F5 301b v2 Objectives

These are the official exam objectives.

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Section 1 - Troubleshoot Basic Virtual Server Connectivity Issues
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Objective - 1.01 - Given a scenario, determine the appropriate profile setting modifications

• 1.01a - Given a scenario of client or server side buffer issues, packet loss, or congestion, select the appropriate TCP or UDP profile to correct the issue
• 1.01b - Given a scenario determine when an application would benefit from HTTP Compression and/or Web Acceleration profile

Objective - 1.02 - Given a sub-set of an LTM configuration, determine which objects to remove or consolidate to simplify the LTM configuration

• 1.02a - Evaluate which iRules can be replaced with a profile or policy setting
• 1.02b - Evaluate which host virtual servers would be better consolidated into a network virtual server

Objective - 1.03 - Given a set of LTM device statistics, determine which objects to remove or consolidate to simplify the LTM configuration

• 1.03a - Identify redundant and/or unused objects
• 1.03b - Identify unnecessary monitoring
• 1.03c - Interpret configuration and performance statistics
• 1.03d - Explain the effect of removing functions from the LTM device configuration

Objective - 1.04 - Given a scenario, determine the appropriate upgrade and recovery steps required to restore functionality to LTM devices

• 1.04a - Identify the appropriate methods for a clean install
• 1.04b - Identify the TMSH sys software install options required to install a new version
• 1.04c - Identify the steps required to upgrade the LTM device such as: license renewal, validation of upgrade path, review release notes, etc.
• 1.04d - Identify how to copy a config to a previously installed boot location/slot
• 1.04e - Identify valid rollback steps for a given upgrade scenario

Objective - 1.05 - Given a scenario, determine the appropriate upgrade steps required to minimize application outages

• 1.05a - Explain how to upgrade an LTM device from the GUI
• 1.05b - Describe the effect of performing an upgrade in an environment with device groups and traffic groups
• 1.05c - Explain how to perform an upgrade in a high availability group

Objective - 1.06 - Describe the benefits of custom alerting within an LTM environment

• 1.06a - Describe how to specify the OIDs for alerting
• 1.06b - Explain how to log different levels of local traffic message logs
• 1.06c - Explain how to trigger custom alerts for testing purposes

Objective - 1.07 - Describe how to set up custom alerting for an LTM device

• 1.07a List and describe custom alerts: SNMP, email and Remote Syslog
• 1.07b Identify the location of custom alert configuration files
• 1.07c Identify the available levels for local traffic logging

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Section 2 - Identify And Resolve Application Issues
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Objective - 2.01 - Determine which iRule to use to resolve an application issue

• 2.01a - Determine which iRule events and commands to use
• 2.01b - Given a specific iRule event determine what commands are available

Objective - 2.02 - Explain the functionality of a simple iRule

• 2.02a - Interpret information in iRule logs to determine the iRule and iRule events where they occurred
• 2.02b - Describe the results of iRule errors

Objective - 2.03 - Given specific traffic and configuration containing a simple iRule determine the result of the iRule on the traffic

• 2.03a - Use an iRule to resolve application issues related to traffic steering and/or application data

Objective - 2.04 - Interpret AVR information to identify performance issues or application attacks

• 2.04a - Explain how to modify profile settings using information from the AVR
• 2.04b - Explain how to use advanced filters to narrow output data from AVR
• 2.04c - Identify potential latency increases within an application

Objective - 2.05 - Interpret AVR information to identify LTM device misconfiguration

• 2.05a - Explain how to use AVR to trace application traffic
• 2.05b - Explain how latency trends identify application tier bottlenecks

Objective - 2.06 - Given a set of headers or traces, determine the root cause of an HTTP/HTTPS application problem

• 2.06a - Explain how to interpret response codes
• 2.06b - Explain the function of HTTP headers within different HTTP applications (Cookies, Cache Control, Vary, Content Type & Host)
• 2.06c - Explain HTTP methods (GET, POST, etc.)
• 2.06d - Explain how to decode POST data

Objective - 2.07 - Given a set of headers or traces, determine a solution to an HTTP/HTTPS application problem

• 2.07a - Investigate the cause of a specific response code
• 2.07b - Investigate the cause of an SSLHandshake failure
• 2.07c - Predict the browser caching behavior when application data is received (headers and HTML)

