Course Outline
BIG-IP Architecture & Platform Management
- Networking fundamentals: OSI model (L2–L7), the role of load balancers at L4/L7, and IP addressing/subnetting mapped to BIG-IP self IPs and VLANs.
- TMM traffic-processing architecture; the flow of traffic from client to virtual server to pool member; device modes, administrative partitions, and role-based access control (crucial for segregation of duties in banking); licensing and module provisioning (LTM, AVR).
- Navigating TMUI and optimizing GUI workflows; essential tmsh commands; configuration backup and restoration using UCS archives; comparing hardware versus virtual editions and their suitability for bank data centres.
- Lab: “Get Traffic Flowing” – initial setup (VLANs, self IPs, routes), creation of nodes, pools, and health monitors, building the first virtual server, verifying traffic to backend application servers, and creating a UCS backup.
Core Load Balancing & SSL/TLS
- Networking fundamentals: TCP/UDP handshakes and port concepts; HTTP methods, headers, status codes, and keep-alive mechanisms.
- Types of virtual servers; design of pools, nodes, and monitors; load-balancing algorithms; TCP/HTTP profiles and connection reuse; applying these concepts to internet-banking and API traffic patterns.
- SSL/TLS offload and certificate management (importing keys/certificates, chains, and cipher policies aligned with banking security baselines); persistence methods (cookie, source-address) and their appropriate use cases; introduction to iRules with simple read-only examples (redirects, header insertion).
- Lab: Create an HTTPS virtual server with SSL offload for a simulated banking portal, configure cookie persistence, validate the certificate chain in the browser, apply a simple redirect iRule, and observe monitor-driven pool member failover.
High Availability & Operations
- Networking fundamentals: VLANs, routing, and ARP essentials; DNS resolution flow and record types; a recap of the TLS handshake.
- Device Service Clustering: establishing device trust, sync-failover groups, configuration synchronization, traffic groups, and floating IPs; understanding failover behaviour and client experience; high availability design considerations for banking (dual-datacentre patterns, zero-downtime maintenance).
- Operations for regulated environments: local and remote logging (syslog, SNMP), AVR traffic analytics, audit logging of administrative changes, upgrade and maintenance procedures, backup strategies, and disaster recovery basics; a brief overview of automation (iControl REST) and WAF (ASM/Advanced WAF) as subsequent topics.
- Lab: Establish an active/standby high availability pair using the two dedicated BIG-IP VEs per trainee, set up device trust and configuration synchronization, perform a forced failover during live traffic, configure remote syslog, review audit logs, and complete the final backup; course summary and Q&A.
Lab Environment
Each trainee is provided with a dedicated, isolated lab environment consisting of two BIG-IP Virtual Edition instances (facilitating the Day 3 high availability exercise) and shared backend web servers that simulate application tiers. Access is fully browser-based through a secure Guacamole gateway, requiring only a web browser—no VPN client or local software installation is needed, which simplifies access from restricted banking workstations. The environment is pre-configured and validated before Day 1, ensuring every trainee concludes Day 1 with successful traffic flowing through their own BIG-IP instance.
Requirements
Prior experience with F5 is not required.
While basic TCP/IP knowledge is advantageous, it is not a prerequisite. Each day begins with brief networking primers (covering the OSI model, TCP/HTTP, and DNS/TLS) to contextualize the day’s F5 topics, ensuring that teams with varying experience levels reach a common baseline.
Target Audience: Network engineers, security specialists, and application support or operations personnel working in banking and financial institutions.
Testimonials (1)
communication, knowledge from experience, solve problems,
