f5networks.f5_modules.bigip_pool module – Manages F5 BIG-IP LTM pools

Note

This module is part of the f5networks.f5_modules collection (version 1.31.0).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install f5networks.f5_modules.

To use it in a playbook, specify: f5networks.f5_modules.bigip_pool.

New in f5networks.f5_modules 1.0.0

Synopsis

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

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

aggregate

aliases: pools

list / elements=dictionary

List of pool definitions to be created, modified, or removed.

When using aggregates, if one of the aggregate definitions is invalid, the aggregate run will fail, indicating the error it last encountered.

The module will NOT rollback any changes it has made prior to encountering the error.

The module also will not indicate which changes were made prior to failure. Therefore we strongly advise you run the module in check mode to ensure basic validation prior to executing this module.

description

string

Specifies descriptive text that identifies the pool.

lb_method

string

Load balancing method. When creating a new pool, if this value is not specified, the default of round-robin is used.

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"

metadata

any

Arbitrary key/value pairs you can attach to a pool. This is useful in situations where you might want to annotate a pool to be managed by Ansible.

Key names are stored as strings; this includes names that are numbers.

Values for all of the keys are stored as strings; this includes values that are numbers.

Data will be persisted, not ephemeral.

min_up_members

integer

Specifies the minimum number of pool members that must be up,

otherwise, the system takes the action specified in the min-up-members-action option.

Use this option for gateway pools in a redundant system where a unit number is applied to the pool.

This indicates the pool is configured only on the specified unit.

When creating a new pool, if this parameter is not specified, the default is 0.

min_up_members_action

string

Specifies the action to take if min_up_members_checking is enabled and the number of active pool members falls below the number specified in the min_up_members option.

When creating a new pool, if this parameter is not specified, the default is failover.

Choices:

  • "failover"

  • "reboot"

  • "restart-all"

min_up_members_checking

string

Enables or disables the min_up_members feature.

If you enable this feature, you must also specify a value for both the min_up_members and min_up_members_action options.

When creating a new pool, if this parameter is not specified, the default is disabled.

Choices:

  • "enabled"

  • "disabled"

monitor_type

aliases: availability_requirements_type

string

Monitor rule type when monitors is specified.

When creating a new pool, if this value is not specified, the default of and_list is used.

When single, ensures all specified monitors are checked, but additionally includes checks to make sure you only specified a single monitor.

When and_list, ensures all monitors are checked.

When m_of_n, ensures quorum of monitors are checked. m_of_n requires a quorum of 1 or greater be set either in the playbook, or already exist on the device.

Both single and and_list are functionally identical, as BIG-IP considers all monitors as “a list”.

Choices:

  • "and_list"

  • "m_of_n"

  • "single"

monitors

list / elements=string

Monitor template name list. If the partition is not provided as part of the monitor name, the partition option is used instead.

name

aliases: pool

string

Pool name

partition

string

Device partition on which to manage resources.

Default: "Common"

priority_group_activation

aliases: minimum_active_members

integer

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 is 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.

quorum

aliases: availability_requirements_at_least

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.

reselect_tries

integer

Sets the number of times the system tries to contact a pool member after a passive failure.

service_down_action

string

Sets the action to take when node goes down in pool.

Choices:

  • "none"

  • "reset"

  • "drop"

  • "reselect"

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

When present, guarantees the pool exists with the provided attributes.

When absent, removes the pool from the system.

Choices:

  • "absent"

  • "present" ← (default)

description

string

Specifies descriptive text that identifies the pool.

lb_method

string

Load balancing method. When creating a new pool, if this value is not specified, the default of round-robin is used.

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"

metadata

any

Arbitrary key/value pairs you can attach to a pool. This is useful in situations where you might want to annotate a pool to be managed by Ansible.

Key names are stored as strings; this includes names that are numbers.

Values for all of the keys are stored as strings; this includes values that are numbers.

Data will be persisted, not ephemeral.

min_up_members

integer

Specifies the minimum number of pool members that must be up,

otherwise, the system takes the action specified in the min-up-members-action option.

Use this option for gateway pools in a redundant system where a unit number is applied to the pool.

This indicates the pool is configured only on the specified unit.

When creating a new pool, if this parameter is not specified, the default is 0.

min_up_members_action

string

Specifies the action to take if min_up_members_checking is enabled and the number of active pool members falls below the number specified in the min_up_members option.

When creating a new pool, if this parameter is not specified, the default is failover.

