Create AWS Site with TGW
On This Page:
- Objective
- Design
- AWS TGW - Site Deployment & TGW Creation
- AWS TGW - VPC Attachments
- Network Policies
- Network Policies Between Attached VPCs (East-West Traffic)
- Network Policies for Ingress/Egress Traffic
- Forward Proxy Policy for Attached VPCs
- AWS Direct Connect Orchestration
- Prerequisites
- Deployment
- Create AWS TGW Site Object
- Deploy Site
- Delete AWS TGW Site
- Deploy Site Using Terraform
- Destroy Site
- Concepts
- API References
Objective
This guide provides instructions on how to create an F5® Distributed Cloud Services Amazon Web Services (AWS) Transit Gateway (TGW) site using F5® Distributed Cloud Console (Console). For more information on sites, see Site.
Using the instructions provided in this guide, you can create an AWS TGW site object in Console and deploy the virtual private cloud (VPC) with TGW site using the object.
Note: Configuring site mesh group is not supported for the sites deployed from Console.
Design
The AWS TGW Site is a way to orchestrate/automate the deployment and management of AWS TGW related resources and other resources needed to deploy an F5® Distributed Cloud Services AWS site on a new or existing VPC, which is called a Services VPC.
AWS TGW - Site Deployment & TGW Creation
An AWS TGW site does the following:
-
Automates the creation of the TGW resource, the TGW route table, and the VPN connection between the TGW and Distributed Cloud Services site.
-
Attaches the VPN connection to the TGW.
-
Adds the default routes to the main route table of the attached VPCs.
There are two TGW route tables which are created:
-
VPC route table.
-
Services route table.
The VPC route table is where all the VPC attachments will be attached, and the route will be propagated from the site via BGP over VPN attachment. The site advertised default route will be installed in the VPC route table so that it can attract all the traffic coming from the VPC attachments attached to the VPC route table.
The Services route table is where the VPN connection to the site is attached; the routes of VPC attached to the TGW will be propagated into the services route table. The same VPC CIDR routes will be learned by the site via the BGP connection to the TGW.
The following shows North-South traffic from the Spoke VPC, as indicated in Figure: AWS TGW - Services VPC + TGW + Single VPC Attachment.
-
Egress FROM Spoke VPC (HR): Traffic originating from source
192.168.100.0/22
lands in VPC route table. Traffic destined toANY
will match the0.0.0.0/0
route pointing to an Equal Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) toward interfacesvpn-att-4
andvpn-att-5
(which are the Distributed Cloud Services nodes installed in the service VPC), and is eventually sent out toward the TGW (after F5® Distributed Cloud Mesh features and policies are applied). -
Ingress TO Spoke VPC (HR): Traffic originating from source (anywhere) landing in the services route table will match on destination
192.168.100.0/22
. This has a matching interface ofvpc-att-3
. Traffic is then forwarded to the spoke VPC.
AWS TGW - VPC Attachments
You can create a VPC attachment of spoke VPC to TGW not only while creating the initial AWS TGW Site but also after the site is deployed. You can go to the VPC attachments section and add vpc-id, and then you can assign a key-value label for each vpc-id. These labels can be used while creating network policy to allow traffic between the VPCs and to the Internet.
Once VPC attachments are added to the AWS TGW Site and apply action is completed, all these VPCs will be attached to the TGW. These VPC attachments will be associated with the VPC route table so that all traffic coming from the VPC will be routed to the site because of the default route pointing to the VPN attachment. Same VPC attachments will be added to the services route table in a way that VPC CIDR routes are propagated to the Customer Edge (CE).
Site deployment workflow will create a default route pointing to the transit gateway in the main route table of all VPCs attached to the TGW.
East-West Traffic:
-
From the main route table of the VPC, the traffic will be directed toward the transit gateway because of the default route.
-
In the transit gateway’s VPC route table, a route lookup is done and moves to the site, which is the next hop (NH).
-
In the site’s route table, it will have all the VPC routes learned from TGW. The NH is set as TGW.
