DevCentral F5 DevCentral (DC), available here: https://devcentral.f5.com/ is a community website featuring forums, blogs, tech tips, wikis, code sharing for iRules, iControl, iApps templates, tutorials and more. An account is required to access some content or contribute. Created as CodeShare in 2003 by Joe Pruitt, the architect of iControl (Joe is still with the company) DevCentral now has over 250,000 members in 191 countries. Membership grew over 25% in 2012 alone.
F5 University Free, self-paced web-based training related to basic technologies and concepts, changes in new software versions and basic LTM configuration are available via the F5 University available here: https://university.f5.com/. An F5 support account is required to access the site. You can also gain lab access to an F5 running TMOS v11.4.0 (plus two Linux hosts) for two hours at a time; an invaluable tool for those without access to their own device.
Exam Blueprints These can be found on the F5.com website and in the Downloads section of the CMS and provide a comprehensive list of the exam objectives and the skills and knowledge required to pass the exam. The blueprint for this exam can be found here: http://www.f5.com/pdf/certification/exams/F5_blueprinttemplate_TMOS_v2.pdf.
BIG-IP LTM Virtual Edition (VE) Trial An LTM VE 90 Day Trial can be obtained from here: https://www.f5.com/trial/big-ip-trial.php - you’ll need an F5.com account to obtain it. You’ve probably already got one right and if not, it’ll be useful going forward. Unfortunately, the trial is for TMOS v12.1 which is slightly ahead of the TMOS version the exam is based upon.
BIG-IP VE Lab Edition You can now purchase the latest BIG-IP VE Lab Edition for the very, very cheap price of $95 (it used to be around $2000). It’s limited to 10Mb total throughput but includes LTM, GTM (DNS), AAM, AFM, APM (10 user limit), ASM. It’s an incredibly cost effective tool for getting hands on experience using F5’s products, lab testing and building an understanding of how things work and interact. Unlike with the 101 exam, this one does require some practical knowledge of actually using or configuring BIG-IP. You can request a license here: https://www.f5.com/trial/.
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