107

F5 LTM TMSH Base Config

Config with LDAP Auth

## ======================================================
## Insert in TMSH "load sys config merge from-terminal"
## Finish with CTRL-D
## ======================================================

# - NTP settings
# ---------------------------------------------------
sys ntp {
    servers { 1.2.3.4 4.3.2.1 }
    timezone Europe/Zurich
}

# - SNMP settings
# ---------------------------------------------------
sys snmp {
    agent-addresses { tcp6:161 udp6:161 }
    allowed-addresses { 127.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 1.2.3.4/255.255.255.0 4.3.2.1/255.255.255.0 5.4.3.2/255.255.255.0 }
    communities {
        mycommunity1 {
            community-name public
            source default
        }
        mycommunity2 {
            community-name public2
        }
    }
    disk-monitors {
        root {
            minspace 2000
            path /
        }
        var {
            minspace 10000
            path /var
        }
    }
    process-monitors {
        bigd {
            process bigd
        }
        chmand {
            process chmand
        }
        httpd {
            max-processes infinity
            process httpd
        }
        mcpd {
            process mcpd
        }
        sod {
            process sod
        }
        tmm {
            max-processes infinity
            process tmm
        }
    }
    sys-contact contact@email.com
    sys-location "Location of F5"
}

# - DNS settings
# ---------------------------------------------------
sys dns {
    name-servers { 1.2.3.4 4.3.2.1 }
    search { localhost corp.domain.com mgmt.domain.com domain.com }
}

# - LDAP-Access settings for AD
# ---------------------------------------------------
auth ldap system-auth {
    bind-dn CN=LDAPProxyUser,OU=Accounts,OU=OrgUnit,DC=domain,DC=com
    bind-pw <pw>
    login-attribute userPrincipalName
    port ldaps
    search-base-dn DC=domain,DC=com
    servers { dc.domain.com }
    ssl enabled
}
auth password-policy { }
auth remote-role {
    role-info {
        LDAP-Administrator {
            attribute memberOF=CN=GRP_F5Admins,OU=Groups,DC=domain,DC=com
            console tmsh
            line-order 1
            role administrator
            user-partition All
        }
        LDAP-ReadOnly {
            attribute memberOF=CN=GRP_F5ReadOnly,OU=Groups,DC=domain,DC=com
            line-order 2
            role guest
            user-partition All
        }
        LDAP-ReadOnly-FW-Admins {
            attribute memberOF=CN=GRP_FWAdmins,OU=Groups,DC=domain,DC=com
            line-order 4
            role guest
            user-partition All
        }
        LDAP-ReadOnly-FW-RO {
            attribute memberOF=CN=GRP_FWReadOnly,OU=Groups,DC=domain,DC=com
            line-order 5
            role guest
            user-partition All
        }
    }
}
auth remote-user {
    default-partition Common
}
auth source {
    type active-directory
}

# - Local-User Einstellung
# ---------------------------------------------------
auth user admin {
    description "Admin User"
    password <pw>
    partition Common
    partition-access {
        all-partitions {
            role admin
        }
    }
    shell bash
}
auth user scriptuser {
    description "Script-User"
    password <pw>
    partition Common
    partition-access {
        all-partitions {
            role admin
        }
    }
    shell bash
}

# - Syslog
# ---------------
sys syslog {
    remote-servers {
        /Common/remotesyslog1 {
            host 1.2.3.4
            remote-port 514
        }

Debugging AD/LDAP

If you need to Debug AD/LDAP Auth see the following guide:

https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K15811

You should see logs in /var/log/secure

Enable debugging log with

tmsh modify /auth ldap all debug enabled

Disable with:

tmsh modify /auth ldap all debug disabled

Config with RADIUS Auth

## ======================================================
## Insert in TMSH "load sys config merge from-terminal"
## Finish with CTRL-D
## ======================================================

# - NTP settings
# ---------------------------------------------------
sys ntp {
    servers { 1.2.3.4 4.3.2.1 }
    timezone Europe/Zurich
}

