Troubleshooting BIG-IP

Common Issues and Solutions

Installation Issues

Issue: Integration fails to install

  • Solution: Verify Logpoint version compatibility (v6.7.0 or later for Devices, v7.4.0 or later for log source template)

  • Solution: Check available disk space and system resources

  • Solution: Ensure proper administrative privileges

Issue: Integration not visible after installation

  • Solution: Refresh the browser and check under Settings >> System Settings >> Plugins

  • Solution: Restart Logpoint if necessary

Configuration Issues

Issue: Cannot configure syslog forwarding on BIG-IP device

  • Solution: Verify you have administrative access to BIG-IP device

  • Solution: Ensure Logpoint IP address is reachable from BIG-IP device

  • Solution: Check firewall rules allow syslog traffic (typically UDP port 514)

  • Solution: Consult F5 BIG-IP documentation for module-specific syslog configuration

Issue: Wrong normalization packages selected

  • Solution: Verify your BIG-IP modules match the selected normalization packages

  • Solution: For ASM logs, include LP_BIG-IP ASM packages

  • Solution: For APM logs, select the appropriate version package (v11_x_x or v12_x_x)

  • Solution: For Load Balancer logs, select LP_F5 Load Balancer packages

  • Solution: Multiple packages can be selected for deployments with multiple modules

Issue: Processing policy configuration errors

  • Solution: Ensure normalization policy is created before processing policy

  • Solution: Verify BigIPF5CompiledNormalizer is selected in the normalization policy

  • Solution: Check that routing and enrichment policies are properly configured

Data Ingestion Issues

Issue: No logs being ingested

  • Solution: Verify BIG-IP device is configured to forward syslog to Logpoint

  • Solution: Check if syslog service is running on BIG-IP device

  • Solution: Confirm syslog collector is active in Logpoint

  • Solution: Test network connectivity from BIG-IP to Logpoint

Issue: Incomplete log ingestion (missing specific module logs)

  • Solution: Verify syslog forwarding is configured for all BIG-IP modules (ASM, APM, LTM, AFM)

  • Solution: Check routing criteria configuration - ensure it matches your BIG-IP log structure

  • Solution: Verify the correct normalization packages are selected for each module

  • Solution: Monitor collector logs for errors or warnings

Issue: Logs not normalized correctly

  • Solution: Verify BigIPF5CompiledNormalizer is selected in normalization policy

  • Solution: Ensure appropriate normalization packages are included for your BIG-IP modules

  • Solution: Check log format matches expected format (standard syslog, CEF, or key-value pairs)

  • Solution: Ensure SyslogParser is selected as the parser

Issue: ASM logs not parsing correctly

  • Solution: Verify LP_BIG-IP ASM Remote Server Format or LP_BIG-IP ASM Reporting Server Format is selected

  • Solution: Check if ASM is configured to send logs in the correct format

  • Solution: Ensure F5ASMCEFCompiledNormalizer or F5ASMNormalizer module is active

  • Solution: Verify ASM policy is configured to log violations and attacks

Issue: APM logs missing or incomplete

  • Solution: Select the correct APM normalization package (v11_x_x or v12_x_x) based on your version

  • Solution: Verify APM access policies are configured to log authentication events

  • Solution: Check that session logging is enabled in APM

Dashboard and Analytics Issues

Issue: Dashboard widgets not displaying data

  • Solution: Verify repository selection matches where BIG-IP logs are stored

  • Solution: Check time range settings on dashboard

  • Solution: Confirm normalization is working correctly using search query: col_type IN ["bigip", "f5"]

Issue: Load Balancer v11_6 dashboard showing no authentication data

  • Solution: Verify APM module is logging authentication events

  • Solution: Check that user authentication events are being normalized correctly

  • Solution: Ensure device timezone matches log source timezone

  • Solution: For "Top 10 User that Doesn't Exist" widget, create REGISTERED_USERS list

Issue: ASM dashboard showing no attack data

  • Solution: Verify ASM is properly configured and actively blocking/detecting attacks

  • Solution: Check if ASM security policies are applied to web applications

  • Solution: Ensure violation logging is enabled in ASM policies

  • Solution: Verify attack-related fields are being parsed correctly

Issue: Load Balancer v11_4_1 dashboard showing no traffic

  • Solution: Verify LTM module is configured to log HTTP traffic

  • Solution: Check that virtual servers are configured with appropriate logging profiles

  • Solution: Ensure request and response logging is enabled

  • Solution: Verify traffic is actually flowing through virtual servers

Issue: Missing geolocation data in ASM dashboard

  • Solution: Verify GeoIP enrichment policy is configured in Logpoint

  • Solution: Check that source IP addresses are being extracted correctly

  • Solution: Ensure GeoIP database is up to date in Logpoint

Performance Issues

Issue: Slow query performance

  • Solution: Optimize queries by adding time range constraints

  • Solution: Use indexed fields in search queries where possible

  • Solution: Consider data retention policies to manage repository size

  • Solution: Filter by specific BIG-IP modules (ASM, APM, LTM) to reduce search scope

