bigip_pool – Manages F5 BIG-IP LTM pools

Synopsis

  • Manages F5 BIG-IP LTM pools via iControl REST API.

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments
aggregate
list
added in 2.8
List of pool definitions to be created, modified or removed.

aliases: pools
description
string
added in 2.3
Specifies descriptive text that identifies the pool.
lb_method
string
    Choices:
  • dynamic-ratio-member
  • dynamic-ratio-node
  • fastest-app-response
  • fastest-node
  • least-connections-member
  • least-connections-node
  • least-sessions
  • observed-member
  • observed-node
  • predictive-member
  • predictive-node
  • ratio-least-connections-member
  • ratio-least-connections-node
  • ratio-member
  • ratio-node
  • ratio-session
  • round-robin
  • weighted-least-connections-member
  • weighted-least-connections-node
Load balancing method. When creating a new pool, if this value is not specified, the default of round-robin will be used.
metadata
raw
added in 2.5
Arbitrary key/value pairs that you can attach to a pool. This is useful in situations where you might want to annotate a pool to me managed by Ansible.
Key names will be stored as strings; this includes names that are numbers.
Values for all of the keys will be stored as strings; this includes values that are numbers.
Data will be persisted, not ephemeral.
monitor_type
string
    Choices:
  • and_list
  • m_of_n
  • single
Monitor rule type when monitors is specified.
When creating a new pool, if this value is not specified, the default of 'and_list' will be used.
When single ensures that all specified monitors are checked, but additionally includes checks to make sure you only specified a single monitor.
When and_list ensures that all monitors are checked.
When m_of_n ensures that quorum of monitors are checked. m_of_n requires that a quorum of 1 or greater be set either in the playbook, or already existing on the device.
Both single and and_list are functionally identical since BIG-IP considers all monitors as "a list".
monitors
list
Monitor template name list. If the partition is not provided as part of the monitor name, then the partition option will be used instead.
name
string / required
Pool name

aliases: pool
partition
string
added in 2.5
 Default:
"Common"
Device partition to manage resources on.
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
priority_group_activation
integer
added in 2.6
Specifies whether the system load balances traffic according to the priority number assigned to the pool member.
When creating a new pool, if this parameter is not specified, the default of 0 will be used.
To disable this setting, provide the value 0.
Once you enable this setting, you can specify pool member priority when you create a new pool or on a pool member's properties screen.
The system treats same-priority pool members as a group.
To enable priority group activation, provide a number from 0 to 65535 that represents the minimum number of members that must be available in one priority group before the system directs traffic to members in a lower priority group.
When a sufficient number of members become available in the higher priority group, the system again directs traffic to the higher priority group.

aliases: minimum_active_members
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.
quorum
integer
Monitor quorum value when monitor_type is m_of_n.
Quorum must be a value of 1 or greater when monitor_type is m_of_n.
replace_all_with
boolean
added in 2.8
    Choices:
  • no ←
  • yes
Remove pools not defined in the aggregate parameter.
This operation is all or none, meaning that it will stop if there are some pools that cannot be removed.

aliases: purge
reselect_tries
integer
added in 2.2
Sets the number of times the system tries to contact a pool member after a passive failure.
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.
service_down_action
string
    Choices:
  • none
  • reset
  • drop
  • reselect
Sets the action to take when node goes down in pool.
slow_ramp_time
integer
Sets the ramp-up time (in seconds) to gradually ramp up the load on newly added or freshly detected up pool members.
state
string
added in 2.5
    Choices:
  • absent
  • present ←
When present, guarantees that the pool exists with the provided attributes.
When absent, removes the pool from the system.
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