# - SNMP settings
# ---------------------------------------------------
sys snmp {
    agent-addresses { tcp6:161 udp6:161 }
    allowed-addresses { 127.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 1.2.3.4/255.255.255.0 4.3.2.1/255.255.255.0 5.4.3.2/255.255.255.0 }
    communities {
        mycommunity1 {
            community-name public
            source default
        }
        mycommunity2 {
            community-name public2
        }
    }
    disk-monitors {
        root {
            minspace 2000
            path /
        }
        var {
            minspace 10000
            path /var
        }
    }
    process-monitors {
        bigd {
            process bigd
        }
        chmand {
            process chmand
        }
        httpd {
            max-processes infinity
            process httpd
        }
        mcpd {
            process mcpd
        }
        sod {
            process sod
        }
        tmm {
            max-processes infinity
            process tmm
        }
    }
    sys-contact contact@email.com
    sys-location "Location of F5"
}

# - DNS settings
# ---------------------------------------------------
sys dns {
    name-servers { 1.2.3.4 4.3.2.1 }
    search { localhost corp.domain.com mgmt.domain.com domain.com }
}

# - RADIUS-Access settings
# ---------------------------------------------------
auth radius /Common/system-auth {
    servers {
        /Common/system_auth_name1
        /Common/system_auth_name2
    }
}
auth radius-server /Common/system_auth_name1 {
    secret <secret>
    server 1.2.3.4
}
auth radius-server /Common/system_auth_name2 {
    secret <secret>
    server 4.3.2.1
}
auth remote-role {
    role-info {
        /Common/LDAP-Administrator {
            attribute F5-LTM-User-Info-1=adm
            console tmsh
            line-order 1
            role administrator
            user-partition All
        }
        /Common/LDAP-Guest {
            attribute F5-LTM-User-Info-1=guest
            line-order 2
            role guest
            user-partition All
        }
        /Common/LDAP-application-security-editor {
            attribute F5-LTM-User-Info-1=wase
            console tmsh
            line-order 3
            role webapplicationsecurityeditor
            user-partition All
        }
    }
}
auth remote-user {
    default-partition Common
}
auth source {
    type radius
}

# - Local-User Einstellung
# ---------------------------------------------------
auth user admin {
    description "Admin User"
    password <pw>
    partition Common
    partition-access {
        all-partitions {
            role admin
        }
    }
    shell bash
}
auth user scriptuser {
    description "Script-User"
    password <pw>
    partition Common
    partition-access {
        all-partitions {
            role admin
        }
    }
    shell bash
}

# - Syslog
# ---------------
sys syslog {
    remote-servers {
        /Common/remotesyslog1 {
            host 1.2.3.4
            remote-port 514
        }

ASM Operation Manual

The Following Links are going to the F5 Operation Manual

About this guide

Chapter 1: Guide introduction and contents

Chapter 2: Conventions Unique to the BIG-IP ASM Guide

Chapter 3: BIG-IP ASM event logging

Chapter 5: Regulatory compliance

Chapter 6: Common deployment topologies

Chapter 7: Common management tasks

Chapter 8: Troubleshooting BIG-IP ASM

Chapter 9: Collecting BIG-IP ASM data

Appendix

Optimizing the support experience

F5 iControlREST

Some interesting links about F5 and REST-API

REST API Links

• iControl REST Fine-Grained Role Based Access Control
• iControl REST Home https://devcentral.f5.com/wiki/icontrolrest.homepage.ashx  
• iControl REST Cookbook - Virtual Server https://devcentral.f5.com/articles/icontrol-rest-cookbook-24575  
• Full examples of iControlREST for device and application service deployment https://devcentral.f5.com/articles/full-examples-of-icr-for-device-and-application-deployments  
• Create a Pool and Virtual Server using REST API http://clouddocs.f5.com/training/community/firewall/html/class1/module1/lab1.html
• Demystifying iControl REST Part 7 - Understanding Transactions https://devcentral.f5.com/articles/demystifying-icontrol-rest-part-7-understanding-transactions-21404
• jmcalalang/F5-Postman-Collections https://github.com/jmcalalang/F5-Postman-Collections
• Postman Complete Workflows
• F5 curl REST API snippets
• f5er (CLI Utility in GO)
• BigIP Report Tool (Powershell)

REST API Python Examples

• Python script for updating data group https://devcentral.f5.com/codeshare/python-script-for-updating-data-group
• BIG-IP Config Cleaner
• F5 Configuration Backups with WEB GUI
• Devcentral - Python Virtual Server and Pool Creation
• Devcentral - Building a policy through python sdk

Automation and F5

• Automate F5 Initial Setup - iControl & Ansible
• Salt Example of iControl REST Library in Python
• Query Membership of Nodes in Pools
• K43713440: How to disable a pool member using REST API

F5 SNMP useful OIDs to monitor

SNMP polling Monitoring

You can use Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to query and monitor all BIG-IP platforms for chassis fan speed, chassis temperature, CPU fan speed, CPU temperature, and power supply status.

