How to Install BIG IP Operating system on F5 Hardware without bootable USB

 --> Recently I came across an issue where the hard disk of the F5 was corrupted and it is replaced with the new hard disk.

--> We need to install a BIG IP Operating system on the new hard disk to make the F5 hardware up and running.

--> The problem we were facing during the install is that the bootable USB was not detected by F5 hardware.

--> We have decided to go directly with the ISO file on the USB stick instead of the bootable USB, The following are the steps that were performed during the activity:

1) Verify the Software/Hardware Matrix from the F5 Website to select ISO which is supported by the hardware.

2) Copy the ISO Image into the USB file and connect to the USB Port of F5 hardware

3) Connect to the Serial Console of F5 Hardware

4) Execute the following commands on the Serial Console of F5:

i) Create the Directory for storing the ISO file:

mkdir /mnt/usb

ii)  Mount the USB ( In my case it was located on /dev/sdb1) to usb folder

mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb

iii) Install the BIG IP Operating system with the following command:

image2disk --format=volumes --nosaveconfig /mnt/usb/BIGIP-13.0.1-0.0.3.iso

--> Now BIG IP Operating system Installation will start and takes around 40 minutes to complete the Installation.

Best Regards,

Kareem