TMS 14.4 and F5 BIG-IP config: username and password

Question

Hi,
We've got 2 TMS servers running 14.3.2 software behind BIG-IP load balancer. We're going to upgrade to 14.4 but Cisco has changed the redundancy model from active/active to active/passive. Some changes are required on the load balancer and this is clear so far.
However, Cisco mentioned username and password in the example BIG-IP config and I was told that no username is currently configured on the load balancer. The install guide says:
"After initial configuration of your F5 BIG-IP load balancer, you can configure it with the settings below using copy and paste. All IP addresses, DNS names, usernames, and passwords must be amended to reflect your actual configuration prior to applying the settings to your load balancer"
And:
"HEAD /tms/public/IsAlive.aspx/?guid=<CHANGE TO THE GUID OF YOUR CISCO TMS>\\r\\n" time-until-up 0 timeout 16 username 'domain\\username'}
Do we need to add a Windows Server admin account details?
This may be silly question but I don't know load balancers.

Answer 1

That example is pretty vague for sure, as it doesn't mention anything of that in the earlier steps in the redundancy instructions.  I believe the username and password is for an account that the load balancer would use to probe the TMS keep alive address.  If that is the case, depends on how you'd like to manage the account, two separate local accounts on both servers, or one central shared account through Active Directory.  I haven't upgraded our TMS servers yet, so I can't verify if an account is needed to check the keep alive address or not, we also don't have F5 load balancers either, so I'm kind of guessing, and like you trying to make sense of a not so very good example.
Maybe Kjetil or one of the TMS guys can chime in and shed some light on that example for you.