BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager(LTM) V13 Training

Explore the origins of F5 networks and BIG-IP, the role of application delivery networks and the local traffic manager, and certification paths 101, 201, 202, 2301, and 301B.

Explore basic terminologies of load balancers and proxies, including reverse and forward proxies, and uncover how TCP, TLS, HTTP/HTTPS, cookies, and full proxy architectures power the F5 LTM.

Explore the Big-IP TMOS architecture, covering LTM, GTM, ASM, APM, and other modules with a dedicated admin OS. See how LTM acts as a full proxy and load balancer.

install f5 big-ip ltm on vmware workstation using the open virtual appliance ova, then configure management, lan, net, and host-only interfaces and access via the browser.

Install F5 big-ip ltm on eve-ng by transferring two files, renaming them to A and B, applying full permissions, and booting the ltm image within eve-ng for hands-on practice.

Install F5 BIG-IP LTM in GNS3 by importing the 13.x image, registering licenses, and configuring net cloud and VNC access to the management interface.

Learn two offline license methods for F5 BIG-IP LTM: generate a dozer via the management interface or from the license portal, then paste to activate.

Explore certificate provisioning in F5 BIG-IP LTM by managing device certificates, distinguishing local versus purchased certificates, and using import/export options with certificate authorities, fingerprints, and RSA key details.

Configure platform settings in the BIG-IP LTM setup by defining management details, the fully qualified domain name, time zone, root/admin passwords, and SSH access.

Explore the big-ip ltm page overview, including the identification area showing hostname, management IP, date and time, and the logged-in user, plus the partition, logout button, and the F5 logo.

Learn to create, export, and restore BIG-IP LTM backups using the system archive and UCS files, safeguarding configurations across lab sessions and allowing quick recovery from mistakes.

Create a small F5 BIG-IP LTM lab with internal and external VLANs, self IPs, and nodes, then build a pool and a virtual server for load balancing and health checks.

Configure and verify the F5 ltm management access by setting the management IP, bridging interfaces, and enabling ssh and gui access with root credentials.

Configure internal and external vlans on f5 ltm to partition traffic and enable indirect ip assignment via self ip. Learn tagging and untagging interfaces for trunk or access ports.

Configure static self IP addresses (celpip) in F5 LTM by creating VLANs, assigning IPs to the VLAN, and using floating self IPs for HA failover.

Create pools and add pool members by grouping nodes that provide the same services (http, ftp) with specific ports, then verify health and traffic with monitors and load balancing.

Learn static and dynamic load balancing methods in F5 LTM theory, including round robin, ratio, least connection, fastest, observe, predictive, and dynamic ratio for high availability and performance.

Learn how static load balancing uses round robin to evenly distribute traffic across pool members by default, and when capacity differences or monitoring affect which servers receive requests.

Explore static ratio load balancing, distributing traffic by per-server ratios when capacities differ. Use examples like 10, 5, and 2 in the 1–65535 range, and apply updates to enforce distribution.

Apply the dynamic fastest load-balancing method in BIG-IP LTM to direct traffic to the server with the quickest response or the fewest open connections.

Configure priority group activation to route traffic to high-priority servers and automatically redirect to backup servers when a primary goes down, enabling resilient load balancing.

Learn how BIG-IP LTM monitors ensure availability and performance with simple, active, and passive health and performance monitoring across nodes, pool members, and pools.

The address check monitor tests node reachability with ICMP, marking servers online or offline and not validating services. Apply it at node or pool level to enforce availability rules.

Configure a content check monitor in F5 BIG-IP LTM to verify content availability alongside server and service status, using HTTP checks and a keyword in index.html.

Explore how interactive check monitors verify ftp availability by logging in with credentials, validating directory access, and reporting pool member status for BIG-IP LTM.

Learn how the default monitor in the F5 big-ip ltm automatically inherits health checks for all nodes, with options to apply node-specific or multi-monitor configurations.

