Course Outline
BIG-IP Architecture & Platform Management
- Networking fundamentals – OSI model (L2–L7), load balancers operating at L4/L7; mapping IP addressing and subnetting to BIG-IP self IPs and VLANs.
- TMM traffic-processing architecture; understanding the traffic flow 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).
- TMUI navigation and efficient GUI workflows; tmsh basics; configuration backup and restore using UCS archives; overview of hardware versus virtual editions and their placement in bank data centers.
- Lab “Get Traffic Flowing” – initial setup (VLANs, self IPs, routes), creating nodes, pools, and health monitors, building the first virtual server, verifying traffic to backend application servers, and taking 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.
- Virtual server types; design of pools, nodes, and monitors; load-balancing algorithms; TCP/HTTP profiles and connection reuse; application to internet-banking and API traffic patterns.
- SSL/TLS offloading and certificate management (key/certificate import, chains, cipher policy aligned with typical banking security standards); 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 offloading for a simulated banking portal, configure cookie persistence, verify 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 basics; DNS resolution flow and record types; TLS handshake overview.
- Device Service Clustering: device trust, sync-failover groups, configuration sync, traffic groups, and floating IPs; failover behavior and client experience; high availability design considerations for banking (dual-datacenter patterns, maintenance with zero downtime).
- 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; brief introduction to automation (iControl REST) and WAF (ASM/Advanced WAF) as subsequent topics.
- Lab: Build an active/standby high availability pair using the two per-trainee BIG-IP VEs, establish device trust and configuration sync, execute forced failover during live traffic, configure remote syslog, review audit logs, perform a final backup, and conclude with a course recap and Q&A.
Lab Environment
Each trainee is provided with a dedicated, isolated lab environment: two BIG-IP Virtual Edition instances (enabling the Day 3 high availability exercise) along with shared backend web servers simulating application tiers. Access is entirely browser-based through a secured Guacamole gateway, requiring only a web browser with no VPN client or local software installation, which simplifies participation from restricted banking workstations. The environment is pre-configured and validated before Day 1, and every trainee completes Day 1 with working traffic through their own BIG-IP instance.
Requirements
No previous F5 experience is necessary.
While basic TCP/IP knowledge is beneficial, it is not a prerequisite. Each day begins with concise networking refresher sessions (covering the OSI model, TCP/HTTP, DNS/TLS) tailored to the day’s F5 topics, ensuring teams with varying levels of experience reach a common starting point.
Target Audience: Network engineers, security engineers, application support specialists, and operations staff working in banking or financial institutions.
Testimonials (1)
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