Linux Professional Certification: A Comprehensive Guide to LPI and LPIC

Introduction:

Linux is a powerful and versatile operating system, and those who have expertise in it are in high demand. For those who wish to establish themselves as a Linux professional, achieving a Linux Professional Certification is a must. There are two organizations that provide Linux certifications, namely the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) and the Linux Professional Institute Certification (LPIC). In this article, we'll take a comprehensive look at both organizations and what they have to offer to help you achieve your goal of becoming a Linux professional.

LPI: Linux Professional Institute

The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) is a non-profit organization that provides Linux certifications. LPI offers several levels of certifications, including the LPI Linux Essentials, LPI Level 1 (LPIC-1), LPI Level 2 (LPIC-2), and LPI Level 3 (LPIC-3). The certifications offered by LPI are designed to cover the basics of Linux administration and management, as well as advanced topics such as system security and network administration.

LPIC-1: Junior Level Linux Administrator

The LPIC-1 certification is the entry-level certification offered by LPI, and it is designed for junior level Linux administrators. The certification covers basic topics such as Linux installation, configuration, and administration. It also covers the management of system services, network services, and security. To achieve the LPIC-1 certification, one must pass two exams, namely the LPI 101 and LPI 102.

LPIC-2: Intermediate Level Linux Administrator

The LPIC-2 certification is designed for intermediate level Linux administrators, and it covers advanced topics such as system administration, network administration, and security. To achieve the LPIC-2 certification, one must pass two exams, namely the LPI 201 and LPI 202.

LPIC-3: Senior Level Linux Administrator

The LPIC-3 certification is the highest level certification offered by LPI, and it is designed for senior level Linux administrators. The certification covers advanced topics such as virtualization, clustering, and security. To achieve the LPIC-3 certification, one must pass two exams, namely the LPI 300 and LPI 302.

LPIC: Linux Professional Institute Certification

The Linux Professional Institute Certification (LPIC) is a certification program that is similar to the LPI certification program. The LPIC program is also designed to provide Linux certifications to individuals who have a high level of expertise in Linux administration and management. The LPIC program is offered by the Linux Professional Institute (LPI), and it covers the same topics as the LPI certification program.

LPIC-1: Junior Level Linux Administrator

The LPIC-1 certification is the entry-level certification offered by the LPIC program, and it covers the basics of Linux installation, configuration, and administration. To achieve the LPIC-1 certification, one must pass the LPIC-1 exam.

LPIC-2: Intermediate Level Linux Administrator

The LPIC-2 certification is designed for intermediate level Linux administrators, and it covers advanced topics such as system administration, network administration, and security. To achieve the LPIC-2 certification, one must pass the LPIC-2 exam.

LPIC-3: Senior Level Linux Administrator

The LPIC-3 certification is the highest level certification offered by the LPIC program, and it is designed for senior level Linux administrators. The certification covers advanced topics such as virtualization, clustering, and security. To achieve the LPIC-3 certification, one must pass the LPIC-3 exam.

Benefits of Linux Professional Certification

There are several benefits of achieving a Linux Professional Certification, including:

Increased Earning Potential: A Linux Professional Certification can increase your earning potential as employers are willing to pay more for certified professionals.

Improved Career Opportunities: With a Linux Professional Certification, you can open up new career opportunities and explore new job roles within the Linux industry.

Demonstration of Expertise: A Linux Professional Certification demonstrates to employers and clients that you have the necessary expertise in Linux administration and management.

Improved Skills: The certification process helps you to improve your skills and stay updated with the latest developments in Linux administration and management.

Recognition: A Linux Professional Certification provides recognition for your skills and achievements within the Linux community.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, a Linux Professional Certification can be a valuable asset for individuals who wish to establish themselves as a Linux professional. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced Linux administrator, there is a certification program that can help you achieve your goals. The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) and the Linux Professional Institute Certification (LPIC) are two organizations that provide Linux certifications, and they offer a comprehensive understanding of Linux administration and management. So, take the first step towards your goal of becoming a Linux professional and achieve a Linux Professional Certification today!

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LPIC-1: Loading Linux

In this blog series we will review the major changes introduced by these updates. Today, we start with an overview of ways to load the Linux kernel.

Objective 101.2 used to cover the traditional BIOS. The new version adds a UEFI, a newer type or computer firmware. In addition, objective 104.1 now includes GPT in addition to MBR partition tables. Although firmware (BIOS vs. UEFI) and partition tables (MBR vs. GPT) are technically different concepts, they are closely related when it comes to starting the Linux kernel.

