mkiapp

Intro

mkiapp simplifies the process of "putting the pieces together" when developing iApps. When developing larger iApps you most likely want to split the separate sections into files and not use the WebUI to develop it either. mkiapp combines separate files for presentation, implementation, macro and help section into a target iApp, which can be loaded via the WebUI or tmsh. It provides advanced features to generate iApps and dynamically replace data within it.

mkiapp itself relies on bash, awk and other common command line tools - available on most platforms.

Not convinced? Watch this demo!

Installation

Manual

Copy the mkiapp file to any place in your $PATH. You can also fetch a release .zip or .tar.gz instead.

Homebrew / Linuxbrew

You can install mkiapp via homebrew and linuxbrew.

brew install simonkowallik/f5/mkiapp

If you want to receive updates when running brew update add my tap with brew tap simonkowallik/f5.

Info for fish users: If you have trouble running mkiapp with fish, either create an alias (alias mkiapp (which mkiapp)) or execute mkiapp with it's full path (eg. /usr/local/bin/mkiapp).

Details

To generate the target iApp, which can be used on an F5 BIG-IP device, mkiapp uses a so called iApp Skeleton Template. The iApp Skeleton Template can be loaded from a file or the builtin iApp Skeleton Template is used, which should be sufficient for most use-cases. mkiapp reads its settings from the .mkiapp configuration file in the current working directory (similar to git).

The iApp Skeleton Template

The iApp Skeleton Template contains the general structure of a target iApp. <placeholders> are used within the iApp Skeleton Template to include Section Skeleton Files and iApp Skeleton Template Variables.

You can create your own iApp Skeleton Template, see further below if required.

The Section Skeleton Files

The Section Skeleton Files reference to a file on the filesystem. This file content is included into the iApp Skeleton Template to fill four iApp Sections:

• presentation (required)
• implementation (required)
• macro (optional / depends on use-case)
• html-help (optional)

Section Skeleton Files are technically represented by a shell variable, the variable content is the file on the filesystem.

The Skeleton Template Variables

Skeleton Template Variables define a single value within the iApp Skeleton Template, for example Skeleton Template Variables are used to define:

• iApp Name
• Minimum BIG-IP Version
• Minimum BIG-IP Version
• Required Modules (e.g. LTM, AFM)

Technically Skeleton Template Variables are shell variables.

You can define additional Skeleton Template Variables for use in custom iApp Skeleton Templates if needed.

< placeholders >

Section Skeleton Files and Skeleton Template Variables have a corresponding <placeholder> within the iApp Skeleton Template.

The <placeholder> is replaced by the actual value of Skeleton Template Variable or content of the Section Skeleton File.

The following table maps the default <placeholders> to the Skeleton Template Variables and Section Skeleton Files.

< placeholder >	shell variable name	variable value
<MKIAPP_IAPP_NAME>	$MKIAPP_IAPP_NAME	MyHTTPSiApp
<MKIAPP_VAR_MINVERSION>	$MKIAPP_VAR_MINVERSION	11.6.0
<MKIAPP_VAR_MAXVERSION>	$MKIAPP_VAR_MAXVERSION	13.1.1
<MKIAPP_VAR_REQUIRED_MODULES>	$MKIAPP_VAR_REQUIRED_MODULES	ltm
<MKIAPP_VAR_TMSH_VERSION>	$MKIAPP_VAR_TMSH_VERSION	11.6.0
<MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_PRESENTATION>	$MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_PRESENTATION	presentation.tcl
<MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_IMPLEMENTATION>	$MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_IMPLEMENTATION	implementation.tcl
<MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_MACRO>	$MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_MACRO	macro.tcl
<MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_HELP>	$MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_HELP	help.html

With exception to <> the <placeholder> names and Skeleton Template Variable names are the same.

The variables are defined and read from the .mkiapp configuration file.

.mkiapp configuration file

The .mkiapp configuration file can be created by running mkiapp init and contains the shell variables above. It further allows to customise mkiapp behaviour.

When mkiapp runs, it first checks for .mkiapp in the current working directory and will complain if it doesn't exist. Here is an example .mkiapp file, which can be printed by running mkiapp config:

# initialized with version: 1.0
# For documentation see: https://github.com/simonkowallik/mkiapp
#
# iApp Name (target iApp)
export MKIAPP_IAPP_NAME=myiAppName

# iApp Skeleton Template (default: builtin)
export MKIAPP_IAPP_SKELETON=builtin

# required Section Skeleton Files (filenames)
export MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_PRESENTATION=presentation.tcl
export MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_IMPLEMENTATION=implementation.tcl

# optional Section Skeleton Files (filenames)
export MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_HELP=help.html
export MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_MACRO=macro.tcl

# iApp Skeleton Template Variables
export MKIAPP_VAR_TMSH_VERSION=11.6.0
export MKIAPP_VAR_MINVERSION=none
export MKIAPP_VAR_MAXVERSION=none
export MKIAPP_VAR_REQUIRED_MODULES=

When you run mkiapp init it will try to guess the file names for all four Section Skeleton Files, otherwise it will use the default names (see above). Non-existing files are ignored when mkiapp generates an iApp.

mkiapp config lets you interact with the configuration easily, it allows to read specific variables as well as set new values for existing variables or add new ones. mkiapp config edit opens .mkiapp in your $EDITOR.

