IB-FLEX is a virtual platform that is scalable based on the resource that you allocate to the virtual machine. NIOS automatically detects the capacity of the virtual machine and scales it to the appropriate flavor after you provision the IB-FLEX member.
You must first install the Grid license on a non IB-FLEX appliance that is designated as the Grid Master to allow members to join the Grid, even if you have already installed an Flex Grid Activation license. This license does not affect a non IB-FLEX Grid Master.
An IB-FLEX appliance designated as a member does not require any license, either Grid or vNIOS, while joining the Grid. When you register an IB-FLEX member, the appliance checks for the Grid (enterprise) license and changes it to a non IB-FLEX member. For an IB-FLEX appliance, it checks for an Flex Grid Activation Grid-wide license before node registration.
IB-FLEX members can join the Grid through the MGMT interface when Software ADP is enabled. You can configure an IB-FLEX appliance to function as a Grid Master or a member. To enable reporting for a Grid member that is running Software ADP, you must configure the MGMT interface.
A non IB-FLEX appliance designated as a member requires either a Grid and/or vNIOS/NIOS licenses installed to join the Grid. Similarly, for a reporting appliance to join the Grid, you must install a Grid and/or vNIOS/NIOS licenses. You cannot assign pool licenses to an IB-FLEX appliance. IB-FLEX supports HA for appliances that are running Software ADP.
Infoblox supports elastic scaling on IB-FLEX members that use the Flex Grid Activation Grid-wide license. It also supports pre-provisioning for Software ADP on the supported platforms. You must add the new IB-FLEX model to the list of supported pre-provisioning hardware types, so that you can select it during the member pre-provisioning. To pre-provision a non IB-FLEX Grid member, you must have valid pool licenses and pre-provisioned those members in the Grid.
Limitations of IB-FLEX
- It is not compatible with the traditional node-based licensing and it supports capacity based licensing only.
- An IB-FLEX instance will not start if you do not configure the required minimum level of resources.
- The resources assigned to IB-FLEX for cores and memory must be equal to or exceed the minimum designated values for the flavor. For more information about IB-FLEX flavors, see About IB-FLEX Instances and Flavor Settings.
- IB-FLEX does not support features that are not supported on vNIOS. Example: VLAN, DSCP.
About IB-FLEX Instances and Flavor Settings
An IB-FLEX instance supports capacity-based licensing only, but it is compatible with NIOS Grid Master that uses node-based licensing. You can upgrade an IB-FLEX instance from a low-end flavor to a high-end flavor by increasing the resource allocation of the virtual machine. An IB-FLEX instance selects the default internal settings for a respective instance flavor based on the resource settings detected during the startup.
An IB-FLEX instance supports VMware ESXi with or without SR-IOV enabled and OpenStack with KVM both with or without SR-IOV. The table below provides information about the IB-FLEX platform resource specification:
Table 8.7 IB-FLEX Platform Resource Specification
Resource Type | Allowed Range of Values | Recommended Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Virtual NUMA Nodes | 1 | 1 | Single virtual CPU socket |
Disk Size | 250 GB | 250 GB | Fixed size virtual disk |
The table below provides information about the IB-FLEX platform and various flavor settings:
Table 8.8 IB-FLEX Platform Settings
Flavor Name | Description |
|---|---|
Type 1 | Model with low resource footprint and low-end unaccelerated performance. |
Type 2,3,4 | Model with low resource footprint and low-end performance. |
Type 5 | Model with intermediate resource footprint and mid-grade performance. |
Type 6, 7 | Model with large resource footprint and high-end performance. |
Table 8.9 IB-FLEX Flavor Settings
Platform Property | Type 1 | Type 2 | Type 3 | Type 4 | Type 5 | Type 6 | Type 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Main Intended Use | Authorita | Recursive DNS | Authorita | Small Grid Master | Medium | Large Recursive | Large Grid Master/ Large Authorita | |
Database Object Count | 100,000 | 200,000 | 600,000 | 1,000,00 | 2,000,0 | 5,000,00 | 16,000,000 | |
Grid Master/Grid Master Candidate Capable | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Total Resource Usage For Different Configurations | ||||||||
Total vCPU | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | |
Total vMem GB (No Software ADP) | 8 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 22 | 28 | 32 | |
Total vMem GB (Software ADP) | 10 | 18 | 22 | 26 | 30 | NA | NA | |
Disk Size (GB) | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 |
Note the following about IB-FLEX:
- An IB-FLEX instance must have a minimum of 6 cores and 14 GB memory to configure an IB-FLEX appliance as a Grid Master or a Grid Master Candidate. When you do so, the IB-FLEX appliance is converted to Grid Manager.
- Infoblox recommends that you increase the memory to the following for IB-FLEX type 2 members to use certain features:
- 16 GB, instead of the standard 14 GB, to use DNS analytics.
- 20 GB, instead of the standard 18 GB, to use Threat analytics when RPZ is assigned to the IB-FLEX member.