Access Site Local User Interface

Published April 5, 2023 | Last modified February 25, 2025

Objective

This guide provides instructions on how to access the local user interface (UI) for an F5® Distributed Cloud Services Customer Edge (CE) Site. The local UI is used to perform certain configuration and management functions locally from the site. The local UI is also used to obtain statuses related to the Distributed Cloud Services CE Site.

The various functions you can perform using the site local UI include:

Initial configuration for site provisioning
Network configuration for wired, wireless, and mobile carrier/LTE networks
Site status monitoring
Site services monitoring
Execute command-line interface (CLI) commands
Factory reset
Collect debug information

Using the instructions provided in this guide, you can access the site local UI and perform configuration functions.

Note: The site local UI is more useful in cases of private cloud data centers or Distributed Cloud Services hardware, where activities such as post-installation configuration are required.

Prerequisites

A Distributed Cloud Services account. If you do not have an account, see Getting Started with Console.
One of the following types of sites:
- An F5 Industrial Gateway (IGW) Series 5000/5500 hardware device: Ships with software pre-installed.
- A VMware virtual machine: See Create a VMware Site for installation instructions.
- A KVM/libvirt virtual machine: See Create a KVM/libvirt Site for installation instructions.
A site token. If you do not have a site token, see Create Site Token for instructions.

Site Local UI Operation

The site local UI operation includes initial configuration, provisioning configuration, and other advanced functions, such as monitoring, factory reset, and debug collection.

The following video shows you how to access the site local UI:

Perform Initial Configuration

For Distributed Cloud Services sites on private clouds or F5 IGW hardware devices, the initial configuration for site provisioning must be completed after the site software installation. This can be performed from the CLI or the site local UI.

This example covers initial configuration using the site local UI.

Note: For information on configuration using the CLI, see Site Management.

Perform the following steps:

Step 1: Power on your device and obtain the device IP address.

In cases of VMware or KVM sites, boot up your virtual machine after installing the software.
In case of F5 IGW hardware, connect to the power source and switch on the device.
In cases of VMware or KVM sites, find the IP address from the utilities, such as vSphere client or the virsh CLI tool.
In case of F5 IGW hardware, use tools such as a network scanner to find the IP address after connecting to your LAN.

Note: You can also obtain an IP address from the F5 IGW device display after connecting the WAN port to your local LAN.

Step 2: Log into the site local UI and change the default password.

Open a browser window and enter https://volterra.local:65500 or https://<device-ip-address>:65500. This loads the authentication popup window.
Enter admin and Volterra123 in the Username and Password fields, respectively.
Select Sign in. The site local UI loads, asking you to change the password.
Enter the current password.
Enter a new password and enter the same password in the confirmation field, and then select Change password.
Refresh the browser to sign in with your new password. The site local UI dashboard appears.

Step 3: Perform initial configuration for site provisioning.

The Status field in the dashboard shows Configuration.

Select Configure now to load the device configuration window.
Configure the fields per the following guidelines:
- Token: This is your site token and is mandatory for provisioning.
- Cluster name: Enter a cluster name. This is mandatory for provisioning. However, you can also set this during registration.
- Hostname: Optional field.
- Certified Hardware: This is populated by a default value, but you can change it from the drop-down list.
- Primary Outside NIC: This is populated by default to eth0, but you can change it from the drop-down list.
- Latitude: Optional field.
- Longitude: Optional field.
Select Save configuration.
Refresh the browser to update the status to Approval - indicating that site registration is pending approval.

Step 4: Perform registration.

Log into F5® Distributed Cloud Console (Console) and select Multi-Cloud Network Connect.

Figure: Console Homepage

Select Manage > Site Management > Registrations in the options. The Pending Registrations tab loads by default.
Check that a registration request is displayed for your site.
Select the blue checkmark symbol to approve the registration.
Enter the required fields in the registration acceptance form as applicable and select Accept. The approval may take a few seconds to update.
Go back to the site local UI and refresh the browser to ensure the status reflects Provisioning.
Wait for a few minutes and refresh again so that the status now displays Provisioned.

Figure: Site Provisioned

Monitor Site From Local UI

The site local UI loads the dashboard view by default. The site dashboard displays site status and detailed system information, such as CPU, memory, and hardware information.

Perform the following steps to monitor your site:

Step 1: Monitor site services.

Select Services on the left menu to load the Services status page. The status Ready indicates that the site services are ready for operation.

Figure: Site Service Monitoring

Select Refresh to obtain the latest status.

Step 2: Monitor DHCP lease.

Select DHCP leases on the left menu to check the DHCP lease information.

In this example, eth3 is the inside interface providing DHCP services to the network to which this interface is associated.

Figure: DHCP Leases Monitoring

In this example, no inside interfaces provide DHCP services to the network.

Figure: DHCP Leases Monitoring

Step 3: Monitor site status.

Select Status on the left menu to obtain detailed site status in JSON format.

Figure: Detailed Site Status

Perform Additional Functions

You can perform additional functions such as wireless network configuration, factory reset, collecting debug information, etc.

Perform the following steps to carry out additional functions.

Step 1: Configure wireless network access.

Note: The wireless configuration is typically performed for IGW hardware devices.

Step 1.1: Configure Wi-Fi settings.

Select WiFi settings on the left menu and wait for the wireless network scanning to complete.

Figure: Wi-Fi Settings

Select in the Network SSID field and select a network per your choice.
Select in the Security field to select the security type and enter the security information according to the security selection.
Select Apply Changes to save the Wi-Fi settings.
Select Scan for networks anytime to scan again and refresh the network list.

Note: If you need to reset the settings, select Reset form.

Step 1.2: Configure LTE settings.

Configuring LTE settings requires you to insert a mobile carrier LTE SIM card into the F5 IGW hardware device. Also, you must obtain the APN, username, and password from your LTE service provider.

Select LTE settings on the left menu to load the LTE settings form.
In the APN field, enter your access point name.
In the User and Password fields, respectively, enter your username and password.
In the PIN field, enter your connection PIN.

Figure: LTE Settings

Select Apply Changes to save the LTE settings.

Note: If you need to reset the settings, select Reset form.

Step 2: Change admin password.

From the menu on the left, select the Change password option.

Figure: Change Admin Password Form

Enter your current password.
Enter your new password twice, and then select Change password.

Figure: Change Admin Password Complete

To reset the form to empty, select Reset form.

Step 3: Execute CLI commands.

The site local UI provides you with a set of CLI commands to execute and obtain results.

From the menu on the left, select the Tools option.

Figure: Site Local UI Tools

From the Select tool drop-down menu, select a command to execute, and then select the blue button corresponding to the command. This example displays the Show Log command.

Figure: CLI Command Show Log

Step 4: Perform factory reset.

The site local UI provides you with an option to reset your node to factory settings.

From the menu on the left, select Factory reset.
Select Trigger factory reset. The site status in the dashboard shows Resetting. This process may take several minutes.

Figure: Factory Reset

Afterwards, you are required to perform initial configuration. Refresh the browser and perform the instructions listed in the Perform Initial Configuration chapter.

Note: You can also perform factory reset from Console. See Perform Factory Reset for more information.

Step 5: Collect debug information.

From the menu on the left, select Debug info to load the debug info window.

Figure: Site Debug Information

Select Collect Debug info and wait for the debug collection to complete.

Figure: Site Debug Information

Select Browse debug info files to display the debug information files collected.
Select the filepath to download a compressed file that contains the logs.

Figure: Download Logs File

To delete the logs, select Clean debug info files.

Figure: Delete Logs File