Course Outline
Day 1 — BIG-IP Architecture & Platform Management
• Networking fundamentals — OSI model (Layers 2–7), load balancers at L4/L7; mapping IP addressing and subnetting to BIG-IP self-IPs and VLANs.
• Theory 1 — 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 (aligned with banking segregation-of-duties requirements); and licensing and module provisioning (LTM, AVR).
• Theory 2 — Navigating the TMUI and efficient GUI workflows; tmsh essentials; performing configuration backup and restore using UCS archives; and an overview of hardware versus virtual editions and their respective roles in bank data centers.
• Lab (3 hours) — “Get Traffic Flowing” — Initial setup including VLANs, self-IPs, and routes; creating nodes, pools, and health monitors; building a 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 mechanisms.
• Theory 1 — Virtual server types; designing pools, nodes, and monitors; load-balancing algorithms; TCP/HTTP profiles and connection reuse; and how these apply to internet-banking and API traffic patterns.
• Theory 2 — SSL/TLS offloading and certificate management (importing keys/certs, chains, and cipher policies aligned with banking security baselines); persistence methods (cookie-based, source-address) and their appropriate use cases; and an introduction to iRules with simple read-only examples like redirects and header insertion.
• Lab (3 hours) — Building an HTTPS virtual server with SSL offloading for a simulated banking portal; configuring cookie persistence; validating the certificate chain in a browser; applying a simple redirect iRule; and observing monitor-driven pool member failover.
Day 3 — High Availability & Operations
• Networking fundamentals — VLANs, routing, and ARP essentials; DNS resolution flow and record types; and a recap of the TLS handshake.
• Theory 1 — Device Service Clustering: establishing device trust, sync-failover groups, configuration synchronization, traffic groups, and floating IPs; analyzing failover behavior and client experience; and considering HA design for banking, including dual-datacenter patterns and maintenance without downtime.
• Theory 2 — Operations for regulated environments: local and remote logging (syslog, SNMP), AVR traffic analytics, audit logging of administrative changes, upgrade and maintenance procedures, and backup strategy and disaster-recovery basics; plus a brief outlook on automation (iControl REST) and WAF (ASM/Advanced WAF) as future topics.
• Lab (3 hours) — Creating an active/standby HA pair using the two per-trainee BIG-IP VEs; establishing device trust and configuration synchronization; executing forced failover during live traffic; configuring remote syslog; reviewing audit logs; performing a final backup; and concluding with a course recap and Q&A.
Lab Environment
Each trainee receives a dedicated, isolated lab environment consisting of two BIG-IP Virtual Edition instances (to facilitate the Day 3 HA exercise) along with shared backend web servers that simulate application tiers. Access is entirely browser-based through a secured Guacamole gateway, meaning trainees only need a web browser with no requirement for VPN clients or local software installations, which simplifies participation from secure banking workstations. The environment is pre-built and validated before Day 1, ensuring every trainee completes Day 1 with successful traffic flow through their own BIG-IP.
Requirements
No prior experience with F5 products is required.
While basic TCP/IP knowledge is beneficial, it is not assumed. Each day begins with short networking primers covering the OSI model, TCP/HTTP, and DNS/TLS, contextualized to the day's F5 content, ensuring that teams with varying experience levels start from a common baseline.
Audience: Network engineers, security engineers, and application support and operations staff working in banking and financial institutions
Testimonials (1)
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