NAME

BigIP::iControl - A Perl interface to the F5 iControl API

SYNOPSIS

        use BigIP::iControl;

        my $ic = BigIP::iControl->new(
                                server		=> 'bigip.company.com',
                                username	=> 'api_user',
                                password	=> 'my_password',
                                port		=> 443,
                                proto		=> 'https'
                        );

	my $virtual	= ($ic->get_vs_list())[0];

	my %stats	= $ic->get_vs_statistics_stringified($virtual);;

	print '*'x50,"\nVirtual: $virtual\n",'*'x50,"\nTimestamp: $stats{timestamp}\n";

	foreach my $s (sort keys %{$stats{stats}}) {
		print "$s\t$stats{stats}{$s}\n"
	}

DESCRIPTION

This package provides a Perl interface to the F5 BigIP iControl API.

The F5 BigIP iControl API is an open SOAP/XML for communicating with supported F5 BigIP products.

The primary aim of this package is to provide a simplified interface to an already simple and intutive API and to allow the user to do more with less code. By reducing the API invocations to methods returning simple types, it is hoped that this module will provide a simple alternative for common tasks.

The secondary aim for this package is to provide a simple interface for accessing statistical data from the iControl API for monitoring, recording, archival and display in other systems. This objective has largely been obsoleted in v11 with the introduction of new statistical monitoring and display features in the web UI.

This package generally provides two methods for each each task; a raw method typically returning the response as received from iControl, and a "stringified" method returning a parsed response.

In general, the stringified methods will typically fufill most requirements and should usually be easier to use.

METHODS

new (%args)

my $ic = BigIP::iControl->new(
			server		=> 'bigip.company.com',
			username	=> 'api_user',
			password	=> 'my_password',
			port		=> 443,
			proto		=> 'https',
			verify_hostname	=> 0
		);

Constructor method. Creates a new BigIP::iControl object representing a single interface into the iControl API of the target system.

Required parameters are:

server: The target F5 BIGIP device. The supplied value may be either an IP address, FQDN or resolvable hostname.
username: The username with which to connect to the iControl API.
password: The password with which to connect to the iControl API.
port: The port on which to connect to the iControl API. If not specified this value will default to 443.
proto: The protocol with to use for communications with the iControl API (should be either http or https). If not specified this value will default to https.
verify_hostname: If TRUE when used with a secure connection then the client will ensure that the target server has a valid certificate matching the expected hostname.

get_system_information

Return a SystemInformation struct containing the identifying attributes of the operating system. The struct information is described below;

Member					Type		Description
----------				----------	----------
system_name				String		The name of the operating system implementation.
host_name				String		The host name of the system.
os_release				String		The release level of the operating system.
os_machine				String		The hardware platform CPU type.
os_version				String		The version string for the release of the operating system.
platform				String		The platform of the device.
product_category			String		The product category of the device.
chassis_serial				String		The chassis serial number.
switch_board_serial			String		The serial number of the switch board.
switch_board_part_revision		String		The part revision number of the switch board.
host_board_serial			String		The serial number of the host motherboard.
host_board_part_revision		String		The part revision number of the host board.
annunciator_board_serial		String		The serial number of the annuciator board.
annunciator_board_part_revision		String		The part revision number of the annunciator board.

get_system_id ()

Gets the unique identifier for the system.

get_cpu_metrics ()

Gets the CPU metrics for the CPU(s) on the platform.

get_cpu_metrics_stringified ()

Gets the CPU metrics for the CPU(s) on the platform.

get_cpu_fan_speed ($cpu)

Returns the current CPU fan speed in RPM for the specified CPU.

get_cpu_temp ($cpu)

Returns the current CPU temperature degrees celcius for the specified CPU.

get_cpu_usage_extended_information ()

get_cpu_usage_extended_information_stringified ()

get_cluster_list ()

Gets a list of the cluster names.

get_failover_mode ()

Gets the current fail-over mode that the device is running in.

get_failover_state ()

Gets the current fail-over state that the device is running in.

is_redundant ()

Returns a boolean indicating the redundancy state of the device.

get_cluster_enabled_state ()

Gets the cluster enabled states.

get_service_list ()

Returns a list of all supported services on this host.

get_service_status ()

Returns the status of the specified service.

get_all_service_statuses ()

Returns the status of all services.

save_configuration ($filename)

$ic->save_configuration('backup.ucs');

# is equivalent to

$ic->save_configuration('backup');

# Not specifying a filename will use today's date in the
# format YYYYMMDD as the filename.

$ic->save_configuration();

# is equivalent to

$ic->save_configuration('today');

Saves the current configurations on the target device.

