Course Outline
BIG-IP Architecture and Platform Administration
- Networking fundamentals: Overview of the OSI model (L2–L7) and the role of load balancers at L4/L7; mapping IP addressing and subnetting to BIG-IP self-IPs and VLANs.
- TMM traffic-processing architecture: Understanding traffic flow from client to virtual server to pool member; exploring device modes, administrative partitions, and role-based access control to meet banking segregation-of-duties requirements; reviewing licensing and module provisioning (LTM, AVR).
- Navigation and management: Efficient use of the TMUI and tmsh CLI; performing configuration backups and restores using UCS archives; comparing hardware versus virtual editions and their placement in bank data centers.
- Lab “Getting Traffic Flowing”: Initial setup (VLANs, self-IPs, routes), creating nodes, pools, and health monitors, building the first virtual server, verifying traffic to backend servers, and taking a UCS backup.
Essential Load Balancing and SSL/TLS
- Networking fundamentals: TCP/UDP handshakes and port concepts; HTTP methods, headers, status codes, and keep-alive mechanisms.
- Load balancing components: Virtual server types, pool and node design, monitor configuration, and load-balancing algorithms; applying TCP/HTTP profiles and connection reuse to internet-banking and API traffic patterns.
- SSL/TLS and persistence: Configuring SSL/TLS offload and managing certificates (key/cert import, chains, cipher policies) in line with banking security baselines; selecting appropriate persistence methods (cookie, source-address); introduction to iRules with basic read-only examples such as redirects and header insertion.
- Lab: Create an HTTPS virtual server with SSL offload for a simulated banking portal, set up cookie persistence, verify the certificate chain in a browser, apply a simple redirect iRule, and observe monitor-driven failover of pool members.
High Availability and Operations
- Networking fundamentals: VLANs, routing, and ARP basics; DNS resolution processes and record types; recap of the TLS handshake.
- Device Service Clustering: Establishing device trust, configuring sync-failover groups, synchronization, traffic groups, and floating IPs; analyzing failover behavior from the client’s perspective; designing high availability for banking needs, including dual-datacenter patterns and zero-downtime maintenance.
- Operational best practices for regulated environments: Local and remote logging (syslog, SNMP), AVR traffic analytics, audit logging for administrative changes, upgrade and maintenance procedures, backup strategies, and disaster recovery basics; introduction to automation via iControl REST and WAF (ASM/Advanced WAF) as future topics.
- Lab: Build an active/standby high availability pair using the two provided BIG-IP VEs, establish device trust and configuration sync, perform a forced failover during live traffic, configure remote syslog, review audit logs, and complete a final backup; conclude with a course recap and Q&A.
Lab Environment
Each trainee is provided with a dedicated, isolated lab environment consisting of two BIG-IP Virtual Edition instances (required for the Day 3 high availability exercise) and shared backend web servers simulating application tiers. Access is completely browser-based through a secure Guacamole gateway, meaning trainees only need a web browser without requiring VPN clients or local software installations, which simplifies participation from restricted banking workstations. The environment is pre-built and validated before the first day, ensuring every trainee achieves working traffic through their own BIG-IP by the end of Day 1.
Requirements
No previous experience with F5 products is necessary.
While foundational knowledge of TCP/IP is beneficial, it is not a prerequisite. Each day begins with brief networking refresher sessions covering the OSI model, TCP/HTTP, and DNS/TLS, contextualized to the day’s F5 topics to ensure a unified baseline for teams with varying levels of experience.
Target Audience: Network engineers, security engineers, and application support or operations staff working in banking or financial institutions.
Testimonials (1)
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