-
Next, the lookup is done in the services route table and goes to the destination VPC using the attachment.
North-South Traffic:
The following is the ingress/egress traffic flow from VPC to the Internet:
-
From the main route table of the VPC, the traffic will be directed toward the transit gateway because of the default route.
-
In the transit gateway’s VPC route table, a route lookup is done and then moves to the site, which is the next hop.
-
In the site route table, the default route points to the forward proxy, which connects the inside network to outside network. SNAT is performed on the outside interface and traffic is sent to the Internet.
Network Policies
The site can be your ingress/egress and East/West security policy enforcement point, as all the traffic coming from attached VPCs will flow through the site. If the traffic does not match the type defined in your network policy, then the default action will be to deny it.
Network Policies Between Attached VPCs (East-West Traffic)
It is a common use case for enterprises to have workloads of one department or environment spread across multiple VPCs, and one must be able to create a single network policy which could be applied for multiple VPCs attached.
For such scenarios, you can assign the same labels to group the VPCs attached to the TGW. The exact same labels can be used as the label selector while selecting an endpoint during network policy. You can then define ingress and egress policies with respect to that endpoint. This network policy will be applied for all traffic going towards or coming from the VPCs which match the label selector labels.
Network Policies for Ingress/Egress Traffic
Even for ingress/egress traffic, you can continue using a label selector to select the VPCs for which you are defining the network policy. You can define the egress policy by adding the egress rules from the point of VPC to deny/allow a specific traffic pattern. You can also add ingress rules to deny/allow traffic coming toward the endpoint based on the intent.
Forward Proxy Policy for Attached VPCs
Using a forward proxy policy, you can specify allowed/denied TLS domains or HTTP URLs. The traffic from workloads on private subnets toward the Internet via the AWS TGW site is allowed or denied accordingly.
AWS Direct Connect Orchestration
Direct Connect enables you to connect your on-premise data centers to a VPC in which the Distributed Cloud Services sites are hosted. Distributed Cloud Services automatically discovers the on-premise data center routes advertised by on-premise routers connected to AWS routers via Direct Connect. These routes will be learned on the inside network of the Site. There are two supported modes of Direct Connect private Virtual Interface (VIF).
Note: The prerequisite is that the Direct Connect connection is managed by the user.
Standard VIF: In this mode, site orchestration creates the Direct Connect gateway (DCGW) and Virtual Private Gateway (VGW). Ensure that you connect one or multiple VIFs to the DCGW.
Hosted VIF: In this mode, site orchestration accepts the configured list of VIFs delegated from the Direct Connect connection owner account to the hosted VIF acceptor account. You can set a list of VIF IDs to be accepted. The site orchestration then creates the DCGW, VGW, and connects the VIFs to the DCGW.
Prerequisites
The following prerequisites apply:
-
A Distributed Cloud Services Account. If you do not have an account, see Create an Account.
-
An AWS Account. See Required Access Policies for permissions needed to deploy an AWS TGW site.
-
Resources required per node: Minimum 4 vCPUs and 14 GB RAM.
-
There should be no pre-existing Site Local Outside, Site Local Inside, and Workload subnet association when attaching an existing VPC.
-
If Internet Gateway (IGW) is attached with the VPC, at least one of the routes should point to IGW in any route table of the VPC.
Deployment
The following video shows the AWS TGW site creation and site deployment workflow using Console:
AWS TGW site creation and management requires performing the following sequence of actions:
Phase | Description |
---|---|
Create AWS TGW Site Object | Create the TGW site object in Console using the guided wizard. |
Deploy Site | Deploy the VPC and site configured in the TGW site object using automated method. |
Create AWS TGW Site Object
The wizard to create the TGW site object guides you through the steps for required configuration. This document covers each guided step and explains the required actions to be performed for each step.
Perform the following steps:
Step 1: Start AWS TGW site object creation.
-
Log into Console.
-
Click
Cloud and Edge Sites
.
