F5 BIG-IP Learning Resources

Helpful resources for F5 BIG-IP

Mohammed Mohsin
linkedin.com/in/mohsinccie

Document Purpose
This document is an introduction to F5 BIG-IP and an easy reference for some of the
helpful resources that are freely available to start your F5 journey. It is also helpful for
those looking to strengthen their knowledge of F5 BIG-IP.

Introduction to F5 BIG-IP
BIG-IP is a collection of hardware and virtual platforms and software solutions providing
services focused on application security, reliability, and performance.

It is not just a single product or software but includes all the BIG-IP software modules,
BIG-IP platforms and the BIG IP operating system (TMOS).

BIG-IP software modules include BIG-IP ASM, BIG-IP LTM, BIG-IP DNS, BIG-IP APM, BIG-
IP AFM, etc.

BIG-IP platforms includes various BIG-IP hardware and virtual platforms like BIG-IP
iSeries hardware appliances, BIG-IP Virtual Edition, BIG-IP Cloud Edition and even Viprion
family of hardware chassis based modular devices.

BIG-IP software (the operating system) is the solution that powers and runs all the BIG-
IP software modules. It runs on top of F5 TMOS (Traffic Management Operating System).

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F5 BIG-IP Software Modules High Level Overview
BIG-IP software modules include BIG-IP ASM, BIG-IP LTM, BIG-IP DNS, BIG-IP APM and BIG-
IP AFM among others.

Below is a high-level overview of the well-known BIG-IP software modules.

BIG-IP Access Policy Manager

Secures, simplifies, and protects user access to apps and data. It controls access to
resources by identifying, authenticating and authorizing the users.

BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager

F5 BIG-IP AFM is a high-performance, stateful, full-proxy network firewall designed to

protect data centers against incoming threats that enter the network on the most widely
deployed protocols—including HTTP/S, SMTP, DNS, and FTP.

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BIG-IP Advanced WAF/ASM

Provides protection against OWASP Top web application security risks. It proactively
detects and mitigates bots, secures credentials and sensitive data, and defends against
application DoS. Protects apps with behavioral analytics, bot defense, and app-layer
encryption with dedicated Layer 7 protection.

BIG-IP DNS

BIG-IP DNS distributes DNS and user application requests based on business policies, data
center and network conditions, user location, and application performance. Provides
hyperscale and security during high query volumes and DNS DDoS attacks.

BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager

Manages network traffic so applications are always fast, available, and secure. The most
widely deployed and most commonly used F5 BIG-IP module. It can be considered as the
default module. It is much more than a load balancer!

BIG-IP LTM provides you the power to scale, automate and customize your applications
and services faster and reliably.

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F5 TMOS – The Brain Behind BIG-IP
TMOS stands for Traffic Management Operating System. It is a completely purpose-built,
custom architecture which F5 spent years and significant investment developing as the
foundation for F5 products.

Even though it is named as an operating system, it is a collection of software that controls

the management, control, and data planes of a BIG-IP system.

As an operating system it runs on all the BIG-IP products. It has subsystems that perform
different functions.

Main components of TMOS are Traffic Management Microkernel, Host Management

Subsystem and Always on Management.

Traffic Management Microkernel

TMM processes all load-balanced traffic on the BIG-IP system. TMM runs as a real-time user
process within the BIG-IP operating system (TMOS). CPU and memory resources are
explicitly provisioned in the BIG-IP configuration.

TMM is the core component of TMOS as it handles all network activities and communicates
directly with the network switch hardware (or vNICs for VE). TMM also controls
communications to and from the HMS. Local Traffic Manager (LTM) and other modules run
within the TMM.

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Host Management Subsystem (HMS)

The Host Management Subsystem runs a modified version of the CentOS Linux operating
system and provides the various interfaces and tools used to manage the system such as
the web-based Configuration Utility, Advanced (Bash) Shell, TMSH CLI, DNS client, SNMP
and NTP client.

Where the VE editions are concerned, just the TMM and HMS software components of
TMOS are present. TMM shares hardware resources with the HMS but has access to all
CPUs and the majority of RAM.

Always on Management (AOM)

AOM or Always on Management provides additional ‘lights out’ management of the HMS
via a Management processor.

AOM enables you to manage BIG-IP platforms using SSH (most platforms) or the serial
console, even if the Host subsystem is turned off. The AOM architecture and feature set
differs, depending on the platform.

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F5 Learning Resources

AskF5 Documentation and Resources

AskF5 is the knowledge and documentation powerhouse for F5 technologies including
documentation for software and hardware and resources for downloads.

https://support.f5.com/csp/home

There are two main resources – Knowledge Centers and Resources.

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Below is an example of documentation for LTM and BIG-IP version 14.1.5.

https://support.f5.com/csp/knowledge-center/software/BIG-IP?module=BIG-
IP%20LTM&version=14.1.5

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You can find documentation for other products and versions. Below is a screenshot of
Knowledge center where you can navigate to a different product and version
documentation.

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AskF5 YouTube Channel
AskF5 has a YouTube channel that has some very good videos. Should be a good place for
beginners. Please check it out on below link.

https://www.youtube.com/c/AskF5/videos

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F5 Training Portal
You will find some amazing free content for those starting the F5 journey. It is called the
Getting Started Series covering many technologies but more focused on BIG-IP LTM. More
than 20 hours of free videos! Build your solid foundations for F5 technologies.

Please find below the list of free courses on F5 Training Portal. I have included the filtered
link showing the results for free courses. You can further filter if you need to.

https://www.f5.com/services/training#sort=%40f5_title_sort%20ascending&f:@f5_documen
t_type=[Self-directed]&f:@f5_course_level=[Introductory]

Remember, you need to have an account on this portal to get access. Please register using
below link if you are new.

https://account.f5.com/learnf5/signin/register

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F5 BIG-IP 201 Bootcamp
I was amazed to find Eric Mitchel’s bootcamp for F5 BIG-IP 201 exam. It is really worth it.

Below is the link for full playlist. Enjoy learning!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2mQStQD8TrpL9fqmWCx401bjU4J7DTP9

F5 Certified Practice Exams

F5 Certified Practice Exams are offered by Exam Studio. The Practice Exams are designed to
give you the feel of the real F5 exams with 80 questions timed to 90 minutes. There are
exhibits to consider, you can flag questions to review, and you get instant feedback on your
results.

Below is the link on how to register and activate your Exam Studio account.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mohsinccie_f5networks-exam-certification-activity-
6981955993425334273-GDhr

F5 BIG-IP Command Reference

I recently prepared a document on BIG-IP CLI Command Reference for operations and
troubleshooting.

This short document includes TMSH command hierarchy, command structure and some
common TMSH commands.

Hope this guide will help you in your day-to-day operations and troubleshooting of BIG-IP
devices especially BIG-IP LTM.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mohsinccie_big-ip-command-reference-activity-
6987292755186053120-Gn4q

Wish you all the best in your F5 journey! Thank you.

You can reach me on LinkedIn if you have any questions.

Mohammed Mohsin
linkedin.com/in/mohsinccie

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