You can use SNMP polling to obtain this information by importing the F5 management information base (MIB) file, F5-BIGIP-SYSTEM-MIB.txt, into your SNMP polling device and configuring the BIG-IP SNMP agent to allow access from the polling device.

The best way to test the different MIB OIDs you can do this as root user on the F5 locally.

The following describes common OIDs used for best practice monitoring.

System Monitoring

Check the F5-BIGIP-SYSTEM-MIB on oidview.com

For standard system values use the UCD-SNMP-MIB here:

Check the UCD-SNMP-MIB on oidview.com

ssCpuSystem

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 ssCpuSystem    
ssCpuSystem.0 = INTEGER: 9

ssCpuUser

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 ssCpuUser  
ssCpuUser.0 = INTEGER: 16

memAvailSwap

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 memAvailSwap
memAvailSwap.0 = INTEGER: 1023996 kB

sysPlatformInfo

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 sysPlatformInfo
sysPlatformInfoName.0 = STRING: C113
sysPlatformInfoMarketingName.0 = STRING: BIG-IP 4000

sysGeneral

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 sysGeneral
sysGeneralHwName.0 = STRING: C113
sysGeneralHwNumber.0 = STRING: deprecated
sysGeneralChassisSerialNum.0 = STRING: f5-abcd-efgh

sysProduct

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 sysProduct
sysProductName.0 = STRING: BIG-IP
sysProductVersion.0 = STRING: 15.1.0.2
sysProductBuild.0 = STRING: 0.9.9
sysProductEdition.0 = STRING: Engineering Hotfix
sysProductDate.0 = STRING: Wed Apr  1 15:44:08 PDT 2020
sysProductHotfix.0 = STRING: deprecated

sysCmSyncStatusColor

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 sysCmSyncStatusColor
sysCmSyncStatusColor.0 = INTEGER: red(2)

sysCmFailoverStatusId

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 sysCmFailoverStatus
sysCmFailoverStatusId.0 = INTEGER: standby(3)
sysCmFailoverStatusStatus.0 = STRING: STANDBY
sysCmFailoverStatusColor.0 = INTEGER: gray(4)
sysCmFailoverStatusSummary.0 = STRING: 1/1 standby