-
Click
Manage
>Site Management
>AWS TGW Sites
. -
Click
Add AWS TGW Site
.
- In the
Metadata
section, enter a name for your TGW site object.
Step 2: Configure the TGW and VPC settings.
-
In the
AWS Configuration
section, perform the following:-
Click
Configure
. -
From the
AWS Region
menu, select the region based on your AWS account.
-
Step 2.1: Configure services VPC.
-
From the
Select Services VPC
menu, select an option and configure per the following guidelines:-
For the
New VPC Parameters
option, select an option from theAWS VPC Name
menu. TheAutogenerate VPC Name
option is selected by default. If you select theChoose VPC Name
option, enter a VPC name in theChoose VPC Name
field. -
Enter the Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) block in the
Primary IPv4 CIDR block
field.
-
- For the
Existing VPC
option, enter an existing VPC name in theExisting VPC
field. If you use this option, you are required to enable theenable_dns_hostnames
field in the existing VPC configuration.
Step 2.2: Configure the TGW settings.
-
In the
Transit Gateway
section, select an option from theSelect Transit Gateway
menu, and configure per the following guidelines:-
For the
New TGW Parameters
option, select an option for theSelect BGP ASN
field. If you selectAutomatic
, Distributed Cloud Services assign the ASNs for the TGW and site. For theUser will assign ASN for TGW and F5XC Site
option, enter the ASNs forEnter TGW ASN
andEnter F5XC Site ASN
fields. The supported ASN range is from 64513 to 65534. -
For the
Existing TGW
option, enter the TGW ID in theExisting TGW ID
field. Enter the ASNs forEnter TGW ASN
andEnter F5XC Site ASN
fields.
-
Step 2.3: Configure site node parameters.
-
In the
Site Node Parameters
section, configure per the following guidelines:-
Select an option from the
AWS Instance Type for Node
menu. -
Enter your public key in the
Public SSH key
field for SSH access to your node later. -
In the
Ingress/Egress Gateway (two Interface) Nodes in AZ
field, clickAdd Item
. -
Select an option from the
AWS AZ Name
menu that matches the configuredAWS Region
. -
From the
Workload Subnet
menu, selectNew Subnet
orExisting Subnet ID
. -
Enter either a subnet address in the
IPv4 Subnet
field or a subnet ID inExisting Subnet ID
field. -
From the
Subnet for Outside Interface
menu, selectNew Subnet
orExisting Subnet ID
. -
Enter either a subnet address in the
IPv4 Subnet
field or a subnet ID in theExisting Subnet ID
field.
-
Note: Workload subnet is the network where your application workloads are hosted. For successful routing towards applications running in workload subnet, an inside static route to the workload subnet CIDR needs to be added on the respective site object.
Note: The
AWS Certified Hardware
option is set toaws-byol-multi-nic-voltmesh
by default. You can add more than one node using theAdd item
option.
- Click
Add Item
.
Step 2.4: Set the deployment type.
-
In the
Deployment
section, selectAutomatic Deployment
from theAutomatic Deployment
menu. -
Select an existing AWS credentials object or click
Create new Cloud Credential
to the load new credential creation wizard.
Note: Refer to the Cloud Credentials guide for more information. Ensure that the AWS credentials are applied with required access policies in accordance with the Policy Requirements document.
-
Click
Continue
. -
Click
Apply
to apply the settings to the AWS TGW object.
Step 3: Optionally, configure VPC attachments.
-
In the
VPC attachments
section, clickConfigure
. -
Click
Add Item
. -
Enter the VPC ID in the
VPC ID
field. Select labels from theLabels For VPC ID
menu. -
Click
Add Item
. -
Click
Apply
.
Note: You can add multiple VPC attachments using the
Add Item
button. You can add VPC attachments during AWS TGW site creation, or you can edit an existing TGW site configuration to add VPC attachments.
Step 4: Optionally, perform TGW network configuration.
