F5-CTS-LTM BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager Practice Question
An LTM administrator needs to ensure that a pool member remains in the pool but stops receiving new connections while existing connections are allowed to finish. Which action should the administrator perform?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently choose 'Offline' instead of 'Disabled', failing to realize that 'Offline' abruptly drops existing user connections rather than allowing them to complete gracefully.
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
✓
Set the pool member state to 'Disabled'.
Setting a pool member to 'Disabled' state is the standard operational procedure for graceful maintenance. It prevents new connections from being established via the load balancing algorithm while allowing established persistence records or active sessions to complete their lifecycle. This is critical for preventing service disruption during application updates or server-side patching cycles, ensuring a seamless user experience while managing backend resources effectively.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Set the pool member state to 'Offline'.
Why it's wrong here
Setting a member to 'Offline' immediately terminates all active connections and marks the member as down. This causes immediate service interruption for users currently connected to that specific server, which is inappropriate for maintenance scenarios where existing traffic should ideally be permitted to drain gracefully before the server is fully removed.
- ✗
Force the pool member to 'Offline'.
Why it's wrong here
Forcing a member to 'Offline' bypasses standard monitor checks and immediately drops all traffic. This state is primarily used for emergency scenarios where a server is behaving erratically and must be removed from production immediately regardless of the impact on current users who are currently relying on that specific backend instance.
- ✓
Set the pool member state to 'Disabled'.
Why this is correct
Disabled status allows the BIG-IP to maintain existing connections while preventing the load balancer from assigning any new incoming requests to that member. This provides a controlled traffic draining mechanism, enabling administrators to perform maintenance tasks without impacting users who are currently in the middle of active application sessions or transactions.
- ✗
Delete the pool member from the pool.
Why it's wrong here
Deleting the pool member removes the configuration object entirely from the pool. This is a destructive action that does not facilitate a graceful drain of connections. Instead, it results in an immediate loss of connectivity for the resource and requires re-adding the configuration once the maintenance window has concluded.
About these practice questions
One of 119 original F5-CTS-LTM 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
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