Lab 1: Exploring Your Pre-Configured Customer Edge (CE) Node ============================================================= **Objective:** * Navigate the F5 Distributed Cloud Console * Explore the pre-configured UDF Lab Environment * Review your deployed Customer Edge (CE) Node configuration * Understand CE Node deployment architecture For this lab, your Customer Edge (CE) Nodes have been pre-deployed in AWS, Azure and your on-premises data center (UDF environment). This allows you to focus on understanding the architecture and configuration rather than spending time on initial deployment. .. note:: In a production environment, you would download the CE Node image (OVA, QCOW2, or ISO) and deploy it on your chosen platform (VMware, KVM, Azure, AWS, etc.). Prerequisite ------------ .. note:: You should already be logged into your lab's Distributed Cloud Tenant. If not, review the course introduction for the login process. .. warning:: If you are experiencing issues accessing the Distributed Cloud Tenant, please alert one of the Lab Assistants. Task 1: Navigate to Multi-Cloud Network Connect ------------------------------------------------ Your Customer Edge (CE) node has been fully deployed and registered in your lab environment. In this task, you'll explore the Multi-Cloud Network Connect workspace to understand your deployment. 1. From the F5 Distributed Cloud Console **Home** screen, click on the **Multi-Cloud Network Connect** tile. |lab002| 2. You will be presented with the **Multi-Cloud Network Connect** overview dashboard. This view provides a high-level summary of all Customer Edge deployments across your organization. |lab003| Task 2: Locate Your Customer Edge Node --------------------------------------- Each lab attendee has been assigned a unique Customer Edge node following the **** naming convention identified in the lab introduction. If you haven't already done this in the Introduction: Accessing Lab Resources, you can find your assigned namespace by clicking on the account icon on the top right corner. |lab004| 3. Using the left-hand navigation, from the **Manage** section, click on **Site Management**, then select **Secure Mesh Sites v2**. |lab005| 4. You will see all Secure Mesh Sites v2 (SMSv2) in the list that are in this tenant. Use the **Search** box to filter by your namespace name (****). |lab006| 5. Click on your site name to view detailed information about your CE node. |lab007| .. note:: If your node is not yet online, give it a few minutes to finish provisioning. You can check the progress from the lab deployment status (access from Ubuntu server in your UDF deployment). |lab008| |lab009| Task 3: Review Your Customer Edge Configuration ------------------------------------------------ Now let's examine the configuration that was automatically deployed for your CE node. 6. Verify your CE node status: **Dashboard:** * **Site Health:** Should be 100% (green) * **Site Status:** Both Data Plane and Control Plane should be **Up** * **Nodes:** You should have 1 Control Node and it should be up .. note:: In production environments, the best practice is to deploy a 3-node cluster for high availability. For this lab, a single-node deployment is sufficient. .. important:: Your CE node must be fully provisioned and **Online** before proceeding to Lab 2. If the health score is not 100% or the state is not online, please alert a Lab Assistant. Task 4: What Happens During CE Deployment ------------------------------------------ Let's review what was automatically configured in your lab environment: **What Happens During CE Deployment (FYI):** While you didn't perform these steps in this lab, here's what occurs during a typical CE deployment: 1. **Download & Deploy:** Download the CE image then deploy it on your chosen platform 2. **Create Secure Mesh Site:** Create a secure mesh site in F5 Distributed Cloud Console 3. **Registration:** Node registers with F5 Distributed Cloud 4. **Provisioning:** Node downloads its configuration and establishes connectivity 5. **Activation:** Site becomes active and ready for traffic .. tip:: In a real-world deployment, the initial setup takes approximately 10-15 minutes after registration. The automation in this lab has completed all these steps for you. Task 5: Review Network Topology -------------------------------- This topology represents your distributed network infrastructure that will be used in subsequent labs to demonstrate Network Connect and App Connect capabilities. |lab010| Lab Summary ----------- **What You've Learned:** * How to navigate the F5 Distributed Cloud Console * Where to view Customer Edge node status and health * What happens during a CE node deployment (conceptually) **Your Environment:** You now have a fully operational multi-cloud network infrastructure with CE nodes deployed in: * **On-Premises:** UDF Data Center * **AWS Cloud** * **Azure Cloud** In the next lab, you'll configure Network Connect to establish secure connectivity between these sites. .. important:: Verify your CE node shows **100% health** and **Online** status before proceeding to Lab 2. **End of Lab 1** .. |lab002| image:: ../images/temp/lab1/lab1pic2.png :width: 800px .. |lab003| image:: ../images/temp/lab1/lab1pic3.png :width: 800px .. |lab004| image:: ../images/temp/lab1/lab1pic4.png :width: 800px .. |lab005| image:: ../images/temp/lab1/lab1pic5.png :width: 800px .. |lab006| image:: ../images/temp/lab1/lab1pic6.png :width: 800px .. |lab007| image:: ../images/temp/lab1/lab1pic7.png :width: 800px .. |lab008| image:: ../images/temp/lab1/lab1pic8.png :width: 800px .. |lab009| image:: ../images/temp/lab1/lab1pic9.png :width: 800px .. |lab010| image:: ../images/temp/lab1/lab1pic10.png :width: 800px