F5CAB4 Control Plane Administration Practice Test 3 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A BIG-IP administrator is troubleshooting an issue where configuration changes made via tmsh are not being synchronized to the standby device in a high-availability pair. The administrator verifies that the devices are in sync according to 'tmsh show cm sync-status'. Which control plane component should the administrator investigate next?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

The 'cm' (Connection Manager) daemon, which handles device trust and sync communication.. The cm daemon is responsible for configuration synchronization between BIG-IP devices. Even if sync-status appears healthy, investigating cm ensures the sync communication channel is functioning properly. The other daemons have different roles: mcpd for local configuration, tmm for data plane traffic, and bigd for health monitoring.

Answer

The 'tmm' daemon, which processes traffic and may be blocking sync traffic.

Answer

The 'bigd' daemon, which monitors pool member health and could be consuming resources.

Answer

The 'mcpd' daemon, which manages the local configuration database.

Question 2

A BIG-IP administrator needs to make a configuration change that requires editing the bigip.conf file directly because the change is not supported via tmsh. After editing the file, the administrator wants to apply the change without disrupting traffic. Which sequence of actions should the administrator take?

Accepted Answer

Run 'tmsh load sys config verify' first, then 'tmsh load sys config' if verification passes.. When manually editing bigip.conf, it is critical to validate the syntax before applying. The 'tmsh load sys config verify' command performs a dry run, checking for errors without affecting the running configuration. If verification succeeds, 'tmsh load sys config' applies the changes. This approach minimizes the risk of introducing a faulty configuration that could cause an outage.

Answer

Run 'tmsh save sys config' to apply the changes.

Answer

Run 'tmsh load sys config' to load the edited file.

Answer

Run 'tmsh load sys config merge file /config/bigip.conf' to merge the changes.

Question 3

A BIG-IP administrator needs to apply a configuration change to a production device but wants the change to only take effect if the entire configuration is valid, and wants to be able to revert quickly if the change causes an issue. The administrator has a saved configuration archive from before the change. Which tmsh command should be used to load the saved configuration while ensuring that the current configuration is saved as a rollback point?

Accepted Answer

load sys config from-archive /var/local/ucs/backup.ucs rollback. The load sys config from-archive command with the rollback parameter loads a saved UCS archive and simultaneously saves the current configuration as a rollback point. This allows the administrator to apply a known-good configuration and revert if problems arise. The other commands either do not load an archive or do not create a rollback point, making them unsuitable for the scenario.

Answer

load sys config from-archive /var/local/ucs/backup.ucs

Answer

save sys config

Answer

load sys config default

Question 4

An administrator is planning to upgrade the BIG-IP software on a pair of devices in a device group. The administrator wants to ensure that the control plane remains available during the upgrade process. Which two actions should the administrator take before starting the upgrade? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Back up the current configuration using a UCS archive.. Before upgrading a BIG-IP device group, it is essential to verify that the devices are synchronized and to back up the configuration. Synchronization ensures that both devices have the same configuration, reducing the risk of post-upgrade issues. A UCS backup provides a rollback point in case the upgrade fails. These two actions help maintain control plane availability by minimizing downtime and enabling quick recovery.

Answer

Change the device group type to sync-only to avoid failover during the upgrade.

Answer

Disable the high availability (HA) group to prevent failover during the upgrade.

Answer

Run the upgrade on the standby device first, then fail over and upgrade the previously active device.

Question 5

An administrator is troubleshooting a BIG-IP device that is not responding to configuration changes made through the GUI. The administrator suspects that the configuration daemon (mcpd) is not running. Which command should the administrator use to verify the status of the mcpd process?

Accepted Answer

ps aux | grep mcpd. To verify if the mcpd process is running, the administrator should use the ps command, which is available on the BIG-IP Linux shell. The ps aux | grep mcpd command will show whether the process is active. Other commands either do not exist or are not applicable to mcpd, making them incorrect for this scenario.

Answer

tmsh show sys service mcpd

Answer

tmsh show sys process mcpd

Answer

service mcpd status

Question 6

An administrator is planning to implement centralized authentication for BIG-IP administrative access using an external LDAP server. The administrator needs to configure the BIG-IP to use LDAP for authentication and authorization. Which two actions must be performed to enable LDAP authentication for administrative users? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Set the authentication source to LDAP using 'auth source type ldap'.. To enable LDAP authentication, the administrator must first define the LDAP server object using 'auth ldap system-auth', specifying the server details. Then, the authentication source must be set to LDAP with 'auth source type ldap'. These two steps are essential for the BIG-IP to use LDAP for authenticating administrative users. Other steps like creating local users or importing certificates may be optional depending on the environment.

Answer

Configure a default role for LDAP users using 'auth ldap system-auth role default'.

Answer

Import the LDAP server's SSL certificate into the BIG-IP trust store.

Answer

Create a local user account for each LDAP user on the BIG-IP.

Question 7

A BIG-IP administrator is investigating a configuration drift issue where the running configuration differs from the saved configuration on disk. The administrator wants to identify exactly which objects have been changed in the running configuration but not yet saved. Which tmsh command should be used to compare the running configuration with the saved configuration?

