F5CAB4 Control Plane Administration Practice Question
Which utility should an administrator use to monitor real-time resource consumption on the BIG-IP control plane, specifically for identifying processes consuming high CPU?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates frequently choose F5-specific data plane statistics utilities like 'tmsh show sys performance' instead of standard Linux system commands like 'top' for control plane processes.
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
✓
top
The 'top' utility is a standard Linux command used to monitor system processes in real-time. Since the F5 BIG-IP control plane runs on a Linux-based OS, using standard Linux tools is a fundamental skill for administrators. This tool helps identify rogue or high-load processes that might be impacting the Configuration Utility or system responsiveness, which is vital for effective troubleshooting and maintaining overall system performance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
tmsh show sys performance
Why it's wrong here
This command displays historical traffic and throughput statistics for the TMM. While useful for monitoring data plane performance, it does not provide the process-level details or Linux-specific resource utilization data required to troubleshoot control plane CPU spikes caused by local processes on the management system.
- ✓
top
Why this is correct
The top utility provides a real-time, dynamic view of running system processes, including CPU and memory usage per process. It is the most effective command for diagnosing which specific management-plane processes are causing high system load, ensuring the administrator can identify and remediate the underlying issue.
- ✗
bigtop
Why it's wrong here
The bigtop command is designed to show traffic management statistics related to virtual servers, pools, and connections. It focuses on the TMM (Traffic Management Microkernel) performance rather than the Linux-based control plane processes, making it unsuitable for identifying specific CPU-intensive management tasks on the system.
- ✗
tmsh show sys connection
Why it's wrong here
This command provides details on active network connections passing through the BIG-IP. It is intended for tracking client-to-server traffic flows and does not provide any visibility into the control plane's internal process utilization, CPU metrics, or memory consumption of the system's management services.
About these practice questions
This F5CAB4 question is part of Courseiva's 40-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam 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.