A while back, I reviewed the first
of the Linux Professional Institute's (LPI) two exams for its LPIC Level 1 certification.
However, there is something I need to make clear about these two exams. I had
originally suspected that, given the exam numbering, one exam was more advanced
in content than the other. As it turns out, the two exams simply split up the
exam objectives for the Level 1 coverage, which means you can take the two tests
in any order if you like.
Read my review of the 101 exam (link above) for more on LPI and its program.
In this article, we're going to dive right into the objectives for this exam.
Note that they are very broad, so please use this coverage as a quick overview
for your study preparation to ensure you understand the main points. And remember,
with an LPI exam, it's not enough to know the commands themselves, you also
need to know the meanings of the command options since these significantly change
the way that the commands work.
Hardware and Architecture
In the objective area, you are expected to know about the /proc
filesystem and what to expect when you view the contents of
/proc/interrupts, /proc/dma
and /proc/ioports.
Compatibility is also covered. For example, WinModems are a special type of
modem that uses the system CPU to do their work when running in Windows, meaning
that you can't readily use a WinModem in a Linux system. Also, some PC BIOSs
have a problem booting an operating system located beyond the 1024th cylinder
of the disk. Therefore you need to plan to install LILO and the kernels within
the first 1024 cylinders on the disk.
Linux Installation and Package Management
LPI expects you to be conversant with using the Red Hat Package Manager (rpm)
and also Debian's package management system (dpkg).
Although these aren't weighted that highly on the exam objectives, I'm glad
I had these down when I took the exam. To learn these, thoroughly review the
online help for rpm and dpkg.
As mentioned earlier, LPI expects you to know the meaning of all of the command
options (no, I'm not kidding), so make sure you have them down pat. Some hands-on
practice installing and querying packages will help with your understanding
and memorization here.
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Shared libraries in Linux are somewhat similar to DLLs in Windows, so programs
that use these are dynamically linked at runtime. The /etc/ld.so.conf
file contains a list of directories of shared libraries. At startup, Linux searches
these directories and creates a cached index of shared libraries and their location.
You can use the ldconfigcommand to query (-p)
the contents of this shared library cache or to rebuild the cache if new directories
are added to /etc/ld.so.conf.
Lastly, you can run the ldd command
against an executable program to list any dependencies it has on shared libraries.
Tip: Make sure you are familiar with the commands to install
non-Debian packages on a Debian system using the alien
command.
Kernel
There are two main objective areas here. First and not unexpectedly, LPI expects
Linux administrators to know the main steps in compiling, building and installing
a new kernel. Not only should you know the steps in order, you should understand
what each step is intended to achieve.
The main steps are:
building a .config file from either the make
config, make menuconfig
or make xconfig commands,
run make dep to check
for header file dependencies,
run make clean to
delete any output from previous kernel builds,
run make bzImage to
compile the new kernel and compact it using the bzip2 utility.
run make modules_install to
copy the new modules into place.
copy the new kernel into place, add the new kernel into /etc/lilo.conf
and then run the lilo
command so that the lilo boot loader is aware of your new kernel.
You also need to know about kernel modules. These are dynamically added to
the kernel as needed. The lsmod
command lists loaded modules, insmod
is used to insert a module into the kernel and, not surprisingly, rmmod
removes modules from the kernel. The modprobe
command can list, load and remove kernel modules. The modules.dep file is typically
generated at system startup (via the depmod
-a command) and lists any module dependencies to other modules. The
/etc/modules.conf file
(or /etc/conf.modules,
depending on which distribution you are using) is used to control the way that
these modules are loaded and can be used to set parameters for them.
Text Editing, Processing and Printing
For this area of the objectives, you need to be able to edit text files with
vi and work with printing in Linux. Editing with vi should be something that
you would be pretty familiar with in your Linux studies (with apologies to Emacs
users), since you will have to use this to make changes within the many text
configuration files within Linux. Make sure you understand the two vi modes
-- command and insert -- and when each of these should be used. You should also
be comfortable moving around a file, making changes, finding text, deleting
and copying text, as well as saving a file.
Printing is fairly straightforward in Linux. The printers are defined in the
/etc/printcap file, and
you'll need to understand the format of this file, including being able to print
to a locally attached or remote printer. As well, you will need to know how
to configure a print filter within this file.
Tip: Study the purpose of the lpd
daemon and how to use the lpr,
lpc, lpq
and lprm commands.
Shells, Scripting, Programming and Compiling
This is an area that can be scary for new Linux admins. No, you don't have to
be a bash shell scripting wizard to become LPI certified, but by all means you
should have a firm grasp of the basics. For example, do you know how to define
shell environment variables, and how to export them so that they are inherited
when child processes are created? Do you understand the function of the various
bash configuration files that are stored within a user's home directory?
Tip: When running a shell script, you need to have execution permission
rights; otherwise, the script won't run.
