Create Fleet
Objective
This guide provides instructions on how to create a Fleet using F5® Distributed Cloud Console (Console). See Fleet for more information.
Fleet is used to configure infrastructure components (like nodes) in one or more F5® Distributed Cloud Services Customer Edge (CE) sites homogeneously. Fleet configuration includes the following information:
-
Software image release to be deployed on the Fleet
-
Virtual networks
-
List of interface and devices to be configured on every node
-
Connections between the virtual networks
-
Security policies applied in the Site
Associating Fleet with Site
Fleet has a field called fleet_label
. When a Fleet object is created, the system automatically creates a known_label
ves.io/fleet=
. The known_label
is created in the Shared
namespace for the tenant. A site is made a "member of Fleet" when this known_label
is added to the site. A site can have at most one known_label
of type ves.io/fleet
and hence belongs to exactly one Fleet at any given time.
When a Site becomes a member of a Fleet, all nodes in the site also become "members of that Fleet". The Fleet configuration is applied on all nodes that are members of the Fleet.
Note: You cannot add a fleet label to the following type of sites:
- F5® Distributed Cloud App Stack (App Stack) Site
- AWS VPC Site
- AWS TGW Site
- Azure VNet Site
- GCP VPC Site
Fleet and Virtual Site
Both Fleet and Virtual Site select a list of sites based on labels. But there is a major difference between Virtual Site and Fleet. Virtual sites are intersecting subsets of available sites. Fleet is a non-intersecting subset of available sites compared to other Fleets. As a result, at most one Fleet configuration is applied on a site. Also, while a Virtual Site
selects sites based on their labels (via the Virtual Site configured label selectors), the Fleet must be applied in the sites that you want to be part of that Fleet (it does not select them).
However, to enable other features like monitoring, deploying applications or jobs on sites represented by Fleet, the system will automatically create a Virtual Site in the Shared
namespace representing all sites in a Fleet.
Using the instructions provided in this guide, you will be able to create a Fleet, with all its elements, and apply to your site, making it part of this Fleet.
Prerequisites
-
A Distributed Cloud Services Account is required. If you do not have an account, see Create an Account.
-
One or more Sites.
Configuration
The following video shows you how to create a Fleet with the required network configuration and application for your gateways:
Create Fleet
You can create and configure a Fleet label to apply to your sites, to perform software and operating system upgrades as well as other administrative tasks.
Step 1: Start creating Fleet in Console.
-
Log into Console.
-
Click
Multi-Cloud Network Connect
.
Figure: Console Homepage
-
Click
Manage
>Site Management
>Fleets
. -
Click
Add Fleet
.
Step 2: Add your Fleet name and metadata.
-
In the
Metadata
section, enter a mandatory Fleet name in theName
field. -
Optionally, select a label and enter a short description.
Figure: Add Fleet Name
Step 3: Configure your Fleet label, virtual networks, and software versions.
-
In the
Fleet Configuration
section, enter a mandatory value for the Fleet label in theFleet Label Value
field. -
Configure the following optional fields:
-
Select an outside virtual network from the
Outside (Site Local) Virtual Network
menu. To create a new network, clickAdd Item
. In the page that appears, configure the fields. After you finish, clickContinue
. -
Select an inside virtual network from the
Site Local Inside Virtual Network
menu. To create a new network, clickAdd Item
. In the page that appears, configure the fields. After you finish, clickContinue
. -
In the
Software Version
field, enter a software version. -
In the
Operating System Version
field, enter an operating system version.
-
Figure: Fleet Configuration
Step 4: Select or create network interfaces for the sites in your Fleet.
-
To add and configure a new bond device:
-
From the
Select Bond Configuration
menu, select if you want to configure a new bond interface withConfigure Bond Interfaces
. The option forNo Bond Devices
is set by default. -
Click
Add Item
. -
From the
Bond Device Name
menu, clickSee Common Values
. Select a value from the list displayed or type a custom name. -
In the
Member Ethernet Devices
section, clickSee Suggestions
from theMember Ethernet Devices
menu. Select a value from the options displayed or type a custom name. You can add more member devices using theAdd Item
option. -
From the
Select Bond Mode
menu, select how the bonding occurs. If you selectLACP (802.3ad)
, enter a packet interval value in theLACP Packet Interval
field. -
Click
Apply
.