This method takes a single optional parameter; the filename to which the configuration should be saved. The file extension .ucs will be suffixed to the filename if missing from the supplied filename.

Specifying no optional filename parameter or using the filename today will use the current date as the filename of the saved configuration file in the format YYYYMMDD.

save_base_configuration ()

$ic->save_base_configuration();

Saves only the base configuration (VLANs, self IPs...). The filename specified when used with this mode will be ignored, since configuration will be saved to /config/bigip_base.conf by default.

save_high_level_configuration ()

$ic->save_high_level_configuration();

Saves only the high-level configuration (virtual servers, pools, members, monitors...). The filename specified when used with this mode will be ignored, since configuration will be saved to /config/bigip.conf by default.

download_configuration ($filename)

This method downloads a saved UCS configuration from the target device.

get_configuration_list ()

my %config_list = $ic->get_configuration_list();

Returns a list of the configuration archives present on the system. the list is returned as a hash with the name of the configuration archive as the key, and the creation date of the configuration archive as the value.

The creation date uses the native date format of:

Day Mon D HH:MM:SS YYYY

Where Day is the three-letter common abbreviation of the day name, Mon is the three letter common abbreviation of the month name and D has the value range 1-31 with no leading zeros.

delete_configuration ()

$ic->delete_configuration('file.ucs');

Deletes the specified configuration archive from the system.

download_file ( $FILE )

# Print the bigip.conf file to the terminal
print $ic->download_file('/config/bigip.conf');

This method provides direct access to files on the target system. The method returns a scalar containing the contents of the file.

This method may be useful for downloading configuration files for versioning or backups.

get_interface_list ()

my @interfaces = $ic->get_interface_list();

Retuns an ordered list of all interfaces on the target device.

get_interface_enabled_state ($interface)

Returns the enabled state of the specific interface.

get_interface_media_status ($interface)

Returns the media status of the specific interface.

get_interface_media_speed ($interface)

Returns the media speed of the specific interface in Mbps.

get_interface_statistics ($interface)

Returns all statistics for the specified interface as a InterfaceStatistics object. Unless you specifically require access to the raw object, consider using get_interface_statistics_stringified for a pre-parsed hash in an easy-to-digest format.

get_interface_statistics_stringified ($interface)

my $inet	= ($ic->get_interface_list())[0];
my %stats       = $ic->get_interface_statistics_stringified($inet);

print "Interface: $inet - Bytes in: $stats{stats}{STATISTIC_BYTES_IN} - Bytes out: STATISTIC_BYTES_OUT";

Returns all statistics for the specified interface as a hash having the following structure;

{
timestamp	=> 'YYYY-MM-DD-hh-mm-ss',
stats		=>	{
			statistic_1	=> value
			...
			statistic_n	=> value
			}
}

Where the keys of the stats hash are the names of the statistic types defined in a InterfaceStatistics object. Refer to the official API documentation for the exact structure of the InterfaceStatistics object.

get_trunk_list ()

my @trunks = $ic->get_trunk_list();

Returns an array of the configured trunks present on the device.

get_active_trunk_members ()

print "Trunk $t has " . $ic->get_active_trunk_members() . " active members.\n";

Returns the number of the active members for the specified trunk.

get_configured_trunk_members ()

print "Trunk $t has " . $ic->get_configured_trunk_members() . " configured members.\n";

Returns the number of configured members for the specified trunk.

get_trunk_interfaces ()

my @t_inets = $ic->get_trunk_interfaces();

Returns an array containing the interfaces of the members of the specified trunk.

get_trunk_media_speed ()

print "Trunk $t operating at " . $ic->get_trunk_media_speed($t) . "Mbps\n";

Returns the current operational media speed (in Mbps) of the specified trunk.

get_trunk_media_status ()

print "Trunk $t media status is " . $ic->get_trunk_media_status($t) . "\n";

Returns the current operational media status of the specified trunk.

get_trunk_lacp_enabled_state ()

Returns the enabled state of LACP for the specified trunk.

get_trunk_lacp_active_state ()

Returns the active state of LACP for the specified trunk.

get_trunk_statistics ()

Returns the traffic statistics for the specified trunk. The statistics are returned as a TrunkStatistics object hence this method is useful where access to raw statistical data is required.

For parsed statistic data, see get_trunk_statistics_stringified.

For specific information regarding data and units of measurement for statistics methods, please see the Notes section.

get_trunk_statistics_stringified ()

Returns all statistics for the specified trunk as a hash of hases with the following structure:

{	
	timestamp	=> 'yyyy-mm-dd-hh-mm-ss',
	stats		=> {
				stats_1	=> value,
				stats_3	=> value,
				...
				stats_n	=> value
			}
}

This function accepts a single parameter; the trunk for which the statistics are to be returned.

