# bigip_device_group – Manage device groups on a BIG-IP

New in version 2.5.

- Synopsis

- Parameters

- Notes

- Examples

- Return Values

- Status

## Synopsis

- Managing device groups allows you to create HA pairs and clusters of BIG-IP devices. Usage of this module should be done in conjunction with the `bigip_configsync_actions` to sync configuration across the pair or cluster if auto-sync is disabled.

## Parameters

Parameter | Choices/Defaults | Comments
--- | --- | ---

auto_sync
boolean

Choices:
- no
- yes

Indicates whether configuration synchronization occurs manually or automatically.
When creating a new device group, this option will default to `no`.

description string |  | Description of the device group.

full_sync
boolean

Choices:
- no
- yes

Specifies whether the system synchronizes the entire configuration during synchronization operations.
When `no`, the system performs incremental synchronization operations, based on the cache size specified in `max_incremental_sync_size`.
Incremental configuration synchronization is a mechanism for synchronizing a device-group's configuration among its members, without requiring a full configuration load for each configuration change.
In order for this to work, all devices in the device-group must initially agree on the configuration. Typically this requires at least one full configuration load to each device.
When creating a new device group, this option will default to `no`.

max_incremental_sync_size
integer

Specifies the size of the changes cache for incremental sync.
For example, using the default, if you make more than 1024 KB worth of incremental changes, the system performs a full synchronization operation.
Using incremental synchronization operations can reduce the per-device sync/load time for configuration changes.
This setting is relevant only when `full_sync` is `no`.

name string / required |  | Specifies the name of the device group.

network_failover
boolean
added in 2.7

Choices:
- no
- yes

Indicates whether failover occurs over the network or is hard-wired.
This parameter is only valid for `type`'s that are `sync-failover`.

provider dictionary added in 2.5 |  | A dict object containing connection details.
| auth_provider string |  | Configures the auth provider for to obtain authentication tokens from the remote device. This option is really used when working with BIG-IQ devices.
| password string / required |  | The password for the user account used to connect to the BIG-IP. You may omit this option by setting the environment variable `F5_PASSWORD`. aliases: pass, pwd
| server string / required |  | The BIG-IP host. You may omit this option by setting the environment variable `F5_SERVER`.
| server_port integer | Default: 443 | The BIG-IP server port. You may omit this option by setting the environment variable `F5_SERVER_PORT`.
| ssh_keyfile path |  | Specifies the SSH keyfile to use to authenticate the connection to the remote device. This argument is only used for cli transports. You may omit this option by setting the environment variable `ANSIBLE_NET_SSH_KEYFILE`.
| timeout integer |  | Specifies the timeout in seconds for communicating with the network device for either connecting or sending commands. If the timeout is exceeded before the operation is completed, the module will error.

transport
string

Choices:
- cli
- rest ←

Configures the transport connection to use when connecting to the remote device.

| user string / required |  | The username to connect to the BIG-IP with. This user must have administrative privileges on the device. You may omit this option by setting the environment variable `F5_USER`.

validate_certs
boolean

Choices:
- no
- yes ←

If `no`, SSL certificates are not validated. Use this only on personally controlled sites using self-signed certificates.
You may omit this option by setting the environment variable `F5_VALIDATE_CERTS`.

save_on_auto_sync
boolean

Choices:
- no
- yes

When performing an auto-sync, specifies whether the configuration will be saved or not.
When `no`, only the running configuration will be changed on the device(s) being synced to.
When creating a new device group, this option will default to `no`.

state
string

Choices:
- present ←
- absent

When `state` is `present`, ensures the device group exists.
When `state` is `absent`, ensures that the device group is removed.

type
string

Choices:
- sync-failover
- sync-only

Specifies that the type of group.
A `sync-failover` device group contains devices that synchronize their configuration data and fail over to one another when a device becomes unavailable.
A `sync-only` device group has no such failover. When creating a new device group, this option will default to `sync-only`.
This setting cannot be changed once it has been set.

## Notes

Note

- This module is primarily used as a component of configuring HA pairs of BIG-IP devices.

- Requires BIG-IP >= 12.1.x.

- For more information on using Ansible to manage F5 Networks devices see https://www.ansible.com/integrations/networks/f5.

- Requires BIG-IP software version >= 12.

- The F5 modules only manipulate the running configuration of the F5 product. To ensure that BIG-IP specific configuration persists to disk, be sure to include at least one task that uses the bigip_config module to save the running configuration. Refer to the module’s documentation for the correct usage of the module to save your running configuration.

## Examples

    - name: Create a sync-only device group
      bigip_device_group:
        name: foo-group
        provider:
          password: secret
          server: lb.mydomain.com
          user: admin
      delegate_to: localhost

    - name: Create a sync-only device group with auto-sync enabled
      bigip_device_group:
        name: foo-group
        auto_sync: yes
        provider:
          password: secret
          server: lb.mydomain.com
          user: admin
      delegate_to: localhost

## Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key | Returned | Description
--- | --- | ---
auto_sync boolean | changed | The new auto_sync value of the device group. Sample: True
description string | changed | The new description of the device group. Sample: this is a device group
full_sync boolean | changed | The new full_sync value of the device group.
max_incremental_sync_size integer | changed | The new sync size of the device group Sample: 1000
network_failover boolean | changed | Whether or not network failover is enabled. Sample: True
save_on_auto_sync boolean | changed | The new save_on_auto_sync value of the device group. Sample: True
type string | changed | The new type of the device group. Sample: sync-failover

## Status

- This module is guaranteed to have backward compatible interface changes going forward. [stableinterface]

- This module is maintained by an Ansible Partner. [certified]

### Authors

- Tim Rupp (@caphrim007)

- Wojciech Wypior (@wojtek0806)

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