-
In the
Network Configuration
section, clickConfigure
. -
Click
Show Advanced Fields
to enable the advanced options. -
From the
Manage Static Routes for Inside Network
menu, selectManage Static Routes
and perform configuration per the following guidelines for theList of Static Routes
field:-
Click
Add Item
. -
Select
Simple Static Route
and enter a static route in theSimple Static Route
field. Or, selectCustom Static Route
and then clickConfigure
and perform the following steps:-
In the
Subnets
section, clickAdd Item
and then selectIPv4
orIPv6
from theVersion
menu. Enter a prefix and prefix length for your subnet. ClickAdd Item
to set more subnets. -
In the
Nexthop
section, select a next-hop type from theType
menu. SelectIPv4
orIPv6
from theVersion
menu in theAddress
section, and enter an IP address accordingly. -
From the
Network Interface
menu, select a network interface or clickCreate new network interface
to create and apply a new network interface. -
In the
Static Route Labels
section, select supported labels from theStatic Route Labels
menu. You can select more than one from this list. -
In the
Attributes
section, select supported attributes from theAttributes
menu. You can select more than one from this list. -
Click
Apply
to add the custom route.
-
-
-
Select
Manage Static routes
from theManage Static Routes for Outside Network
menu, and clickAdd Item
for theStatic route list
field. Follow the same procedure as that of managing the static routes for inside network. -
Click
Apply
.
Note: You can use the
Add Item
button to add multiple inside and outside networks.
-
Select
Connect Global Networks
from theSelect Global Networks to Connect
menu. -
Click
Add Item
. -
Select an option for the
Select Network Connection Type
menu. -
Select a global network object from the displayed list or select
Create new global vn
option from theGlobal Virtual Network
menu. If you selectCreate new virtual network
, the global network creation form opens. Create a global network using the guided form and clickContinue
to apply the network to the global network connection configuration. -
Click
Apply
to apply the TGW network configuration.
Step 5: Optionally, perform TGW security configuration.
-
In the
Security Configuration
section, clickConfigure
. -
From the
Manage Forward Proxy
menu, select a forwarding policy:-
Disable Forward Proxy
: This is the default option and will not forward traffic. -
Enable Forward Proxy with Allow All Policy
: This option forwards all traffic. -
Enable Forward Proxy and Manage Policies
: This option forwards traffic based on the policy you select or specify. In theList of Forward proxy policy
menu, select an existing proxy or selectCreate new forward proxy policy
to create a new policy.
-
-
From the
Firewall Policy
menu, selectActive Firewall Policies
. -
Select an existing firewall policy or select
Create new Firewall Policy
. After creating the policy, clickContinue
to apply. -
In the
Manage East-West Service Policy
section, select an existing policy from theManage East-West Service Policy
drop-down menu:-
Disable East-West Service Policy
: This is the default option and will not use a proxy for East-West traffic. -
Enable East-West Service Policy
: This option uses a proxy for East-West traffic. ClickAdd item
to select an existing policy or selectCreate new service policy
from the menu for a new policy. -
Enable East-West traffic Proxy with Allow All Policy
: This option sends all East-West traffic through a proxy for monitoring.
-
-
Click
Apply
.
Step 6: Optionally, setup geographical site information.
-
In the
Software Configuration
section, clickShow Advanced Fields
. -
Enter the geographical address and/or latitude and longitude for the site location.
Step 7: Optionally, configure more advanced settings.
-
In the
Advanced Configuration
section, clickShow Advanced Fields
. -
From the
Logs Streaming
menu, selectEnable Logs Streaming
and then select a log receiver or create a new log receiver. -
From the
Select F5XC Software Version
menu, select an option. -
From the
Select Operating System Version
menu, select an option. -
Optionally, add a site to site tunnel IP and additional AWS tags.
Step 8: Optionally, configure direct connect choice.
-
In the
Direct Connect Choice
section, enableShow Advanced Fields
. -
From the
Direct Connect Choice
drop-down menu, select an option:-
Disable Direct Connect
: Default option. -
Enable Direct Connect
: Select to configure for the AWS TGW site.