Based on the configuration above, mkiapp config MKIAPP_IAPP_NAME would print myiAppName and mkiapp config MKIAPP_IAPP_NAME myHTTPiApp would set the variable value to myHTTPiApp.

Of course you can just use your favorite editor to modify the file.

Usage

mkiapp --help will provide you with the following help.

usage: mkiapp [init] [init-files [DIR]] [showbuiltin] [showmakefile] [config [edit] [<key>] [<key> <value>]] [-t|--template <file>] [--(no-)impl|--(no-)implementation] [--(no-)apl|--(no-)presentation] [--(no-)macro] [--(no-)html] [-h|--help] [-v|--version]
               init:    initialize current working directory for mkiapp
         init-files:    create Section Skeleton Files in current working directory or [DIR]
        showbuiltin:    print builtin iApp Skeleton Template
       showmakefile:    print example Makefile
             config:    no arguments: prints full configuration
                        edit: opens configuration in $EDITOR
                        <key>: prints its value
                        <key> <value>: sets <key> to <value>
      -t,--template:    use <file> as iApp Skeleton Template instead of 'builtin'
   --implementation:    only includes implementation Section Skeleton File in generated iApp
--no-implementation:    explictly excludes implementation Section Skeleton File from generated iApp
     --presentation:    only includes presentation Section Skeleton File in generated iApp
  --no-presentation:    explictly excludes presentation Section Skeleton File from generated iApp
            --macro:    only includes macro Section Skeleton File in generated iApp
         --no-macro:    explictly excludes macro Section Skeleton File from generated iApp
             --html:    only includes html-help Section Skeleton File in generated iApp
          --no-html:    only includes html-help Section Skeleton File from generated iApp
          -h,--help:    prints this help
       -v,--version:    prints version

mkiapp simplifies the process of combining separate source files into an iApp Template.
Start with 'mkiapp init' to initialize the current working directory. Executing 'mkiapp' will generate an iApp.

You start with mkiapp init, as outlined earlier. If you start a new project you can use mkiapp init-files [DIR] to create the Section Skeleton Files in the current working directory or [DIR] (don't worry, existing files will not be overwritten).

Once you have you files ready and updated with content, you can generate your own iApp. Running mkiapp will use the iApp Skeleton Template, include all Section Skeleton Files and Skeleton Template Variables and output your own iApp Template on the console (STDOUT). So you probably want to redirect the output to a file like this mkiapp > myiAppTemplate.tmpl.

If you use a custom iApp Skeleton Template, you can specify it with -t | --template: mkiapp --template /iapp_templates/template.tmpl > myiAppTemplate.tmpl. You could also set it permanently with mkiapp config MKIAPP_IAPP_SKELETON /iapp_templates/template.tmpl, which would update the .mkiapp configuration file.

There are a couple of other options available to generate your iApp. --implementation, --presentation, --macro and --html allow you to specifically generate the iApp with the selected sections only, all unspecified sections would be empty. This can be very useful when troubleshooting syntax errors, for example when you are not sure which section(s) contains them. --no-implementation, --no-presentation, --no-macro and --no-html on the other hand allow you specifically exclude the specified section.

Note: You always have to run mkiapp in the directory you "initialised" (contains the .mkiapp configuration file), similar to git.

Deploy iApp template to an F5 BIG-IP

Various ways are available to deploy the iApp template on an F5 BIG-IP. While detailing all possibilities is out of scope of this tool, here is a short quide using ssh/command line:

1. copy the iapp template to the BIG-IP /tmp directory (the directory matters for step 2+3!)

scp ./my_iapp_template.tmpl root@bigip:/tmp/my_iapp_template.tmpl

2. verify that the template has no syntax errors before merging it

ssh root@bigip 'tmsh load sys config merge verify file /tmp/my_iapp_template.tmpl'

3. merge iapp template into current configuration (note that this overwrites any existing template which has the same iapp name)

ssh root@bigip 'tmsh load sys config merge file /tmp/my_iapp_template.tmpl'

Best to use with ssh public-key authentication.

