Course Overview
This course gives network administrators, network operators, and network engineers a functional understanding of the BIG-IP system as it is commonly deployed in an application delivery network. The course introduces students to the BIG-IP system, its configuration objects, how it processes traffic, and how typical administrative and operational activities are performed. The course includes lecture, hands-on labs, interactive demonstrations, and discussions.
Prerequisites
The following free web-based training courses, although optional, will be very helpful for any student with limited BIG-IP administration and configuration experience. These courses are available at F5 University:
- Getting Started with BIG-IP web-based training
- Getting Started with BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) web-based training
The following general network technology knowledge and experience are required before attending any F5 Global Training Services instructor-led course:
- OSI model encapsulation
- Routing and switching
- Ethernet and ARP
- TCP/IP concepts
- IP addressing and subnetting
- NAT and private IP addressing
- Default gateway
- Network firewalls
- LAN vs. WAN
Course Objectives
- Describe the role of the BIG-IP system as a full proxy device in an application delivery network
- Set up, start/restart/stop, license, and provision the BIG-IP system out-of-the-box
- Create a basic network configuration on the BIG-IP system including VLANs and self IPs
- Use the Configuration utility and TMSH to manage BIG-IP resources such as virtual servers, pools, pool members, nodes, profiles, and monitors
- Create, restore from, and manage BIG-IP archives
- View resource status, availability, and statistical information and use this information to determine how the BIG-IP system is currently processing traffic
- Use profiles to manipulate the way the BIG-IP system processes traffic through a virtual server
- Perform basic troubleshooting and problem determination activities including using the iHealth diagnostic tool
- Support, and view traffic flow using TCPDUMP
- Understand and manage user roles and partitions
- Configure and manage a sync-failover device group with more than two members
- Configure stateful failover using connection mirroring and persistence mirroring
Course Content
- Setting Up the BIG-IP System
- Traffic Processing Building Blocks
- Using NATs and SNATs
- Monitoring Application Health
- Modifying Traffic Behavior with Profiles
- Modifying Traffic Behavior with Persistence
- Administering the BIG-IP System
- Configuring High Availability