Course Outline
BIG-IP Architecture & Platform Management
- Networking introductions — 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 to virtual server to pool member; device modes, administrative partitions, and role-based access control (relevant to segregation-of-duties in banking); licensing and module provisioning (LTM, AVR).
- TMUI navigation and efficient GUI workflows; tmsh basics; configuration backup and restoration using UCS archives; overview of hardware versus virtual editions and their suitability in bank data centres.
- Lab “Get Traffic Flowing” — initial setup (VLANs, self IPs, routes), creation of nodes, pool, and health monitor, building the first virtual server, verifying traffic to backend application servers, and taking a UCS backup.
Core Load Balancing & SSL/TLS
- Networking introductions — TCP/UDP handshake and port concepts; HTTP methods, headers, status codes, and keep-alive.
- 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.
- SSL/TLS offload and certificate management (key/certificate import, chains, cipher policy — aligned with typical 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 — Build an HTTPS virtual server with SSL offload 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.
High Availability & Operations
- Networking introductions — VLANs, routing, and ARP essentials; DNS resolution flow and record types; TLS handshake review.
- Device Service Clustering: device trust, sync-failover groups, configuration synchronization, traffic groups, and floating IPs; failover behaviour and client experience; high-availability design considerations for banking (dual-data-centre patterns, maintenance without downtime).
- 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 follow-on topics.
- Lab: Build an active/standby high-availability pair using the two BIG-IP VE instances per trainee, establish device trust and configuration synchronization, execute 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 receives a dedicated, isolated lab consisting of two BIG-IP Virtual Edition instances (enabling the Day 3 high-availability exercise) and shared backend web servers simulating application tiers. Access is entirely browser-based via a secure Guacamole gateway — trainees only need a web browser, with no VPN client or local software installation required, facilitating participation from restricted banking workstations. The environment is pre-built and validated before Day 1; all trainees will have functional traffic through their own BIG-IP by the end of Day 1.
Requirements
No previous experience with F5 is required.
While basic TCP/IP knowledge is beneficial, it is not assumed. Each day begins with concise networking introductions (covering the OSI model, TCP/HTTP, and DNS/TLS) tailored to the day's F5 topics, ensuring teams with varying experience levels reach a common understanding.
Audience: Network engineers, security engineers, and application support and operations staff in banking and financial institutions.
Testimonials (1)
communication, knowledge from experience, solve problems,
