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# bigip_virtual_address – Manage LTM virtual addresses on a BIG-IP

New in version 2.4.

- Synopsis
- Parameters
- Notes
- Examples
- Return Values
- Status

## Synopsis

- Manage LTM virtual addresses on a BIG-IP.

## Parameters

Parameter | Choices/Defaults | Comments
--- | --- | ---
address string |  | Virtual address. This value cannot be modified after it is set. If you never created a virtual address, but did create virtual servers, then a virtual address for each virtual server was created automatically. The name of this virtual address is its IP address value.
arp boolean added in 2.7 | Choices: no yes | Specifies whether the system accepts ARP requests. When `no`, specifies that the system does not accept ARP requests. When `yes`, then the packets are dropped. Note that both ARP and ICMP Echo must be disabled in order for forwarding virtual servers using that virtual address to forward ICMP packets. When creating a new virtual address, if this parameter is not specified, the default value is `yes`.
arp_state string | Choices: enabled disabled | Specifies whether the system accepts ARP requests. When (disabled), specifies that the system does not accept ARP requests. Note that both ARP and ICMP Echo must be disabled in order for forwarding virtual servers using that virtual address to forward ICMP packets. If (enabled), then the packets are dropped. Deprecated. Use the `arp` parameter instead. When creating a new virtual address, if this parameter is not specified, the default value is `enabled`.
auto_delete string |  | Specifies whether the system automatically deletes the virtual address with the deletion of the last associated virtual server. When `disabled`, specifies that the system leaves the virtual address even when all associated virtual servers have been deleted. When creating the virtual address, the default value is `enabled`. `enabled` and `disabled` are deprecated and will be removed in Ansible 2.11. Instead, use known Ansible booleans such as `yes` and `no`
availability_calculation string added in 2.6 | Choices: always when_all_available when_any_available | Specifies what routes of the virtual address the system advertises. When `when_any_available`, advertises the route when any virtual server is available. When `when_all_available`, advertises the route when all virtual servers are available. When (always), always advertises the route regardless of the virtual servers available. aliases: advertise_route
connection_limit integer |  | Specifies the number of concurrent connections that the system allows on this virtual address.
icmp_echo string | Choices: enabled disabled selective | Specifies how the systems sends responses to (ICMP) echo requests on a per-virtual address basis for enabling route advertisement. When `enabled`, the BIG-IP system intercepts ICMP echo request packets and responds to them directly. When `disabled`, the BIG-IP system passes ICMP echo requests through to the backend servers. When (selective), causes the BIG-IP system to internally enable or disable responses based on virtual server state; `when_any_available`, `when_all_available, or C(always`, regardless of the state of any virtual servers.
name string added in 2.6 |  | Name of the virtual address. If this parameter is not provided, then the value of `address` will be used.
netmask string |  | Netmask of the provided virtual address. This value cannot be modified after it is set. When creating a new virtual address, if this parameter is not specified, the default value is `255.255.255.255` for IPv4 addresses and `ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff` for IPv6 addresses.
partition string added in 2.5 | Default: "Common" | Device partition to manage resources on.
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`.
route_advertisement string added in 2.6 | Choices: disabled enabled always selective any all | Specifies whether the system uses route advertisement for this virtual address. When disabled, the system does not advertise routes for this virtual address. The majority of these options are only supported on versions 13.0.0-HF1 or higher. On versions less than this, all choices expect `disabled` will translate to `enabled`. When `always`, the BIG-IP system will always advertise the route for the virtual address, regardless of availability status. This requires an `enabled` virtual address. When `enabled`, the BIG-IP system will advertise the route for the available virtual address, based on the calculation method in the availability calculation. When `disabled`, the BIG-IP system will not advertise the route for the virtual address, regardless of the availability status. When `selective`, you can also selectively enable ICMP echo responses, which causes the BIG-IP system to internally enable or disable responses based on virtual server state. Either `any` virtual server, `all` virtual servers, or `always`, regardless of the state of any virtual server. When `any`, the BIG-IP system will advertise the route for the virtual address when any virtual server is available. When `all`, the BIG-IP system will advertise the route for the virtual address when all virtual servers are available.
route_domain string added in 2.6 |  | The route domain of the `address` that you want to use. This value cannot be modified after it is set.
spanning boolean added in 2.7 | Choices: no yes | Enables all BIG-IP systems in a device group to listen for and process traffic on the same virtual address. Spanning for a virtual address occurs when you enable the `spanning` option on a device and then sync the virtual address to the other members of the device group. Spanning also relies on the upstream router to distribute application flows to the BIG-IP systems using ECMP routes. ECMP defines a route to the virtual address using distinct Floating self-IP addresses configured on each BIG-IP system. You must also configure MAC masquerade addresses and disable `arp` on the virtual address when Spanning is enabled. When creating a new virtual address, if this parameter is not specified, the default valus is `no`.
state string | Choices: present ← absent enabled disabled | The virtual address state. If `absent`, an attempt to delete the virtual address will be made. This will only succeed if this virtual address is not in use by a virtual server. `present` creates the virtual address and enables it. If `enabled`, enable the virtual address if it exists. If `disabled`, create the virtual address if needed, and set state to `disabled`.
traffic_group string added in 2.5 |  | The traffic group for the virtual address. When creating a new address, if this value is not specified, the default of `/Common/traffic-group-1` will be used.

## Notes

Note

- 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: Add virtual address
      bigip_virtual_address:
        state: present
        partition: Common
        address: 10.10.10.10
        provider:
          server: lb.mydomain.net
          user: admin
          password: secret
      delegate_to: localhost

    - name: Enable route advertisement on the virtual address
      bigip_virtual_address:
        state: present
        address: 10.10.10.10
        route_advertisement: any
        provider:
          server: lb.mydomain.net
          user: admin
          password: secret
      delegate_to: localhost

## Return Values

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

Key | Returned | Description
--- | --- | ---
address integer | created | The address of the virtual address. Sample: 2345
arp boolean | changed | The new way the virtual address handles ARP requests. Sample: True
auto_delete string | changed | New setting for auto deleting virtual address. Sample: enabled
availability_calculation string | changed | Specifies what routes of the virtual address the system advertises. Sample: always
connection_limit integer | changed | The new connection limit of the virtual address. Sample: 1000
icmp_echo string | changed | New ICMP echo setting applied to virtual address. Sample: disabled
netmask integer | created | The netmask of the virtual address. Sample: 2345
spanning string | changed | Whether spanning is enabled or not Sample: disabled
state string | changed | The new state of the virtual address. Sample: disabled

## Status

- This module is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface. [preview]
- This module is maintained by an Ansible Partner. [certified]

### Authors

- Tim Rupp (@caphrim007)
- Wojciech Wypior (@wojtek0806)

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