Prerequisites:
To take F5 device backup you should have following pre-requisites.
- You have administrator, resource administrator, or root-user access to the BIG-IP system.
- You have access to the Configuration utility or TMOS Shell (tmsh).
- You have Advanced Shell (bash) terminal access privilege to the BIG-IP system.
Description:
This article describes how to back up and restore your BIG-IP 11.x through 15.x configuration data using a UCS configuration archive. The UCS archive, by default, contains all of the files you need to restore your current configuration to a new system, including configuration files, the product license, local user accounts, and SSL certificate/key pairs.
File names and location:
By default, the BIG-IP system saves the UCS archive file with a .ucs extension, if you do not include the extension in the file name. You can also specify a full path to the archive file, and then the system saves the archive file to the specified location. If you do not include a path, the system saves the file to the default archive directory, /var/local/ucs.
Command to take a Backup:
tmsh save sys ucs /var/local/ucs/<devicename-date>.ucs
Licensing:
The BIG-IP license is associated with a specific hardware serial number. The UCS archive contains the license file of the system on which you saved the configuration.
To successfully install a UCS archive file on a BIG-IP system, you must perform one of the following actions:
- Restore the UCS archive to the same system from which you saved it.
- Relicense the BIG-IP system after you restore the UCS archive. You must do this when restoring the UCS archive to a system that was replaced due to a Return Material Authorization (RMA) in order to associate the license to the new serial number.Note: You are allowed to associate the license to a new serial number only in the event of an RMA.
- Save the license file prior to restoring the configuration from another system, and then copy the license file back.
- Use the following syntax to install the UCS archive using the tmsh no-license option:tmsh load /sys ucs <path/to/UCS> no-license
For example, you use the following code to install the UCS archive named MyUCS:
tmsh load /sys ucs /var/local/ucs/<devicename-date>.ucs no-license