-
-
Click
Configure
. -
From the
VIF Configuration
drop-down menu, select an option for the Virtual Interface (VIF):-
Hosted VIF mode
: With this mode, F5 will provision an AWS Direct Connect Gateway and a Virtual Private Gateway. The hosted VIP you provide will be automatically associated and will set up BGP peering. -
Standard VIF mode
: With this mode, F5 will provision an AWS Direct Connect Gateway and a Virtual Private Gateway, a user associate VIP, and will set up BGP peering.
-
-
For the
Hosted VIF mode
option:-
Click
Add item
. -
Enter a list of VIF IDs.
-
Click
Apply
.
-
-
For the
Standard VIF mode
option:- Click
Apply
.
- Click
Step 9: Complete AWS TGW site object creation.
- Click
Save and Exit
to complete creating the AWS TGW site object.
The Status
field for the AWS TGW object displays Generated
.
Deploy Site
Creating the AWS TGW site object in Console generates the Terraform parameters.
Note: Site upgrades may take up to 10 minutes per site node. Once site upgrade has completed, you must apply the Terraform parameters to site via
Action
menu on cloud site management page.
-
Navigate to the AWS TGW site object by clicking
Manage
>Site Management
>AWS TGW Sites
. -
Find your AWS TGW site object and click
Apply
under theActions
column. TheStatus
field for your AWS TGW site object changes toApply Planning
.
Note: Optionally, you can perform Terraform plan activity before deployment. Find your AWS TGW site object and click
...
>Plan
to start the action of Terraform plan. This creates the execution plan for Terraform.
- Wait for the apply process to complete and the status to change to
Applied
.
Note: You can check the status for the apply action. Click
...
>Terraform Parameters
for your AWS TGW site object and then click theApply Status
tab.
-
Navigate to
Sites
>Sites List
. -
Verify status is
Online
. It takes a few minutes for the site to deploy and status to change toOnline
.
Note: When you update worker nodes for a site object, the Terraform
Apply
button is enabled. ClickApply
. You can log into your node’s command-line interface (CLI) via SSH with usernamecentos
and your private key.
Delete AWS TGW Site
Perform the following steps to delete the AWS TGW site:
-
Navigate to the AWS TGW site object by clicking
Manage
>Site Management
>AWS TGW Sites
. -
Find your AWS TGW site object and click
...
>Delete
. -
Click
Delete
in the confirmation window.
Note: Deleting the AWS TGW site object deletes the sites and nodes from the VPC and deletes the VPC. If the delete operation does not remove the object and returns any errors, check the errors from the status, fix the errors, and then re-attempt the delete operation. If the problem persists, contact technical support. You can check the status using the
...
>Terraform Parameters
>Apply status
option.
Deploy Site Using Terraform
This chapter provides instructions on how to create a single-node or multi-node site on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) using a custom Amazon Machine Image (AMI) with Terraform.
Perform the following procedure to deploy a site using Terraform:
Step 1: Confirm Terraform is installed.
In a terminal, enter terraform version
. If you need to install, follow the instructions at the official guide.
Step 2: Create API credentials file.
Log into Console and create an API 12 certificate file and then download it. Use the instructions at Credentials for more help.
Step 3: Create a new directory on your system to place files for deployment.
Create a new directory on your system to place files for deployment.
Step 4: Create the deployment file.
