Configuring BIG-IP LTM V11

Table of Contents

Preface: Product Overviews and Hardware ...............................................................P-1

BIG-IP Product Family ........................................................................................................ P-1
ARX Product Family............................................................................................................ P-3
F5 Hardware ......................................................................................................................... P-5
F5 Services and Resources ................................................................................................... P-11

Module 1: Installation and Initial Access .....................................................................1-1

BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager Overview ............................................................................ 1-1
Licensing, Provisioning & the Setup Utility ........................................................................ 1-2
Installation and Setup Labs…………………………………………………………………..1-9
Lab – Changing Initial IP Address ............................................................................. 1-9
Lab – Licensing the System and Provisioning ........................................................... 1-11
Lab – Setup Utility ..................................................................................................... 1-14
Lab – Configuration and Backup .............................................................................. 1-16
BIG-IP Hardware Platforms ................................................................................................. 1-18
Switch Card Control Processor (SCCP) and Always On Management (AOM) ................... 1-20
Lab – SCCP / AOM IP Address Configuration ......................................................... 1-21

Module 2: Load Balancing ............................................................................................2-1

Virtual Servers and Pools .................................................................................................... 2-1
Configuring Virtual Servers and Pools ................................................................................ 2-3
Lab – Virtual Servers and Pools................................................................................. 2-6
Network Map ....................................................................................................................... 2-11
Load Balancing Modes ........................................................................................................ 2-13
Configuring Load Balancing ................................................................................................ 2-17
Labs – Load Balancing .............................................................................................. 2-19

Module 3: Monitors ........................................................................................................3-1

Monitor Concepts ................................................................................................................. 3-1
Monitor Configuration ......................................................................................................... 3-3
Monitor Assignment............................................................................................................. 3-5
Monitor Status Reporting ..................................................................................................... 3-8
Lab – Monitors for Nodes .......................................................................................... 3-10
Labs – Monitors for Pools and Members .................................................................. 3-12

Configuring BIG-IP® LTM Student Guide – © 2011 F5 Networks, Inc.

Table of Contents 2

Module 4: Profiles ......................................................................................................... 4-1

Profiles ................................................................................................................................. 4-1
Profile Types and Dependencies .......................................................................................... 4-2
Common Protocol Profile Types and Settings ..................................................................... 4-5
Configuring and Using Profiles ............................................................................................ 4-9

Module 5: Persistence .................................................................................................. 5-1

Persistence Concepts ............................................................................................................ 5-1
Source Address Persistence .................................................................................................. 5-2
Lab – Source Address Persistence ............................................................................. 5-5
Cookie Persistence ............................................................................................................... 5-8
Lab – Cookie Persistence ........................................................................................... 5-14
Object Management ............................................................................................................. 5-17
Lab – Disabled Members ........................................................................................... 5-20

Module 6 Processing SSL Traffic ................................................................................ 6-1

SSL Termination/Initiation................................................................................................... 6-1
SSL Profile Configuration .................................................................................................... 6-4
Lab – Client SSL ....................................................................................................... 6-6
Lab – Client and Server SSL (Optional) .................................................................... 6-8

Module 7: Lab Project #1 .............................................................................................. 7-1

Configuration Project ........................................................................................................... 7-3
Lab –Configuration Project ........................................................................................ 7-3
Review Questions – Modules 1 to 6.................................................................................... 7-4

Module 8: NATs and SNATs ......................................................................................... 8-1

Network Address Translation (NAT) ................................................................................... 8-1
Lab – Configuring a NAT .......................................................................................... 8-4
Secure Network Address Translation (SNAT) ..................................................................... 8-5
Labs – SNAT Labs ..................................................................................................... 8-7

Module 9: iRules............................................................................................................ 9-1

iRules Concepts .................................................................................................................... 9-1
iRules Events ........................................................................................................................ 9-3
Configuring iRules ............................................................................................................... 9-5
Labs – iRules Lab #1................................................................................................ 9-6
Labs – iRules Lab #2................................................................................................ 9-9

Configuring BIG-IP® LTM Student Guide – © 2011 F5 Networks, Inc.

Table of Contents 3

Module 10: High Availability .........................................................................................10-1

Sync-Failover Group Concepts ............................................................................................ 10-1
Synchronization State and Failover ...................................................................................... 10-2
Lab –Sync-Failover Device Group ............................................................................ 10-4
Redundant Pair Communication .......................................................................................... 10-7
Upgrading the BIG-IP System ............................................................................................. 10-7
Fail-over Triggers & Detection ............................................................................................ 10-8
Lab – VLAN Failsafe ................................................................................................. 10-10
Stateful Fail-over ................................................................................................................. 10-11
Labs – Connection & Persistence Mirroring .............................................................. 10-12

Module 11: High Availability Part 2 .............................................................................11-1

Traffic Group Concepts ........................................................................................................ 11-1
MAC Masquerading ............................................................................................................. 11-3
Lab – Traffic Groups.................................................................................................. 11-4
Lab – n + 1 High Availability .................................................................................... 11-5

Module 12: tmsh Command Line Configuration .......................................................12-1

Command Line using tmsh .................................................................................................. 12-1
Running vs Saved Configuration ......................................................................................... 12-10
Labs – tmsh Configuration ........................................................................................ 12-13
Config Files .......................................................................................................................... 12-18
Lab – Config Files ..................................................................................................... 12-22
Optional Labs – SNATs and Monitors ..................................................................... 12-23

Module 13: BIG-IP Administration ................................................................................13-1

Installation Topics ................................................................................................................ 13-1
Clustered Multi Processing (CMP) ...................................................................................... 13-4
F5 VLAN Terminology........................................................................................................ 13-8
Restricting Network Access ................................................................................................. 13-12
Lab – Packet Filters ................................................................................................... 13-16
Administrative Domains ...................................................................................................... 13-18
Lab – Admins Domains and Partitions ...................................................................... 13-23
Sync-Only Group Concepts ................................................................................................. 13-25
Lab – Sync-Only Device Groups .............................................................................. 13-27

Configuring BIG-IP® LTM Student Guide – © 2011 F5 Networks, Inc.

