Tested & Approved F5 Study Materials

F5, Inc. is an American-based company specialized in providing IT services and developing software-defined applications focused on performance, security, and availability of storage systems, network applications, and servers. Moreover, the F5 product portfolio includes solutions for managing multiple clouds, managing authorization and access, and controlling application performance.

This company was founded in 1996 and a year later released its first product known as the BIG-IP load balancer. F5 now has 75 offices in 43 countries and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

Technology

F5's services and products are in demand in the market, and their customers include 48 Fortune 50 companies. This is because F5 offers effective solutions for Layer 7 application security, load balancing, and API management.

In more detail, the entire F5 product portfolio can be divided into four main groups:

Software, this can include the advanced BIG-IP firewall manager, SSL Orchestrator, advanced web application firewall known as the advanced WAF, Access Policy Manager, the BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager, and BIG-IP DNS.

Platforms, including VIPRION as a powerful application delivery controller (ADC), the BIG-IP / iSeries system, BIG-IP virtual editions for intelligent services, and the next-generation hardware solution VELOS.

Managed Services, such as Silverline DDoS Protection to prevent attacks at levels 3-7, Silverline Shape Defense to protect the web application from automated bot attacks, Silverline Web Application Firewall to secure data and application from evolving threats, and the cloud-based add-on service Silverline Threat Intelligence.

Products for Service Providers, including BIG-IP Carrier-Grade NAT and BIG-IP Policy Enforcement Manager.

Certification Program

To work with these products and services offered by F5 candidates should possess the relevant skills and sufficient experience to effectively design, install and manage Software Defined Application Service technologies. In this way, having the F5 certificate is not only proof of a candidate's expertise, but also a competitive advantage for the organization where s/he works.

With this in mind, the F5 Certified Professionals tiered program was developed, starting with the 101 exam known as Application Delivery Fundamentals, which tests the basic competencies associated with managing ADNs and allows you to move further along the F5 accreditation path.

• F5-CA (F5 Certified! Administrator) accreditation demonstrates that the candidate has sufficient competence for the daily management of F5 systems and can progress to other certification levels. This will require a passing score on the appropriate qualification exam under code 201 where basic knowledge of key F5 related product operations concepts will be tested.
• F5-CTP (F5 Certified! Technical Professional in Sales) accreditation demonstrates that the candidate has sufficient expertise to effectively market F5 products and communicate with potential customers. Therefore, by passing the 202 exam, specialists will confirm their confident knowledge of the F5 product portfolio and their ability to conduct technical sales.
• F5-CTS (F5 Certified! Technology Specialist) accreditation demonstrates that the candidate has the confidence to implement, troubleshoot, and maintain key features of F5 products, as well as understanding of the key technologies and principles required to integrate them with other products and platforms. So you can prove that you are able to create complex solutions in such areas as BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (BIG-IP APM Specialist) (304 exam), BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (BIG-IP LTM Specialist) (301a and 301b exams), BIG-IP DNS system (BIG-IP DNS Specialist) (302 exam), and BIG-IP Application Security Manager (BIG-IP ASM Specialist) (303 exam). It implies that you can opt for one or more of such areas.
• F5-CSE (F5 Certified! Solutions Expert) accreditation demonstrates that the candidate has advanced skills for large-scale solution design and in-depth knowledge of the F5 product portfolio. Moreover, the F5-CSE certification is an official endorsement in the creation and troubleshooting of non-F5 product solutions. As well, at this stage, professionals can choose between two areas - Cloud (402 exam) and Security (401 exam) and can gain the F5 Certified! Solutions Expert, Security or F5 Certified! Solutions Expert, Cloud certification accordingly.

Training

It should be noted that F5 is interested in a positive result of the candidates, so it offers effective preparatory tools to help candidates succeed in the exams. First, there are exam blueprints that will help applicants understand what to expect and what topics they need to study. Second, the official study guides offer candidates a list of sources that can be used in preparation. Third, F5 training courses are designed to provide an in-depth study of key technologies and products. And, fourth, the F5 Certified LinkedIn group is available to all interested individuals with a variety of training resources, support from experts, and any questions they may have.