Course Overview
This course gives network administrators, network operators, and network engineers a functional understanding of the BIG-IP system as it is commonly deployed in an application delivery network. The course introduces students to the BIG-IP system, its configuration objects, how it processes traffic, and how typical administrative and operational activities are performed. The course includes lecture, hands-on labs, interactive demonstrations, and discussions.
Prerequisites
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 F5 University:
- Getting Started with BIG-IP web-based training
 - Getting Started with BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) web-based training
 
The following general network technology knowledge and experience are required 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
 
Course Objectives
- 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
 
Course Content
- Setting Up the BIG-IP System
 - Traffic Processing Building Blocks
 - Using NATs and SNATs
 - Monitoring Application Health
 - Modifying Traffic Behavior with Profiles
 - Modifying Traffic Behavior with Persistence
 - Administering the BIG-IP System
 - Configuring High Availability