Configuring synchronization in Big IP

Synchronization is the task that the BIG-IP system performs to propagate BIG-IP configuration changes to all devices in a device group.

Whenever synchronization occurs, either automatically or manually, the BIG-IP system attempts to optimize performance by syncing only the data that changed since the last config sync operation.

If you want to exclude certain devices from config sync, you simply exclude them from membership in that particular device group.

You can configure the BIG-IP system to synchronization configuration data automatically, or you can manually initiate synchronization

Automatic:

    Automatic synchronization ensures that the BIG-IP system automatically synchronizes the configuration among device group members whenever you make a change to any one of those devices.

Manual:

    If you do not enable auto sync, you must manually synchronize the BIG-IP configuration among device group members to ensure that the devices remain in sync. With manual synchronization, the BIG-IP system notifies you whenever configuration data within the group has changed and therefore needs to be synchronized.



Enabling and disabling automatic sync

You can use the BIG-IP Configuration utility to enable or disable automatic synchronization for Sync-Failover and Sync-Only device groups. When you enable automatic synchronization, a BIG-IP device in the device group automatically synchronizes its configuration data to the other members of the device group whenever its configuration data changes. No manual intervention is required.

By default, the BIG-IP system syncs only the data that changed since the previous sync, rather than the entire set of configuration data.

•     On the Main tab, click Device Management > Device Groups > Relevant device group 

•     For the Automatic Sync setting, select or clear the check box:

       
    [Select the check box when you want the BIG-IP system to automatically sync the BIG-IP configuration data whenever a config sync operation is required. In this case, the BIG-IP system syncs the configuration data whenever the data changes on any device in the device group.

        Clear the check box when you want to manually initiate each config sync operation. In this case, F5 networks recommends that you perform a config sync operation whenever configuration data changes on one of the devices in the device group.]

•     Click Update.

Manually synchronizing the BIG-IP configuration

Before you perform this task, verify that device trust has been established and that all devices that you want to synchronize are members of a device group.

You perform this task when the automatic sync feature is disabled and you want to manually synchronize BIG-IP configuration data among the devices in the device group. You can determine the need to perform this task by viewing sync status in the upper left corner of any BIG-IP Configuration utility screen. A status of Changes Pending indicates that you need to perform a config sync within the device group.

Important: You can log into any device in the device group to perform this task.

•     On the Main tab, click Device Management > Overview > Relevant device group > Relevant device [The screen expands to show a summary and details of the sync options of the devices within the device group.]

   

•  From the Sync options list, select an option:

1.     Sync Device to Group:     Select this option when you want to sync the configuration of the selected device to the other device group members.
2.     Sync Group to Device:     Select this option when you want to sync the most recent configurations of one or more device group members to the selected device.

•     Click Sync.

The BIG-IP system compares the configuration data on the local device with the data on each device in the device group, and synchronizes the most recently-changed configuration data from one or more source devices to one or more target devices. Note that the system does not synchronize non-floating self IP addresses.

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