How to best Create Big-IP lab on VE from Physical production configuration to test upgrade?
I'm in the process of upgrading our physical Big-IP LTMs and would like to import as much of the configuration as possible (while maintaining VE management configuration) into a virtual edition lab to perform a mock upgrade.
I exported the SCF from the source physical and the VE for comparison.
I found K81271448: Merging BIG-IP configuration objects into the running configuration using tmsh https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K81271448
So it looks like I could remove portions from physical source configuration file and massage the rest, and merge. I converted the vlans to use the last interface on the VE (and disconnected from the VM).
But which parts of the config should I keep, and which should I remove prior to merging?
I also read that a UCS configuration might be more appropriate to export and import.
What is the best recommendation to migrate production Big-IP configuration to a VE lab to test an upgrade prior to actual upgrade?