Read More: LPI updated LPIC-1 to version 5.0 and Linux Essentials to version 1.6

When a computer starts, it has to load an operating system. What sounds trivial involves several components. After the firmware set up the hardware, the bootloader loads the operating system kernel from the hard disk which is then run to start the actual operating system. The exact location of the bootloader and the mechanism to locate and start it differ depending on the firmware and partition table type. For the rest of this post, we assume that the GRUB 2 bootloader is used.

Traditionally, hard disks contain a master boot record partition table (MBR). The MBR reserves some space which contains the bootloader. The BIOS can find this space because it resides at a fixed position on the disk. However, this space is too small for most bootloaders, which is why only an initial part of the bootloader is stored in the MBR. GRUB, for example, stores its so-called boot.img here, which just knows enough to load the rest of the bootloader from another position.

A traditional MBR leaves some space between the end of the MBR and the start of the first partition. On an MBR disk, GRUB uses this space to store its core.img. This code is finally able to access the /boot/ partition, where GRUB loads additional modules, the Linux kernel and the initramfs image.

GUID partition tables, GPT for short, have a different structure which supports more and larger partitions. However, it no longer contains a partition gap, so GRUB cannot use this space to store its core.img. Instead, it expects a small partition with the type BIOS boot partition (EF02). This partition does not contain a file system; it is directly used by grub-install to store core.img. When booting the system using legacy BIOS and GPT, GRUB is loaded from the MBR, loads core.img from the BIOS boot partition and then reads the remaining components from the partition containing /boot/.

UEFI is a type of firmware which can load and execute extensions. The Linux kernel can be compiled to be such an extension, just like the GRUB bootloader. The extensions are stored in the EFI system partition, ESP. This partition is identified by the partition type EFI System (0xEF00) and typically contains a FAT file system. It is explicitly mentioned in objective 102.1.

In Linux, the this partition is usually mounted to /boot/efi/. This partition can contain EFI binaries for multiple operating systems or bootloaders. grub-install can create a directory for GRUB on the ESP. The directory /boot/efi/EFI/linux/ could, for example, contain the file grubx64.efi. If secure boot is used, some additional files are required. These files are executed by the firmware to start GRUB.

UEFI offers an interactive shell which supports navigating through the EFI partition’s file system and executing EFI binaries. To ease the startup, UEFI can store settings of one or more operating systems which can be started directly without using the EFI shell. These settings can be modified from Linux using the command efibootmgr, which is covered in LPIC-2.

The installation of a bootloader depends on on the firmware used. For a legacy BIOS, either an MBR partition table or a GPT which contains a GRUB partition is required. In both cases, the boot.img part of GRUB is installed at a fixed position on the hard disk. core.img is either loaded from the partition gap after the MBR or from the GRUB partition on a GPT disk. Wikipedia illustrates this quite nicely. UEFI instead starts the GRUB EFI binary, along with additional extensions required to support secure boot, from the ESP. In any case, GRUB is now able to access the /boot/ partition to load additional GRUB modules, the Linux kernel and initramfs.

As all of these concepts are relevant for LPIC-1, you should try to manually configure all these three scenarios by using fdisk or gdisk and grub-install. Refer to your distribution’s documentation for the exact steps, packages you need to install and how to generate a GRUB configuration file. Consider using a virtual machine to have some hard disks for your experiments.

Once the Linux kernel and the initramfs are started, an init system such as systemd takes over. Next week we will review some advanced concepts of systemd which were added to the new version of LPIC-1.

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Recent Technical Innovation Requires New Exams: LPIC-1 version 5.0

Since October 2018, the latest versions of the LPIC-1 exams are available. Many people see the exams 101 and 102, which are required to obtain the ‘LPIC-1: Linux Administrator’ certification, as an ideal starting point to launch a career in open source. Higher-level certifications, such as LPIC-2 and LPIC-3, are useful to reach senior levels in IT administration and to increase potential earnings.

Certification holders show employers that they have dealt with Linux professionally and have a profound knowledge of the matter. Therefore, it is essential that we frequently adapt the exams to changing demands of the job market.

To identify these demands, experts discuss topics that could be relevant for a new exam version every three years. During this process, deprecated topics are removed from the exams. The basis for this discussion is the exam development mailing list, used by experts throughout the world to exchange ideas and discuss the requirements of their respective markets.

One of the new topics in LPIC-1 is, for instance, systemd and related services. systemd was already a topic of version 4.0 of LPIC-1, but version 5.0 introduced a few more aspects, such as systemd mount units, timers and the command timedatectl. As UEFI and GUID partition tables are used more frequently, they were included in the new exams. Topics dealing with networks, graphical user interfaces and desktops were completely revised. Meanwhile, topics such as SQL and disk quotas were removed. These are just some noticeable examples; many other changes were made, too.

To ensure that candidates preparing to take an exam are not surprised by topics they weren’t expecting, the LPI offers a 6-months transition period during which either the new or the old versions of the exams can be taken.

