Course Outline
BIG-IP Architecture & Platform Administration
- Networking fundamentals – OSI model (L2–L7), the role of L4/L7 load balancers; mapping IP addressing and subnetting to BIG-IP self-IPs and VLANs.
- TMM traffic processing architecture; understanding the flow from client to virtual server to pool member; device modes, administrative partitions, and role-based access control (aligned with banking segregation-of-duties policies); licensing and module provisioning (LTM, AVR).
- Efficient TMUI navigation and GUI workflows; core tmsh commands; configuration backup and restoration via UCS archives; comparison of hardware versus virtual editions and their suitability for bank data centers.
- Practical Exercise "Establishing Traffic Flow" – Initial setup (VLANs, self-IPs, routing), creating nodes, pools, and health monitors, constructing the first virtual server, validating traffic to backend servers, and generating a UCS backup.
Primary Load Balancing & SSL/TLS
- Networking fundamentals – TCP/UDP handshakes and port mechanisms; HTTP methods, headers, status codes, and keep-alive connections.
- Virtual server types; design of pools, nodes, and monitors; load balancing algorithms; TCP/HTTP profiles and connection reuse; application of these concepts to internet banking and API traffic patterns.
- SSL/TLS termination and certificate management (importing keys/certs, chains, cipher policies aligned with banking security standards); persistence techniques (cookie, source address) and their appropriate use cases; introduction to iRules with basic read-only examples like redirects and header insertion.
- Practical Exercise – Configure an HTTPS virtual server with SSL termination for a simulated banking portal, set up cookie persistence, verify the certificate chain in a browser, implement a simple redirect iRule, and observe monitor-driven pool member failover.
High Availability & Operational Practices
- Networking fundamentals – VLANs, routing, ARP basics; DNS resolution processes and record types; TLS handshake review.
- Device Service Clustering: establishing device trust, sync-failover groups, configuration synchronization, traffic groups, and floating IPs; understanding failover behavior and client experience; high availability design considerations for banking, including dual-data center patterns and maintenance without downtime.
- Operations in regulated environments: local and remote logging (syslog, SNMP), AVR traffic analysis, audit logging of administrative actions, upgrade and maintenance protocols, backup strategies, and disaster recovery basics; overview of future topics such as automation via iControl REST and Web Application Firewalls (ASM/Advanced WAF).
- Practical Exercise: Construct an active/standby high availability pair using the two dedicated BIG-IP VEs, set up device trust and configuration synchronization, perform a forced failover during active traffic, configure remote syslog, review audit logs, execute a final backup, and conclude with a course summary and Q&A.
Lab Environment
Each participant is provided with a dedicated, isolated lab environment containing two BIG-IP Virtual Edition instances (necessary for the Day 3 high availability task) and shared backend web servers mimicking application layers. Access is fully browser-based through a secure Guacamole gateway, requiring only a web browser and no VPN client or local software, which facilitates participation from restricted banking workstations. The environment is pre-configured and verified before Day 1, ensuring that every trainee has functioning traffic through their own BIG-IP instance by the end of the first day.
Requirements
No previous F5 experience is necessary.
While foundational TCP/IP knowledge is advantageous, it is not a strict prerequisite. Each session begins with concise networking reviews (covering the OSI model, TCP/HTTP, DNS/TLS) tailored to the day’s F5 topics, ensuring that mixed-experience teams start from a consistent baseline.
Intended Audience: Network engineers, security specialists, and application support or operations personnel within banking and financial institutions.
Testimonials (1)
communication, knowledge from experience, solve problems,
