F5-CTS-LTM BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager Practice Question
Which action does an LTM perform when a health monitor fails for a pool member?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume a failed health monitor immediately drops and terminates all active client connections currently linked to that pool member.
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 marks the member as down and stops load balancing new requests to it.
When a health monitor fails, the LTM marks the member as 'down' and stops sending new traffic to it. This ensures that users do not experience errors or timeouts. Existing connections are typically handled according to the persistence and timeout settings, preventing sudden application failures for active users while protecting the service from faulty backend infrastructure.
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 automatically restarts the service on the backend server.
Why it's wrong here
The BIG-IP does not have the authority or the capability to restart services on backend servers. It can only monitor the health of those services. Remediation, such as restarting a service or checking logs, must be performed by the server administrators through their own management tools.
- ✗
It removes the member from the pool and drops all active connections.
Why it's wrong here
While it marks the member as down, it does not necessarily drop all active connections immediately. Depending on the configuration, it may allow existing, persistent connections to time out naturally, preventing a sudden disconnection of users who are currently interacting with the application on that server.
- ✓
It marks the member as down and stops load balancing new requests to it.
Why this is correct
This is the core behavior of LTM load balancing. By marking the member down, the BIG-IP removes it from the selection pool, ensuring that subsequent client requests are routed only to healthy, operational servers, thereby maintaining the availability and integrity of the application service for all users.
- ✗
It alerts the user with a 503 error page.
Why it's wrong here
The BIG-IP only sends a 503 error if it cannot find any available members in the pool to satisfy a request. If at least one member remains healthy, the BIG-IP will continue to load balance traffic normally without notifying the end-user of any backend member failures.
About these practice questions
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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
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