Table of Contents 4

Module 14: Maintaining BIG-IP.................................................................................... 14-1

F5 Support Resources and Tools ......................................................................................... 14-1
Documentation for Support .................................................................................................. 14-4
BIG-IP iHealth ..................................................................................................................... 14-6
tcpdump ................................................................................................................................ 14-9
The bigtop and bigstart Commands ...................................................................................... 14-12
Logging and Notification ..................................................................................................... 14-16
SNMP Features .................................................................................................................... 14-18
Lab – Remote Syslog ................................................................................................ 14-20
Lab – SNMP Trap ...................................................................................................... 14-21
Optional Lab – iHealth & qkview ............................................................................ 14-23
Optional Labs – Command Line Tools ..................................................................... 14-24

Module 15: Profiles part 2............................................................................................. 15-1

TCP Express Optimization ................................................................................................... 15-1
HTTP Profile Options .......................................................................................................... 15-8
OneConnect .......................................................................................................................... 15-10
HTTP Compression .............................................................................................................. 15-12
Lab – HTTP Compression ......................................................................................... 15-16
HTTP Caching...................................................................................................................... 15-17
Streaming profile ................................................................................................................. 15-19
F5 Acceleration Technologies .............................................................................................. 15-22
Optional Labs – Caching, Streaming & Authentication ............................................ 15-24

Module 16: iApps ......................................................................................................... 16-1

iApps Concepts .................................................................................................................... 16-1
Analytics .............................................................................................................................. 16-5
Lab – Deploying an Application Service ................................................................... 16-10
Lab – Modifying an Application Service ................................................................... 16-14
Lab – Analytics .......................................................................................................... 16-18

Module 17: Virtual Servers part 2 ................................................................................ 17-1

Virtual Servers Concepts ...................................................................................................... 17-1
Lab – Forwarding Virtual Servers .............................................................................. 17-3
Path Load Balancing ............................................................................................................ 17-4
Auto Last Hop ...................................................................................................................... 17-6
Firewall Sandwiches – An Example..................................................................................... 17-7

Configuring BIG-IP® LTM Student Guide – © 2011 F5 Networks, Inc.

Table of Contents 5

Module 18: SNATs part 2 ..............................................................................................18-1

SNATs Re-visited ................................................................................................................ 18-1
SNAT Automap ................................................................................................................... 18-3
SNAT Pools ......................................................................................................................... 18-6
SNAT as Listeners ............................................................................................................... 18-7
SNAT Configuration ............................................................................................................ 18-8
Labs – SNAT Lab ...................................................................................................... 18-10
VIP Bounceback................................................................................................................... 18-13
Lab – VIP Bounceback .............................................................................................. 18-14
Network Packet Processing .................................................................................................. 18-17

Module 19: Monitors part 2 ..........................................................................................19-1

Monitors Re-visited .............................................................................................................. 19-1
Configuring Monitors........................................................................................................... 19-9
Other Monitor Options ......................................................................................................... 19-11
Passive or Inband Monitors .................................................................................................. 19-12
Lab – Monitors .......................................................................................................... 19-13

Module 20: Persistence part 2 .....................................................................................20-1

Persistence Re-visited .......................................................................................................... 20-1
Persistence Options .............................................................................................................. 20-2
Other types of Persistence .................................................................................................... 20-3
Lab – Universal Persistence ....................................................................................... 20-6

Module 21: iRules part 2 ..............................................................................................21-1

iRules Re-visited .................................................................................................................. 2-1
iRule Events ......................................................................................................................... 21-3
iRule Commands .................................................................................................................. 21-7
Context ................................................................................................................................. 21-11
String Manipulation Commands .......................................................................................... 21-11
Other iRule Concerns ........................................................................................................... 21-13

Module 22: Lab Project 2 .............................................................................................22-1

Configuration Project Options ............................................................................................. 22-1
Labs – iRules Labs 1 to 6 ........................................................................................... 22-2
Lab – Path Load Balancing Project............................................................................ 22-9

Configuring BIG-IP® LTM Student Guide – © 2011 F5 Networks, Inc.

Table of Contents 6

Appendix A - Installation .............................................................................................. A-1

Pre-Installation Information ................................................................................................. A-1
Installation Worksheet .......................................................................................................... A-4
Installation options ............................................................................................................... A-5
Optional Lab – V11 Re-Install .................................................................................. A-12

Appendix B – New Features ......................................................................................... B-1

New Feature summary for Version 11.0.0 ........................................................................... B-1
New Feature summary for Version 10.2.0 ........................................................................... B-3
New Feature summary for Version 10.1.0 ........................................................................... B-5
New Feature summary for Version 10.0.0 ........................................................................... B-6

Appendix C – Additional Topics .................................................................................. C-1

Setup Utility labs for v10 ..................................................................................................... C-1
bigpipe command line labs for v9 ........................................................................................ C-4
Redundant Pair labs for v10 ................................................................................................. C-9

Appendix D – HTTP Basics .......................................................................................... D-1

Requests and Responses ....................................................................................................... D-3
HTTP Headers ...................................................................................................................... D-6

Printout of Powerpoints................................................................................................

Configuring BIG-IP® LTM Student Guide – © 2011 F5 Networks, Inc.