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F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP)

Standardize your team on F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) with a structured F5 training path — 4 blueprint-weighted practice exams and team admin reporting included on every CBT Nuggets Teams seat.

Book a DemoAll F5 certs
5
Courses
4
Practice exams
10
Core skills
$50 per exam
Exam fee (F5)
IT operations team at help desk workstations with ticket queues and network diagrams
Difficulty
Difficulty: 3 of 5 (Moderate)
Moderate
Exam fee (F5)
$50 per exam
Courses on path
5
Official source
F5’s official exam page
Exam codes
  • F5CAB1
  • F5CAB2
  • F5CAB3
  • F5CAB4
  • F5CAB5

Exam datasheet

Prerequisites
None
Recommended experience
1-2 years of experience with BIG-IP products
Recertification
2 years
Testing center

Exams

Exams for this certification

Exam fees per engineer, paid to the exam vendor$50 per exam

Exam — Required

Every engineer on the F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) path takes F5CAB1, F5CAB2, F5CAB3, F5CAB4 and F5CAB5.

  1. F5CAB1BIG-IP Administration Install, Initial Configuration, and UpgradePractice exam included on every Teams seat
    Exam fee
    US$50 online / US$65 test center
    Exam length
    30 minutes
    Questions
    30
    Passing score
    245 (scaled score)

    Exam blueprint: F5CAB1

  2. F5CAB2BIG-IP Administration Data Plane Concepts (F5CAB2)Practice exam included on every Teams seat
    Exam fee
    US$50 online / US$65 test center
    Exam length
    30 minutes
    Questions
    30
    Passing score
    245 (scaled score)

    Exam blueprint: F5CAB2

  3. F5CAB3BIG-IP Administration Data Plane Configuration (F5CAB3)Practice exam included on every Teams seat
    Exam fee
    US$50 online / US$65 test center
    Exam length
    30 minutes
    Questions
    25–30
    Passing score
    245 (scaled score)

    Exam blueprint: F5CAB3

  4. F5CAB4BIG-IP Administration Control Plane Administration (F5CAB4)Practice exam included on every Teams seat
    Exam fee
    US$50 online / US$65 test center
    Exam length
    30 minutes
    Questions
    25–30
    Passing score
    245 (scaled score)

    Exam blueprint: F5CAB4

  5. F5CAB5Exam F5CAB5: BIG-IP Administration Support and Troubleshooting (F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP))
    Exam fee
    US$50 online / US$65 test center
    Exam length
    30 minutes
    Questions
    30
    Passing score
    245 (scaled score)

    Exam blueprint: F5CAB5

Skills your team builds

BIG-IP System AdministrationApplication Delivery and Load BalancingInstallation and Software UpgradesData Plane Traffic AnalysisHigh Availability and Config SyncVirtual Server and Pool ConfigurationHealth Monitor ConfigurationPersistence Profile ManagementUCS Archive ManagementSupport Case Troubleshooting

Multi-course path

Your team's 5-course training path

F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) requires 5 exams. The complete F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) path runs through 5 CBT Nuggets courses — assign them to your team and track progress across all of them.

  1. Start here · primary course

    F5CAB1

    Learn how to install, configure, secure, and upgrade BIG-IP systems with this expert-led F5CAB1 training. This F5 exam is one of five exams you need to earn the F5 Certified Administrator credential. You’ll walk through real-world admin tasks like managing software images, setting up licensing, and locking down access, all while preparing for the BIG-IP Administration Install, Initial Configuration, and Upgrade exam. Perfect for network admins and system engineers working with F5 who want to build confidence and prove their skills.

    Bob Salmans
    44 videosPractice exam5h
    Open course

  4. F5CAB4

    This training covers everything you need to learn in order to pass the BIG-IP Administration Control Plane (F5CAB4) exam. Gain skills to manage high availability, backups, device upgrades, and authentication methods. Earning your F5 Certified Administrator credential proves your ability to support and administer BIG-IP control plane features in real-world environments. After taking this skills-focused training, you'll be able to troubleshoot, sync configurations, and manage system states with confidence.

