Complete F5CAB2 F5 Materials

In the F5 BIG-IP system, virtual servers are categorized based on their destination address and mask. The system distinguishes between three primary destination scopes:

Host Virtual Server:A virtual server that has a specific IP address (e.g., 10.10.10.50) and a /32 mask.

Network Virtual Server:A virtual server that has a destination address representing a subnet (e.g., 192.168.10.0) and a specific mask (e.g., /24).

Wildcard Virtual Server:A virtual server that has a destination address of0.0.0.0(or :: for IPv6) and a mask of 0.0.0.0 (or /0).

While a "Forwarding (IP)" virtual server (Option D) is theType(behavioral configuration) often used to route traffic without load balancing, the termWildcard(Option C) is the specific administrative term used to define the "type" of virtual server based on the0.0.0.0 destination address.

A common architectural use case is to create aWildcard Virtual Serverthat listens only on an internal VLAN to act as a default gateway for outbound traffic (Internet access) for back-end servers. This ensures the BIG-IP system can process and forward traffic that does not match any other specific virtual server configuration.

In the BIG-IP system object hierarchy, health monitors can be applied at three levels:Node,Pool, andPool Member.

Pool Level (Properties):Applying a monitor at thePool > Propertieslevel is the most common and efficient administrative practice. When applied here, the monitor is inherited by all members of that pool. If the monitor fails for a specific member, that member is marked "down" specifically for that pool.

Node Level:If a monitor is applied at the Node level (Local Traffic > Nodes), it checks the health of the physical IP address itself. If it fails, that node (and all pool members associated with it) is marked down globally across the entire system.

Member Level:Applying a monitor at thePool > Memberslevel allows for specific "per-member" monitoring, which is usually only done if different members in the same pool require different health checks.

The Specific Case:For a standard database pool like DB_Pool, the administrator should navigate toLocal Traffic > Pools > DB_Pool > Propertiesand select the appropriate monitor (e.g., a custom TCP or Oracle monitor) from the "Health Monitors" configuration section.

ASelf IPis an IP address on the BIG-IP system that you associate with a specificVLAN.

VLAN Association:A Self IP cannot exist independently; it must be bound to a VLAN to define which network segment the BIG-IP can communicate with.

Layer 2 to Layer 3 Mapping:While a VLAN is associated with physical interfaces or trunks (Layer 2), the Self IP provides the Layer 3 identity for the BIG-IP on that VLAN.

Traffic Processing:Self IPs are used by the BIG-IP for health checking backend servers, acting as a default gateway for servers, and for HA heartbeat communication.

In a BIG-IP high availability (HA) configuration,Auto-Syncis a device trust feature that automatically synchronizes configuration changesfrom the Active device to the Standby devicewithin a Sync-Failover device group.

Key principles from BIG-IP Administration Data Plane Concepts:

TheActive device is always the authoritative source of configuration

Configuration changes are intended to be madeonly on the Active device

WithAuto-Sync enabled, any time the Active device configuration changes, the system automatically pushes the configuration to all Standby members of the device group

Configuration changes made directly on aStandby device are not preserved

In this scenario:

The administrator modifies a Virtual Server on theStandbydevice

That change islocal onlyand does not alter the device group’s synchronized configuration

When Auto-Sync next runs (triggered by a change on the Active device or an internal sync event), theActive device configuration overwrites the Standby configuration

As a result, the configuration change made on the Standby device isundone.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

A– The change is not undone only when another change is made; it is undone during the next Auto-Sync operation

B– Changes made on the Standby device are never propagated to the Active device

D– Auto-Sync does not merge or promote Standby changes into the HA pair configuration

Best Practice Reinforced:

Always perform configuration changes on theActive BIG-IP devicewhen Auto-Sync is enabled to ensure consistent and predictable HA behavior.

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