Introduction
This HOWTO cover how to configure XEN in order to be able to run F5 BIG-IP as a virtual machine (DomU) on Debian.
Preperation and installation
Make sure you have at least 160 GB available in a Volume Group.
Download Image file set for KVM Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS ver 6.3/6.4
In this HOWTO we use BIG-IP 12.0.0.0.0.606. We have created a directory called /opt/images where we download the zip file BIGIP-12.0.0.0.0.606.ALL.qcow2.zip
.
Unzip the file with: unzip BIGIP-12.0.0.0.0.606.ALL.qcow2.zip
, which will create two new files BIGIP-12.0.0.0.0.606.DATASTOR.ALL.qcow2 and BIGIP-12.0.0.0.0.606.qcow2
Create two Logical Volumes in LVM for the disks
Find out the size of the first image by using the command:
qemu-img info BIGIP-12.0.0.0.0.606.DATASTOR.ALL.qcow2
image: BIGIP-12.0.0.0.0.606.DATASTOR.ALL.qcow2
file format: qcow2
virtual size: 20G (21474836480 bytes)
disk size: 384K
cluster_size: 65536
Format specific information:
compat: 0.10
Now create a corresponding Logical Volume:
lvcreate -n bigip-datastor -L 21474836480B <path to volume group>
Find out the size of the second image by using the command:
qemu-img info BIGIP-12.0.0.0.0.606.qcow2
image: BIGIP-12.0.0.0.0.606.qcow2
file format: qcow2
virtual size: 139G (149250113536 bytes)
disk size: 2.9G
cluster_size: 65536
Format specific information:
compat: 0.10
Now create a corresponding Logical Volume:
lvcreate -n bigip -L 149250113536B <path to volume group>
Extract the images into the Logical Volumes
qemu-img convert -O raw BIGIP-12.0.0.0.0.606.DATASTOR.ALL.qcow2 PATH_TO_YOUR_LOGICAL_VOLUME
Example: qemu-img convert -O raw BIGIP-12.0.0.0.0.606.DATASTOR.ALL.qcow2 /dev/vg_md0/bigip-datastor
qemu-img convert -O raw BIGIP-12.0.0.0.0.606.qcow2 PATH_TO_YOUR_LOGICAL_VOLUME
Example: qemu-img convert -O raw BIGIP-12.0.0.0.0.606.qcow2 /dev/vg_md0/bigip
Create your Xen configuration file
/etc/xen/bigip.cfg
builder = 'hvm'
memory = '1024'
vcpus = 1
# Adjust Logical Volume path to your location
disk = [
'phy:/dev/vg_md0/bigip,ioemu:hda,w',
'phy:/dev/vg_md0/bigip-datastor,ioemu:hdc,w',
]
# Hostname
name = 'bigip'
# Networking, Adapt bridge to your needs
# In Xen 4.4 it is only possible to have 4 emulated network interfaces
vif = [
'mac=00:16:3E:B6:AA:C1, bridge=br_200, model=e1000',
'mac=00:16:3E:B6:AA:C2, bridge=br_201, model=e1000',
'mac=00:16:3E:B6:AA:C3, bridge=br_202, model=e1000',
'mac=00:16:3E:B6:AA:C4, bridge=br_203, model=e1000',
]
# Boot on disk first then on cdrom
boot = 'cd'
vnc = 1
vncviewer = 0
# Bind to port 5910, should be unique for each virtual server
vncdisplay = 10
sdl = 0
Start the virtual machine
xl create /etc/xen/bigip.cfg
NOTE: On Wheezy and earlier use xm instead of xl
Start VNC and connect to port 5910, this will give you access to the graphical console of the virtual machine.
NOTE: You might need to port forward the VNC port if you are using SSH to access your Xen Server.
ssh <IP to your Xen Server> -L 5910:127.0.0.1:5910
In this case use vncviewer localhost:10
to connect to the console.
NOTE: The virtual machine will scan the drives on first boot and then reboot. When the virtual machine reboot you will loose the VNC connection and you have to reconnect to the console using vncviewer as described above.
Login to the console
The Default Username is root and the password is default
Click here for a list of all default usernames and passwords