Use this quick start guide to collect all the information about F5 TMOS Administration (201) Certification exam. This study guide provides a list of objectives and resources that will help you prepare for items on the 201 F5 TMOS Administration exam. The Sample Questions will help you identify the type and difficulty level of the questions and the Practice Exams will make you familiar with the format and environment of an exam. You should refer this guide carefully before attempting your actual F5 BIG-IP certification exam.
The F5 TMOS Administration certification is mainly targeted to those candidates who want to build their career in Administration domain. The F5 Certified Administrator - BIG IP (F5-CA) exam verifies that the candidate possesses the fundamental knowledge and proven skills in the area of F5 BIG-IP.
F5 TMOS Administration Exam Summary:
| Exam Name | F5 Certified Administrator - BIG IP (F5-CA) |
| Exam Code | 201 |
| Exam Price | $180 (USD) |
| Duration | 90 mins |
| Number of Questions | 80 |
| Passing Score | 245 / 350 |
| Books / Training | F5 Training Programs |
| Schedule Exam | Pearson VUE |
| Sample Questions | F5 TMOS Administration Sample Questions |
| Practice Exam | F5 201 Certification Practice Exam |
F5 201 Exam Syllabus Topics:
| Topic | Details |
|---|---|
TROUBLESHOOT BASIC CONNECTIVITY ISSUES |
|
| Explain the relationship between interfaces, trunks, VLANs, self-IPs, routes and their status/statistics |
- Illustrate the use of a trunk in a BIG-IP solution - Demonstrate ability to assign VLAN to interface and/or trunk - Identify, based on traffic, which VLAN/route/egress IP would be used - Distinguish between tagged vs untagged VLAN - Compare interface status (Up/Down) - Explain the dependencies of interfaces/trunks, VLANs, self-IPs |
| Determine expected traffic behavior based on configuration |
- Identify traffic diverted due to persistence - Consider the packet and/or virtual server processing order (wildcard vips) - Identify traffic diverted due to status of traffic objects (vs, pool, pool member) - Determine the egress source IP based on configuration - Identify when connection/rate limits are reached |
| Identify the reason a virtual server is not working as expected |
- Identify the current configured state of the virtual server - Identify the current availability status of the virtual server - Identify conflicting/misconfigured profiles - Identify misconfigured IP address and/or port |
| Identify the reason a pool is not working as expected |
- Identify the reason a pool member has been marked down by health monitors - Identify a pool member not in the active priority group - Identify the current configured state of the pool/pool member - Identify the current availability status of the pool/pool member |
TROUBLESHOOT BASIC PERFORMANCE ISSUES |
|
| Determine resource utilization |
- Distinguish between control plane and data plane resources - Identify CPU statistics per virtual server - Interpret Statistics for interfaces - Determine Disk utilization and Memory utilization |
| Identify the different virtual server types |
- Standard, Forwarding, Stateless, Reject - Performance (Layer 4) and Performance (HTTP) |
| Identify network level performance issues |
- Identify when a packet capture is needed within the context of a performance issue - Interpret availability status of interfaces - Identify when drops are occurring - Identify Speed and Duplex - Distinguish TCP profiles (Optimized profiles) |
| Identify the reason load balancing is not working as expected |
- Consider persistence, priority group activation, rate/connection limits - Identify misconfigurations (incorrect health checks, action on service down, etc.) - Identify current availability status |
ADMINISTER SYSTEM CONFIGURATION |
|
| Identify and report current device status |
- Interpret the LCD panel warning messages - Use the dashboard to gauge the current running status of the system - Review the Network Map in order to determine the status of objects - Interpret current systems status via GUI or TMSH - Interpret high availability and device trust status |
| Apply procedural concepts required to manage the state of a high availability pair |
- Execute force to standby procedure - Report current active/standby failover state - Execute force to offline procedure - Show device trust status |
| Identify management connectivity configurations |
- Identify the configured management-IP address - Interpret port lockdown settings to Self-IP - Show remote connectivity to the BIG-IP Management interface - Explain management IP connectivity issue - Identify HTTP/SSH access list to management-IP address |
| List which log files could be used to find events and/or hardware issues |
- Identify use of /var/log/Itm, var/log/secure, /var/log/audit - Identify severity log level of an event - Identify event from a log message |
| Apply procedural concepts required to create, manage, and restore a UCS archive |
- Execute UCS backup procedure - Execute UCS restore procedure - Summarize the use case of a UCS backup - Explain proper long-term storage of UCS Backup file - Explain the contents of the UCS file (private keys) |
| Apply procedural concepts required to manage software images |
- Given an HA pair, describe the appropriate strategy for deploying a new software image - Perform procedure to upload new software image - Show currently configured boot location - Demonstrate creating new volume for software images |
| Identify which modules are licensed and/or provisioned |
- Show provisioned modules - Report modules which are licensed - Show resource utilization of provisioned modules - Report Modules which are provisioned but not licensed |
| Explain authentication methods |
- Explain how to create a user - Explain how to modify user properties - Explain options for remote authentication provider - Explain use of groups using remote authentication provider |
| Identify configured system services | - Show proper configuration for: DNS, NTP, SNMP, syslog |
| Explain config sync |
- Demonstrate config sync procedure - Report errors which occur during config sync - Explain when a config sync is necessary - Show config sync status - Compare configuration timestamp |
MANAGE EXISTING APPLICATION DELIVERY SERVICES |
|
| Apply procedural concepts required to modify and manage virtual servers |
- Apply appropriate persistence profile - Apply appropriate HTTPS encryption profile - Apply appropriate protocol specific profile - Identify iApp configured objects - Report use of iRules - Show default pool configuration |
| Apply procedural concepts required to modify and manage pools |
- Determine configured health monitor - Determine the load balancing method for a pool - Determine the active nodes in a priority group configuration - Determine pool member service port configuration - Apply appropriate health monitor - Apply load balancing method for a pool - Apply pool member service port configuration |
USE SUPPORT RESOURCES |
|
| Define characteristics of a support ticket with F5 |
- List ways to open support ticket with F5 - List where to open a support ticket with F5 - List severity levels of a support ticket with F5 - List what to include in a support ticket with F5 |
| Explain the processes of licensing, license reactivation, and license modification |
- Show where to license (activate.F5.com) - Identify license issues - Identify Service Check Date (upgrade) |
| Apply procedural concepts required to perform |
- Understand impact of running EUD - Understand requirements of EUD - Understand how to collect EUD output (console/log) - Identify methods of booting the EUD |
| Apply procedural concepts required to generate a qkview and collect results from iHealth |
- Identify methods of running qkview - Identify method of retrieving qkview - Understand information contained in qkview - Identify when appropriate to run qkview - Understand where to upload qkview (iHealth) |
| Identify which online support resource/tool to use |
- DevCentral - AskF5.com - iHealth - Support Portal |
To ensure success in F5 BIG-IP certification exam, we recommend authorized training course, practice test and hands-on experience to prepare for F5 TMOS Administration (201) exam.