Learn how to use node-specific monitors in big-ip ltm to override the default health monitor on individual nodes, applying gateway icmp or other checks per server.

Apply pool-level monitors in the F5 BIG-IP LTM so all pool members inherit the pool monitor, and view their status as green or unknown.

Learn to apply member-specific health monitors in BIG-IP, overriding pool-level settings to assign individual health checks like http to specific pool members.

Test monitors before applying them to verify http, https, and icmp results with logs and wireshark. If a monitor is already applied, testing returns an error; apply only after testing.

Explore how to view and test monitor instances in the BIG-IP system, including pool-level inheritance, per-member configuration, and checking http and icmp health across backend servers.

Explain network address translation, including source NAT (Esnet) and destination NAT, and show how BIG-IP LTM uses destination NAT by default to hide private networks behind a public IP.

Learn to configure SNAT pool in BIG-IP LTM v13 by creating a net pool of single IPs, attaching it to a virtual server, and verifying traffic with statistics.

Explore network address translation (NAT) for private networks by configuring net list 1-to-1 mappings, enabling internet access and direct server reach while bypassing load balancers.

Configure SNAT with a net list in F5 LTM to translate public IPs to internal pools or automap. Choose net pool, automap, or address lists, and set origin.

Learn to view and modify net translation list entries in BIG-IP LTM, including enabling or disabling IPs, connection limits, and TCP/UDP timeouts, ARP settings, and traffic grouping.

Explore iRule in F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager and learn to extend LTM with a TCL-based scripting language, including variables, conditions, loops, and data groups for redirecting http to https.

Learn how to use eHealth to assess device health in F5 BIG-IP LTM, including vulnerabilities, licenses, hardware and software details, and generate support view files for diagnostics.

Explore how profiles govern traffic on F5 LTM by attaching protocol, HTTP/FTP, SSL, authentication, and service profiles to virtual servers, including default and custom options.

Explore how persistence profiles in big-ip ltm maintain a user’s session by routing to the same server using cookies and methods like cookie nz, cookie rewrite, passive, and hash.

Apply a source address persistence profile to an http virtual server, observe the impact on round-robin traffic, and explore IPv4 prefix lengths such as 24, 25, and 32.

Explore client ssl profiles and ssl offloading in F5 LTM to offload encryption from servers, using tls certificates (Digicert, GoDaddy) to terminate https at the LTM, with http back-end.

Configure fallback profiles to redirect traffic to a fallback server or external site when all servers are down, using the http profile's fallback host in local traffic.

Create and apply a one connect profile to the virtual server to reuse existing TCP connections and avoid repeated handshakes, speeding performance.

Learn packet filtering in F5 BIG-IP LTM to control traffic by source/destination IPs and ports, with actions like drop, allow, log, and reject, plus exemptions.

Explore SNMP for monitoring network devices with agents and managers, covering versions 1–3, SNMP messages: get, get next, get bulk, set, trap, MIB, and LTM configuration.

Explore how to use tcpdump in big-ip ltm to capture and analyze packets, filter by vlan, interfaces, host, or port, and troubleshoot traffic with logs and Wireshark integration.

Learn how logging works in f5 big-ip ltm, including local and remote logs, system and audit logs, and high speed syslog publishing.

Explore using the Linux command line interface to navigate the filesystem, view and manage files with copy, move, and remove operations, and set permissions using user, group, and other bits.

Learn to use iApp in F5 BIG-IP LTM as a template driven framework that creates nodes, pools, virtual servers, and monitors quickly with reduced configuration errors.

Configure and verify a vlan tagged lab in big-ip ltm v13 by creating three vlans with a trunk and access ports, distributing traffic across multiple subnets.

Explore high availability concepts, redundancy, and failover across devices and networks to prevent downtime. Compare active standby and active active configurations, learn about traffic groups, floating IPs, and device trust.

Set up a high-availability BIG-IP LTM lab with two active/standby devices, three VLANs, and synchronized self IPs to enable seamless failover.