The Linux Professional Institute is an organization that brings together IT professionals, tech companies, training organizations and volunteers who advocate for the professional use of Linux, free software and open source programs. One of the ways in which they do this is by offering vendor-neutral Linux certification programs.
The Linux Professional Institute Certification (LPIC) program aims to confirm your skills in the Linux operating system, no matter what flavor you are using.
The LPIC program has three levels of verifying your skills with Linux.
LPIC-1
This is the lowest LPIC level that measures your ability and knowledge in Linux command lines, as well as your skills at maintaining Linux environments. This includes your skills at giving support to users of Linux, adding users to a larger system, rebooting, shutting down, making backups and restoring Linux systems.
More than that, you should be able to put up and configure a workstation and connect it to a local area network, or get a personal computer running on Linux connected to the Internet.
The LPIC-1 holds the distinction as being the first IT certification program accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies, having been first published in January 2000. It has been revised twice since, once in 2005 and then in 2009.
Exams
You will need to pass two examinations to get your LPIC-1 certification: Exam 101 and 102.
For Exam 101, you will be tested on the following skills:
- System architecture
- GNU commands
- Unix commands
- Installation and Linux package management
- Linux filesystems, and
- Filesystem hierarchies and standards
Meanwhile basic skills tested in Exam 102 include:
- Desktops and user interfaces
- Linux administration
- Scripting, shells & data management
- Important system services
- Security
- Networking basics
Both exams include topics that are common to all Linux distributions and are vendor independent.
Pre-requisites
There are no pre-requisites for the LPIC-1 certification besides knowing basics tasks for running Linux.
LPIC-2
If LPIC-1 is an entry-level certification, then consider LPIC-2 an advanced level certification for the Linux operating system.
The LPIC-2 will be validating your skills in administering a small and medium-sized site. It will certify that you have the skills to plan, maintain, implement, troubleshoot and secure a small Linux or mixed network that includes an Internet gateway, server and LAN server.
The LPIC-2 will also gauge your ability to supervise subordinates and assistants, and being able to advise top management on what to buy and how to automate as far as servers and machines are concerned.
Pre-requisites
In order to pursue the LPIC-2 certification, you’d first need to be LPIC-1 certified. You should also know how to manage a small site and maintain a mixed network.
Exams
The LPIC-2 certification also requires you to pass two exams: 201 and 202.
Exam topics include in Exam 201 will cover:
- Advanced administration for storage device
- Configuring networks
- Domain name server (DNS)
- Filesystem & devices
- Linux kernel
- System maintenance
- System startup
While in Exam 202, the skills tested include:
- E-mail services
- File sharing
- Network client management
- System security
- Troubleshooting and
- Web services
Both exams are vendor neutral, which means the concepts apply to Linux skills that are common in all Linux distributions. However, please note that all exam objectives have a weighted value, and heavily weighed objectives have more exam questions.
LPIC-3
The LPIC-3 Certification is a senior level Linux certification, mainly for enterprise-level IT professionals who use Linux.
First made available in 2007, LPIC-3 is the result of talks with hundreds of Linux experts and the world’s leading and best technology companies.
Currently, there is only the Core designation available. The LPIC-3 core will ensure that you:
- Have years of experience in maintaining and installing Linux on a variety of computers for a variety of purposes.
- Have professional experience and training as an enterprise level professional in Linux.
- Have enterprise and advanced Linux skills level, including administration, management, installation, security, maintenance and troubleshooting.
- Have knowledge of open-source tools to help in capacity planning and resource problems troubleshooting.
- Have experience in utilizing LDAP to bring together Unix and Windows services, including email, Active Directory, PAM and Samba.
- Have experienced using Samba and LDAP in planning, architecting, designing, building and implementing full environments.
- Know how to write Bash or Perl scripts and other system programming languages.
There are plans to offer more designations in the future, depending on specializations, including:
- High availability and virtualization
- Intranet and web
- Mail and messaging
- Mixed environment
- Security
Pre-requisites
To be able to pursue an LPIC-3 Core certification, you would need to have a LPIC-2 certification.
Exams
To get a LPIC-3 certification, you need to pass the Exam 301: Core exam.
To pass the Core exam, you will need to brush up on these skills:
- Capacity planning
- Concepts, architecture & design
- Configuration
- Installation and development
- Integration & migration, and
- Usage
On top of the Core exam, however, there are already specialization exams available, but these will not earn you a separate designation other than Core:
- Exam 302: Mixed environment
- Exam 303: Security
- Exam 304: Virtualization and high availability
In order to take these exams, you will need to first pass Exam 301: Core.
Exam 302: Mixed environment
Measures the skills outlined in Exam 301, as well as the necessary skills in integrating Samba with Windows for file and print services. You should also be able to design, plan, implement and build a multi-user environment with Samba.
On top of the skills you need to pass the Core exam, you’ll need to know:
- User & group management
- How to work with Active Directory, NetBIOS and CIFS.
- Security & performance.
Exam 303: Security
To pass this exam, you need to know how to implement and design customized solutions to complex automation problems, including on enterprise sites and public-facing websites. You should also be able to work well with subordinates and higher management, as well as maintain a budget.
Be sure to know access control, application security, cryptography, network and operations security.
To pass Exam 304: Virtualization and high availability, you need to show skills in
- Cluster management
- Cluster storage
- Load balancing and
- Virtualization
Training
If you are going to try to get an LPIC certification, make sure that you go to a reputable training provider. The Linux Professional Institute has several organizations under its LPI Approved Training Partner and LPI Approved Academic Partner Program.
These are organizations that provide training materials. They also have instructors that are closely in tune with LPI’s approaches.
Partnership Programs
On top of separately pursuing LPIC certifications, you could aim for one of their partner programs.
For instance, you can try the LPI-Novell certification partnership: those who earn their LPIC-1 certification will also be able to get the Certified Linux Administrator certification by Novell without needing to take an extra exam.
Similarly, LPI has also partnered with CompTIA. CompTIA retired its own Linux certification and now offers the CompTIA Linux+ powered by LPI. If you get a CompTIA Linux+ certification, you can also apply to get a LPIC-1 Certification.
So if you are an IT professional and would want to specialize in Linux system, the path is fairly clear on how you can go about getting certified in any and all levels.
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