F5-CTS-LTM BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager Practice Question
An administrator observes that the BIG-IP is not correctly load balancing traffic across all members of a pool. What is the most likely cause if the load balancing method is set to 'Least Connections'?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume that load balancing algorithms are applied to every single request, forgetting that persistence records take precedence over the balancing algorithm for existing sessions.
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
✓
Persistence is enabled, causing the BIG-IP to bypass the load balancing algorithm for existing sessions.
The 'Least Connections' method is highly dependent on the accuracy of the connection table. If persistence is configured, the BIG-IP will ignore the least connections algorithm for any request that is part of an existing session. This is a frequent point of confusion where administrators expect even distribution but see skewed results because users are 'stuck' to specific servers due to their persistence records.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The pool members are in different subnets, preventing the load balancer from seeing all connections.
Why it's wrong here
The BIG-IP tracks connections at the virtual server level, regardless of the subnet where the pool members reside. As long as the pool members are reachable via the BIG-IP's routing table, the load balancer correctly tracks and accounts for all established connections to each member for its balancing logic.
- ✓
Persistence is enabled, causing the BIG-IP to bypass the load balancing algorithm for existing sessions.
Why this is correct
When persistence is enabled, the BIG-IP binds a client to a specific backend server for the duration of the persistence timer. Consequently, subsequent requests from that client do not use the load balancing algorithm, resulting in traffic distribution that may not appear balanced, as persistence takes precedence over load balancing methods.
- ✗
The 'Ratio' load balancing method is implicitly overriding the 'Least Connections' setting.
Why it's wrong here
An LTM pool can only have one active load balancing method at a time. The system does not implicitly override one setting with another. If 'Least Connections' is configured, the BIG-IP will use that logic; it does not automatically switch to a Ratio-based calculation unless the configuration itself is manually modified.
- ✗
The TCP profile is set to 'OneConnect', which prevents the tracking of individual connections.
Why it's wrong here
OneConnect allows the reuse of server-side connections to improve performance, but it does not interfere with the BIG-IP's ability to track the total number of connections to a pool member. In fact, OneConnect generally makes the connection count more accurate by reducing the overhead of rapid connection setup and teardown.
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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 F5-CTS-LTM 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 F5-CTS-LTM exam.