ABOUT THE 201-TMOS ADMINISTRATION EXAM.

The 201-TMOS Administration exam is the second exam required to achieve Certified F5 BIG-IP Administrator status. Successful completion of the BIG-IP Administrator exam acknowledges the skills and understanding necessary for day-to-day management of Application Delivery Networks (ADNs).

WHAT IS THE 201-TMOS ADMINISTRATION EXAM BLUEPRINT?

F5 Certified Exam Blueprints list all the objectives an exam has to measure, much like a syllabus for the exam itself. The blueprint provides the detailed breakdown of the skills and knowledge a candidate should have to pass the exam. Blueprints can be used to identify areas for additional study, and are best used in conjunction with the Exam Study Guides.

PREREQUISITE:

• 101-Application Delivery Fundamentals

CREDENTIAL AWARDED:

• F5 Certified BIG-IP Administrator (F5-CA)

THIS EXAM IS BASED ON V11.4. Section 1: Troubleshoot basic virtual server connectivity issues

• Cognitive
• Complexity

Objective 1.01

• Given a connectivity troubleshooting situation, consider the packet and virtual server processing order U/A
• Examples
• Explain how a packet is processed once it arrives at device (connection table, packet filters, etc.)
• Explain how a virtual server processes a request (most specific to least specific)
• Given a specific connectivity issue, isolate where the problem might be according to the processing order

Objective 1.02

• Identify the reason a virtual server is not working as expected U/A
• Examples
• Determine the state of a virtual server (offline, enabled, etc.)
• Determine if a virtual server is configured for the proper listening port)
• Determine if a virtual server is configured with the proper IP address configuration
• Determine if the virtual server is configured with the appropriate profiles
• Determine if the pool configuration has an effect on virtual server state
• Determine which tools to use in order to diagnose the issue
• Explain the difference between the virtual servers status definitions

Objective 1.03

• Identify the reason a pool member has been marked down by health monitors U/A
• Examples
• Discuss the effects of health monitors on the status of pool members/nodes
• Determine the state and availability of the pool member/node in question
• Verify the pool member/node Ratio configuration
• Verify the pool member/node connection configuration and count

Objective 1.04

• Identify a pool member not in the active priority group U/A
• Examples
• Explain the concept of “persistence”
• Verify the type of persistence profile assigned to the virtual server in question
• Validate the expected persistence behavior
• Differentiate between fallback and primary persistence
• Use the appropriate tool to troubleshoot persistence

Objective 1.05

• Identify traffic diverted due to persistence record U/A

Objective 1.06

• Identify the current configured state of the pool member U/A

Objective 1.07

• Identify a persistence issue U/A

Section 2: Troubleshoot basic hardware issues

• Cognitive
• Complexity

Objective 2.01

• Perform an End User Diagnostic per F5 documentation and collect the output U/A
• Example
• Reboot an F5 platform into the EUD
• Download output from the unit an EUD was run on
• Interpret the output from an EUD and determine if the test passed or failed2 TMOS AAM BLUEPRINT

Objective 2.02

• Interpret the LCD Warning Messages U/A
• Examples
• Locate the LCD on an F5 Platform
• Correlate the LCD message to message in the corresponding log file
• Identify which tasks the buttons on the LCD perform

Objective 2.03

• Identify a possible hardware issue within the log files U/A
• Examples
• Indicate which logs would contain debugging information
• Given a log file, determine the nature of a hardware issue
• Given a possible issue, determine which log file entries to review

Objective 2.04

• Force an active unit to standby under the appropriate circumstances U/A

Objective 2.05

• Understand the relationship between interfaces, trunks, VLANs and their status/statistics U/A

Section 3: Troubleshoot basic performance issues

• Cognitive
• Complexity

Objective 3.01

• Recognize when a packet capture is needed within the context of a performance issue U/A

Objective 3.01

• Use BIG-IP tools in order to identify potential performance issues U/A
• Examples
• Differentiate between performance issue types (i.e. Latency, Congestion, broken content)
• Establish the frequency of a given issue (random, continuous, isolated, intermittent, repetitive intervals)
• Explain how to get performance statistics in addition to the those shown in the dashboard (Overview – Performance)

