This content will look at F5 certified BIG IP administrator or F5 CA (certified administrator), one of the industry’s best entry-level certifications but very underrated. Welcome, I am your teacher Dennis Zhang and your career and certification captain.
First, what is F5? F5 is a technology company specializing in application delivery networking (ADN) and security solutions for businesses and enterprises. The company’s flagship product is the F5 BIG-IP, an application delivery controller (ADC) that can perform various functions such as load balancing, web application firewall, SSL offloading, and VPN, among others.
How to achieve this certification
To achieve this certification, you need to pass two exams. The first one is F5 101, application delivery fundamentals. When writing this content, the exam blueprint version is 13.1, which is quite different from the previous version. Because before, it was around 70% networking, 25% application, and the remaining 5% all about F5 solutions. F5 101, the current version, includes basic F5 BIG-IP concepts. You need to know not only load balancing but also some of the application objects, such as virtual servers, pools monitor etc. and even high availability. You need to see the configuration and monitoring using the graphical user interface and CLI, but don’t worry; it’s all simple. It’s all basic! It’s a good idea for you to know all of these concepts at the early stage of your certification journey because you will need them on the next exam, which is F5 201.
F5 101 and 201 Exam Reviews
The type of exam for F5 101 is multiple choice single answer, no lab simulations. If you already have CCNA and have a solid networking background, such as 802.12 VLANs ip addressing, subnetting, routing, TCP etc. You have already covered at least 50%. You need to work with your F5 basics and application concepts. And among all applications, the exam focuses heavily on web-based technologies, like HTTP and tools. The cost of the exam is only 180 US dollars. If you failed, at least you lost only 180 USD. However, for a sure-shot pass guarantee, you may contact 591cert for valid dumps.
Preparation time, assuming you are already familiar with network concepts. It would take two to three weeks. That preparation time is sufficient, and it would also help if you do some lab practices, but hands-on lab practices are optional. Once you pass F5 101, you won’t get any accreditation. You would still need to be certified. There is no F5 101 certification, but you will be eligible to take the next exam, which is F5 201 TMOS administration. F5 201 can be tricky, and I highly recommend doing some lab practices. It would help you familiarize yourself with the graphical user interface- the F5 configuration utility. It’s CLI, also known as TMSH and a little of Linux basic commands. You must understand more than the basic concepts of virtual servers, pools, persistence, high availability profile, etc. I’m not only talking about configuration and monitoring here. I am talking about troubleshooting.
As well, there will be some overlaps from F5 101. Of course, because in F5 101, you were building a foundation preparing for 201. You are simply taking the next step or another level of preparation time. The good part is that if you find F5 101 easy, you have built a foundation of various technologies and covered at least 50% of F5 201. One to two months of preparation is sufficient for F5 201. Again, it still depends on your expertise and working experience. Again it would help if you spent more time on labs. The cost of the F5 201 exam is also 180 US dollars. Both exams consist of 80 questions. The length of both exams is 90 minutes. But it will allow another 30 minutes if you are in a country where English is not the primary language. What’s that again? There is a unique treatment for examiners living in a country who can’t read and understand English well; that’s racist. No certification exam or vendor in the world gives this kind of privilege. Anyway, both exams have dumps from 591Cert and 591Lab. Whatever you see on the internet, those are not valid, except 59Lab. Save your precious time and money on other exam vendors. Period!
Benefits of F5 CA certifications
What would you benefit from obtaining this certification? You will learn more about networking, applications, and load balancer. This CA certification prepares you for cyber security, cloud, and data center career path. F5 Certified Administrator CA is the best complement to CCNA, especially starting your IT career.
F5 BIG-IP is an application delivery controller that sits before many servers. As a solution, it runs network applications and Linux services with incredible features, such as load-balancing applications, level security, VPNs and many more. All large companies’ data centers have F5 networks, and F5 has always been the leading solution since they introduced BIG IP to the market. Note that the company will pay you more than the average if certified and skilled in this product. Network engineers having a vendor-specific certification is essential. Many people see or believe F5 Certified Administrator CA is an advanced-level certification. No, it’s an entry-level certification, and again, it complements your CCNA. Now, let’s make a verdict. It’s time to rate this certification; F5 101 and 201 exams are cheaper than most. And the product itself is widely recognised. So, do you agree with my ratings? If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comment section below.
Our Recent F5 Certification Pass Score-Sheet
