You can see it againUnder pressure people bring back shapes and positions long after the wording has gone.
Picture superiority · Shepard 1967, Standing 1973
F5F5 Certified Administrator NGINX
The F5 Certified Administrator NGINX certification validates your ability to manage NGINX Open Source as a web server, reverse proxy, and load balancer. This exam, one of four required for the credential, confirms you can install, configure, and troubleshoot NGINX in day-to-day operations. It is ideal for administrators who work with NGINX in Linux environments and want to prove their foundational skills.
Exam formatMultiple choice and performance-based
Duration30 minutes
DeliveryPearson VUE and Certiverse
Passing score245
Free questions299
Content last reviewed 30 July 2026 · Up to date
The certification
What F5N1 proves, and what it asks of you
What this certification covers, who it is written for, and what the exam itself looks like on the day.
4domains
15objectives
68concepts
US$50exam fee
What it is
What this certification is
What it validates, who it is written for, and the experience it assumes.
About this certification
The F5 NGINX Management exam (F5N1) is one of four exams you must pass to earn the F5 Certified Administrator NGINX (F5-CA, NGINX) certification. It validates the skills needed for day-to-day management of an NGINX web server platform, including installation, configuration, and troubleshooting. The exam is based on NGINX Open Source Software, not NGINX Plus.
Candidates should be comfortable with the Linux command line and have experience with essential NGINX functionalities. The exam covers tasks such as performing and verifying NGINX OSS installations, using NGINX as a web server and load balancer, understanding modules and shared memory zones, reading and interpreting logs, and verifying proper NGINX operation. Passing this exam demonstrates that you can handle the core administrative responsibilities of an NGINX environment.
Who it’s for
This certification is for administrators and engineers who manage NGINX Open Source in production environments. It is designed for those who need to install, configure, and maintain NGINX as a web server, reverse proxy, or load balancer, and who are comfortable working on the Linux command line. The ideal candidate has a basic understanding of how NGINX works, including its primary characteristics, concepts, terms, and constructs, and can perform basic administration tasks without assistance. This includes tasks like installing NGINX from official repositories, configuring HTTPS, setting up load balancing, and troubleshooting common issues.
Recommended experience
Familiarity with the Linux command line and experience with essential NGINX functionalities are recommended. Comfortable with the Linux command line; Experience with essential/foundational NGINX functionalities; Ability to perform and verify NGINX OSS installation from official repositories; Understanding of NGINX as a web server, HTTPS, and load balancer
The syllabus
What you’ll learn
Every domain and objective F5 measures, with the weight they carry on the exam.
The official F5 exam outline · checked 30 July 2026 · See the source
Given a scenario identify when to use NGINX
- Describe NGINX as a web server
- Describe NGINX as a reverse proxy
- Describe NGINX as a load balancer
- Describe NGINX as a caching solution
- Describe NGINX as an API gateway
Explain the NGINX configuration directory structure
- Identify the default NGINX core config file
- Identify the included directories/files
- Describe the order of how the included files will be merged into the running configuration
- Describe directive inheritance and overriding properties
Demonstrate how to manage user permissions
- Identify user context (i.e. using the configuration file)
- Describe how and when to give read/write/execute access
- Describe how to run NGINX as a specific user type
- Describe the relationship between NGINX processes and users
Manage shared memory zones
- Describe how and why NGINX uses shared memory zones
- Describe why directives use a shared memory zone
On the day
The exam itself
Everything F5 publishes about sitting it, and nothing we inferred.
Prerequisites
No mandatory prerequisites — this certification has no required predecessor exam or credential.
Exam codeF5N1
CertificationF5 Certified Administrator NGINX
Exam formatMultiple choice and performance-based
Duration30 minutes
Passing score245
DeliveryPearson VUE and Certiverse
LanguagesEnglish
PricingUS$50
After you pass
Where this credential goes next
The path F5 lays out, how the credential is kept, and where to book.
Step-by-step path to F5 Certified Administrator NGINX
Credential earnedF5 Certified Administrator NGINX Certification Lifecycle status
This certification is currently active and available. F5 maintains this certification to validate current skills and industry relevance.
Exam status: ActiveMaintained by F5
Exam registration
Register for the exam through Pearson VUE and Certiverse, F5’s authorized testing partner.
Schedule your examVisit the official F5 certification page for exam policies and requirements.
View the official pageYour coach
And when you are serious, your coach Pip takes over
Your coach in the app reads what you have answered with the book closed and tells you one thing to do tonight. It will not count an answer you gave with the page open, and it will tell you when you are not ready.
See how the coach worksBefore you book
Questions people ask
How does the NGINX Management exam relate to the other NGINX exams?
The NGINX Management exam is one of four NGINX exams required for the F5 Certified Administrator NGINX certification. The exams may be taken in any order.
Do I need to pass a lower-level certification before taking F5N1?
No. There are no mandatory prerequisites for this exam. You can take it without holding any prior F5 certification.
What are the retake policies if I fail the exam?
After the first failure, you must wait 15 days. The second failure requires a 30-day wait, the third a 45-day wait, the fourth a one-year wait, and the fifth or more a 90-day wait. Your retake count resets only when you pass.
Is there a hands-on or lab component in the exam?
The exam is proctored and may include performance-based tasks that test your ability to perform administrative functions on NGINX, but the official page does not specify a separate lab section.
What job roles does the F5 Certified Administrator NGINX credential map to?