Possible values

sysInterfaceStat

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 sysInterfaceStat
sysInterfaceStatResetStats.0 = INTEGER: 0
sysInterfaceStatNumber.0 = INTEGER: 11
sysInterfaceStatName."1.1" = STRING: 1.1
sysInterfaceStatName."1.2" = STRING: 1.2
sysInterfaceStatName."1.3" = STRING: 1.3
sysInterfaceStatName."1.4" = STRING: 1.4
sysInterfaceStatName."1.5" = STRING: 1.5
sysInterfaceStatName."1.6" = STRING: 1.6
sysInterfaceStatName."1.7" = STRING: 1.7
sysInterfaceStatName."1.8" = STRING: 1.8
sysInterfaceStatName."2.1" = STRING: 2.1
sysInterfaceStatName."2.2" = STRING: 2.2
sysInterfaceStatName."mgmt" = STRING: mgmt
sysInterfaceStatPktsIn."1.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsIn."1.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsIn."1.3" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsIn."1.4" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsIn."1.5" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsIn."1.6" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsIn."1.7" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsIn."1.8" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsIn."2.1" = Counter64: 511394733
sysInterfaceStatPktsIn."2.2" = Counter64: 633106223
sysInterfaceStatPktsIn."mgmt" = Counter64: 361514396
sysInterfaceStatBytesIn."1.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesIn."1.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesIn."1.3" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesIn."1.4" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesIn."1.5" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesIn."1.6" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesIn."1.7" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesIn."1.8" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesIn."2.1" = Counter64: 501710178927
sysInterfaceStatBytesIn."2.2" = Counter64: 633330429177
sysInterfaceStatBytesIn."mgmt" = Counter64: 91126105221
sysInterfaceStatPktsOut."1.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsOut."1.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsOut."1.3" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsOut."1.4" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsOut."1.5" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsOut."1.6" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsOut."1.7" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsOut."1.8" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPktsOut."2.1" = Counter64: 638707789
sysInterfaceStatPktsOut."2.2" = Counter64: 315266099
sysInterfaceStatPktsOut."mgmt" = Counter64: 316267064
sysInterfaceStatBytesOut."1.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesOut."1.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesOut."1.3" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesOut."1.4" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesOut."1.5" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesOut."1.6" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesOut."1.7" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesOut."1.8" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatBytesOut."2.1" = Counter64: 461651628476
sysInterfaceStatBytesOut."2.2" = Counter64: 172002545859
sysInterfaceStatBytesOut."mgmt" = Counter64: 83258425569
sysInterfaceStatMcastIn."1.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastIn."1.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastIn."1.3" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastIn."1.4" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastIn."1.5" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastIn."1.6" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastIn."1.7" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastIn."1.8" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastIn."2.1" = Counter64: 453903
sysInterfaceStatMcastIn."2.2" = Counter64: 437413
sysInterfaceStatMcastIn."mgmt" = Counter64: 29089469
sysInterfaceStatMcastOut."1.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastOut."1.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastOut."1.3" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastOut."1.4" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastOut."1.5" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastOut."1.6" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastOut."1.7" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastOut."1.8" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatMcastOut."2.1" = Counter64: 17297
sysInterfaceStatMcastOut."2.2" = Counter64: 17271
sysInterfaceStatMcastOut."mgmt" = Counter64: 48
sysInterfaceStatErrorsIn."1.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsIn."1.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsIn."1.3" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsIn."1.4" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsIn."1.5" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsIn."1.6" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsIn."1.7" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsIn."1.8" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsIn."2.1" = Counter64: 3610
sysInterfaceStatErrorsIn."2.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsIn."mgmt" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsOut."1.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsOut."1.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsOut."1.3" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsOut."1.4" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsOut."1.5" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsOut."1.6" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsOut."1.7" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsOut."1.8" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsOut."2.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsOut."2.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatErrorsOut."mgmt" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsIn."1.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsIn."1.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsIn."1.3" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsIn."1.4" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsIn."1.5" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsIn."1.6" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsIn."1.7" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsIn."1.8" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsIn."2.1" = Counter64: 58
sysInterfaceStatDropsIn."2.2" = Counter64: 87
sysInterfaceStatDropsIn."mgmt" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsOut."1.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsOut."1.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsOut."1.3" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsOut."1.4" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsOut."1.5" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsOut."1.6" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsOut."1.7" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsOut."1.8" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsOut."2.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsOut."2.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatDropsOut."mgmt" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatCollisions."1.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatCollisions."1.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatCollisions."1.3" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatCollisions."1.4" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatCollisions."1.5" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatCollisions."1.6" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatCollisions."1.7" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatCollisions."1.8" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatCollisions."2.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatCollisions."2.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatCollisions."mgmt" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqIn."1.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqIn."1.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqIn."1.3" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqIn."1.4" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqIn."1.5" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqIn."1.6" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqIn."1.7" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqIn."1.8" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqIn."2.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqIn."2.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqIn."mgmt" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqOut."1.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqOut."1.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqOut."1.3" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqOut."1.4" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqOut."1.5" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqOut."1.6" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqOut."1.7" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqOut."1.8" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqOut."2.1" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqOut."2.2" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatQqOut."mgmt" = Counter64: 0
sysInterfaceStatPauseActive."1.1" = INTEGER: none(0)
sysInterfaceStatPauseActive."1.2" = INTEGER: none(0)
sysInterfaceStatPauseActive."1.3" = INTEGER: none(0)
sysInterfaceStatPauseActive."1.4" = INTEGER: none(0)
sysInterfaceStatPauseActive."1.5" = INTEGER: none(0)
sysInterfaceStatPauseActive."1.6" = INTEGER: none(0)
sysInterfaceStatPauseActive."1.7" = INTEGER: none(0)
sysInterfaceStatPauseActive."1.8" = INTEGER: none(0)
sysInterfaceStatPauseActive."2.1" = INTEGER: none(0)
sysInterfaceStatPauseActive."2.2" = INTEGER: none(0)
sysInterfaceStatPauseActive."mgmt" = INTEGER: none(0)

