Create an F5 NGINX Plus Load Balancer

An F5 NGINX Load Balancer VNF can be created on Network Edge. You can create a single device, redundant devices, or a cluster edge device.

F5 NGINX Video

Note: Before creating a device on Fabric Portal, you will need to have an account at MyF5 to complete the process. Create your support account at https://account.f5.com/myf5. F5 Premium support is bundled in the image running on VNF. For more information, see NGINX Load Balancer Support Responsibility.

See the F5 NGINX Plus Specifications page for more information about the F5 NGINX Plus Load Balancer.

To create a single NGINX Plus device:

1. Sign in to Equinix Fabric.
2. From the Network Edge menu, select Create Virtual Device.
3. In the Select Vendor Package(s) for your Device(s) section, click the F5 card.
   
   
4. The MyF5 Account Required prompt displays, explaining this device type requires specific support account with F5. Select I have reviewed the support policy and acknowledge that this process requires an account with MyF5. and click Continue.
   
5. On the F5 card, click See Description.
6. Click Select and Continue.
7. In the Single Virtual Device card, click Create Single Edge Device.
   
8. Click Begin Creating Edge Devices.
9. In the Select Metro section, click a metro where you want to deploy your device.
10. In the Select Billing Account section, select a billing account in the Your accounts in this metro drop-down menu.
    
    In order to create a device in a specific metro location, you need a billing account for the metro. You can continue without selecting an account, but you won’t be able to create your device.
    

11. Click Next: Device Details.

    For NGINX Plus devices, Device Configuration defaults to Self-configured. Licensing defaults to Subscription.

12. Select the Device Resources (2 cores, 4GB memory; 4 cores, 8GB memory; or 8 cores, 16GB memory).

    The Software Package defaults to Standard. The Version defaults to R25.

13. In the Virtual Device Details box, enter:

    • Device Name – Enter a name for the device.
    • Host Name Prefix – Enter a host name prefix configured for the primary device.

In the Interfaces box, the drop-down menu defaults to 10 interfaces (Default).  
14. In the Device Status Notifications box, enter the email addresses of anyone who should receive email notifications regarding device status.

Tip: Enter more than one email address to ensure someone is available to respond.

15. (Optional) In the Optional Details box, enter the Purchase Order Number and Order Reference/Identifier.
16. In the Term Length drop-down menu, select a term length.
17. Click Next: Additional Services to add any additional services.

• Click Add Users to configure user names for SSH and Web-Console access. For Self-configured devices, you need to configure SSH Public Keys to perform password-less authentication. For more information, see Network Edge Device Access.

• (Optional) RSA Public Keys – Enter an existing RSA Public Key, or click Add New RSA Public Key to generate a new one. See Network Edge Device Access for more information about generating an RSA public key.

• Diverse Compute from an Existing Single Device – If you already have another single device and you want this new device to exist in a different plane, click Select Diverse From and select the existing device.
  
• Add Access IP Addresses – Select an access control list (ACL) template. This template will be applied to the gateway interface connected to the WAN/SSH interface of your VNF. ACL templates control communication from the Internet.

Note: By default, the communication required for initial bootstrap (DNS, NTP, License Server communication, SD-WAN controller communication, etc.) is allowed to properly configure the initial VNF configuration. Additional protocols such as SSH need to be intentionally permitted using an ACL template (Custom ACL). If you need to create a template to apply to your device, click Create Access Control List Template. See Configure Access Controls on Virtual Devices for more information.

• Additional Internet Bandwidth – Add between 25 and 5000 additional Mbps of internet bandwidth (for a fee). 15 Mbps of Internet Bandwidth is included free in the package by default.

18. Click Next: Review.
19. In the Terms & Conditions box, click Review and Accept Order Terms.
20. Select I have read and understand these terms and click Accept.

21. Click Create Virtual Device.

Note: F5 NGINX Plus functions as a load balancer and it is typically used in conjunction with a router or firewall. After provisioning is completed, use Device Link to connect NGINX Plus to a routing function. See Device Link for more information.