Learn DevOps techniques for the onboarding of and deploying apps to BIG-IP. Start by reviewing the Linux command line and then review basic BIG-IP concepts such as F5 terminology, round robin server pool load balancing, health monitor checks, layer 4 proxying and source address translation both in lecture and in hands-on labs. Next, focus on automation and DevOps concepts such as Infrastructure as Code, the role of orchestration, Source of Truth, atomicity, idempotency and imperative vs. declarative operations and their APIs.

Dive into JSON, the standard scripting notation for DevOps, and investigate programming BIG-IP systems using JSON-based iControl REST. Discover onboarding BIG-IP using iControl REST, both in lecture and hands-on labs.

In both lecture and lab, explore F5’s declarative API, AS3, as the application source of truth. Use AS3 to deploy applications to BIG-IP using both curl on the command line and the Postman GUI. Use the F5 declarative onboarding API, DO, for managing the entire onboarding process.

• Review Automation and DevOps concepts
• Describe the components of iControl REST calls and how they interact with BIG-IP
• Stand up and configure BIG-IP applications using iControl REST
• Describe the installation and use of AS3 and DO iApp LX components
• Automate the onboarding and configuration of BIG-IP
• Add advanced tools like Postman and Newman to your toolkit

Course Topics

• Review the Linux Command Line
• Review BIG-IP Application Creation
• Discuss Automation and DevOps Concepts
• Configuring BIG-IP with iControl REST
• Automating BIG-IP configuration with Application Services Extension 3 (AS3)
• Automating BIG-IP onboarding with Declarative Onboarding (DO)

Chapter 1: Linux Command Line Review

• Navigating the Linux File System
• Creating and Deleting Files and Directories
• Copying and Moving Files
• Command Line Auto-Completion and Editing
• Tools for Analyzing Test Results and Inspecting Log Files

Chapter 2: BIG-IP Application Creation Review

• Understanding Load Balancing Basics
• Configuring Virtual Servers, Pools, Pool Members and Nodes
• Configuring Health Monitors and SSL Profiles
• Understanding the Full Proxy Architecture and Source Address Translation

Chapter 3: Automation and DevOps Concepts

• Understanding Infrastructure as Code, NetOps and DevOps
• Differentiating Automation and Orchestration Concepts
• Diving into DevOps Concepts such as Idempotency, Atomicity and Imperative vs Declarative

Chapter 4: Programming BIG-IP with iControl REST

• Introducing Basic JavaScript Types
• Introducing JavaScript Object Notation
• Discovering an existing BIG-IP Configuration using iControl REST
• Deploying Apps on BIG-IP using iControl REST
• Onboarding BIG-IP using iControl REST
• Working with JSON Programmatically

Chapter 5: Automating BIG-IP with AS3

• Introducing BIG-IP Applications Services Extension 3
• Creating BIG-IP Applications using AS3 with Curl
• Introducing Postman and Postman Tests
• Creating BIG-IP Applications using AS3 with Postman
• Using Newman and the Linux CLI to Create BIG-IP Applications with AS3

Chapter 6: Onboarding BIG-IP with DO

• Introducing Declarative Onboarding for BIG-IP
• Remotely Installing the Declarative Onboarding iApp LX
• Onboarding BIG-IP Declaratively

This course is intended for network administrators and operators and DevOps engineers interested in automating tasks on BIG-IP systems in their public and private Clouds as well as in their datacenter infrastructure.

Students should be familiar with and be able to configure basic BIG-IP elements such as:

• Virtual Servers
• Pools, Pool Members and Nodes
• Pool Monitors
• Basic Virtual Server Profiles

Students should also be familiar with the basics of the Linux command line. In addition, the following general technical knowledge should be well understood:

• Layer 2 Ethernet and ARP networking concepts
• Layer 3 and 4 TCP/IP networking concepts, including IP addressing and subnetting
• Layer 7 HTTP networking concepts
• Linux command line and basic Linux commands
• HTML

Finally, nice-to-have knowledge includes familiarity with programming and/or scripting languages, such as:

• JavaScript or NodeJS
• Python
• Bash