Course Outline
BIG-IP Architecture & Platform Management
- Networking fundamentals—OSI model (L2–L7), load balancers at L4/L7; mapping IP addressing and subnetting to BIG-IP self IPs and VLANs.
- TMM traffic-processing architecture; traffic flow from client → virtual server → pool member; device modes, administrative partitions, and role-based access control (pertinent to segregation-of-duties in banking); licensing and module provisioning (LTM, AVR).
- Navigating TMUI and efficient GUI workflows; tmsh essentials; backing up and restoring configurations using UCS archives; overview of hardware versus virtual editions and their respective roles 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.
- Virtual server types; designing 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/cert import, chains, cipher policy—aligned with standard banking security baselines); persistence methods (cookie, source-address) and their suitability; introduction to iRules with simple read-only examples (redirects, header insertion).
- Lab—Build an HTTPS virtual server with SSL offloading for a simulated banking portal, configure cookie persistence, validate the certificate chain in a 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; TLS handshake review.
- Device Service Clustering: device trust, sync-failover groups, config synchronization, traffic groups, and floating IPs; failover behavior and client impact; HA design considerations for banking (dual-datacenter patterns, maintenance without 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 outlook on automation (iControl REST) and WAF (ASM/Advanced WAF) as follow-on topics.
- Lab—Build an active/standby HA pair using the two per-trainee BIG-IP VEs, establish device trust and config synchronization, execute forced failover during live traffic, configure remote syslog, review audit logs, perform a final backup; course summary and Q&A.
Lab Environment
Each trainee receives a dedicated, isolated lab environment: two BIG-IP Virtual Edition instances (enabling the Day 3 HA exercise) plus shared backend web servers simulating application tiers. Access is fully browser-based via a secure Guacamole gateway—trainees need only a web browser, with no VPN client or local software installation, simplifying participation from restricted banking workstations. The environment is pre-built and validated before Day 1; every trainee completes Day 1 with working traffic through their own BIG-IP.
Requirements
No prior F5 experience is necessary.
While basic TCP/IP knowledge is beneficial, it is not assumed. Each day begins with concise networking primers (OSI model, TCP/HTTP, DNS/TLS) tailored to the day’s F5 content, ensuring that teams with varied experience levels reach a common baseline.
Audience: Network engineers, security engineers, and application support or operations staff within banking and financial institutions
Testimonials (1)
communication, knowledge from experience, solve problems,
