Course Outline
BIG-IP Architecture & Platform Management
- Networking fundamentals – covering the OSI model (Layers 2–7) and the role of load balancers at Layers 4 and 7; mapping IP addressing and subnetting to BIG-IP self-IPs and VLANs.
- Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) processing architecture; understanding traffic flow from client to virtual server to pool members; exploring device modes, administrative partitions, and role-based access control (crucial for banking segregation of duties); overview of licensing and module provisioning for LTM and AVR.
- Navigating TMUI for efficient workflows; essential tmsh commands; managing configuration backups and restores using UCS archives; comparing hardware and virtual editions and their placement in bank data centers.
- Practical Exercise “Get Traffic Flowing” – initial configuration (VLANs, self-IPs, routes), creating nodes, pools, and health monitors, establishing the first virtual server, verifying backend traffic, and creating a UCS backup.
Core Load Balancing & SSL/TLS
- Networking fundamentals – TCP/UDP handshake mechanics and port usage; HTTP methods, headers, status codes, and keep-alive connections.
- Different types of virtual servers; designing pools, nodes, and monitors; selecting appropriate load-balancing algorithms; configuring TCP/HTTP profiles and connection reuse; applying these concepts to internet-banking and API traffic patterns.
- SSL/TLS offloading and certificate management, including key/certificate import, chain validation, and cipher policies aligned with banking security standards; implementing persistence methods (cookie-based or source-address) and selecting the appropriate technique; introductory iRules examples for read-only tasks such as redirects and header insertion.
- Practical Exercise – Building an HTTPS virtual server with SSL offload for a simulated banking portal, configuring cookie persistence, verifying the certificate chain, applying a simple redirect iRule, and observing monitor-driven failover.
High Availability & Operations
- Networking fundamentals – VLANs, routing, and ARP basics; DNS resolution processes and record types; a recap of the TLS handshake.
- Device Service Clustering: establishing device trust, configuring sync-failover groups, managing configuration sync, traffic groups, and floating IPs; understanding failover behavior and client impact; designing high availability for banking, including dual-data-center patterns and zero-downtime maintenance.
- Operations in regulated environments: implementing local and remote logging (syslog, SNMP), utilizing AVR for traffic analytics, maintaining audit logs for administrative changes, executing upgrades and maintenance, and establishing backup and disaster recovery strategies; an overview of automation via iControl REST and Web Application Firewall (ASM/Advanced WAF) as future topics.
- Practical Exercise – Constructing an active/standby high availability pair using the two provided BIG-IP VEs, establishing device trust and configuration sync, executing forced failover under live load, configuring remote syslog, reviewing audit logs, and performing a final backup, followed by a course recap and Q&A.
Lab Environment
Each participant is provided with a dedicated, isolated lab environment consisting of two BIG-IP Virtual Edition instances (enabling the Day 3 high availability exercise) and shared backend web servers that simulate application tiers. Access is exclusively browser-based through a secure Guacamole gateway, requiring no VPN client or local software installation, which facilitates participation from restricted banking workstations. The environment is pre-configured and validated prior to Day 1, ensuring every trainee has working traffic flowing through their own BIG-IP instance by the end of the first day.
Requirements
Previous experience with F5 products is not a prerequisite for this course.
While a basic understanding of TCP/IP is beneficial, it is not strictly required. To ensure all participants start from a common baseline, each day begins with brief networking refresher sessions covering the OSI model, TCP/HTTP protocols, and DNS/TLS, tailored specifically to the day's F5 topics.
Target Audience: Network engineers, security specialists, and application support and operations staff working in banking and financial institutions.
Testimonials (1)
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