Ansible Automation Workshop - F5 BIG-IP Ansible Lab

In this lab, we focus on leveraging Ansible to manage F5 BigIP configurations efficiently. Ansible provides a powerful platform for automating network infrastructure tasks, enabling users to streamline configuration management, improve consistency, and increase scalability across their F5 BigIP devices.

• Setting Up the Environment: We begin by setting up the development environment, including installing Ansible, configuring Visual Studio Code, and preparing the Python virtual environment for Ansible automation.
• Working with Ansible Inventory: Understanding and managing inventory is crucial. We explore the static inventory files in different formats (INI and YAML), learn about groupings, host variables, and how to utilize the ansible-inventory command-line tool.
• Utilizing Ansible Playbooks: We dive into creating Ansible playbooks to automate tasks on F5 BigIP devices. This includes tasks such as backing up device configurations, managing VLANs, self-IPs, and routes, as well as configuring device-specific settings.
• Deploying Configuration Changes: With our playbooks ready, we execute them to deploy configuration changes to the F5 BigIP devices. We ensure that the configurations are applied correctly and consistently across all managed devices.
• Bonus Challenge: Active/Standby Configuration and Config Sync: For those seeking an extra challenge, we explore setting up an Active/Standby BigIP pair and performing configuration synchronization using Ansible modules. Despite the lack of declarative modules for device management tasks, we utilize imperative modules effectively.

Conclusion: By the end of the lab, participants will have gained hands-on experience in automating F5 BigIP configuration management using Ansible, empowering them to implement robust automation solutions in their network environments.

• Ubuntu Linux Jumpbox
  • Ansible Engine
  • Visual Studio Code
  • Python3
• 2 x F5 BIG-IP
• 2 x Ubuntu Web Servers
• 1 x Ubuntu Utils Server
  • BIND
  • NetBox