F5CAB4 Control Plane Administration Practice Question
Exhibit
tmsh show sys hardware ... Platform: BIG-IP iSeries i5800 ... Management IP: 10.0.0.5 ... CPU: 8 cores ...
Refer to the exhibit. Why is it important for the administrator to review the 'show sys hardware' output when troubleshooting a control plane issue?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume 'show sys hardware' is only for physical replacement. They fail to connect physical resource exhaustion directly to control plane performance issues like GUI timeouts.
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
✓
It verifies that the control plane has access to sufficient physical resources.
Hardware status directly informs the administrator about resource capacity, such as CPU cores or memory, which are critical for the control plane. If hardware components are failing (e.g., memory errors, fan failure), it can manifest as sluggish GUI response or mcpd instability. Reviewing this output helps differentiate between software configuration issues and underlying hardware stress, which is essential for accurate diagnostics and determining whether an RMA or physical maintenance is required.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
It displays the current traffic throughput of all virtual servers.
Why it's wrong here
The 'show sys hardware' command provides information about physical components, such as CPU, memory, and fans. It does not provide traffic throughput statistics for virtual servers. Traffic statistics are found in the 'tmsh show ltm virtual' output, making this option irrelevant to the information provided by the hardware command.
- ✓
It verifies that the control plane has access to sufficient physical resources.
Why this is correct
Understanding the platform's hardware capabilities helps an administrator correlate performance issues with physical resource limits. If the hardware is underpowered for the current configuration, it can cause control plane bottlenecks. This check is a fundamental step in eliminating hardware failure as a root cause for management plane latency.
- ✗
It lists the active users currently logged into the device.
Why it's wrong here
Hardware output shows physical system information, not active user sessions. To see active users, an administrator should use commands like 'who' or check the system logs. Including user session data in the hardware output would be inconsistent with the command's purpose of displaying physical system specifications and component status.
- ✗
It is required to update the system's licensing information.
Why it's wrong here
Licensing information is handled via the 'tmsh show sys license' command and the F5 license activation server, not through hardware status commands. The 'show sys hardware' command is strictly for platform information and does not interact with the licensing system or trigger license state changes on the appliance.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every F5CAB4 question from scratch — 40 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. 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.