Also checkout the examples/Makefile, which provides a simple way to copy the built iapp to a BIG-IP. If you like it mkiapp showmakefile > ./Makefile will build it for you!

Examples

Two examples are located in the examples folder of this repository to demonstrate the use of mkiapp.

Extensibility and customisation

The mkiapp functionality can be further extended. mkiapp uses the bash source command to include .mkiapp, which gives you a lot of power and control over mkiapp.

A simple use-case could be to add additional MKIAPP_VAR_ variables when you need a custom iApp Skeleton Template.

Example

If you want to add the a description to the generated iApp Template you could come up with a new variable, let's say MKIAPP_VAR_DESCRIPTION. The corresponding placeholder would be <MKIAPP_VAR_DESCRIPTION>.

Let's first add the variable with a static value: mkiapp config MKIAPP_VAR_DESCRIPTION "This is my iApp template description"

Replace description none with description <MKIAPP_VAR_DESCRIPTION> in your customiApp Skeleton Template file and you are done.

If you need a more dynamic description you could set MKIAPP_VAR_DESCRIPTION to another variable name, like so: mkiapp config MKIAPP_VAR_DESCRIPTION "\$env_iapp_desc". mkiapp would then rely on the existence of $env_iapp_desc when it generates the iApp to fill the description field.

Another option would be to not configure MKIAPP_VAR_DESCRIPTION in the .mkiapp configuration file and instead always provide it when running mkiapp.

Important: No matter which technique you decide on using, make sure the resulting value in the iApp template follows the iApp syntax.

More advanced customisation

Furthermore $MKIAPP_ENV_ variables allow content replacement within the generated iApp. This allows you to dynamically change content which is included form the Section Skeleton Files during the mkiapp iApp generation process.

Example

Add <MKIAPP_ENV_PRESENTATION_GITHASH> placeholder to a section in the presentation Section Skeleton File:

message githash "<MKIAPP_ENV_PRESENTATION_GITHASH>"

Use one of the techniques outlined above to set the corresponding variable. For example:

MKIAPP_ENV_PRESENTATION_GITHASH=$(git log -1 --pretty=%h) \
                mkiapp > myiAppTemplate.tmpl

This would replace '<MKIAPP_ENV_PRESENTATION_GITHASH> with the short version of the latest git hash (command: git log -1 --pretty=%h) in the generated iApp Presentation Section.

You could also add this variable to the .mkiapp file to automatically set it whenever you run mkiapp:

mkiapp config MKIAPP_ENV_PRESENTATION_GITHASH "\$(git log -1 --pretty=%h)"

Not enough?

Using $MKIAPP_FILE_ variables allow to include file contents instead of a single value. This can be helpful, for example to include additional script code in the implementation section. For example the placeholder <MKIAPP_FILE_BASH_SCRIPT> could be used to include a bash script in a variable within the implementation section.

set bash_script {
<MKIAPP_FILE_BASH_SCRIPT>
}

$MKIAPP_FILE_BASH_SCRIPT would then need to point a file. The file content would be included in the set bash_script { } tcl code within the implementation section.

Important: You might have noticed that the placeholder <MKIAPP_FILE_BASH_SCRIPT> is placed on a separate line. The reason is that information on the line will be replaced! Therefore make sure the placeholder is the only entry in the line, as in the example above.

Still not enough?

<MKIAPP_ENV_> placeholders can be used in files included by <MKIAPP_FILE_> as well. :-)

Creating your own iApp Skeleton Template

If you need a custom iApp Skeleton Template, you can start off by using the builtin one. The builtin template can be listed with mkiapp showbuiltin:

#TMSH-VERSION: <MKIAPP_VAR_TMSH_VERSION>

cli admin-partitions {
    update-partition Common
}
sys application template /Common/<MKIAPP_IAPP_NAME> {
    actions {
        definition {
            html-help {
<MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_HELP>
            }
            implementation {
<MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_IMPLEMENTATION>
            }
            macro {
<MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_MACRO>
            }
            presentation {
<MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_PRESENTATION>
            }
            role-acl none
            run-as none
        }
    }
    description none
    ignore-verification false
    requires-bigip-version-max <MKIAPP_VAR_MINVERSION>
    requires-bigip-version-min <MKIAPP_VAR_MAXVERSION>
    requires-modules { <MKIAPP_VAR_REQUIRED_MODULES> }
    signing-key none
    tmpl-checksum none
    tmpl-signature none
}

Add your own <placeholders> as required.

Important: Please note that the the whole line of Section Skeleton File placeholders (<MKIAPP_SECTIONFILE_> ) will be replaced! Make sure the placeholder is the only entry in the line, as shown above.