Create a Self IP to Allow BigIP Management via the CLI

This article details how to create a self ip  to allow bigip management on the command line. The need arose when a primary firewall failed and the only entry to the network was an ssh session to the DR BigIP via a jump box.

For the purpose of this article we are using the following IP representations:

x.x.x.100 – eXternal IP

i.i.i.100 – Internal IP

1. Enter the traffic management shell tmsh:

[admin@bigip:Active:Standalone] tmsh
admin@(bigip)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)#

2. If there is already a self IP on the external vlan you can modify the port lockdown settings to allow https to the machine but only if you have no virtual servers already using the https port.

admin@(bigip)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)# modify net self x.x.x.100 allow-service default

This will allow all the default ports, shown by “list net self-allow”:

admin@(bigip)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)# list net self-allow
net self-allow {
defaults {
ospf:any
tcp:domain
tcp:f5-iquery
tcp:https
tcp:snmp
tcp:ssh
udp:520
udp:cap
udp:domain
udp:f5-iquery
udp:snmp
}
}

3. In this case the self IP was already used by a virtual server with a pool of https machines behind it so a new self ip was necessary. Choose another ip on the same external subnet:

admin@(bigip)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)# create net self x.x.x.101/32 vlan external allow-service default

4. We can now list our self ips and the level of access associated with them:

admin@(bigip)(cfg-sync Standalone)(Active)(/Common)(tmos)# list net self
net self x.x.x.101/32 {
address 90.152.115.244/32
allow-service {
default
}
traffic-group traffic-group-local-only
vlan external
}
net self x.x.x.101 {
address 90.152.115.243/29
allow-service {
none
}
traffic-group traffic-group-local-only
vlan external
}
net self i.i.i.100 {
address i.i.i.100/24
allow-service {
default
}
traffic-group traffic-group-local-only
vlan internal
}

5. We can now access our BigIP on https://x.x.x.101 !