F5 Application Delivery Fundamentals Study Guide

Purpose of this document

This document outlines topic areas covered on the F5 101 Application Delivery
Fundamentals Exam and resources available on the www.askf5.com and
www.devcentral.f5.com websites as well as additional resources to help prepare test
takers.

1. OSI
1.1 Explain, compare, and contrast the OSI layers

Networking Basics Part 17 The OSI Model

1.2 Explain protocols and technologies specific to the data link layer

Book: The TCP/IP Guide: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Internet Protocols Reference

by Charles M. Kozierok http://www.tcpipguide.com/
SOL3523: Choosing a unique MAC address for MAC masquerade
Manual Chapter: Using Link Aggregation with Tagged VLANs
Manual Chapter: Using Link Aggregation with Tagged VLANs for Two-Network Topology
Manual Chapter: Configuring Address Resolution Protocol

1.3 Explain protocols and apply technologies specific to the network layer

Book: The TCP/IP Guide: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Internet Protocols Reference

by Charles M. Kozierok http://www.tcpipguide.com/
SOL13284: Overview of management interface routing (11.x)
Manual: TMOS: IP Routing Administration
TCP/IP Tutorial and Technical Overview
Advanced TCP/IP and RAW Socket

1.4 Explain the features and functionality of protocols and technologies specific to the
transport layer

Book: The TCP/IP Guide: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Internet Protocols Reference

by Charles M. Kozierok http://www.tcpipguide.com/
SOL8082: Overview of TCP connection setup for BIG-IP LTM virtual server types
SOL7559: Overview of the TCP profile
SOL7535: Overview of the UDP profile
SOL1893: Packet trace analysis

2015 F5 Networks, Inc.

F5 Application Delivery Fundamentals Study Guide 2

1.5 Explain the features and functionality of protocols and technologies specific to the
application layer

Book: The TCP/IP Guide: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Internet Protocols Reference

by Charles M. Kozierok http://www.tcpipguide.com/
Book: DNS and Bind by Cricket Liu and Paul Albitz http://www.amazon.com/DNS-BIND-
5th-Edition-Cricket/dp/0596100574
Manual Chapter: Managing Application-Layer Traffic
SIP: A Five-Function Protocol Whitepaper
Fundamentals of HTTP Whitepaper
RFC 2616 (HTTP)

2. F5 Solutions and Technology

2.1 Articulate the role of F5 products

Product Datasheet
Products
F5 BIG-IP Product Matrix
2.2 Explain the purpose, use, and advantages of iRules

iRules Wiki Home

BIG-IP System: iRules Concepts
Manual Chapter: iRules
2.3 Explain the purpose, use, and advantages of iApps

iApps Wiki Home

Manual Chapter: The Parts of iApps
Manual Chapter: iApps Overview
2.4 Explain the purpose of and use cases for full proxy and packet forwarding/packet
based architectures

BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager Product Overview

SOL7820: Overview of SNAT features
SOL14358: Overview of Clustered Multiprocessing (11.3.0 and later)
SOL13876: Overview of the Auto Last Hop setting (11.x)
SOL7752: Licensing the BIG-IP system
SOL14163: Overview of BIG-IP virtual server types (11.x)
SOL13444: BIG-IP daemons (11.x)
2.5 Explain the advantages and configurations of high availability (HA)

SOL13946: Troubleshooting ConfigSync and device service clustering issues (11.x)

SOL14135: Defining network resources for BIG-IP high-availability features (11.x)
SOL13478: Overview of connection and persistence mirroring (11.x)
SOL13297: Overview of VLAN failsafe (10.x - 11.x)

2015 F5 Networks, Inc. Updated September 2015

F5 Application Delivery Fundamentals Study Guide 3

3. Load Balancing Essentials

3.1 Discuss the purpose of, use cases for, and key considerations related to load
balancing

Load Balancing 101: Nuts and Bolts Whitepaper

SOL6406: Overview of Least Connections, Fastest, Observed, and Predictive load
balancing modes
SOL9125: Overview of Dynamic Ratio load balancing
SOL12105: Overview of Least Sessions load balancing
3.2 Differentiate between a client and server

How Web Servers Work

Client-Server Systems

4. Security
4.1 Compare and contrast positive and negative security models

F5 Security on OWASP Top 10

Security Operations Center Report
4.2 Explain the purpose of cryptographic services

Manual Chapter: Implementing External Cryptographic Server Offload with BIG-IP

Systems
BIG-IP System: External Cryptographic Server Offload Implementation
SOL15194: Overview of the BIG-IP SSL/TLS cipher suite
4.3 Describe the purpose and advantages of authentication

Book: SSL and TLS: Designing and Building Secure Systems by Eric Rescorla
http://www.amazon.com/SSL-TLS-Designing-Building-Systems/dp/0201615983
Authentication 101 Whitepaper
SOL15596: Troubleshooting TACACS+ authentication for BIG-IP administrative users
SOL15811: Troubleshooting LDAP authentication for BIG-IP administrative users
Manual Chapter: Active Directory Authentication
Manual Chapter: Configuring Remote User Authentication and Authorization
Manual Chapter: Authentication Profiles
Manual Chapter: LDAP and LDAPS Authentication
4.4 Describe the purpose, advantages, and use cases of IPsec and SSL VPN

Book: SSL and TLS: Designing and Building Secure Systems by Eric Rescorla
http://www.amazon.com/SSL-TLS-Designing-Building-Systems/dp/0201615983
A Technical Comparison of IPSec and SSL
SOL14783: Overview of the Client SSL profile (11.x)
SOL14806: Overview of the Server SSL profile (11.x)
SOL10209: Overview of packet tracing with the ssldump utility

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F5 Application Delivery Fundamentals Study Guide 4

5. Application Delivery Platforms

5.1 Describe the purpose, advantages, use cases, and challenges associated with
hardware based application delivery platforms and virtual machines

VMware Horizon View Reference Architecture

Virtual Edition and Supported Hypervisors Matrix
Manual Chapter: Introduction to the vCMP System
SOL14088: vCMP host and supported guest version matrix
5.2 Describe the purpose of the various types of advanced acceleration techniques

Acceleration Reference Architecture

BIG-IP Application Acceleration Manager Wiki Home
Additional Resources (Books):

The TCP/IP Guide: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Internet Protocols Reference by

Charles M. Kozierok http://www.tcpipguide.com/
DNS and Bind by Cricket Liu and Paul Albitz http://www.amazon.com/DNS-BIND-5th-
Edition-Cricket/dp/0596100574
SSL and TLS: Designing and Building Secure Systems by Eric Rescorla
http://www.amazon.com/SSL-TLS-Designing-Building-Systems/dp/0201615983

2015 F5 Networks, Inc. Updated September 2015