sysChassisFanSpeed

# snmpwalk -On -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 sysChassisFanSpeed
.1.3.6.1.4.1.3375.2.1.3.2.1.2.1.3.1 = Gauge32: 2906
.1.3.6.1.4.1.3375.2.1.3.2.1.2.1.3.2 = Gauge32: 2903
.1.3.6.1.4.1.3375.2.1.3.2.1.2.1.3.3 = Gauge32: 2905
.1.3.6.1.4.1.3375.2.1.3.2.1.2.1.3.4 = Gauge32: 2909

sysChassisFanStatus

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 sysChassisFanStatus
sysChassisFanStatus.1 = INTEGER: good(1)
sysChassisFanStatus.2 = INTEGER: good(1)
sysChassisFanStatus.3 = INTEGER: good(1)
sysChassisFanStatus.4 = INTEGER: good(1)

sysChassisTempTemperature

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 sysChassisTempTemperature
sysChassisTempTemperature.1 = INTEGER: 28
sysChassisTempTemperature.2 = INTEGER: 28
sysChassisTempTemperature.3 = INTEGER: 33
sysChassisTempTemperature.4 = INTEGER: 33
sysChassisTempTemperature.5 = INTEGER: 35

sysMultiHostCpuUsageRatio1m

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 sysMultiHostCpuUsageRatio1m
sysMultiHostCpuUsageRatio1m."0".1 = Gauge32: 21
sysMultiHostCpuUsageRatio1m."0".2 = Gauge32: 11
sysMultiHostCpuUsageRatio1m."0".3 = Gauge32: 20
sysMultiHostCpuUsageRatio1m."0".4 = Gauge32: 10
sysMultiHostCpuUsageRatio1m."0".5 = Gauge32: 20
sysMultiHostCpuUsageRatio1m."0".6 = Gauge32: 9
sysMultiHostCpuUsageRatio1m."0".7 = Gauge32: 21
sysMultiHostCpuUsageRatio1m."0".8 = Gauge32: 8

sysCpuSensorTemperature

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 sysCpuSensorTemperature
sysCpuSensorTemperature.0.1 = INTEGER: 40

sysChassisPowerSupply

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 sysChassisPowerSupply
sysChassisPowerSupplyNumber.0 = INTEGER: 2
sysChassisPowerSupplyIndex.1 = INTEGER: 1
sysChassisPowerSupplyIndex.2 = INTEGER: 2
sysChassisPowerSupplyStatus.1 = INTEGER: good(1)
sysChassisPowerSupplyStatus.2 = INTEGER: good(1)

sysHostDisk

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 sysHostDisk
sysHostDiskNumber.0 = INTEGER: 7
sysHostDiskPartition."/" = STRING: /
sysHostDiskPartition."/usr" = STRING: /usr
sysHostDiskPartition."/var" = STRING: /var
sysHostDiskPartition."/config" = STRING: /config
sysHostDiskPartition."/shared" = STRING: /shared
sysHostDiskPartition."/var/log" = STRING: /var/log
sysHostDiskPartition."/var/named/lib" = STRING: /var/named/lib
sysHostDiskBlockSize."/" = Gauge32: 1024
sysHostDiskBlockSize."/usr" = Gauge32: 4096
sysHostDiskBlockSize."/var" = Gauge32: 4096
sysHostDiskBlockSize."/config" = Gauge32: 4096
sysHostDiskBlockSize."/shared" = Gauge32: 4096
sysHostDiskBlockSize."/var/log" = Gauge32: 4096
sysHostDiskBlockSize."/var/named/lib" = Gauge32: 4096
sysHostDiskTotalBlocks."/" = Gauge32: 436342
sysHostDiskTotalBlocks."/usr" = Gauge32: 1329430
sysHostDiskTotalBlocks."/var" = Gauge32: 774084
sysHostDiskTotalBlocks."/config" = Gauge32: 817398
sysHostDiskTotalBlocks."/shared" = Gauge32: 7740927
sysHostDiskTotalBlocks."/var/log" = Gauge32: 1806206
sysHostDiskTotalBlocks."/var/named/lib" = Gauge32: 774084
sysHostDiskFreeBlocks."/" = Gauge32: 332153
sysHostDiskFreeBlocks."/usr" = Gauge32: 175742
sysHostDiskFreeBlocks."/var" = Gauge32: 524514
sysHostDiskFreeBlocks."/config" = Gauge32: 685184
sysHostDiskFreeBlocks."/shared" = Gauge32: 5838338
sysHostDiskFreeBlocks."/var/log" = Gauge32: 1655811
sysHostDiskFreeBlocks."/var/named/lib" = Gauge32: 524514
sysHostDiskTotalNodes."/" = Gauge32: 112640
sysHostDiskTotalNodes."/usr" = Gauge32: 338016
sysHostDiskTotalNodes."/var" = Gauge32: 196608
sysHostDiskTotalNodes."/config" = Gauge32: 208000
sysHostDiskTotalNodes."/shared" = Gauge32: 3932160
sysHostDiskTotalNodes."/var/log" = Gauge32: 917504
sysHostDiskTotalNodes."/var/named/lib" = Gauge32: 196608
sysHostDiskFreeNodes."/" = Gauge32: 108477
sysHostDiskFreeNodes."/usr" = Gauge32: 255550
sysHostDiskFreeNodes."/var" = Gauge32: 185620
sysHostDiskFreeNodes."/config" = Gauge32: 207166
sysHostDiskFreeNodes."/shared" = Gauge32: 3931572
sysHostDiskFreeNodes."/var/log" = Gauge32: 917120
sysHostDiskFreeNodes."/var/named/lib" = Gauge32: 185620

