F5CAB4 F5 BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration (F5CAB4) exam Free Practice Exam Questions (2025 Updated)

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration documents:

Theaudit log(/var/log/audit) recordsconfiguration changesmade on the BIG-IP system, including:

Whomade the change (user account)

Whatwas changed (for example, a virtual server modification)

Whenthe change occurred

Howit was performed (GUI, TMSH, or API)

Why the other options are incorrect:

/var/log/securelogs authentication events such as login successes and failures, not configuration changes.

/var/log/ltmlogs traffic-management and runtime LTM events, not administrative configuration modifications.

Therefore, the correct log file for trackingwho changed a virtual serveris/var/log/audit.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration documents:Reporting device status includes monitoring physical resource exhaustion, such as memory48. The Control Plane provides both a command-line method via TMSH (show /sys memory) and a graphical method under Statistics > Module Statistics > Memory to report on how memory is allocated across TMM and the Linux host494949494949494949. This is essential for identifying potential "Aggressive Mode" triggers or hardware performance bottlenecks50.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration documents: To maintain integrity in a High Availability environment, TMOS prevents the deletion of active Devic28e Groups. Procedurally, a device group is a container for synchronization; the Control Plane requires that you first strip the group of all associated members (devices) before the group object itself can be removed from the configuration.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration documents:Managing the state of a device often involves restoring configuration backups known as User Configuration Set (UCS) files These archives contain the full system configuration, including licenses and SSL certificates. The Control Plane provides a dedicated management area for these files under System > Archives, where administrators can upload, create, and restore configuration snapshots

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration documents:

When restoring aUCS file to replacement hardware (RMA device), thelicense from the original device is not validon the new system. If the UCS restore attempts to load the old license, BIG-IP reports license errors such as“License is not operational”, which can prevent traffic objects (including pools and virtual servers) from loading correctly.

To avoid this issue, F5 documentation recommends restoring the UCSwithout the license, using the following command:

tmsh load /sys ucs no-license

This approach:

Restores all configuration objects (LTM, networking, certificates, keys, etc.)

Excludes the invalid license tied to the old hardware

Allows the administrator toactivate a new license separatelyon the replacement device

Why the other options are incorrect:

A. Remove the license information from the UCS archiveNot supported or recommended; UCS files should not be manually modified.

B. Revoke the license prior to restoringLicense revocation does not prevent the UCS from attempting to load license data.

D. Reactivate the license on the new device using the manual activation methodThis must be doneafterrestoring the UCS and does not prevent the restore failure itself.

Therefore, the correct and supported method to avoid this error isC.

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Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration documents:

On BIG-IP systems that participate in a Device Service Cluster (DSC), each device compares theremote device’ssystem time to itsownsystem time. If the difference is outside theConfigSync time threshold(commonly referenced as3 seconds by default), BIG-IP updates the shell prompt to show“Peer Time Out of Sync”, andConfigSync operations may failuntil time is corrected (typically by fixing NTP reachability/configuration, or in some cases adjusting the threshold). (cdn.studio.f5.com)

This message is specifically abouttime drift between peersin the trust domain/DSC—not basic reachability (soBis not what it means), and it doesnotprove which side is “correct” (soCis too specific). It also doesn’t directly mean an NTP source is “skewed” (A can be acause, but the prompt message itself indicates thepeer-to-peer time mismatchcondition). (cdn.studio.f5.com)

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration documents: Managing how a BIG-IP communicates with external management services like Syslog is a core Control Plane task. The Configuration Utility organizes these settings under the "System" menu. Specifically, to define remote logging destinations and formats, the administrator must navigate to System > Logs > Configuration to ensure the Control Plane correctly forwards system events to external collectors

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration documents:

Therecommended and supportedmethod for creating BIG-IP users from the CLI is throughTMSH, using the authentication subsystem.

tmsh create auth user <username> prompt-for-password:

Properly creates the user within BIG-IP’sAAA/authentication framework

Encrypts the password securely

Ensures the user is stored and managed correctly in the BIG-IP configuration database

Is fully supported and documented

Why the other options are incorrect:

Bis unsafe and unsupported because editing bigip.conf directly and storing clear-text passwords violates security and configuration management best practices.

C(f5adduser / f5passwd) isdeprecatedand not recommended for modern BIG-IP versions.

Dcreates aLinux system user only, not a BIG-IP administrative user, and will not allow access to the Configuration Utility or TMSH roles.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration documents:

In the BIG-IPConfiguration Utility, all system backup and restore operations—includingUCS (User Configuration Set) file restoration—are performed from theArchivessection.

The correct navigation path is:

System > Archives

From this location, the administrator can:

Upload UCS files

Restore UCS backups

Manage system archive files used for backup and recovery

Why the other options are incorrect:

A. System > Configurationis used for general system settings, not backup restoration.

C. Local Traffic > Virtual Serversis used for application traffic objects.

D. Local Traffic > Policiesmanages traffic policies, not system backups.

Therefore, the correct section to restore a UCS file using the Configuration Utility isSystem > Archives.

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Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From BIG-IP A34dministration Control Plane Administration documents: Authentication and authorization events are handled by the system's PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules). For Control Plane security auditing, all login attempts—whether local or remote (LDAP/RADIUS/TACACS+)—and SSH-related security events are recorded in /var/log/secure. This is the primary log for troubleshooting administrative access issues

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration do38cuments: While HA state is managed under "Device Management," the specific failover behavior of a traffic object is linked to its configuration. A Virtual Address must be associated with a "Traffic Group" (usually traffic-group-1) to fail over. This association and the resulting floating status can be verified by viewing the Virtual Server or Virtual Address list under Local Traffic > Virtual Servers.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration documents:Management connectivity is protected by an allowed access list for the httpd daemon. Unlike TMM data ports which use 'Port Lockdown' settings, the management port's access is controlled by a specific 'Allow' list323232. If an administrator's IP is not explicitly included in this list, the Control Plane will reject HTTPS connection attempts to the management utility33.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration documents:

On BIG-IP systems,authentication and authorization eventsare logged in/var/log/secure. This includes:

Successful and failedSSH login attempts

Invalid user authentication attempts

PAM (Pluggable Authentication Module) authentication failures

Access denials related to secure services

Why the other options are incorrect:

/var/log/messagescontains general system messages and service events, not detailed authentication failures.

/var/log/auditrecords administrative configuration changes (who changed what and when), not login attempts.

/var/log/ltmlogs traffic-management (TMM) and application-related events.

Therefore, the correct log file for investigatingunauthorized SSH login attemptsis/var/log/secure.

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Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration documents: In a High Availability pair, the "Force to Standby" action is a Control Plane command used to trigger a manual failover. This option is only logical and available on the device that is currently in the Active state. If the button is greyed out, it indicates that the administrator is already logged into the Standby unit, which has no active traffic groups to relinquish.