Section 4: Troubleshoot basic device management connectivity issues

• Cognitive
• Complexity

Objective 4.01

• Verify remote connectivity to the BIG-IP in order to determine the cause of a management connectivity issue U/A
• Examples
• Isolate potential causes of basic network connectivity issues, given scenarios related to: client configuration, client network access, device network access, network topologies
• Apply connectivity troubleshooting tools (i.e. ping, traceroute, http/https availability, remote shell access, network based console access) in the appropriate situation

Objective 4.02 (201 – TMOS ADMINISTRATION)

• Check and interpret port lockdown settings and packet filters in order to determine the cause of a management connectivity issue to a Self-IP U/A
• Examples
• Given a scenario, review port lockdown settings on the Self-IP to determine the cause of the issue
• Describe appropriate use cases for the use of port lockdown

Objective 4.03

• Given the use of a remote authentication server, verify proper DNS and NTP settings in order to diagnose a connectivity issue U/A
• Examples
• Determine whether a filter is enabled
• Interpret a packet filter rule list in a given situation

Section 5: Open a support ticket with F5

• Cognitive
• Complexity

Objective 5.01

• Identify the appropriate supporting components and severity levels for an F5 support ticket U/A
• Examples
• Identify the necessary components for all support cases (Qkview uploaded to iHealth/ or attached to case, serial number of device, problem description, other supporting data)
• Identify severity levels and the associated response times

Objective 5.02

• Given an issue, determine the appropriate severity according to F5 guidelines U/A

Objective 5.03

• Provide quantitative and relevant information appropriate for a given issue A/E
• Examples
• Distinguish between qualitative/quantitative statements in order to assemble an accurate problem description
• Distinguish between relevant/irrelevant information in order to assemble an accurate problem description

Section 6: Identify and report current device status

• Cognitive
• Complexity

Objective 6.01

• Review the Network Map in order to determine the status of objects U/A
• Examples
• Explain the status icons of objects on the map
• Explain what virtual servers, pools, nodes and pool members are

Objective 6.02

• Use the dashboard to gauge the current running status of the system U/A
• Examples
• Interpret each of the statistic types displayed by the dashboard
• Given a situation, predict the appropriate dashboard statistics

Objective 6.03

• Review log files and identify possible events U/A
• Examples
• Given log file snippets, describe an event sequence
• Given log file snippets, identify critical events

Objective 6.04

• MUse iApps Analytics to gauge the current running status of application. services U/A
• services

1 – TMOS ADMINISTRATION

• EXAM BLUEPRINT
• Complexity

Objective 7.01

• Create and restore a UCS archive under the appropriate circumstances U/A
• Examples
• Discuss scenarios in which restoring a UCS archive is appropriate
• Discuss the tasks involved in successfully restoring a UCS archive
• Given a scenario, discuss when it is appropriate to create a UCS archive

Objective 7.02

• Identify which high-level tasks can be automated using BIG-IQ R

Objective 7.03

• Manage software images U/A

Objective 7.04

• Given an HA pair, describe the appropriate strategy for deploying a new software image U/A

Objective 7.05

• Understand the processes of licensing, license reactivation, and license modification (add-ons) U/A

Objective 7.06

• Identify which modules are licensed and/or provisioned U/A

Objective 7.07

• Explain how to create a user U/A

Objective 7.08

• Explain how to modify user properties U/A

Section 8: Manage existing system and application services

• Cognitive
• Complexity

Objective 8.01

• Modify and manage virtual servers U/A
• Example
• Given a proposed virtual server configuration change, outline the scope of the change and for which connections those changes will affect (active connections, new connections, persisted sessions)
• Given a description of an application, identify the correct virtual server configured for it (HTTP/HTTPS, TCP/UDP, VLANsenabled, route-domain)
• Given a situation where a virtual server configuration change did not appear to immediately take effect, determine why

Objective 8.02

• Modify and manage pools U/A

201 – TMOS ADMINISTRATION

• EXAM BLUEPRINT
• Distinguish between disabling a member and forcing it down
• Determine use cases for disabling a member
• Determine use cases for forcing down a member
• Given a situation where a pool member has been disabled but still appears to be receiving traffic, determine the cause
• Articulate the characteristics of a pool member that has been disabled or forced offline (Such as for new connections, persisted connections, etc.)