sysSoftwareStatus

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 sysSoftwareStatus
sysSwStatusNumber.0 = INTEGER: 3
sysSwStatusSlotId.0."HD1.1" = INTEGER: 0
sysSwStatusSlotId.0."HD1.2" = INTEGER: 0
sysSwStatusSlotId.0."HD1.3" = INTEGER: 0
sysSwStatusVolume.0."HD1.1" = STRING: HD1.1
sysSwStatusVolume.0."HD1.2" = STRING: HD1.2
sysSwStatusVolume.0."HD1.3" = STRING: HD1.3
sysSwStatusProduct.0."HD1.1" = STRING: BIG-IP
sysSwStatusProduct.0."HD1.2" = STRING: BIG-IP
sysSwStatusProduct.0."HD1.3" = STRING: BIG-IP
sysSwStatusVersion.0."HD1.1" = STRING: 13.1.3
sysSwStatusVersion.0."HD1.2" = STRING: 15.1.0.2
sysSwStatusVersion.0."HD1.3" = STRING: 15.1.0.2
sysSwStatusBuild.0."HD1.1" = STRING: 0.0.6
sysSwStatusBuild.0."HD1.2" = STRING: 0.0.9
sysSwStatusBuild.0."HD1.3" = STRING: 0.9.9
sysSwStatusActive.0."HD1.1" = INTEGER: false(0)
sysSwStatusActive.0."HD1.2" = INTEGER: false(0)
sysSwStatusActive.0."HD1.3" = INTEGER: true(1)

Local Traffic Manager (LTM)

Check F5-BIGIP-LOCAL-MIB in oidview.com

ltmPoolMemberNodeName

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 ltmPoolMemberNodeName
ltmPoolMemberNodeName."/Common/pool_app1.domain.ch_80"."/Common/host1.domain.ch".80 = STRING: /Common/host1.domain.ch
ltmPoolMemberNodeName."/Common/pool_app1.domain.ch_80"."/Common/host2.domain.ch".80 = STRING: /Common/host2.domain.ch
ltmPoolMemberNodeName."/Common/pool_app2.domain.ch_80"."/Common/host3.domain.ch".80 = STRING: /Common/host3.domain.ch
ltmPoolMemberNodeName."/Common/pool_app2.domain.ch_80"."/Common/host4.domain.ch".80 = STRING: /Common/host4.domain.ch
ltmPoolMemberNodeName."/Common/pool_app3.domain.ch_80"."/Common/host5.domain.ch".80 = STRING: /Common/host5.domain.ch
ltmPoolMemberNodeName."/Common/pool_app3.domain.ch_80"."/Common/host6.domain.ch".80 = STRING: /Common/host6.domain.ch
...
ltmNodeAddrStatServerCurConns

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 ltmNodeAddrStatServerCurConns
ltmNodeAddrStatServerCurConns."/Common/host1.domain.ch" = Gauge32: 0
ltmNodeAddrStatServerCurConns."/Common/host2.domain.ch" = Gauge32: 5515
ltmNodeAddrStatServerCurConns."/Common/host3.domain.ch" = Gauge32: 300
ltmNodeAddrStatServerCurConns."/Common/host4.domain.ch" = Gauge32: 300
ltmNodeAddrStatServerCurConns."/Common/host5.domain.ch" = Gauge32: 4
...