    Bob Salmans
    43 videosPractice exam5h
    Open course

  5. F5CAB5

    Learn valuable F5 networking skills with expert-led training. The BIG-IP Administration Support and Troubleshooting (F5CAB5) exam validates your ability to identify and resolve common BIG-IP issues in real-world environments. After taking this F5 training, you'll know how to evaluate system performance, diagnose virtual server and pool behavior, and interpret traffic flow to maintain uptime — all the skills you need to pass the F5CAB5 exam and work towards your F5 Certified Administrator credential.

    Bob Salmans
    42 videos5h
    Open course

Every certification course includes

  • Expert-led video training
  • Certification practice exams
  • Per-team completion reporting

F5 career ladder

Where F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) sits in your team's F5 progression

The cert your team is on now, plus the levels above and below. Use this to map an engineer's next-step credential or to plan headcount coverage across tiers.

  1. Professional level

    2 certs

    F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP)

    F5CAB1, F5CAB2, F5CAB3, F5CAB4…

    You are here

    F5 Certified Technology Specialist, BIG-IP LTM (F5-CTS, BIG-IP LTM)

    301a, 301b

Customer outcome

Build F5 capability across the whole team, not one engineer

Assign the F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) courses to the engineers who need them, and the team report shows who has started, who has finished, and who has passed the practice exam — the view leadership uses to see F5 skills coverage across the team and where the gaps are.

See team pricing

Team capability

Make F5 a number on your team capability sheet, not a single engineer’s certificate.

Standardizing your team on F5 gives leadership a clear picture of F5 skills coverage — who has completed the training, who is still on the path, and where the gaps are — so staffing and escalation plans rest on known capability instead of on one engineer.

Credential: F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP)

Exam
  • F5CAB1
  • F5CAB2
  • F5CAB3
  • F5CAB4
  • F5CAB5

Frequently asked questions about F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) training

Common questions IT directors ask when evaluating F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) training for their team.

How does F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) fit into our compliance and governance program?

Teams cite F5-CA, BIG-IP when documenting who is trained to install, upgrade, back up and troubleshoot the BIG-IP systems that sit in front of production applications. Team reporting adds per-learner progress, completion and completion exports for audit evidence, while the auditor's control crosswalk decides any formal mapping to a framework.

Which roles should hold F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP), and what can a certified team own?

Network administrators and engineers who run BIG-IP in production are the natural holders, along with anyone on call for application delivery. A certified team can own initial setup and software upgrades, virtual servers, pools, health monitors, persistence profiles, high availability, config sync, local and remote users, and UCS archives. It can also diagnose why virtual servers and pools stop working, isolate network-level performance and resource utilization issues, and open a well-documented support case.

What does CBT Nuggets F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) training include for a team?

CBT Nuggets F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) courses are built by named expert trainers. Where a course includes hands-on virtual labs or a practice exam mapped to F5's published exam objectives, the course list on this page says so. Team admin reporting tracks assignment, completion and exam readiness per engineer — the view managers use to run a team training program.

How do I assign and track F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) training for my team?

From the admin console, managers assign the F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) courses directly to specific engineers or role groups and track completion and practice-exam scores per learner. Team-wide reporting rolls up to a single dashboard you can review or export for leadership reviews or compliance reporting.

How long does it take to certify a team on F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP)?

The linked courses for F5CAB1 through F5CAB5 total about 24 hours of video, which gives IT leaders a baseline for planning study time per engineer. Actual time to certify depends on the team's starting point, especially prior hands-on experience with BIG-IP and load balancing.

What if F5 updates the F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) exam objectives?

CBT Nuggets updates F5 course content as exam objectives refresh, and this page shows the current exam's status and any retirement date the vendor has announced. When F5 restructures or renames a track, the assigned training stays aligned with the same team training plan, and the training stays current without anyone losing their progress mid-stream.

Ready to F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP)-certify your team?

Build F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) capability across your team

See how CBT Nuggets helps IT leaders plan and track F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP) training across the team — practice exams and reporting included.

Book a Demo