Building F5 BIG-IP Lab for Free - VMware ESXi

Configure a single hardware host running hypervisor to host the F5 BIG-IP lab VM and access the training server with Windows 7 client, PuTTY, and Chrome for remote desktop testing.

Initiate phase 1 by creating an F5 account, registering a license, downloading the VIP Virtual Edition, and deploying it to the hypervisor.

Install the F5 BIG-IP virtual edition by deploying the BIG-IP VE template in VMware ESXi, after reviewing the 30-day evaluation license and registration keys.

Download the server VM template from the provided dropbox link, a 1.24 gigabyte file in a XXX format, then prepare the virtual network discussion for the f5 big-ip lab.

Create two virtual switches—external and internal—and attach the training server’s network adapter to the internal switch. Configure the training server to use the internal network in the VMware ESXi environment.

Log in via the gui to set up phase 3 of the F5 BIG-IP, activate license, create passwords, configure platform settings, host names, and assign internal and external IP addresses.

Create a pool and a virtual server on the f5 big-ip, then test from a windows client and verify load balancing across servers.

Wrap phase four up by accessing client environment, testing reachability between internal and external networks, creating an hdd pool, attaching it to virtual server, and validating web app load balancing.

Demonstrates high availability testing of F5 BIG-IP on VMware ESXi, validating active standby failover and virtual server continuity, with ICMP traffic during forced offline scenarios and config sync.

Phase five wrap up establishes high availability by deploying a second big IP appliance, configuring device trust, creating device groups for failover, and pinging the virtual server on second device.

Celebrate course completion and invite feedback, five-star ratings, and sharing with peers. Highlight the course focus on cloud data center and cybersecurity.