F5 BIGIP LOCAL TRAFFIC MANAGER (LTM)

F5 ADMINISTERING & CONFIGURING BIG-IP LOCAL TRAFFIC MANAGER (LTM)

Course Description:

This course introduces students to the BIG-IP system, its configuration objects, how it processes traffic, and how typical administrative and operational activities are performed. It also provides an in-depth understanding of advanced features and covers installation, configuration, and management of BIG-IP LTM systems.

The course includes lecture, hands-on labs, and interactive demonstrations with emphasis on real work applications

Prerequisites:

  • OSI Model
  • LAN vs. WAN
  • Routing and switching
  • Ethernet and ARP
  • TCP/IP Concepts
  • IP Addressing and Subnetting
  • Network Address Translation
  • SSL/TLS

TOPICS:

Module 1: Local Traffic Manager [LTM] Basics

  • What is Load Balancer
  • Local Traffic Management
  • Packet Based Design Vs Full Proxy Architecture
  • LTM Features & Benefits

Module 2: Setting up the BIG IP System

  • What’s Inside a BIG IP SYSTEM
  • BIG-IP Platforms
  • What’s outside a Hardware BIG IP SYSTEM
  • Initial BIG-IP setup
  • Licensing, Provisioning and Network Configuration

Module 3: Traffic processing Building Blocks

  • Local Traffic Objects – Node,Members,Pool and Virtual Server
  • Virtual server Type and Default Settings
  • Traffic Flow and Network address Translation

Module 4: Load Balancing Methods

  • Static Vs Dynamic Load Balancing Methods
  • Load Balancing Methods : Member Vs Node
  • Least connections ,Fastest, static and Dynamic Ratio,
  • Weighted Least connections, Observed ,Predictive etc.
  • Priority Group Activation
  • Fall Back Host

Module 5: Using NATs and SNATs

  • Network Address Translation Overview
  • Address Translation on the BIG-IP system
  • Auto Map Vs SNAT Pool
  • Secure/Source Address Translation
  • Bi-Directional NAT

Module 6: Monitoring Application Health

  • Overview of Monitors
  • Types of Monitors
  • Default Vs Custom Monitors

Module 7: Modifying Traffic Behavior with profiles

  • Why Use profiles
  • Default Vs. Custom Profiles
  • Profile types –TCP, DNS,HTTP,One Connect, HTTP Compression etc.
  • Profile Dependencies and co-existence

Module 8: Modifying Traffic Behavior with Persistence

  • Understanding the need for persistence
  • Persistence Concepts
  • Persistence Types
  • Source address affinity and cookie persistence

Module 9: Processing SSL traffic

  • What are SSL/TLS and HTTPS
  • SSL Certificates
  • Certificate Signing Request (CSR)
  • SSL Handshake
  • SSL Offload and Termination
  • SSL Profile Types – Client SSL Profile Vs Server SSL Profile

Module 10: iRules and Policies

  • What is an iRule
  • Basic iRule Elements
  • iRule Examples
  • Local Traffic Policy

Module 11: High Availability (HA)

  • High Availability concepts
  • BIG-IP Device Service Clustering (DSC)
  • Traffic Group Concepts
  • HA Deployment Modes
  • Failover Options
  • Connection Mirroring, Persistence Mirroring and SNAT Mirroring
  • MAC Masquerading Concepts
  • VLAN Failsafe

Module 12: Administration & Troubleshooting

  • The BIG-IP system Log
  • iHealth and Qkview
  • Traffic Management Shell(TMSH) and Commands
  • TCPDUMP
  • BIG-IP configuration data
  • UCS and SCF
  • Loading & Saving system configuration
  • Administrative partition

BONUS TOPICS:

  • Routing Domain
  • Dynamic Routing – Configuring OSPF and BGP
  • Packet Filters and Policies
  • iApps