This 2-day course uses lectures and hands-on exercises to give participants real-time experience in configuring and using the BIG-IQ® product.

Students are introduced to BIG-IQ, its interface, and its various functionality.

We first look at building and configuring the BIG-IQ system. Once this initial classroom environment is built, we detail the steps to get going administering BIG-IQ, then use it to manage BIG-IP devices.

After this we examine other system configurations: setting up a BIG-IQ DCD logging device, building a BIG-IQ High Availability pair, and managing BIG-IP devices in a cluster.

Course Topics

• Introducing BIG-IQ
• Setting Up the BIG-IQ System
• Administering the BIG-IQ System
• Managing BIG-IP LTM Devices
• Setting Up the BIG-IQ DCD System
• Custom Roles and Groups
• Managing BIG-IP DSC
• Administering BIG-IQ High Availability

• Build the BIG-IQ system. Perform the initial setup, licensing and configuration, then connect it to the network so it’s ready for use
• Take an overall look at the BIG-IQ product suite. What does it include, how does it approach BIG-IP centralized management
• With the BIG-IQ configured, connect and explore system features including the necessary initial tasks and associated steps
• Bring your BIG-IP devices running LTM under central management by BIG-IQ. Discover their current configuration and create and deploy new traffic passing objects to them
• The BIG-IQ needs a DCD to manage BIG-IP statistics and log data, see how to set it up and link it to the BIG-IQ system
• Take a deeper look into user accounts on BIG-IQ and see how to create very granular accounts which limit user access
• BIG-IP allows multiple devices to be configured into clusters. Learn how BIG-IQ remotely manages these clusters
• Configure two existing BIG-IQ systems into an active-standby pair. Create and synchronize configuration objects, fail the pair over, de-configure the pair and return them to standalone systems.

BIG-IQ Overview

• BIG-IQ Centralized Management
• BIG-IQ Approach
• BIG-IQ Core Functionality
• REST API
• BIG-IQ Data Collection Device (DCD)
• BIG-IP Cloud Edition (CE)
• Setting Up the BIG-IQ System

Administering the BIG-IQ System

• Controlling Access to the BIG-IQ
• Creating, Authenticating, Configuring Users and their Roles
• System Backups
• Configuring DNS, NTP, and SMTP
• Monitoring the BIG-IQ, DCD, and BIG-IP events and alerts
• Monitoring BIG-IQ with iHealth
• Post Installation Issues; Licensing, Changing Management IP, Master Key, Restoring Backups
• Managing BIG-IP LTM Devices
  • BIG-IP LTM Device Discovery
  • BIG-IP Device Backup
  • Deploying to BIG-IP Devices, Various Methods and Logs
  • BIG-IQ Configuration Snapshots
  • Managing BIG-IP Certificates
  • Managing BIG-IP Licenses
  • Monitoring BIG-IP Devices with iHealth
  • Management of QKView Reports from Managed BIG-IP Devices
• Setting Up the BIG-IQ Data Collection Device
• Custom Role Types and Groups
  • Setting up User Accounts with custom roles and privileges
• Managing BIG-IP DSC
  • Discovery and management of BIG-IP Device Clusters (DSC) with BIG-IQ
• Administering BIG-IQ High Availability
  • Configuration and management of BIG-IQ systems in a High Availability pair

The course is for system and network administrators responsible for the installation, setup, configuration, and administration of the BIG-IQ system. Or, it can be undertaken by operators who require some knowledge of how the systems are setup, but usually concentrate on performing particular operational tasks whether on BIG-IQ or via BIG-IQ on the managed BIG-IP devices.

BIG-IQ manages BIG-IP devices and its associated products so you need to be familiar with BIG-IP as well as having knowledge and experience of general network technology.

For BIG-IP, students should have already completed a BIG-IP based training course such as the Administering BIG-IP instructor-led course or further courses.

Free web-based training courses are available on the LearnF5 training hub (https://www.f5.com/services/training) that are helpful for any student with limited BIG-IP administration and configuration experience.

• Getting Started with BIG-IP web-based training
• Getting Started with Local Traffic Manager (LTM) web-based training

The following general network technology knowledge and experience are recommended before attending any F5 Global Training Services instructor-led course:

• OSI model encapsulation
• Routing and switching
• TCP/IP concepts
• IP addressing and subnetting
• Network firewalls
• LAN vs. WAN
• HTTP Protocol
• Security and Authentication