Accepted Answer

tmsh show sys config diff. The tmsh show sys config diff command is specifically designed to compare the running configuration with the saved configuration and display the differences. This allows the administrator to identify unsaved changes and address configuration drift. Other commands either list the configuration without comparison or do not exist, making them incorrect.

Answer

tmsh show sys config status

Answer

tmsh compare sys config

Answer

tmsh list sys config

Question 8

An administrator needs to restrict administrative access to the BIG-IP system so that only specific management workstations can reach the Configuration Utility and SSH. Which control plane mechanism should be configured to implement this access control?

Accepted Answer

Define a management packet filter policy on the management interface.. Implementing packet filters on the management interface is the standard security practice to harden the control plane. By defining an Allow rule for authorized subnets and a Drop rule for all other traffic, you prevent unauthorized reconnaissance and brute-force attempts. This is critical for maintaining the integrity of the administrative plane, ensuring that management access remains restricted to secure, trusted administrative jump hosts or network segments.

Answer

Configure an iRule on the Management Virtual Server.

Answer

Enable the 'Allow All' policy in the Device Service Group.

Answer

Modify the global db variable 'httpd.allowed.ips'.

Question 9

Refer to the exhibit. An administrator is troubleshooting a failed configuration sync. The log shows a bad argument error related to the management IP. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The peer management IP is not reachable for ConfigSync.. The error indicates that the peer device configuration contains a reference to an unreachable or misconfigured management IP address during the sync process. ConfigSync relies on stable connectivity between peer management interfaces. Validating the self-IP and management network routing is essential to ensure that the synchronization process can successfully exchange configuration data without encountering reachability timeouts or illegal argument exceptions in the underlying management process.

Answer

The TMM process has crashed on the peer.

Answer

The license on the peer has expired.

Answer

The NTP server is unreachable.

Question 10

When a BIG-IP system is in a High Availability (HA) pair, which component is primarily responsible for ensuring that the control plane configuration remains synchronized between devices?

Accepted Answer

The ConfigSync process.. The ConfigSync feature is dedicated to synchronizing the configuration state between BIG-IP units in an HA group. It ensures that the standby unit maintains a mirrors-image of the active unit's settings. Understanding the role of ConfigSync is essential for administrators, as it guarantees that failover events are seamless and that the standby device is always prepared to assume the traffic processing role with identical configuration parameters.

Answer

The Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM).

Answer

The Configuration Utility (GUI).

Answer

The Linux kernel.

Question 11

An F5 administrator is tasked with updating the BIG-IP software version. Which pre-update control plane check is the most critical for ensuring a successful deployment?

Accepted Answer

Verify sufficient disk space on all partitions.. Verifying the health of the control plane before an upgrade is essential to prevent bricking the system. Checking disk space, running process health, and ensuring configuration integrity ensures that the upgrade process has the necessary resources and can properly migrate existing settings. This is a vital step because an upgrade failure can lead to an extended outage and complicated recovery scenarios, making thorough validation an absolute requirement for stable operations.

Answer

Clear the browser cache on the management PC.

Answer

Restart all virtual servers.

Answer

Rename the default 'admin' account.

Question 12

Which user role provides the highest level of access within the BIG-IP system, allowing full control over all modules and the underlying Linux operating system?

Accepted Answer

Administrator. The 'Administrator' role is the top-tier access level, granting full control over every aspect of the system. This level of access is necessary for performing system-wide updates, changing core configurations, and managing other users. Understanding the scope of this role is crucial, as it entails significant responsibility for system stability and security, and it must be managed carefully by authorized personnel to prevent accidental or malicious system-wide changes.

Answer

Operator

Answer

Manager

Answer

Resource Administrator

Question 13

Which protocol is recommended for secure administrative access to the BIG-IP command line interface?

Accepted Answer

SSH. SSH is the industry standard for secure, encrypted remote command-line access. By using SSH, administrators ensure that credentials and commands are protected from interception during transit. Relying on legacy, unencrypted protocols like Telnet would expose the management credentials and administrative traffic to any attacker on the local network, making SSH an absolute requirement for any secure control plane administration strategy in a production environment.

Answer

Telnet

Answer

HTTP

Answer

FTP

Question 14

An administrator notices that the BIG-IP system time is drifting. Why is this critical for control plane stability in an HA configuration?

Accepted Answer

It impacts the validity of heartbeat timers.. Time synchronization is vital for HA, as it ensures that logs, audit trails, and, most importantly, certificate validity checks and heartbeat monitoring are synchronized. When clocks drift, HA heartbeat packets may be rejected or ignored, potentially causing 'split-brain' scenarios. Maintaining accurate time via NTP is essential for the reliability of the control plane and the overall synchronization state between cluster members.

Answer

The GUI will be unable to render charts.

Answer

It causes the TMM process to restart.

Answer

SNMP traps will stop functioning.

Question 15

Refer to the exhibit. The cluster status is 'Offline'. What is the most likely reason for this state?

Accepted Answer

Network connectivity for heartbeats is down.. A missing heartbeat is the primary cause of a cluster becoming offline. Heartbeats are the mechanism through which peer devices verify each other's operational status. If the network path for heartbeats is interrupted, the devices cannot verify the health of the peer, leading to an offline state to prevent conflicting traffic processing configurations from being active simultaneously in the network.

Answer

The license is invalid.

Answer

The configuration sync has timed out.

Answer

The management plane is overloaded.