For specific information regarding data and units of measurement for statistics methods, please see the Notes section.

get_self_ip_list

Returns a list of all self IP addresses on the target device.

get_self_ip_vlan ( $SELF_IP )

Returns the VLAN associated with the specified self IP address on the target device.

get_vs_list ()

my @virtuals	= $ic->get_vs_list();

Please note: this method has been deprecated in future releases. Please use get_ltm_vs_list instead.

Returns an array of all defined LTM virtual servers.

get_ltm_vs_list ()

my @ltm_virtuals = $ic->get_ltm_vs_list();

Returns an array of all defined LTM virtual servers.

get_gtm_vs_list ()

my @gtm_virtuals = $ic->get_gtm_vs_list();

Returns an array of the names of all defined GTM virtual servers.

get_vs_destination ($virtual_server)

my $destination	= $ic->get_vs_destination($vs);

Returns the destination of the specified virtual server in the form ipv4_address%route_domain:port.

get_vs_enabled_state ($virtual_server)

print "LTM Virtual server $vs is in state ",$ic->get_vs_enabled_state($vs),"\n";

Please note: this method has been deprecated in future releases. Please use the get_ltm_vs_enabled_state() instead.

Return the enabled state of the specified LTM virtual server.

get_ltm_vs_enabled_state ($virtual_server)

print "LTM Virtual server $vs is in state ",$ic->get_ltm_vs_enabled_state($vs),"\n";

Return the enabled state of the specified LTM virtual server.

get_gtm_vs_enabled_state ($virtual_server)

print "GTM Virtual server $vs is in state ",$ic->get_gtm_vs_enabled_state($vs),"\n";

Return the enabled state of the specified GTM virtual server. The GTM server should be provided as a name only such as that returned from the get_gtm_vs_list method.

get_vs_all_statistics ()

Please Note: This method has been deprecated in future releases. Please use get_ltm_vs_all_statistics.

Returns the traffic statistics for all configured LTM virtual servers. The statistics are returned as VirtualServerStatistics struct hence this method is useful where access to raw statistical data is required.

For parsed statistic data, see get_ltm_vs_statistics_stringified.

For specific information regarding data and units of measurement for statistics methods, please see the Notes section.

get_ltm_vs_all_statistics ()

For parsed statistic data, see get_ltm_vs_statistics_stringified.

For specific information regarding data and units of measurement for statistics methods, please see the Notes section.

get_vs_statistics ($virtual_server)

my $statistics = $ic->get_vs_statistics($vs);

Returns all statistics for the specified virtual server as a VirtualServerStatistics object. Consider using get_vs_statistics_stringified for accessing virtual server statistics in a pre-parsed hash structure.

For specific information regarding data and units of measurement for statistics methods, please see the Notes section.

get_vs_statistics_stringified ($virtual_server)

my $statistics = $ic->get_vs_statistics_stringified($vs);

foreach (sort keys %{$stats{stats}}) {
	print "$_: $stats{stats}{$_}\n";
}

Returns all statistics for the specified virtual server as a multidimensional hash (hash of hashes). The hash has the following structure:

{
	timestamp	=> 'yyyy-mm-dd-hh-mm-ss',
	stats		=> {
				statistic_1	=> value,
				statistic_2	=> value,
				...
				statistic_n	=> value
			}
}

This function accepts a single parameter; the virtual server for which the statistics are to be returned.

For specific information regarding data and units of measurement for statistics methods, please see the Notes section.

get_ltm_vs_rules ($virtual_server)

get_ltm_snat_pool ($virtual_server)

get_ltm_snat_type ($virtual_server)

get_default_pool_name ($virtual_server)

print "Virtual Server: $virtual_server\nDefault Pool: ", 
	$ic->get_default_pool_name($virtual_server), "\n";

Returns the default pool names for the specified virtual server.

get_pool_list ()

print join " ", ($ic->get_pool_list());

Returns a list of all LTM pools in the target system.

Note that this method has been deprecated in future releases - please use get_ltm_vs_list instead.

get_ltm_pool_list ()

print join " ", ($ic->get_ltm_pool_list());

Returns a list of all LTM pools in the target system.

get_pool_members ($pool)

foreach my $pool ($ic->get_pool_list()) {
	print "\n\n$pool:\n";

	foreach my $member ($ic->get_pool_members($pool)) {
		print "\t$member\n";
	}
}

Please note: this method has been deprecated in future releases. Please use the get_ltm_pool_members method instead.

