F5-302 study plan

Map the full traffic-path from client to pool member and label where each BIG-IP profile type acts on the packet

Configure virtual servers of type Standard, Performance (HTTP), and Forwarding, then compare how each handles the same client request

Build a two-member load-balancing pool and switch among Round Robin, Least Connections, and Ratio methods to observe distribution changes

Explain and demonstrate the difference between one-connect and re-address source NAT modes with a packet capture

Configure persistence profiles (source address, cookie, SSL) and verify session stickiness across pool members

Set up health monitors (TCP, HTTP, HTTPS) and force a member to fail to observe monitor-driven state transitions

Create and apply an iRule that selects a pool based on URI path, then validate with curl requests

Tune a virtual server for SNAT automap versus a named SNAT pool and document the observable difference

Describe the roles of the management interface, TMM, and the Traffic Management Microkernel in processing versus managing traffic

Configure a self IP, VLAN, and route domain, then verify traffic isolation between two route domains

Explain how connection mirroring and high-availability state sharing affect failover behavior on LTM

Compare the effect of different protocol profiles (TCP, UDP, FastL4) on how LTM processes a connection

Configure an SSL-terminating virtual server with a client SSL profile and verify certificate chain presentation

Create a Web Application Firewall security policy in blocking mode and test it against a benign request and a simulated injection attempt

Configure a DoS protection profile and an IP intelligence or rate-limiting control, then show the effect under a controlled load test

Explain the difference between a transparent and a reverse-proxy security policy deployment

Configure an access policy with a logon page, an authentication action, and a successful-result branch

Bind an APM access profile to a virtual server and validate a full authentication flow end to end

Add a per-session variable and use it in an access policy branch to route users differently

Explain how APM interacts with LTM and where session persistence is stored

Configure a DNS zone and a wide IP with two pool members, then test resolution under a forced member-down condition

Explain the difference between a global traffic manager load-balancing method based on topology and one based on availability

Configure an APM single sign-on or credential caching action and verify the downstream authentication

Describe how DNS express and zone transfer caching affect resolution latency

Enable and read analytics for a virtual server, identifying top talkers and response-time outliers

Configure a logging destination and confirm that request logs arrive with the expected fields

Capture traffic on a virtual server and use it to diagnose a deliberately broken pool member health check

Diagnose a persistence failure caused by a mismatched cookie profile and document the fix

Re-run every lab from weeks 1 through 7 without notes and record any step that required recall

Score at least 80 percent on a timed mixed-domain practice set and categorize every miss by domain

Rewrite your weakest domain's notes into a one-page quick-reference sheet

Review all flagged weak areas and confirm each with a fresh lab verification