Issue: High resource usage

  • Solution: Monitor syslog collector resource consumption

  • Solution: Implement log filtering using routing criteria to reduce unnecessary data ingestion

  • Solution: Monitor and tune normalization policies

  • Solution: Consider separate repositories for different BIG-IP modules

Issue: High log volume from BIG-IP

  • Solution: Adjust logging levels on BIG-IP modules to reduce verbosity

  • Solution: Configure ASM to log only high-severity violations

  • Solution: Use sampling or rate limiting on BIG-IP if supported

  • Solution: Implement selective routing criteria to discard low-priority events

Module-Specific Issues

Issue: ASM security policy violations not appearing

  • Solution: Verify ASM policies are in blocking or transparent mode (not disabled)

  • Solution: Check that violation logging is enabled in ASM policy settings

  • Solution: Ensure request logging includes violation details

  • Solution: Verify security policy is applied to the correct virtual servers

Issue: LTM virtual server metrics missing

  • Solution: Verify virtual server logging profiles are configured

  • Solution: Check that request and response logging is enabled

  • Solution: Ensure virtual server is receiving traffic

  • Solution: Verify pool member status logging is configured

Issue: APM session tracking incomplete

  • Solution: Verify APM session logging is enabled

  • Solution: Check that access policy includes logging actions

  • Solution: Ensure session timeout settings allow sufficient tracking

  • Solution: Verify session ID is being normalized correctly

Issue: AFM firewall events not logging

  • Solution: Verify AFM logging profiles are configured

  • Solution: Check that firewall rules include logging actions

  • Solution: Ensure LP_F5 BIG-IP AFM Syslog normalization package is selected

  • Solution: Verify AFM policies are active and processing traffic

HTTP Status Code Issues

Issue: HTTP status codes not labeled correctly

  • Solution: Verify LP_F5 Load Balancer v11_4_1 label package is installed

  • Solution: Check that status_code field is being extracted correctly

  • Solution: Ensure logs include HTTP response codes

  • Solution: Verify label mapping for status codes 2xx, 3xx, 4xx, 5xx

Issue: User management events not appearing

  • Solution: Verify LP_F5 Load Balancer label package is installed

  • Solution: Check that audit logging is enabled on BIG-IP

  • Solution: Ensure user management operations (create, modify, delete) are logged

  • Solution: Verify Command Ok status is present in user management logs

Content Type and User Agent Issues

Issue: Content type filtering not working

  • Solution: Verify content_type field is being extracted from logs

  • Solution: Check that HTTP headers include Content-Type information

  • Solution: Ensure LTM logging includes HTTP header details

Issue: User agent tracking incomplete

  • Solution: Verify User-Agent header is being logged by BIG-IP

  • Solution: Check that user_agent field is being normalized correctly

  • Solution: Ensure HTTP request logging includes full headers

  • Solution: Verify user agent parsing is working for mobile and desktop browsers

Attack Detection and Threat Intelligence Issues

Issue: Malware detections not appearing in ASM dashboard

  • Solution: Verify ASM anti-malware protection is enabled

  • Solution: Check that malware scanning is configured in security policies

  • Solution: Ensure virus_name field is being parsed correctly

  • Solution: Verify malware signatures are up to date on BIG-IP ASM

Issue: Geographic attack distribution showing "N/A"

  • Solution: Verify GeoIP enrichment is configured in Logpoint

  • Solution: Check that geo_location field contains valid country codes

  • Solution: Ensure source IP addresses are public (not RFC 1918 private IPs)

  • Solution: Update GeoIP database in Logpoint

Issue: Attack types not categorized correctly

  • Solution: Verify attack_type field is being extracted correctly

  • Solution: Check ASM signature database is current

  • Solution: Ensure security policies include appropriate attack signatures

  • Solution: Verify threat classification is working in ASM

Virtual Server and Load Balancing Issues

Issue: Virtual server names not appearing correctly

  • Solution: Verify VS_NAME or virtual_server field is being extracted

  • Solution: Check BIG-IP naming conventions and partition structure

  • Solution: Ensure virtual server logs include full partition path

  • Solution: Verify normalization correctly handles partition/folder structure

Issue: Pool member status not tracking

  • Solution: Verify pool monitoring is configured on BIG-IP

  • Solution: Check that pool member state changes are logged

  • Solution: Ensure health monitoring logs are being forwarded

  • Solution: Verify server_address field is being normalized correctly

Issue: Load balancing distribution metrics unavailable

  • Solution: Verify LTM statistics logging is enabled

  • Solution: Check that connection and request counts are logged

  • Solution: Ensure load balancing algorithms include logging

  • Solution: Verify pool member traffic distribution is being tracked

Last updated

Was this helpful?