Objective - 2.08 - Given a direct trace, a trace through the LTM device, and other relevant information, compare the traces to determine the root cause of an HTTP/HTTPS application problem

• 2.08a - Given a failed HTTP request and LTM configuration data determine if the connection is failing due to the LTM configuration

Objective - 2.09 - Given a direct trace, a trace through the LTM device, and other relevant information, compare the traces to determine a solution to an HTTP/HTTPS application problem

• 2.09a - Investigate the cause of an SSLHandshake failure
• 2.09b - Given a failed HTTP request and LTM configuration data determine if the connection is failing due to the LTM configuration

Objective - 2.10 - Given a scenario, determine which protocol analyzer tool and its options are required to resolve an application issue

• 2.10a - Identify application issues based on a protocol analyzer trace
• 2.10b - Explain how to follow a conversation from client side and server side traces
• 2.10c - Explain how SNAT and OneConnect effect protocol analyzer traces
• 2.10d - Explain how to decrypt SSL traffic for protocol analysis
• 2.10e - Explain how to recognize the different causes of slow traffic (e.g., drops, RSTs, retransmits, ICMP errors, demotion from CMP)

Objective - 2.11 - Given a trace and necessary supporting documentation, determine the root cause of an application problem

• 2.11a - Analyze a tcpdump to identify application or configuration problems

Objective - 2.12 - Given a trace and necessary supporting documentation, determine a solution to an application problem

• 2.12a - Analyze a tcpdump to identify application or configuration problems

Objective - 2.13 - Given a scenario, determine from where the protocol analyzer data should be collected

• 2.13a - Explain how to decrypt SSL traffic for protocol analysis
• 2.13b - Explain how to recognize the different causes of slow traffic (e.g., drops, RSTs, retransmits, ICMP errors, demotion from CMP)
• 2.13c - Choose the appropriate protocol analyzer for troubleshooting a given problem (e.g., Wireshark, tcpdump, ssldump)
• 2.13d - Identify application issues based on a protocol analyzer trace
• 2.13e - Explain how SNAT and OneConnect effect protocol analyzer traces

Objective - 2.14 - Given a trace, identify monitor issues

• 2.14a - Explain how to capture and interpret monitor traffic using protocol analyzer
• 2.14b - Explain how to obtain needed input and output data to create the monitors

Objective - 2.15 - Given a monitor issue, determine an appropriate solution

• 2.15a - Determine appropriate monitor and monitor timing based on application and server limitations
• 2.15b - Describe how to modify monitor settings to resolve monitor problems

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Section 3 - Identify and Resolve LTM Device Issues
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Objective - 3.01 - Interpret log file messages and/or command line output to identify LTM device issues

• 3.01a - Interpret log file messages to identify LTM device issues
• 3.01b - Interpret the qkview heuristic results
• 3.01c - Identify appropriate methods to troubleshoot NTP
• 3.01d - Identify license problems based on the log file messages and statistics

Objective - 3.02 - Identify the appropriate command to use to determine the cause of an LTM device problem

• 3.02a - Identify hardware problems based on the log file messages and statistics
• 3.02b - Identify resource exhaustion problems based on the log file messages and statistics
• 3.02c - Identify connectivity problems based on the log files
• 3.02d - Determine the appropriate log file to examine to determine the cause of the problem

Objective - 3.03 - Analyze performance data to identify a resource problem on an LTM device

• 3.03a - Analyze performance data to identify a resource problem on an LTM device

Objective - 3.04 - Given a scenario, determine the cause of an LTM device failover

• 3.04a - Explain the effect of network failover settings on the LTM device
• 3.04b - Explain the relationship between serial and network failover
• 3.04c - Differentiate between unicast and multicast network failover modes
• 3.04d - Identify the cause of failover using logs and statistics

Objective - 3.05 - Given a scenario, determine the cause of loss of high availability and/or sync failure

• 3.05a - Explain how the high availability concepts relate to one another
• 3.05b - Explain the relationship between device trust and device groups
• 3.05c - Identify the cause of config sync failures
• 3.05d - Explain the relationship between traffic groups and LTM objects
• 3.05e - Interpret log messages to determine the cause of high availability issues