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Using the F5 Router Plug-in

Overview

The F5 router plug-in is available starting in OpenShift Container Platform 3.0.2.

The F5 router plug-in is provided as a container image and run as a pod, just like the default HAProxy router. Deploying the F5 router is done similarly as well, using the oadm router command but providing additional flags (or environment variables) to specify the following parameters for the F5 BIG-IP® host:

Flag Description

--type=f5-router

Specifies that an F5 router should be launched (the default --type is haproxy-router).

--external-host

Specifies the F5 BIG-IP® host’s management interface’s host name or IP address.

--external-host-username

Specifies the F5 BIG-IP® user name (typically admin).

--external-host-password

Specifies the F5 BIG-IP® password.

--external-host-http-vserver

Specifies the name of the F5 virtual server for HTTP connections.

--external-host-https-vserver

Specifies the name of the F5 virtual server for HTTPS connections.

--external-host-private-key

Specifies the path to the SSH private key file for the F5 BIG-IP® host. Required to upload and delete key and certificate files for routes.

--external-host-insecure

A Boolean flag that indicates that the F5 router should skip strict certificate verification with the F5 BIG-IP® host.

As with the HAProxy router, the oadm router command creates the service and deployment configuration objects, and thus the replication controllers and pod(s) in which the F5 router itself runs. The replication controller restarts the F5 router in case of crashes. Because the F5 router is only watching routes and endpoints and configuring F5 BIG-IP® accordingly, running the F5 router in this way along with an appropriately configured F5 BIG-IP® deployment should satisfy high-availability requirements.

Deploying the F5 Router

The F5 router must be run in privileged mode because route certificates get copied using scp:

$ oadm policy remove-scc-from-user hostnetwork -z router
$ oadm policy add-scc-to-user privileged -z router

To deploy the F5 router:

  1. First, establish a tunnel using a ramp node, which allows for the routing of traffic to pods through the OpenShift Container Platform SDN.

  2. Run the oadm router command with the appropriate flags. For example:

    $ oadm router \
    --type=f5-router \
    --external-host=10.0.0.2 \
    --external-host-username=admin \
    --external-host-password=mypassword \
    --external-host-http-vserver=ose-vserver \
    --external-host-https-vserver=https-ose-vserver \
    --external-host-private-key=/path/to/key \
    --service-account=router