Create Secure Mesh Site v2

• In Multi-Cloud Network Connect service, navigate to Manage > Site Management > Secure Mesh Sites v2.

• Select Add Secure Mesh Site to open the configuration form.

• In the Metadata section, enter a name for the site.

• Optionally, select labels and add a description.

• From the Provider Name menu, select the infrastructure provider from the options available. Refer to provider-specific documentation links below to bring up infrastructure in that provider:

  • VMware
  • KVM
  • AWS
  • Azure
  • GCP
  • F5 rSeries
  • Baremetal
  • OCI

• For the Orchestration Mode menu option, select Not Managed By F5XC. With this option, Distributed Cloud Services will not automate any infrastructure provisioning (like node bring up). You are expected to bring up infrastructure using the provider-specific manual workflows or using the provider specific automation tools, like Terraform.

• For the High Availability menu, choose an option. When disabled, the site supports only one node, which is a control node. Worker nodes cannot be added. When enabled, the site must have at least three nodes as control nodes and any additional nodes can be added as worker nodes.

Use the following steps to configure the regional edge (RE) site settings in the Regional Edge section. Your CE site will connect to the RE site for registration purposes.

Note: The configuration options in this section are set to standard default values. Therefore, it may not be necessary to customize any of the options unless you need customization only for advanced deployments.

• From the Regional Edge Selection menu, select the RE geography to use. The default option is use the geographically-closest RE site to where you are deploying your CE site.

• Optionally, select the site-to-site tunnel encryption type from the Tunnel Type menu. The default option is IPsec/SSL. When IPsec/SSL is used, IPsec takes priority.

• Optionally, configure the timeout value for site tunneling from the Tunnel Dead Timeout (msec) menu. The default option is zero (0) milliseconds.

• Optionally, enable the offline survivability feature from the Offline Survivability Mode menu. For more information, see the Manage Site Offline Survivability guide.

Use the following steps to configure the CE site networking settings in the Site Networking section.

Note: The configuration options in this section are set to standard default values. Therefore, it may not be necessary to customize any of the options unless you need customization only for advanced deployments.

• From the Site Local Outside Network menu, choose to keep the default option for the Site Local Outside interface. The SLO is required for workloads that connect to the public Internet/WAN. To configure the default SLO network, select Configure Site Local Outside Network and then click View Configuration. This uses static routes, the load balancer, and DNS server for that network.

• From the Site Local Inside Network menu, choose to keep the default option for the Site Local Inside interface. A Site Local Inside (SLI) interface is optional and is used for workloads on a private LAN. It is not enabled by default. To add an SLI network, select Configure Site Local Inside Network and then click View Configuration. This uses static routes, the load balancer, and DNS server for that network.

• To enable virtual IP address (VIP) redundancy when operating a CE in L2 mode: From the VRRP Mode menu, select Enable VRRP for VIP(s).

Use the following steps to configure the CE site networking settings in the Site To Site Connectivity section.

Note: The configuration options in this section are set to standard default values. Therefore, it may not be necessary to customize any of the options unless you need customization only for advanced deployments.

• To connect the site to other sites using the SLO network, from the Connect using SLO Local VRF menu, select an option:

  • Site Mesh Group: This option connects your site to other sites in a mesh network. You can connect using a public IP or a private IP. For more information, see the Site Mesh Group guide.

  • Member of DC Cluster Group: This option places your site within a Direct Connect (DC) Cluster Group. For more information, see the Configure DC Cluster Group guide.

• To connect the site to other sites using the SLI network, from the Connect using SLI Local VRF menu, select Member of DC Cluster Group. For more information, see the Configure DC Cluster Group guide.

Use the following steps to configure the CE site networking security settings in the Network Security section.

Note: The configuration options in this section are set to standard default values. Therefore, it may not be necessary to customize any of the options unless you need customization only for advanced deployments.

• From the Network Firewall menu, choose to enable an enhanced firewall. Select the firewall from the drop-down menu. Use Add Item to add more than one firewall. For more information, see the Network Firewall guide.

• From the Forward Proxy menu, choose to enable a forward proxy. Select the policy from the drop-down menu. Use Add Item to add more than one policy. The network traffic will be processed based on the order set. For more information, see the Forward Proxy Policies guide.

Use the following steps to configure the CE site performance mode in the Services & Resources section.

Note: The configuration option in this section is set to standard default values. Therefore, it may not be necessary to customize it unless you need customization only for advanced deployments.

• From the Performance Mode menu, select an option:

  • L7 Enhanced: This option optimizes the site for Layer 7 traffic processing.

  • L3 Enhanced: This option optimizes the site for Layer 3 traffic processing. Only choose this option if the site is used for L3 connectivity and not any L7 features. Select whether to use this feature with or without jumbo frames.

Important: The L3 Enhanced feature works on CE sites with a minimum of 5 cores and a minimum of 3 GB memory. Jumbo frames (Ethernet frames with a larger payload than the Ethernet standard maximum transmission unit of 1,500 bytes) are supported for L3 Enhanced. If L3 Enhanced is not enabled on all CE sites in a Site Mesh Group, the MTU configured on the site-to-site tunnel interfaces will not be consistent. Therefore, it is recommended to enable L3-focused performance mode on all sites participating in a Site Mesh Group.

• From the F5XC Software Version menu, keep the default selection of Latest SW Version or select F5XC Software Version to specify an older version number.

• From the Operating System Version menu, keep the default selection of Latest OS Version or select Operating System Version to specify an older version number.

• From the Node by Node Upgrade [BETA] menu, select how each worker node is upgraded. Note that this configuration does not apply to the control node(s).

• From the Logs Streaming menu, select Enable Logs Streaming to configure the syslog server. Keep Disable Logs Streaming selected if streaming is not required.

• To disable the web, SSH, and DNS services for your site, from the Node Local Services menu, select Disable Node Local Services. Click Add Item for each service you want to disable. By default, these services are enabled to help with site troubleshooting.

Click Save and Exit to complete creating the site. The Status field for the site object displays Validation in progress. After validation, the field displays Validation Succeeded.