As an LPI book author, I base the update of my books on the wiki of the Linux Professional Institute. I also recommend this website to my students, because it is easier to search through it using Strg+F than to thumb through a book. You find information on the latest exam topics as well as a compilation of the topics which were changed in the new exam version.

I often notice a certain fear of new exams among my students. I can assure you that these fears are completely unfounded for any candidate working closely with the LPI objectives.

To ensure acquired certifications are always up-to-date, the status of a certification is set to ‘inactive’ after five years. It is, however, possible to get a higher level certification before the end of the period and thus keep the status of the certification active.

If you plan to take a new LPIC-1 exam in the next couple of months, I recommend you read this blog regularly, since we plan to publish further posts about the changes in the new version.

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LPIC-1: System Administrator

LPIC-1 is the first certification in LPI’s multi-level Linux professional certification program. The LPIC-1 will validate the candidate's ability to perform maintenance tasks on the command line, install and configure a computer running Linux and configure basic networking.

The LPIC-1 is designed to reflect current research and validate a candidate's proficiency in real world system administration. The objectives are tied to real-world job skills, which we determine through job task analysis surveying during exam development.

Current Version: 5.0 (Exam codes 101-500 and 102-500)

Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this certification

Requirements: Passing exams 101 and 102

Validity Period: 5 years

Languages: English and German

To become LPIC-1 certified the candidate must be able to:

◈ understand the architecture of a Linux system;
◈ install and maintain a Linux workstation, including X11 and setup it up as a network client;
◈ work at the Linux command line, including common GNU and Unix commands;
◈ handle files and access permissions as well as system security; and
◈ perform easy maintenance tasks: help users, add users to a larger system, backup and restore, shutdown and reboot.

Exam 101 Topics

◈ System Architecture

◈ Linux Installation and Package Management

◈ GNU and Unix Commands

◈ Devices, Linux Filesystems, Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

LPIC-1 Exam 101 Objectives Version 4.0

Exam 102 Topics

◈ Shells, Scripting and Data Management

◈ Interfaces and Desktops

◈ Administrative Tasks

◈ Essential System Services

◈ Networking Fundamentals

◈ Security

LPIC-1 Exam 102 Objectives Version 4.0

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LPIC OT DevOPs Engineer - Request for help in the Job Task Analysis (JTA)

Some of my readers may know that I am the Chair for the Board of Directors of the Linux Professional Institute (LPI).  Like many things I do, this is a volunteer job, and I could not do it without help from many other volunteers.

Founded in 1999, LPI was created as a Canadian based non-profit to “certify users of computer software programs” and “facilitate the exchange of information between computer users”. Since that time LPI has delivered over 500,000 tests, and currently has over 200,000 certificate holders in over 180 countries.

The certifications so far are on four major levels, known as “LPI Linux Essentials (LE)”, “Linux Administrator (LPIC-1)”, “Linux Systems Engineer (LPIC-2)” and a variety of advanced topics at the LPIC-3 level such as “Security”, “Virtualization and High Availability” and “Mixed Environment”.

LPI separates the function of “certification” from “learning”, allowing potential job seekers to study the objectives for each test and to pick the method of learning that suits them best, whether it be self-study, reading articles on the Internet or from magazines and books, or taking a formal course from one of LPI's many partners.

LPI is a community-based model for developing its certifications. LPI first creates a “Job Task Analysis” to see what types of tasks and knowledge that someone needs to do a particular job. LPI reaches out to the community of people who are actually performing that job or managing those people. LPI then gathers these job tasks, analyzes them, and creates a list of these tasks. After the JTA is created, LPI then approaches this community of people and asks of them what types of questions would these people ask of a job candidate to determine that they could do those tasks correctly. Finally, give that list of questions, LPI approaches the community to find out what answers would be expected as “correct”.

After this procedure the test questions are put into beta tests, given to potential certification holders, and the tests and answers run through a process called psychometrics that uses statistics to help assure the quality of the testing procedure.

Recently LPI decided to create an LPI Certification Open Technology for DevOPs named “LPIC-OT DevOps Engineer Certification”. Unlike other LPI tests (which were GNU/Linux oriented), this certification is OS neutral, and therefore hopefully useful for GNU/Linux, *BSD, Apple and (perhaps even) Microsoft Windows DevOps Engineers. The certification will test the ability of the candidate to create a DevOps workflow and to optimize their daily administration and development tasks. One major concession to LPI's strategy, however, is to focus on “Open Source” and freely available DevOPs tools and procedures when available versus closed source tools.

Therefore LPI is asking DevOps engineers and managers to participate in defining the Job Task Analysis. If you are willing to help LPI (and in the traditional FOSS way, eventually helping yourself).

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