-
-
Perform the following to configure non-bond interfaces:
-
From the
Select Interface Config
menu, select your interface configuration from the options available. TheDefault Interface Config
option does not require more configuration. -
If you select
List of Interfaces
, select as many interfaces as needed. To add more, clickAdd Item
. -
If you select
Legacy Device List
, clickAdd Item
and perform the following:-
Enter the required information for
Device Name
,Device Owner
,Device Instance
andUse
. -
Click
Apply
.
-
-
Figure: Fleet Network Interface
Step 5: Configure network connectors.
-
To select an existing network connector:
-
In the
Network Connectors
section, clickAdd Item
. -
From the list that appears, find and select the network connector, and then click
Select Network Connector
.
-
-
To create a new connector, click
Add Item
.
Figure: Fleet Network Connector
- Complete the configuration using the instructions provided at Network Connectors.
Step 6: Select or create a network firewall for your Fleet.
The Network Firewall object is used to configure network policies, forward and reverse proxies, and Distributed Cloud Services Fast Access Control Lists (ACLs). After this object is configured, it is applied to all sites within a Fleet and any associated virtual networks.
-
To select an existing network firewall, use the
Network Firewall
drop-down menu to search for the network firewall. -
To create a new network firewall, click
Add Item
.
Figure: Fleet Network Firewall
- Complete the configuration using the instructions provided at Network Firewall.
Step 7: Configure Fleet storage.
In the Storage Configuration
section, configure storage for your Fleet of sites using the instructions provided at Configure Storage in Fleet.
Step 8: Configure static routes and other advanced settings.
The settings in the Advanced Configuration
section enable you to configure more options for your Fleet.
Step 8.1: Configure new static route.
-
To configure a new static route:
-
From the
Select Storage Static Routes
menu, clickList of Storage Static Routes
. -
Click
Add Item
to display the form.
-
Figure: New Static Route
-
On the static route creation form, configure the following:
-
For the subnet configuration, click
Add Item
. Select the IP version for the new route, any prefixes and prefix lengths, and then clickApply
. -
In the
Nexthop
section, optionally perform configuration for route gateway, IP version, and network interface. -
Optionally, use
Add Label
to group routes together for network policies. -
Optionally, use the
Attributes
menu to select attributes for this new route. -
After you finish, click
Apply
.
-
Step 8.2: Configure other options.
-
To configure more options, click
Show Advanced Fields
and perform the following:-
To configure the cluster group, follow the instructions provided at Create App Stack Site.
-
To configure the GPU, follow the instructions provided at Deploy GPU Workload Using vK8s.
-
To configure log streaming, follow the instructions provided at Configure Streaming of Logs.
-
To configure USB device policy, follow the instructions provided at Manage USB Devices Using Fleet.
-
Step 9: Enable Fleet configuration download.
In the Advanced Configuration
section, optionally enable the default Fleet configuration download option with Enable Default Fleet Config Download
.
Note: You must enable the default Fleet configuration download if you configured the GPU and storage settings.
Figure: Enable Fleet Configuration Download
Step 10: Block services.
You can have your Fleet block services, like Web, DNS, and SSH.
In the Blocked Services
section, click Add Item
to configure blocked services.
Step 11: Complete Fleet configuration.
After you finish, click Save and Exit
.
Apply Fleet Label to Site
After your Fleet is configured, you will need to apply its label on your sites so that the sites are configured with the Fleet settings.
Step 1: Navigate to your site.
-
To edit a non-cloud site, click
Overview
, and then clickSites
. -
Find your site, click
...
and then clickManage Configuration
. -
Click
Edit Configuration
.
Step 2: Apply the Fleet label.
-
In the
Labels
box form, clickAdd Label
. Start by typing “fleet” and you will see the key-value pairves.io/fleet
. Select this key-value pair. -
Type the name of your Fleet label, and then select it.
Step 3: Save the configuration.
Click Save and Exit
.
Your site is now part of the Fleet that you previously configured.