F5 Administering BIG-IP
Course Overview
You begin by setting up and licensing the system and connecting it to the network through VLANs, self IPs, and trunks. From there, you create nodes, pools, and virtual servers, and pick a load balancing method that suits the application. When demand rises, adding a pool member becomes a configuration change rather than a redesign.
Reliability depends on knowing when something is wrong. Health monitors check each pool member, and the course teaches you to read object status and statistics so you can spot a problem early. Persistence keeps users on the same server where the application requires it, and SNAT settings make sure replies return along the correct path.
Growth also brings more people into the team. User roles and administrative partitions let you share access safely, while UCS archives give you a way to roll back a change that went wrong. You work in both the Configuration utility and tmsh, and you use logging, tcpdump, and iHealth when you need evidence.
To protect against hardware failure, the course covers high availability. You configure two devices as an active/standby pair, sync their settings, and use mirroring so connections can survive a failover.
The skills apply to enterprise networks and data centres of any size, and they prepare you for other F5 BIG-IP courses.
Course Objectives
- Distribute traffic across several servers by building pools, nodes and virtual servers.
- Select and compare load balancing methods for different applications.
- Set up and license a BIG-IP system, and connect it with VLANs, self IPs and trunks.
- Add health monitors and use status and statistics to catch failing servers early.
- Use persistence, profiles, and SNAT to keep user sessions and return traffic working.
- Create user roles and administrative partitions as the team grows.
- Back up with UCS archives and troubleshoot using logs, tcpdump, and iHealth.
- Configure and test a high availability pair, including sync and connection mirroring.
Prior Knowledge
The following free Self-Directed Training (SDT) courses, although optional, are helpful for any student with limited BIG-IP administration and configuration experience:
- Getting Started with BIG-IP
- Getting Started with Local Traffic Manager (LTM)
Target Audience
- F5 BIG-IP administrators: build a clear map of every object they already touch each day.
- Network engineers: see how BIG-IP sits between routing, switching and the application.
- Application delivery engineers: learn the operational baseline before designing traffic policies.
- Systems administrators: understand why a healthy server can still fail to receive traffic.
- Network security engineers: know how access, roles and logging are controlled on the platform.
- Data centre and infrastructure specialists: support high availability pairs and configuration backups with confidence.
- Operations staff: gain the monitoring and log-reading skills used during incidents.
- Teams planning a BIG-IP deployment: share one vocabulary before design work begins.
Course Content
3 modules · 66 topics01Module 1: BIG-IP Setup32 topics
- Introducing F5 Solutions
- Introducing the BIG-IP System
- Initially Setting Up a Standalone BIG-IP System
- Configuring the Management Interface
- Activating the Software License
- Provisioning Modules and Resources
- Importing a Device Certificate
- Specifying BIG-IP Platform Properties
- Configuring the Network
- Configuring Network Time Protocol (NTP) Servers
- Configuring Domain Name System (DNS) Settings
- Backing Up and Restoring BIG-IP Configuration Data
- Using Single Configuration Files (SCF)
- Overview of the BIG-IP High Availability Feature
- Configuring DSC Communication Settings
- Establishing Device Trust
- Establishing a Sync-Failover Device Group
- Synchronizing Configuration Data
- Securing Management Access
- Securing Self IP Addresses with Port Lockdown
- Securing SSH Administrative Traffic
- Securing HTTPS Administrative Traffic
- Securing NTP Services
- Running BIG-IP in Appliance Mode
- Securing the Automatic Update Check and Phone Home Features
- Securing the Default System Maintenance Accounts
- Restricting Command Line Access by User
- Tracking User Access and Actions
- Enforcing a Secure Password Policy
- Securing Persistence Cookies
- Securing BIG-IP Generated HTTP Server Header Information
- Getting Help If You Are Under Attack or Experiencing a Security Breach
02Module 2: Local Traffic Basics16 topics
- Understanding BIG-IP Local Traffic Processing Configuration Objects
- Load Balancing Traffic through a BIG-IP System
- Monitoring Traffic Processing and Performance Using Statistics
- Managing the Status of Nodes and Pool Members
- Using the TMOS Shell (TMSH)
- Managing the BIG-IP System's Configuration State and Files
- Mapping IP Addresses with NATs
- Solving Routing Issues with Source Address and Port Translation
- Introducing Local Traffic Monitoring on the BIG-IP System
- Deploying a Local Traffic Monitor
- Managing Local Traffic Monitors During Application Delivery
- Overview of Modifying Traffic Behavior with Profiles
- Introducing SSL Offload and Re-encryption
- Introducing Persistence on the BIG-IP System
- Persisting Traffic Based on Source IP Address (Source Address Affinity)
- Understanding the Impact of Object State on Persistence
03Module 3: Administering BIG-IP18 topics