Returns a list of the pool members for the specified LTM pool. This method takes one mandatory parameter; the name of the pool.

Pool member are returned in the format IP_address:service_port.

get_ltm_pool_members ($pool)

foreach my $pool ($ic->get_ltm_pool_list()) {
	print "\n\n$pool:\n";

	foreach my $member ($ic->get_ltm_pool_members($pool)) {
		print "\t$member\n";
	}
}

Returns a list of the pool members for the specified LTM pool. This method takes one mandatory parameter; the name of the pool.

Pool member are returned in the format IP_address:service_port.

get_gtm_pool_members ($pool)

Returns a list of the pool members for the specified GTM pool. This method takes one mandatory parameter; the name of the pool.

Pool member are returned in the format IP_address:service_port.

get_pool_statistics ($pool)

my %stats = $ic->get_pool_statistics($pool);

Returns the statistics for the specified pool as a PoolStatistics object. For pre-parsed pool statistics consider using the get_pool_statistics_stringified method.

get_pool_statistics_stringified ($pool)

my %stats = $ic->get_pool_statistics_stringified($pool);
print "Pool $pool bytes in: $stats{stat}{STATISTIC_SERVER_SIDE_BYTES_OUT}";

Returns a hash containing all pool statistics for the specified pool in a delicious, easily digestable and improved formula.

get_pool_member_statistics ($pool)

Returns all pool member statistics for the specified pool as an array of MemberStatistics objects. Unless you feel like playing with Data::Dumper on a rainy Sunday afternoon, consider using get_pool_member_statistics_stringified method.

get_pool_member_object_status ($pool)

Returns all pool member stati for the specified pool as an array of MemberObjectStatus objects.

get_pool_member_statistics_stringified ($pool)

my %stats = $ic->get_pool_member_statistics_stringified($pool);

print "Member\t\t\t\tRequests\n",'-'x5,"\t\t\t\t",'-'x5,"\n";

foreach my $member (sort keys %stats) {
	print "$member\t\t$stats{$member}{stats}{STATISTIC_TOTAL_REQUESTS}\n";
}

# Prints a list of requests per pool member

Returns a hash containing all pool member statistics for the specified pool. The hash has the following structure;

member_1 =>	{
		timestamp	=> 'YYYY-MM-DD-hh-mm-ss',
		stats		=>	{
					statistics_1	=> value
					...
					statistic_n	=> value
					}
		}
member_2 =>	{
		...
		}
member_n =>	{
		...
		}

Each pool member is specified in the form ipv4_address%route_domain:port.

get_all_pool_member_statistics ($pool)

Returns all pool member statistics for the specified pool. This method is analogous to the get_pool_member_statistics() method and the two will likely be merged in a future release.

get_ltm_pool_status ($pool)

Returns the status of the specified pool as a ObjectStatus object.

For formatted pool status information, see the get_ltm_pool_status_as_string() method.

get_ltm_pool_member_status ($pool, $member)

Returns the status of the specified member in the specified pool as a ObjectStatus object.

get_ltm_pool_availability_status ($pool)

Retuns the availability status of the specified pool.

get_ltm_pool_enabled_status ($pool)

Retuns the enabled status of the specified pool.

get_ltm_pool_status_description ($pool)

Returns a descriptive status of the specified pool.

get_ltm_pool_status_as_string ($pool)

Returns the pool status as a descriptive string.

get_connection_list ()

Returns a list of active connections as a list of ConnectionID objects.

get_all_active_connections ()

Gets all active connections in details on the device.

get_active_connections_count()

Returns the number of all active connections on the device.

get_node_list ()

print join "\n", ($ic->get_node_list());

Returns a list of all configured nodes in the target system.

Nodes are returned as ipv4 addresses.

get_screen_name ($node)

foreach ($ic->get_node_list()) {
	print "Node: $_ (" . $ic->get_screen_name($_) . ")\n";
}

Retuns the screen name of the specified node.

get_node_status ($node)

$ic->get_node_status(

Returns the status of the specified node as a ObjectStatus object.