-
Create a file and name it
main.tf
file, and place it in the newly created directory. -
Copy and paste the following information into the file:
terraform {
required_version = ">= 0.13.1"
required_providers {
volterra = {
source = "volterraedge/volterra"
}
}
}
variable "site_name" {}
variable "aws_access_key" {}
variable "b64_aws_secret_key" {}
variable "aws_region" {
default = "us-east-2"
}
variable "aws_vpc_cidr" {
default = "192.168.0.0/20"
}
variable "aws_az" {
default = "us-east-2a"
}
variable "outside_subnet_cidr_block" {
default = "192.168.0.0/25"
}
variable "workload_subnet_cidr_block" {
default = "192.168.0.128/25"
}
resource "volterra_cloud_credentials" "aws_cred" {
name = format("%s-cred", var.site_name)
namespace = "system"
aws_secret_key {
access_key = var.aws_access_key
secret_key {
clear_secret_info {
url = format("string:///%s", var.b64_aws_secret_key)
}
}
}
}
resource "volterra_aws_tgw_site" "site" {
name = var.site_name
namespace = "system"
aws_parameters {
aws_certified_hw = "aws-byol-multi-nic-voltmesh"
aws_region = var.aws_region
az_nodes {
aws_az_name = var.aws_az
reserved_inside_subnet = true
outside_subnet {
subnet_param {
ipv4 = var.outside_subnet_cidr_block
}
}
workload_subnet {
subnet_param {
ipv4 = var.workload_subnet_cidr_block
}
}
}
aws_cred {
name = volterra_cloud_credentials.aws_cred.name
namespace = "system"
}
instance_type = "t3.xlarge"
new_vpc {
name_tag = var.site_name
primary_ipv4 = var.aws_vpc_cidr
}
new_tgw {
system_generated = true
}
}
lifecycle {
ignore_changes = [labels]
}
}
resource "volterra_tf_params_action" "apply_aws_vpc" {
site_name = volterra_aws_tgw_site.site.name
site_kind = "aws_tgw_site"
action = "apply"
wait_for_action = true
ignore_on_update = true
}
-
Open the file and configure any necessary fields. The configuration above is an example. You can change the parameters for your particular setup.
-
Save the changes and then close the file.
Step 5: Create file for variables.
-
In the same directory, create another file for variables and name it
terraform.tfvars
. -
Create and assign the following variables:
-
For your site name, type a name within double quotes:
site_name = "<site-name>"
-
For the AWS region, type the name within double quotes:
aws_region = "<region>"
-
For the AWS region subtype, type the name within double quotes:
aws_az = "<region-subtype>"
-
site_name = "<site-name>"
aws_region = "<region>"
aws_az = "<region-subtype>"
Step 6: Create and export variables for credentials and secret keys.
-
In the terminal, create and export the following variables:
-
Create this variable and assign it your API credentials password:
export VES_P12_PASSWORD=<credential password>
-
Create this variable and assign it the path to the API credential file previously created and downloaded from Console:
export VOLT_API_P12_FILE=<path to your local p12 file>
-
Create this variable and assign it the URL for your tenant. For example:
export VOLT_API_URL=https://example.console.ves.volterra.io/api
-
Create this variable and assign it your AWS secret key that has been encoded with Base64:
export TF_VAR_b64_aws_secret_key=<base64 encoded value>
-
Create this variable and assign it your AWS access key:
export TF_VAR_aws_access_key=<access key>
-
Note: You can also create and save these variables in the
terraform.tfvars
file. However, this may pose a security risk. Use caution when working with your credentials and secret keys.
export VES_P12_PASSWORD=<credential password>
export VOLT_API_P12_FILE=<path to your local p12 file>
export VOLT_API_URL=https://example.console.ves.volterra.io/api
export TF_VAR_b64_aws_secret_key=<base64 encoded value>
export TF_VAR_aws_access_key=<access key>
Step 7: Initiate Terraform process.
Enter terraform init
.
Step 8: Apply Terraform process.
-
Enter
terraform apply
. -
If prompted for the access key and secret key encoded in Base64, enter both.
-
Enter
yes
to confirm. This may take a few minutes to complete. After the process is complete, the output will stateApply complete!
. -
In Console, navigate to the list of sites and confirm the site was applied.
Destroy Site
Perform the following procedure to destroy the site using Terraform:
-
Enter
terraform destroy
. -
If prompted for the access key and secret key encoded in Base64, enter both.
-
Enter
yes
to confirm. This may take a few minutes to complete. After the process is complete, the output will stateDestroy complete!
. -
In Console, navigate to the list of sites and confirm the site was destroyed.