Choices:

  • "failover"

  • "reboot"

  • "restart-all"

min_up_members_checking

string

Enables or disables the min_up_members feature.

If you enable this feature, you must also specify a value for both the min_up_members and min_up_members_action options.

When creating a new pool, if this parameter is not specified, the default is disabled.

Choices:

  • "enabled"

  • "disabled"

monitor_type

aliases: availability_requirements_type

string

Monitor rule type when monitors is specified.

When creating a new pool, if this value is not specified, the default of and_list is used.

When single, ensures all specified monitors are checked, but additionally includes checks to make sure you only specified a single monitor.

When and_list, ensures all monitors are checked.

When m_of_n, ensures quorum of monitors are checked. m_of_n requires a quorum of 1 or greater be set either in the playbook, or already exist on the device.

Both single and and_list are functionally identical, as BIG-IP considers all monitors as “a list”.

Choices:

  • "and_list"

  • "m_of_n"

  • "single"

monitors

list / elements=string

Monitor template name list. If the partition is not provided as part of the monitor name, the partition option is used instead.

name

aliases: pool

string

Pool name

partition

string

Device partition on which to manage resources.

Default: "Common"

priority_group_activation

aliases: minimum_active_members

integer

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 is 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.

provider

dictionary

added in f5networks.f5_modules 1.0.0

A dict object containing connection details.

auth_provider

string

Configures the auth provider for to obtain authentication tokens from the remote device.

This option is really used when working with BIG-IQ devices.

no_f5_teem

boolean

If yes, TEEM telemetry data is not sent to F5.

You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_TELEMETRY_OFF.

Previously used variable F5_TEEM is deprecated as its name was confusing.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

password

aliases: pass, pwd

string / required

The password for the user account used to connect to the BIG-IP or the BIG-IQ.

You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_PASSWORD.

server

string / required

The BIG-IP host or the BIG-IQ host.

You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_SERVER.

server_port

integer

The BIG-IP server port.

You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_SERVER_PORT.

Default: 443

timeout

integer

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

Configures the transport connection to use when connecting to the remote device.

Choices:

  • "rest" ← (default)

user

string / required

The username to connect to the BIG-IP or the BIG-IQ. This user must have administrative privileges on the device.

You may omit this option by setting the environment variable F5_USER.

validate_certs

boolean

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.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

quorum

aliases: availability_requirements_at_least

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

aliases: purge

boolean

Removes pools not defined in the aggregate parameter.

This operation is all or none, meaning it will stop if there are some pools that cannot be removed.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

reselect_tries

integer

Sets the number of times the system tries to contact a pool member after a passive failure.

service_down_action

string

Sets the action to take when node goes down in pool.

Choices:

  • "none"

  • "reset"

  • "drop"

  • "reselect"

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

When present, guarantees the pool exists with the provided attributes.

When absent, removes the pool from the system.

Choices:

  • "absent"

  • "present" ← (default)

Notes

Note

  • 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 f5networks.f5_modules.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: Set multiple monitors (at least 2 must succeed)
  bigip_pool:
    state: present
    name: my-pool
    partition: Common
    availability_requirements_type: m_of_n
    availability_requirements_at_least: 2
    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: present
    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: true
    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

Description

description

string

Description set on the pool.

Returned: changed

Sample: "Pool of web servers"

lb_method

string

The load balancing method set for the pool.

Returned: changed

Sample: "round-robin"

metadata

dictionary

The new value of the pool.

Returned: changed

Sample: {"key1": "foo", "key2": "bar"}

monitor_type

string

Changed value for the monitor_type of the pool.

Returned: changed

Sample: "m_of_n"

monitors

list / elements=string

Monitors set on the pool.

Returned: changed

Sample: ["/Common/http", "/Common/gateway_icmp"]

priority_group_activation

integer

The new minimum number of members to activate the priority group.

Returned: changed

Sample: 10

quorum

integer

The quorum that was set on the pool.

Returned: changed

Sample: 2

replace_all_with

boolean

Purges all non-aggregate pools from device

Returned: changed

Sample: true

reselect_tries

integer

The new value set for the number of tries to contact member.

Returned: changed

Sample: 10

service_down_action

string

Service down action that is set on the pool.

Returned: changed

Sample: "reset"

slow_ramp_time

integer

The new value set for the slow ramp-up time.

Returned: changed

Sample: 500

Authors

  • Tim Rupp (@caphrim007)

  • Wojciech Wypior (@wojtek0806)