For formatted node status information, see the get_node_status_as_string() method.

get_node_availability_status ($node)

Retuns the availability status of the node.

get_node_enabled_status ($node)

Retuns the enabled status of the node.

get_node_status_description ($node)

Returns a descriptive status of the specified node.

get_node_status_as_string ($node)

Returns the node status as a descriptive string.

get_node_monitor_status ($node)

Gets the current availability status of the specified node addresses.

get_node_statistics ($node)

Returns all statistics for the specified node.

get_node_statistics_stringified

my %stats = $ltm->get_node_statistics_stringified($node);

foreach (sort keys %{stats{stats}}) {
	print "$_:\t$stats{stats}{$_}{high}\t$stats{stats}{$_}{low}\n";
}

Returns a multidimensional hash containing all current statistics for the specified node. The hash has the following structure:

{
	timestamp	=> 'yyyy-mm-dd-hh-mm-ss',
	stats		=> {
				statistic_1	=> value,
				statistic_2	=> value,
				...
				statistic_n	=> value
			}
}

This function accepts a single parameter; the node for which the statistics are to be returned.

For specific information regarding data and units of measurement for statistics methods, please see the Notes section.

get_gtm_pool_list ()

Returns a list of GTM pools.

get_gtm_pool_description ()

Returns a description of the specified GTM pool.

get_gtm_vs_all_statistics ()

Returns the traffic statistics for all configured GTM virtual servers. The statistics are returned as VirtualServerStatistics struct hence this method is useful where access to raw statistical data is required.

For parsed statistic data, see get_gtm_vs_statistics_stringified.

For specific information regarding data and units of measurement for statistics methods, please see the Notes section.

get_ltm_address_class_list ()

Returns a list of all existing address classes.

get_ltm_string_class_list ()

Returns a list of all existing string classes.

get_ltm_string_class ( $class_name )

Return the specified LTM string class.

get_ltm_string_class_members ( $class )

Returns the specified LTM string class members.

add_ltm_string_class_member ( $class, $member )

Add the provided member to the specified class.

delete_ltm_string_class_member ( $class, $member )

Deletes the provided member from the specified class.

set_ltm_string_class_member ( $class, $member, value )

Sets the value of the member to the provided value in the specified class.

get_db_variable ( $VARIABLE )

# Prints the value of the configsync.state database variable.
print "Config state is " . $ic->get_db_variable('configsync.state') . "\n";

Returns the value of the specified db variable.

get_event_subscription_list

Returns an array of event subscription IDs for all registered event subscriptions.

get_event_subscription

remove_event_subscription

get_event_subscription_state

get_event_subscription_url

get_subscription_list

This method is an analog of get_event_subscription

create_subscription_list (%args)

my $subscription = $ic->create_subscription_list (
                                        name                            => 'my_subscription_name',
                                        url                             => 'http://company.com/my/eventnotification/endpoint,
                                        username                        => 'username',
                                        password                        => 'password',
                                        ttl                             => -1,
                                        min_events_per_timeslice        => 10,
                                        max_timeslice                   => 10
                                );

Creates an event subscription with the target system. This method requires the following parameters:

name: A user-friendly name for the subscription.
url: The target URL endpoint for the event notification interface to send event notifications.
username: The basic authentication username required to access the URL endpoint.
password: The basic authentication password required to access the URL endpoint.
ttl: The time to live (in seconds) for this subscription. After the ttl is reached, the subscription will be removed from the system. A value of -1 indicates an infinite life time.
min_events_per_timeslice: The minimum number of events needed to trigger a notification. If this value is 50, then this means that when 50 events are queued up they will be sent to the notification endpoint no matter what the max_timeslice is set to.
max_timeslice: This maximum time to wait (in seconds) before event notifications are sent to the notification endpoint. If this value is 30, then after 30 seconds a notification will be sent with the events in the subscription queue.

NOTES

Statistic Methods

Within iControl, statistical values are a 64-bit unsigned integer represented as a Common::ULong64 object. The ULong64 object is a stuct of two 32-bit values. This representation is used as there is no native support for the encoding of 64-bit numbers in SOAP.

The ULong object has the following structure;

({
	STATISTIC_NAME	=> {
			high	=> long
			low	=> long
		}
}, bless Common::ULong64)

Where high is the unsigned 32-bit integer value of the high-order portion of the measured value and low is the unsigned 32-bit integer value of the low-order portion of the measured value.

In non-stringified statistic methods, these return values are ULong64 objects as returned by the iControl API. In stringified statistic method calls, the values are processed on the client side into a local 64-bit representation of the value using the following form.

$value = ($high<<32)|$low;

Stringified method calls are guaranteed to return a correct localised 64-bit representation of the value.

It is the callers responsibility to convert the ULong struct for all other non-stringified statistic method calls.

AUTHOR

Luke Poskitt, <ltp@cpan.org>

Thanks to Eric Welch, <erik.welch@gmail.com>, for input and feedback.

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either: the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; or the Artistic License.

See http://dev.perl.org/licenses/ for more information.

To install BigIP::iControl, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm BigIP::iControl

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install BigIP::iControl

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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