Course Outline
Day 1 — 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.
• Theory 1: TMM traffic-processing architecture; traffic flow from client to virtual server to pool member; device modes, administrative partitions, and role-based access control (addressing segregation-of-duties in banking); licensing and module provisioning (LTM, AVR).
• Theory 2: TMUI navigation and efficient GUI workflows; tmsh basics; configuration backup and restore using UCS archives; comparison of hardware versus virtual editions and their suitability for bank data centres.
• Lab (3 hours) — “Get Traffic Flowing” — initial setup (VLANs, self IPs, routes), creation of nodes, pools, and health monitors, building the first virtual server, verifying traffic to backend application servers, and taking a UCS backup.
Day 2 — Core Load Balancing & SSL/TLS
• Networking fundamentals: TCP/UDP handshake and port concepts; HTTP methods, headers, status codes, and keep-alive.
• Theory 1: 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.
• Theory 2: SSL/TLS offloading and certificate management (key/certificate import, chains, cipher policies aligned with banking security baselines); persistence methods (cookie, source-address) and their appropriate use cases; introduction to iRules with simple read-only examples (redirects, header insertion).
• Lab (3 hours) — Build an HTTPS virtual server with SSL offloading for a simulated banking portal, configure cookie persistence, validate the certificate chain in the browser, apply a simple redirect iRule, and observe monitor-driven pool member failover.
Day 3 — High Availability & Operations
• Networking fundamentals: VLANs, routing, and ARP basics; DNS resolution flow and record types; recap of the TLS handshake.
• Theory 1: Device Service Clustering: device trust, sync-failover groups, configuration synchronization, traffic groups, and floating IPs; failover behaviour and client experience; HA design considerations for banking (dual-data centre patterns, maintenance without downtime).
• Theory 2: Operations in regulated environments: local and remote logging (syslog, SNMP), AVR traffic analytics, audit logging of administrative changes, upgrade and maintenance procedures, backup strategy, and disaster recovery basics; brief overview of automation (iControl REST) and WAF (ASM/Advanced WAF) as future topics.
• Lab (3 hours) — Construct an active/standby HA pair using the two per-trainee BIG-IP VEs, establish device trust and configuration synchronization, execute a forced failover during live traffic, configure remote syslog, review audit logs, and perform a final backup; course summary and Q&A.
Lab Environment
Each trainee is provided with a dedicated, isolated lab environment: two BIG-IP Virtual Edition instances (supporting the Day 3 HA exercise) along with shared backend web servers simulating application tiers. Access is fully browser-based via a secured Guacamole gateway, requiring only a web browser—no VPN client or local software installation is needed, facilitating participation from restricted banking workstations. The environment is pre-configured and validated prior to Day 1, ensuring every trainee achieves working traffic through their own BIG-IP instance by the end of Day 1.
Requirements
No prior experience with F5 is required.
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 varying experience levels reach a common baseline.
Audience: Network engineers, security engineers, and application support/operations staff within banking and financial institutions.
Testimonials (1)
communication, knowledge from experience, solve problems,
