F5CAB4 Control Plane Administration Practice Question
A BIG-IP device has lost synchronization with its peer. Which control plane component is responsible for detecting this state and reporting it?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often blame the network or the TMM process. They fail to understand that mcpd is the central brain responsible for configuration state and synchronization status between peers.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
mcpd
The 'mcpd' process relies on the 'configsync' functionality, which monitors the checksums of the configuration files across peers. When a mismatch is detected, mcpd triggers alerts and updates the system status. This is critical for maintaining high availability, as configuration drift between peers can lead to asymmetric traffic behavior or unpredictable failover results, making it vital for administrators to promptly resolve sync issues to ensure operational consistency.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
TMM
Why it's wrong here
TMM is the data plane and does not participate in configuration synchronization. While it may experience issues due to config drift, the actual detection of synchronization status is a function of the control plane and specifically the mcpd daemon, which handles the management of the configuration database for the cluster.
- ✓
mcpd
Why this is correct
mcpd is the central control plane process responsible for configuration management and synchronization. It calculates configuration hashes and compares them between cluster members, making it the component responsible for detecting and reporting synchronization status issues, which ensures the integrity of the device group's configuration state across the high-availability pair.
- ✗
bigd
Why it's wrong here
bigd is the health monitor daemon that tracks the availability of pool members and nodes. It does not monitor the configuration synchronization status between BIG-IP peers. Using bigd for this purpose would be incorrect, as it focuses entirely on the availability of downstream application resources rather than the system configuration state.
- ✗
snmpd
Why it's wrong here
snmpd is responsible for reporting system statistics to external management systems. While it can report that a sync error has occurred, it is not the process responsible for the actual detection or synchronization logic. Relying on snmpd would be reactive, not the cause of the detection logic itself.
Visual reference
Quick reference
Asymmetric Encryption Algorithm Comparison
| Algorithm | Key Exchange | Signatures | Equivalent Security Key | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RSA-3072 | Yes | Yes | 128-bit | Widely deployed; slow for bulk data |
| ECDSA P-256 | No | Yes | 128-bit | Fast signatures; standard TLS certs |
| ECDH / ECDHE | Yes | No | 128-bit | Perfect forward secrecy in TLS 1.3 |
| DH / DHE | Yes | No | 128-bit (3072-bit key) | Replaced by ECDHE in modern TLS |
| Ed25519 | No | Yes | ~128-bit | SSH keys, modern PKI |
About these practice questions
One of 40 original F5CAB4 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official F5 exam blueprint
This F5CAB4 practice question is part of Courseiva's free F5 certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the F5CAB4 exam.