F5 Configuring BIG-IP LTM: Local Traffic Manager

Most organizations don’t let users connect straight to their application servers. They place a BIG-IP system in between, and the Local Traffic Manager module decides which server gets each connection, checks that the server is healthy, and shapes how traffic behaves on the way through. This F5 BIG-IP LTM training is built around that control point and what you can do with it.

The course is F5’s Configuring BIG-IP LTM: Local Traffic Manager, and it picks up where Administering BIG-IP leaves off. You start by setting up a BIG-IP system, covering licensing, provisioning, and archiving the configuration. A review of nodes, pools, virtual servers, and TMSH follows before the course moves into the detail that separates a lab setup from a production one.

Load balancing goes well past round robin. You compare member and node load balancing, use priority group activation to keep backup servers idle until they are needed, and set a fallback host for when nothing else is available. Health monitoring is covered at layers 3, 4, and 7, including custom HTTP monitors, alias address checks, and manual resume.

The next chapters focus on how traffic changes in flight. You work with cookie, SSL, and universal persistence, plus TCP and HTTP profiles, OneConnect, compression, and caching. Profile basics, including client SSL profiles used for SSL offloading, are reviewed as a foundation. You also configure forwarding virtual servers, SNAT pools, VLAN tagging, and route domains.

The final part covers customization and protection. You write and debug iRules, build local traffic policies, and use LTM features such as SYN check to defend against common network and HTTP attacks.

These skills apply directly to data center traffic management and to hybrid environments where applications run across several sites. In this course, application high availability comes from well-designed pools and monitors. Device-level failover between BIG-IP units is taught in Administering BIG-IP.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

• Set up a BIG-IP system, including licensing, module provisioning, network configuration, and configuration archives.
• Configure dynamic load balancing, priority group activation, and fallback hosts, and decide when member or node load balancing applies.
• Apply cookie, SSL, SIP, universal, and destination address affinity persistence, with default and fallback persistence and match across options.
• Create and customize health monitors, including HTTP content checks, alias monitoring, multiple monitors, and manual resume.
• Configure forwarding virtual servers and analyze how BIG-IP chooses between virtual servers by order of precedence.
• Apply SNATs, SNAT pools, and SNAT listeners, and resolve VIP bounceback.
• Customize traffic with TCP, HTTP, HTTP/2, OneConnect, compression, caching, and stream profiles.
• Write, test, and debug iRules, and build local traffic policies for common delivery tasks.
• Use LTM features, local traffic statistics, and F5 support tools to protect applications and troubleshoot delivery problems.

Prior Knowledge