Administering BIG-IP v.17.1

This course is intended for network administrators, operators, and engineers responsible for managing the normal day-to-day operation and administration of a BIG-IP application delivery network.

This course presents the prerequisite knowledge for many other of F5's BIG-IP instructor-led training courses.

After completing this course, participants will be able to complete the following tasks: 

• 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

Chapter 1: Setting Up the BIG-IP System

• Introducing the BIG-IP System

• Initially Setting Up the BIG-IP System

• Configuring the Management Interface

• Activating the Software License

• Provisioning Modules and Resources

• Importing a Device Certificate

• Specifying BIG-IP Platform Properties

• Configuring the Network

• Configuring Network Time Protocol (NTP) Servers

• Configuring Domain Name System (DNS) Settings

• Configuring High Availability Options

• Archiving the BIG-IP Configuration

•Leveraging F5 Support Resources and Tools

Chapter 2: Traffic Processing Building Blocks

• Identifying BIG-IP Traffic Processing Objects

• Configuring Virtual Servers and Pools

• Load Balancing Traffic

• Viewing Module Statistics and Logs

• Using the Traffic Management Shell (TMSH)

• Understanding the TMSH Hierarchical Structure

• Navigating the TMSH Hierarchy

• Managing BIG-IP Configuration State and Files

• BIG-IP System Configuration State

• Loading and Saving the System Configuration

• Shutting Down and Restarting the BIG-IP System

• Saving and Replicating Configuration Data (UCS and SCF)

Chapter 3: Using NATs and SNATs

• Address Translation on the BIG-IP System

• Mapping IP Addresses with NATs

• Solving Routing Issues with SNATs

• Configuring SNAT Auto Map on a Virtual Server

• Monitoring for and Mitigating Port Exhaustion

Chapter 4: Monitoring Application Health

• Introducing Monitors

• Types of Monitors

• Monitor Interval and Timeout Settings

• Configuring Monitors

• Assigning Monitors to Resources

• Managing Pool, Pool Member, and Node Status

• Using the Network Map

Chapter 5: Modifying Traffic Behavior with Profiles

• Introducing Profiles

• Understanding Profile Types and Dependencies

• Configuring and Assigning Profiles

• Introducing SSL Offload and SSL Re-Encryption

Chapter 6: Modifying Traffic Behavior with Persistence

• Understanding the Need for Persistence

• Introducing Source Address Affinity Persistence

• Managing Object State

Chapter 7: Administering the BIG-IP System

• Configuring Logging

• Legacy Remote Logging

• Introducing High Speed Logging (HSL)

• High-Speed Logging Filters

• HSL Configuration Objects

• Configuring High Speed Logging

• Using TCPDUMP on the BIG-IP System

• Leveraging the BIG-IP iHealth System

• Viewing BIG-IP System Statistics

• Defining User Roles and Administrative Partitions

• Leveraging vCMP

 Chapter 8: Configuring High Availability

• Introducing Device Service Clustering (DSC)

• Preparing to Deploy a DSC Configuration

• Configuring DSC Communication Settings

• Establishing Device Trust

• Establishing a Sync-Failover Device Group

• Synchronizing Configuration Data

• Exploring Traffic Group Behavior

• Understanding Failover Managers and Triggers

• Achieving Stateful Failover with Mirroring

Course Changes since v15

• No significant changes to course outline or materials since the v15 release. 

• Minor updates to the course include review and update of referenced knowledge articles, GUI screenshots, hardware platform images in introduction and chapter 1 slides and student guide pages, and removed information for obsolete topics such as Link Controller.

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 LearnF5 (https://www.f5.com/services/training): 

• Getting Started with BIG-IP 

• Getting Started with BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) web-based training 

The following general network technology knowledge and experience are recommended 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

• Configuring BIG-IP LTM: Local Traffic Manager v.16.1
• Configuring BIG-IP DNS (formerly GTM) v.16.1
• Configuring F5 Advanced WAF (previously licensed as ASM) v16.1
• Configuring BIG-IP APM: Access Policy Manager v.16.1

Delegates will be provided with official F5 e-kit courseware approximately 1 week prior to the start of the course.