ltmPoolMemberMonitorStatus

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 ltmPoolMemberMonitorStatus
ltmPoolMemberMonitorStatus."/Common/pool_app1.domain.ch_80"."/Common/host1.domain.ch".80 = INTEGER: up(4)
ltmPoolMemberMonitorStatus."/Common/pool_app1.domain.ch_80"."/Common/host2.domain.ch".80 = INTEGER: up(4)
ltmPoolMemberMonitorStatus."/Common/pool_app2.domain.ch_80"."/Common/host3.domain.ch".80 = INTEGER: up(4)
ltmPoolMemberMonitorStatus."/Common/pool_app2.domain.ch_80"."/Common/host4.domain.ch".80 = INTEGER: up(4)
ltmPoolMemberMonitorStatus."/Common/pool_app3.domain.ch_pop3"."/Common/host5.domain.ch".110 = INTEGER: addrDown(18)
...

Access Policy Manager (APM)

Check F5-BIGIP-APM-MIB in oidview.com

apmPaStatCurrentActiveSessions

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 apmPaStatCurrentActiveSessions
apmPaStatCurrentActiveSessions."access"."_listener" = Counter64: 0
apmPaStatCurrentActiveSessions."_tmm_apm_acl"."_tmm_apm_fwd_vip_http" = Counter64: 0
apmPaStatCurrentActiveSessions."_tmm_apm_acl"."_tmm_apm_fwd_vip_http_ipv6" = Counter64: 0
apmPaStatCurrentActiveSessions."/Common/access"."_listener" = Counter64: 0
apmPaStatCurrentActiveSessions."/Common/webtop_test"."_listener" = Counter64: 5
apmPaStatCurrentActiveSessions."/Common/webtop_test"."/Common/webtop_test_vs" = Counter64: 5
...

apmPaStatCurrentPendingSessions

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 apmPaStatCurrentPendingSessions
apmPaStatCurrentPendingSessions."access"."_listener" = Counter64: 0
apmPaStatCurrentPendingSessions."_tmm_apm_acl"."_tmm_apm_fwd_vip_http" = Counter64: 0
apmPaStatCurrentPendingSessions."_tmm_apm_acl"."_tmm_apm_fwd_vip_http_ipv6" = Counter64: 0
apmPaStatCurrentPendingSessions."/Common/access"."_listener" = Counter64: 0
apmPaStatCurrentPendingSessions."/Common/webtop_test"."_listener" = Counter64: 5
apmPaStatCurrentPendingSessions."/Common/webtop_test"."/Common/webtop_test_vs" = Counter64: 5
...

apmPaStatCurrentCompletedSessions

# snmpwalk -Ons -c public -v 2c 127.0.0.1 apmPaStatCurrentCompletedSessions
apmPaStatCurrentCompletedSessions."access"."_listener" = Counter64: 0
apmPaStatCurrentCompletedSessions."_tmm_apm_acl"."_tmm_apm_fwd_vip_http" = Counter64: 0
apmPaStatCurrentCompletedSessions."_tmm_apm_acl"."_tmm_apm_fwd_vip_http_ipv6" = Counter64: 0
apmPaStatCurrentCompletedSessions."/Common/access"."_listener" = Counter64: 0
apmPaStatCurrentCompletedSessions."/Common/webtop_test"."_listener" = Counter64: 5
apmPaStatCurrentCompletedSessions."/Common/webtop_test"."/Common/webtop_test_vs" = Counter64: 5
...

Links

• K4026: BIG-IP platforms support SNMP monitoring for chassis fan speed, chassis temperature, CPU temperature, and power supply status
• K14399: Determining the failover status of a BIG-IP system using SNMP (11.2.0 and later)
• K13322: Overview of BIG-IP MIB files

F5 Programming

F5 Programming Links

• F5 iControlREST
• F5 APM SSO Infos 
• CSharp Programming Links

Generic F5 Links

• SomoIT F5 Blog
• APM Cookbook: Modify LDAP Attribute Values using iRulesLX
• BIG-IP Configuration Visualizer
• bigip.conf parser

Command Injection in F5 iRules

ASM Deployment

API Security

Manual Chapter v13.1.0: Implementing Web Services Security
Manual Chapter v13.1.0: Creating Parent and Child Security Policies

