I would like to give you a bit more in-depth insight to what you can expect from the exam. Since you already have passed the 201 exam it means you have some fundamental knowledge of administrating a BIG-IP device. As for all F5 certifications, they keep adding new knowledge/requirements and they all overlap a litte bit for each exam. With the 301a exam, there are some similar topics but they add a bit more specialized knowledge/topics that you need to understand how they work, why it's being used and how to configure it. To give some examples:
- OneConnect - What is it? Why is it used? How do you configure it?
- nPath routing - Again, what is it? Why is it used? How do you configure it? Since it has some very specific configuration details this one requires some special attention.
- Which profiles to use in what type of situation. If the client/customer want cookie persistence, what type of profile do you need to use and does it have any dependencies? HTTP Profile? Client SSL Profile for HTTPS?
All of your resources so far are a great start but I would also add:
BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager: Implementations - Covers nPath routing
vCMP for VIPRION Systems: Administration - Since it mentions vCMP in the blueprint
LearnF5 - Online training videos from F5.
Eric Mitchel has also created great study guides that got taken down because they were considered to be outdated but I still find useful. I used them personally for my exams but that was quite a long time ago.
Usually for all specialist exams I simply just go nuts on all "Manual Chapters" available for each product and it has worked so far.
I also want to give a little shout-out to my book "F5 TMOS Administration" which can be purchased from Google Books, Issuu or Lulu (physical). All links can be found here: https://www.f5books.eu/ . It costs $39 and contains 730 pages. Even though that this book is designed for the 201 certification and has a few years on it, it still has topics that overlaps with the 301 exams, both a and b. It covers:
- All of the local traffic object dependencies which is part of objective 1.01.
- Address translation and SNAT covered in objective 1.08
- OneConnect, both as a feature covered in objective 1.04 and as objective 1.01 when it comes to profile dependencies and how OneConnect affect Dynamic Load Balancing.
- It also covers iApps from objective 1.11.
- Troubleshooting including using tools like ssldump.
- And many more.
When we first wrote this book I did not only want it to cover just the exam topics for 201 but I also added a few more specialized chapters just to cover for future additions to the 201 exam but that resulted in the book covering topics for the 301 exams as well. I also added some of my personal recommendations and best practices. For example how to handle SSL Certificate renewals. The books also has lab exercises and an instruction on how to set up your own lab.
But again, this source of material is something I have written personally that I'm selling to cover for the platform fee's, website hosting etc. If you want to use a completely free alternative I suggest the links you have found yourself and the rest of the ones in this thread. 🙂
I wish you good luck on your upcoming exam and send me a PM if you have any more questions and/or need any personal coaching :).
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