- Overview of Using TCPDUMP on a BIG-IP System
- Interpreting TCPDUMP Output
- Understanding TCPDUMP Filters and Options
- Analyzing TCPDUMP captures with WireShark
- Introducing BIG-IP System Logging Features
- Logging Locally on the BIG-IP System
- Logging Remotely Using High-Speed Logging (HSL)
- Configuring Audit Logging for the BIG-IP System
- Creating and Uploading a QKView
- Viewing Diagnostics and Status Information
- Troubleshooting
- Examining the BIG-IP Configuration
- Defining User Roles and Administrative Partitions
- Overview of Upgrading a BIG-IP System
- Planning for a BIG-IP System Upgrade
- Preparing to Upgrade a BIG-IP System
- Installing an Upgrade on a BIG-IP System
- Considerations when Upgrading a Sync-Failover Device Group
Schedule Dates
4 upcoming batches| Batch Dates | Duration | Batch Options | Language | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 November 2026 - 24 November 2026 | 2 Days | 4 hours & 8 hours | English / Arabic | |
| 01 March 2027 - 02 March 2027 | 2 Days | 4 hours & 8 hours | English / Arabic | |
| 07 June 2027 - 08 June 2027 | 2 Days | 4 hours & 8 hours | English / Arabic | |
| 13 September 2027 - 14 September 2027 | 2 Days | 4 hours & 8 hours | English / Arabic |
Can’t find a suitable date? Request a schedule that fits your team.
Request More InformationBIG-IP Load Balancing Training in Tanzania for Mobile Money Platforms
Dar es Salaam is Tanzania’s busiest commercial centre, Dodoma is the capital, and Arusha has a growing business community. Mobile money and banking services are widely used across the country, and the networks behind them are expected to stay available. F5 Administering BIG-IP training in Tanzania gives network and infrastructure teams hands-on practice with the platform that distributes traffic and protects availability. Organisations also operate under the Personal Data Protection Act, and TCRA, the communications regulator, oversees the sector, so careful access control and logging are part of daily operations. See our F5 training catalogue for follow-on study, read about our network security courses, or ask the training team about the course outline.
FAQs
What does the Administering BIG-IP course teach?
It teaches you to set up and operate a BIG-IP system in an application delivery network. Core topics include licensing, VLANs and self IPs, virtual servers, pools, health monitors, persistence, SNAT, logging, user roles, and high availability. Hands-on labs let you practise each task, and demonstrations show how the pieces fit together.
How does BIG-IP help when traffic grows?
It spreads requests across several servers, so you can add capacity by adding pool members instead of rebuilding the service. Health monitors keep traffic away from a server that fails under load, and a paired standby device protects against hardware problems. The course teaches how to configure each of these, which gives a growing service a more dependable base.
Which teams should send people?
Network, infrastructure, and operations teams that run or plan to run BIG-IP should consider it. That includes network engineers, application delivery engineers, systems administrators, and network security engineers. It also suits administrators who inherited an existing deployment. Earlier BIG-IP experience is not required, and each attendee leaves with the same working vocabulary.
Are there course requirements from F5?
F5 lists no required F5 prerequisites for this course. It recommends general networking knowledge covering the OSI model, routing and switching, Ethernet and ARP, TCP/IP, IP addressing, NAT, default gateways, firewalls, and LAN and WAN concepts. Optional, free Getting Started web-based courses from F5 can help anyone with limited BIG-IP experience.
Which skills come from the labs?
Labs build skills you would use on a production device: configuring pools and virtual servers, attaching monitors, setting persistence, and defining SNAT. You also take UCS backups, create roles and partitions, read logs, capture traffic with tcpdump, and test a failover between two devices. Each task is practised rather than only described.
Where does the F5 exam fit in?
The exam sits outside the course. Training is attendance; an exam is a separate test you pass, and certification is awarded only when F5’s requirements are met. F5’s BIG-IP Administrator certification is currently made up of five exams. Completing Administering BIG-IP does not grant any of them, so read F5’s certification pages for current details.
Why do failover and monitoring matter for customer-facing services?
Customers notice outages straight away, so detecting and containing a failure quickly matters. Monitoring finds a failed server and removes it from rotation, and failover moves service to a standby device if the active one stops. Together they keep a service available through common faults. The course shows how to configure both and how to check them.
How can this training fit into long-term skills development?
It can serve as the first step in a longer F5 learning plan. The course gives core operational skills and presents prerequisite knowledge for many other F5 BIG-IP courses, which you can choose later. It does not guarantee certification, promotion or higher pay. Your own experience, any exams you pass and your employer’s needs decide those outcomes.
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