This credential is designed for administrators and engineers who manage NGINX Open Source as a web server, reverse proxy, or load balancer in Linux environments.
Can I recertify by passing a different F5 exam?
F5 does not publish a renewal model for this certification, so it is unclear if passing another exam would renew it. Check the official F5 certification page for updates.
Are there regional differences in exam delivery?
The exam is available online via Certiverse and at Pearson VUE test centers worldwide. Pricing differs between online (US$50) and test center (US$65) delivery.
Information freshness · Content last reviewed on 2026-07-30 Up to date
Practice free questions 299 questions, free, no account needed.
The curriculum
The whole exam, mapped and written
Every domain, every objective, and every concept F5 measures — each one written out.
4domains
15objectives
68concepts
67free pages
The domains, and what sits inside them
Every objective below is a page you can open and practise now, without an account.
The official F5 exam outline · checked 30 July 2026 · See the source
1Given a scenario identify when to use NGINX111 questions
2Explain the NGINX configuration directory structure79 questions
Identify the default NGINX core config file2 concepts · 3 pagesOpen →Identify the included directories/files8 concepts · 6 pagesOpen →Describe the order of how the included files will be merged into the running configuration4 concepts · 4 pagesOpen →Describe directive inheritance and overriding properties4 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →
3Demonstrate how to manage user permissions69 questions
Identify user context (i.e. using the configuration file)4 concepts · 4 pagesOpen →Describe how and when to give read/write/execute access5 concepts · 4 pagesOpen →Describe how to run NGINX as a specific user type5 concepts · 4 pagesOpen →Describe the relationship between NGINX processes and users5 concepts · 4 pagesOpen →
4Manage shared memory zones40 questions
Not a table of contents
Every line on this map already opens
In front of every objective the practice pages are already there, free and without an account. This is one objective, opened.
Describe NGINX as a web server5 pagesOpen →
Free in front of it
23 questions on this objective, five to a page. Every range above is a real page, open now, with no account.
Reading the map is not the same as knowing the ground
The curriculum tells you what is on the exam. Proving you know it is a different job — and it is the one the closed-book run does.
Free questions
299 questions. No account, no card.
The whole bank is open. 5 questions to a page, every answer explained, and a discussion thread on each one.
299questions
67pages
15objectives
Freealways
Browse by domain
Every objective, and every page range, is a link — so you can pick up exactly where you left off.
1Given a scenario identify when to use NGINX111 questions
2Explain the NGINX configuration directory structure79 questions
3Demonstrate how to manage user permissions69 questions
What a practice page gives you
1Five to a page
Short enough to finish, long enough to matter.
2Every answer explained
Not only which one is right — why the others are wrong.
3A discussion on each
Ask, answer, and vote. Every question has its own thread.
A question, and the idea behind it
Every question comes from a concept
These are not trivia. Each one is written against a concept in the book, so when you get one wrong there is somewhere to go and find out why.
The visual book
See it once. Carry it into the exam.
The pages shown here come from our AI-900 book — an example of how each concept is written in plain language and, where the idea needs one, drawn as a full page you can take in at a glance.
68concepts
299free questions
Why a picture, and not another paragraph
Three reasons, and each one is a real finding rather than a slogan.
You can see it againThe whole idea at onceWhere it starts, what happens in the middle, what comes out, and the mistake to avoid.
Multimedia principle · MayerThe look-alikes sit togetherThe pairs the exam tests are drawn side by side, so the difference is seen, not told.
Dual coding · PaivioWhat one page is made of
You are never asked to read a poster here — only to see how one is built. After that, every other page is legible at a glance.
1A numbered strip on top
The idea as a sequence, followed with a finger before a word is read.
2Panels for the parts
What it is, how the machine learns it, when it is the right tool.
3The trap, framed
The distinction the exam tests, given its own box instead of buried in prose.
4One line at the bottom
The sentence to carry into the exam room.
Open book, on purpose
Answer it with the picture beside you
This is the part that teaches. The illustration and the written explanation stay where they are while you work, so a scenario stops being a memory test and becomes something you can simply look at.
It teaches · it does not count
A smartphone uses AI to unlock when the owner looks at the camera. Which AI capability is being used?
AImage classification
BFacial recognition
COptical character recognition
DObject detection
Look at the five steps. Detect finds a face, align straightens it, encode turns it into numbers, search compares it with a stored face, and decide answers one question: is this the same person? Classification would only say “a face”. Detection would only draw a box. Neither decides whose.
Then the page shuts, and it starts counting
The same questions come back with the book closed — that run is the one that counts. After it, your coach picks one thing for tonight, sized to the time you have, and brings pages back before you lose them.
Testing effect · Roediger & Karpicke 2006 · spacing effect · Cepeda et al. 2006
Official resources
Straight from F5
Where the exam is defined, scheduled and scored.
2official links
68concepts mapped
The source
F5’s own pages
We link to them rather than repeat them, so nothing here goes stale behind them.
Checked against the source
Every objective on the official F5 outline already has questions here
We build from the official skills outline, not from a summary of it — 15 objectives, 68 concepts written under them, and free questions against every one. When F5 changes the outline, this page changes with it.
15objectives on the outline→68concepts written→299free questions
An official page tells you what will be asked. It cannot tell you what you will get right.
That is the only question worth answering the night before, and no link answers it. You answer it by taking the questions with the book closed, and seeing what comes back.