  • To add members to a pool, use the bigip_pool_member module. Previously, the bigip_pool module allowed the management of members, but this has been removed in version 2.5 of Ansible.
  • 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 pool
  bigip_pool:
    state: present
    name: my-pool
    partition: Common
    lb_method: least-connections-member
    slow_ramp_time: 120
    provider:
      server: lb.mydomain.com
      user: admin
      password: secret
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Modify load balancer method
  bigip_pool:
    state: present
    name: my-pool
    partition: Common
    lb_method: round-robin
    provider:
      server: lb.mydomain.com
      user: admin
      password: secret
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Set a single monitor (with enforcement)
  bigip_pool:
    state: present
    name: my-pool
    partition: Common
    monitor_type: single
    monitors:
      - http
    provider:
      server: lb.mydomain.com
      user: admin
      password: secret
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Set a single monitor (without enforcement)
  bigip_pool:
    state: present
    name: my-pool
    partition: Common
    monitors:
      - http
    provider:
      server: lb.mydomain.com
      user: admin
      password: secret
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Set multiple monitors (all must succeed)
  bigip_pool:
    state: present
    name: my-pool
    partition: Common
    monitor_type: and_list
    monitors:
      - http
      - tcp
    provider:
      server: lb.mydomain.com
      user: admin
      password: secret
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Set multiple monitors (at least 1 must succeed)
  bigip_pool:
    state: present
    name: my-pool
    partition: Common
    monitor_type: m_of_n
    quorum: 1
    monitors:
      - http
      - tcp
    provider:
      server: lb.mydomain.com
      user: admin
      password: secret
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Delete pool
  bigip_pool:
    state: absent
    name: my-pool
    partition: Common
    provider:
      server: lb.mydomain.com
      user: admin
      password: secret
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Add metadata to pool
  bigip_pool:
    state: absent
    name: my-pool
    partition: Common
    metadata:
      ansible: 2.4
      updated_at: 2017-12-20T17:50:46Z
    provider:
      server: lb.mydomain.com
      user: admin
      password: secret
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Add pools Aggregate
  bigip_pool:
    aggregate:
      - name: my-pool
        partition: Common
        lb_method: least-connections-member
        slow_ramp_time: 120
      - name: my-pool2
        partition: Common
        lb_method: least-sessions
        slow_ramp_time: 120
      - name: my-pool3
        partition: Common
        lb_method: round-robin
        slow_ramp_time: 120
    provider:
      server: lb.mydomain.com
      user: admin
      password: secret
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Add pools Aggregate, purge others
  bigip_pool:
    aggregate:
      - name: my-pool
        partition: Common
        lb_method: least-connections-member
        slow_ramp_time: 120
      - name: my-pool2
        partition: Common
        lb_method: least-sessions
        slow_ramp_time: 120
      - name: my-pool3
        partition: Common
        lb_method: round-robin
        slow_ramp_time: 120
    replace_all_with: yes
    provider:
      server: lb.mydomain.com
      user: admin
      password: secret
  delegate_to: localhost

Return Values

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

Key Returned Description
description
string
 changed
Description set on the pool.

Sample:
Pool of web servers
lb_method
string
 changed
The LB method set for the pool.

Sample:
round-robin
metadata
dictionary
 changed
The new value of the pool.

Sample:
{'key1': 'foo', 'key2': 'bar'}
monitor_type
string
 changed
The contact that was set on the datacenter.

Sample:
monitors
list
 changed
Monitors set on the pool.

Sample:
['/Common/http', '/Common/gateway_icmp']
priority_group_activation
integer
 changed
The new minimum number of members to activate the priority group.

Sample:
10
quorum
integer
 changed
The quorum that was set on the pool.

Sample:
2
replace_all_with
boolean
 changed
Purges all non-aggregate pools from device

Sample:
True
reselect_tries
integer
 changed
The new value that is set for the number of tries to contact member.

Sample:
10
service_down_action
string
 changed
Service down action that is set on the pool.

Sample:
reset
slow_ramp_time
integer
 changed
The new value that is set for the slow ramp-up time.

Sample:
500


Status

Authors

  • Tim Rupp (@caphrim007)
  • Wojciech Wypior (@wojtek0806)

Hint

If you notice any issues in this documentation you can edit this document to improve it.

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2019 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.8/modules/bigip_pool_module.html