FAST Templates do not load if Telemetry Streaming LTM node (255.255.255.254) already exists

[bbusner]

Environment

• FAST RPM Version: 1.25.0
• BIG-IP Version: 16.1.3.4
• AS3 (3.49)

Summary

Whever I click on one of the provided templates, it says "Loading template: bigip-fast-templates/<template_name>" and the template never renders.

Steps To Reproduce

List the steps to reproduce the behavior:
Install ASM and FAST.
Go to Application Services > Applications LX > F5 Application Services Templates.
Click on any of the templates.

Expected Behavior

A clear and concise description of what you expected to happen.
I expect the template to load so I can fill it out and deploy an app.

Actual Behavior

A clear and concise description of what actually happens.
Please include any applicable error output.

The template doesn't load. It says "Loading template: bigip-fast-templates/<template_name>".
I never see an error in my browser, but if I run dev tools, I see a 400 Bad Request for "/mgmt/shared/fast/templates/bigip-fast-templates/bluegreen?userAgent=FASTGUI/NA". The response body is as follows:
{
"code": 400,
"requestId": 13,
"message": "Client Error: Could not load template bigip-fast-templates/bluegreen",
"_links": {
"self": "/mgmt/shared/fast/templates/bigip-fast-templates/bluegreen?userAgent=FASTGUI/NA"
}
}

I get similar errors for all provided templates.

Here are things I've tried:
Uninstall/reinstall ASM and FAST
Restart all REST services
Reboot BIG-IP
Download templates from Github and import them under a new zip file. Import successful, but same errors.

[bbusner]

I also started to see the following errors every few minutes in /var/log/ltm after I installed FAST. The node referred to below already exists as part of a Telemetry Streaming configuration.
Feb 16 14:09:01 bigiphost err mcpd[6168]: 0107176c:3: Invalid Node, the IP address 255.255.255.254 already exists.

[bbusner]

I found the following error in /var/log/restnoded/restnoded.log when attempting to open a template:
Thu, 07 Mar 2024 12:31:42 GMT - severe: [appsvcs] {"message":"Declaration failed: 0107176c:3: Invalid Node, the IP address 255.255.255.254 already exists.","level":"error"}

This node already existed prior to deploying FAST package. You would already have this node if you are using Telemetry Streaming for various log sources such as system logging, ASM, LTM requests, etc. See https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000134780 for details.

Apparently, FAST assumes that none of this exists and attempts to create its own VS, pool, and node for Telemetry Streaming. I was able to workaround the issue by removing the VS, pool and node that was previously configured for TS. I also had to temporarily disassociate several log profiles and log destinations that referenced the pool. Once that was done, I redeployed FAST and I was able to load a template without getting the 400 error.

Upon first deployment of a FAST app, it created its own VS, pool, and node for TS in /Common/shared. I then updated all my pre-existing log profiles and log destinations to reference the telemetry pool that FAST created.

I don't know if this is the best workaround for a mixed environment where you're adding FAST into an existing environment. At the very least, it would be nice to document this in the FAST deployment guide for those who already have telemetry streaming pools configured.