Fundamental, Enhanced, Comprehensive

Fundamental = Grundlegend
Enhanced = Verbessert
Comprehensive = Umfassend

The following is from the v12 UI (Security – Application Security : Policy Building : Learning and Blocking Settings, Policy Type)

https://devcentral.f5.com/questions/asm-confusion-about-wildcard-selective-all-entities-49185
-> “Add All Entities Creates a comprehensive whitelist policy that includes all web site entities”

Learning Schemes to build a policy

• Never (wildcard only), when false positive occur the system will suggest to relax the settings of the wildcard entity.
• Selective is that only entity (Parameter name/value, URL etc) that exceeds the Wildcard setting would generate learning suggestion and those learning suggestion are accepted by administrator entity will get included in security policy.
  • Selective mode offers intermediate protection between Never (Wildcard Only) and Add All Entities.
  • Selective mode is suitable for applications containing entities which use similar or identical attributes.
  • Ideally, when you know the policy is mature, you can remove the wildcard
• Add All Entities, you will see a suggestion to add an entity by name

BIG-IP ASM Policy Builder updates

BIG-IP 13.0

Updates to Policy Builder in BIG-IP 13.0 include the following enhancements:

• Compact mode is an entity learning mode designed to effectively manage high traffic loads and increase policy security.
  • Compact mode reduces the amount of learning suggestions, enabling a policy to converge more quickly, and automatically adds disallowed file types.
  • Compact mode will never removing the wildcard.
• Server Technologies is an option that customizes policies to an application. This option enables Policy Builder to identify the back-end technologies used by an application and add the relevant signatures to the policy.

• Client Reputation is a technique that improves learning suggestions by using behavioral analysis to assign a reputation score to a source IP or device ID. Policy Builder ignores sources classified as malicious and speeds learning on sources classified as benign.

BIG-IP 12.0

There are several updates to Policy Builder in BIG-IP 12.0, including the following:

• Staging, enforcement, and learning suggestions can be configured manually or by the BIG-IP ASM system.

• Security checks Learn, Alarm, and Block are now system-wide settings integrated with Policy Builder.

• An improved learning suggestions mechanism handles requests, with or without violations, for manual and automated policy building.

Links

• Using Rapid Deployment
• BIG-IP Application Security Manager Operations Guide
• Use ASM for Block Page Example
• DevCentral: F5 ASM deployment for production traffic in transparent mode
• DevCentral: Lightboard Lessons: BIG-IP ASM Policy Buildin
• DevCentral: Different Blocking pages for different violation?

F5 REST-API (iControlREST)

iControlREST Home

Find the documentation about the F5 REST-API here:

https://clouddocs.f5.com/api/icontrol-rest/

Examples

GTM

Get GTM Pool fallbackIp

curl -sku admin:<password> https://<f5-bigip>/mgmt/tm/gtm/pool/a\
| jq '.items[] | { name: .name, ip: .fallbackIp }'

F5 LTM Config Merge Procedure

Description

To Merge an LTM config from a F5 to another F5 you need to split the bigip.conf file into seperate config files which you need then to import on the destination F5.

Import the config parts with copy-paste into the terminal and with the following tmsh command:

load sys config from-terminal merge

It is recommended to check the config first with verify then check for any resulting errors:

load sys config from-terminal merge verify

Order of import

Importing the F5 config needs a specific order which is recommended. I did this many times and never had a problem migrating a config from one F5 to another.

Check for monitor passwords if used
For external monitors check if run scripts need to be converted. Copy the files from external monitors first if needed.

Check if iRules already exists on the destination F5

If ASM Policies are used, they need to be exported and imported on the new system. ASM Policies are configured in LTM Policies.

Check for invalid url! Since v12 for a location string you need to prepend it with "tcl:"

Check for passwords in the config

If 'ltm profile client-ssl' need to be migrated, clientssl files need to export/import first

Check if ifiles already exists on the destination F5.

Maybe you don't need to migrate this since it is already migrated with the ssl archive above

Check if ifile already exists on the destination F5

If you also migrating APM config you need to export-import now the APM access policies from the source to the destination F5

For migration you can set the new config to "dummy" ip-addresses. So is would be possible to "migrate" one VS by the other.
Only change the real ip-address on the source to a "dummy" ip-address and set the real ip-address on the destination F5.

Migration done...