BIG-IQ Test Drive Labs

Welcome

Welcome to the F5 BIG-IQ Test Drive.

This lab provides hands-on experience using F5’s BIG-IQ.

BIG-IQ allows you to take an application-centric approach to core IT, networking, services provisioning, and deployment with a unified tool for gaining visibility into and managing your F5 application delivery and security portfolio.

BIG-IQ significantly extends the operability and value of your F5 investment. From a single console, BIG-IQ offers users the ability to create, configure, deploy, analyze, troubleshoot, patch, and upgrade F5 security and application delivery services. BIG-IQ also supports holistic device management of F5 BIG-IP™ physical and virtual devices both locally and in the cloud.

From per-app virtual editions to traditional hardware appliances, BIG-IQ makes it possible to gain visibility into apps and devices, leverage automated workflows, simplify configuration, and ensure every team—and every app—has the resources required to perform optimally.

With BIG-IQ you can quickly and easily manage, analyze, and troubleshoot every device, every application, and every policy from one centralized location—no matter the operating environment.

New to BIG-IQ? Get started by watching the video below.



Understand the Core Features of BIG-IQ Centralized Management.

This lab will cover the following topics:

  • Managing application services with legacy and Application Services 3 Extension (AS3) templates
  • Troubleshooting and assessing health and performance at-a-glance with application-specific dashboards
  • Keeping certificates compliant and up-to-date with integrated certificate management workflows
  • Backing-up, patching, and orchestrating upgrades of BIG-IP devices

Optional labs:

  • Using BIG-IQ with Venafi, leader in X.509 certificate management
  • Building advanced, DevOps-aligned automation workflows with BIG-IQ, GitLab, and Ansible configuration management
  • Solving common challenges associated with importing legacy BIG-IPs into BIG-IQ

Once you are ready to start your BIG-IQ journey, consult the Getting Started page, then start with BIG-IQ Application Management and AS3 Hands-On Labs.

Note

Labs below are part of a larger BIG-IQ lab guide. The labs on the BIG-IQ Test Drive page need to be done as listed.

Optional Hands-On Labs

Warning

Start the Venafi Trust Protection server in the UDF environment in order to complete Lab 1.4 and follow instructions on the Getting Started page to generate a SSH keys for Lab 2.12 and 2.13.