bigip_device_group – Manage device groups on a BIG-IP

New in version 2.5.

Synopsis

  • Managing device groups allows you to create HA pairs and clusters of BIG-IP devices. Usage of this module should be done in conjunction with the bigip_configsync_actions to sync configuration across the pair or cluster if auto-sync is disabled.

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments
auto_sync
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Indicates whether configuration synchronization occurs manually or automatically.
When creating a new device group, this option will default to no.
description
string
Description of the device group.
full_sync
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Specifies whether the system synchronizes the entire configuration during synchronization operations.
When no, the system performs incremental synchronization operations, based on the cache size specified in max_incremental_sync_size.
Incremental configuration synchronization is a mechanism for synchronizing a device-group's configuration among its members, without requiring a full configuration load for each configuration change.
In order for this to work, all devices in the device-group must initially agree on the configuration. Typically this requires at least one full configuration load to each device.
When creating a new device group, this option will default to no.
max_incremental_sync_size
integer
Specifies the size of the changes cache for incremental sync.
For example, using the default, if you make more than 1024 KB worth of incremental changes, the system performs a full synchronization operation.
Using incremental synchronization operations can reduce the per-device sync/load time for configuration changes.
This setting is relevant only when full_sync is no.
name
string / required
Specifies the name of the device group.
network_failover
boolean
added in 2.7
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Indicates whether failover occurs over the network or is hard-wired.
This parameter is only valid for type's that are sync-failover.
password
string / required
The password for the user account used to connect to the BIG-IP.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_PASSWORD.

aliases: pass, pwd
provider
dictionary
added in 2.5
A dict object containing connection details.
password
string / required
The password for the user account used to connect to the BIG-IP.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_PASSWORD.

aliases: pass, pwd
server
string / required
The BIG-IP host.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_SERVER.
server_port
integer
Default:
443
The BIG-IP server port.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_SERVER_PORT.
ssh_keyfile
path
Specifies the SSH keyfile to use to authenticate the connection to the remote device. This argument is only used for cli transports.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable ANSIBLE_NET_SSH_KEYFILE.
timeout
integer
Default:
10
Specifies the timeout in seconds for communicating with the network device for either connecting or sending commands. If the timeout is exceeded before the operation is completed, the module will error.
transport
string
    Choices:
  • cli
  • rest ←
Configures the transport connection to use when connecting to the remote device.
user
string / required
The username to connect to the BIG-IP with. This user must have administrative privileges on the device.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_USER.
validate_certs
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes ←
If no, SSL certificates are not validated. Use this only on personally controlled sites using self-signed certificates.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_VALIDATE_CERTS.
save_on_auto_sync
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
When performing an auto-sync, specifies whether the configuration will be saved or not.
When no, only the running configuration will be changed on the device(s) being synced to.
When creating a new device group, this option will default to no.
server
string / required
The BIG-IP host.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_SERVER.
server_port
integer
added in 2.2
 Default:
443
The BIG-IP server port.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_SERVER_PORT.
state
string
    Choices:
  • present ←
  • absent
When state is present, ensures the device group exists.
When state is absent, ensures that the device group is removed.
type
string
    Choices:
  • sync-failover
  • sync-only
Specifies that the type of group.
A sync-failover device group contains devices that synchronize their configuration data and fail over to one another when a device becomes unavailable.
A sync-only device group has no such failover. When creating a new device group, this option will default to sync-only.
This setting cannot be changed once it has been set.
user
string / required
The username to connect to the BIG-IP with. This user must have administrative privileges on the device.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_USER.
validate_certs
boolean
added in 2.0
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes ←
If no, SSL certificates are not validated. Use this only on personally controlled sites using self-signed certificates.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_VALIDATE_CERTS.

Notes

Note

  • This module is primarily used as a component of configuring HA pairs of BIG-IP devices.

  • Requires BIG-IP >= 12.1.x.

  • For more information on using Ansible to manage F5 Networks devices see https://www.ansible.com/integrations/networks/f5.

  • Requires BIG-IP software version >= 12.

  • The F5 modules only manipulate the running configuration of the F5 product. To ensure that BIG-IP specific configuration persists to disk, be sure to include at least one task that uses the bigip_config module to save the running configuration. Refer to the module’s documentation for the correct usage of the module to save your running configuration.

Examples

- name: Create a sync-only device group
  bigip_device_group:
    name: foo-group
    provider:
      password: secret
      server: lb.mydomain.com
      user: admin
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Create a sync-only device group with auto-sync enabled
  bigip_device_group:
    name: foo-group
    auto_sync: yes
    provider:
      password: secret
      server: lb.mydomain.com
      user: admin
  delegate_to: localhost

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key Returned Description
auto_sync
boolean
 changed
The new auto_sync value of the device group.

Sample:
True
description
string
 changed
The new description of the device group.

Sample:
this is a device group
full_sync
boolean
 changed
The new full_sync value of the device group.
max_incremental_sync_size
integer
 changed
The new sync size of the device group

Sample:
1000
network_failover
boolean
 changed
Whether or not network failover is enabled.

Sample:
True
save_on_auto_sync
boolean
 changed
The new save_on_auto_sync value of the device group.

Sample:
True
type
string
 changed
The new type of the device group.

Sample:
sync-failover


Status

  • This module is guaranteed to have no backward incompatible interface changes going forward. [stableinterface]

  • This module is maintained by an Ansible Partner. [certified]

Authors

  • Tim Rupp (@caphrim007)

  • Wojciech Wypior (@wojtek0806)

Hint

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