Tip: The first line of your script needs to invoke the correct
program to interpret it. For example, a bash shell script has the first line
consisting of #!/bin/bash,
which tells Linux to invoke a bash shell to process the script.
X-Windows
LPI expects its candidates to be familiar with X-Windows, the networkable GUI
on a Linux system. There are a few key concepts and configuration files you'll
need to understand here, including the purpose of the XF68Config and .xResources
files, how the xfs (X font server) and xdm (X display manager) work, and how
to set and export the DISPLAY
environment variable to control the location of X display output.
Networking Fundamentals
If you have a background in working with other operating systems, this is one
area of the objectives where you can leverage your existing experience. You'll
need a good understanding of the main classes of IP addressing and subnet masks.
If you need to review these, check out my review of CompTIA's Network+
exam, in which I cover these topics in more detail.
As a Linux administrator, you should also know the purpose of more common ports
listed in /etc/services.
Those specially mentioned in the exam objectives are as follows:
20 - FTP data
21 - FTP control
23 - Telnet
25 - SMTP
53 - DNS
80 - HTTP
110 - POP3
119 - NNTP
139 - NetBIOS
143 - IMAP
161 - SNMP
TCP/IP troubleshooting receives weighting of 10 (out of 10) on the objectives,
which means you know you are going to be asked a lot of questions about this.
The main configuration files are /etc/hosts,
/etc/hostname, /etc/networks,
/etc/host.conf and /etc/resolv.conf.
Tip: Be sure to study the purpose and typical contents of
the above configuration files.
As for troubleshooting commands, get to know dhcpd,
host, hostname,
domainname, dnsadomainname,
ifconfig, netstat,
ping, route
and traceroute.
Networking Services
This section of the objectives looks at the /etc/inet.conf
file that can be used to autostart daemons when an inbound request is received,
and using tcp wrappers as a security measure to control who can access these
services. These access rules are defined within the /etc/hosts.allow
and /etc/hosts.deny files.
The rest of this section is about using Linux for sendmail as a Web server
with Apache, as an NFS server running SAMBA, and also as a DNS server. LPI doesn't
expect you to know intricate details of these areas (that seems to be covered
extensively in the LPI Level 2 objectives), but you will need to know how these
services function and the main configuration files for each.
Security
Although this is listed as a separate objective on the 102 exam, this section
actually pulls together concepts from both the 101 and 102 exams under the common
banner of Security. Topics include tcp wrappers and the SUID bit on executable
files (which means that a user who runs the program doesn't use their security
context, it runs with the permissions of the superuser). To conquer this area,
you should know how to set a user's password settings with the chage
command and also how to implement shadow passwords and what this in intended
to achieve.
Tip: Be sure you understand the importance of removing unnecessary
services from /etc/inet.conf
to prevent against possible attacks.
Overall Impression As you can see, the coverage of this exam is very broad. I firmly
believe that if you can successfully get through this exam then you should have
no problems getting yourself around a Linux machine. I certainly used this program
as a structured way to build my Linux skills and have been pleased with the
results.
I can honestly say these exams probably rank as amongst the hardest certification
exams I've ever sat. Not only was there an emphasis on specific detail, but
the aforementioned breadth of topic areas makes it a killer. As I said in a
recent Certification Advisor column, the CompTIA Linux+ exam covers many similar
areas, but feels an order or magnitude easier than these exams. For those of
you that successfully pass this exam, I dips me lid to you.
One last warning: Frequently in my columns I have mentioned my idea of booking
an exam first, and then rescheduling it as needed until you are ready. I do
this to get me thinking about the exam and working on my preparation. After
I had booked this particular exam, I went through a particularly hectic time
at work, so I didn't have enough time to prepare correctly. In fact, I was so
busy I forgot to reschedule the exam in time and found myself the night before
trying to cram like hell. Unfortunately, as you would expect, I failed this
exam. However, I retook it a couple of weeks later, and with plenty of time
for preparation, I did fine. And with proper preparation, so will you. Good
luck!
Greg Neilson, MCSE+Internet, MCNE, PCLP, is a Contributing Editor for
Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine and a manager at a large IT
services firm in Australia. He's the author of Lotus Domino Administration
in a Nutshell (O'Reilly and Associates,
ISBN 1-56592-717-6). You can reach him at editor@certcities.com Attn: Greg.
There are 17 user Comments for “LPI 102: And the Going Gets Tougher...” The current user rating is:
Page 1 of 2
4/3/02: Ross Brunson from Colorado Springs says:
These aren't that hard if you use Linux on a daily basis for a while.
Greg's right, these can be a tough row to hoe for the beginner, though we've gotten good results in the LPIC Boot Camps from http://www.trainingcamp.net.
Nice review.
6/10/02: Anonymous says:
harddddddddd
8/6/02: Dino from Geneva says:
Thanks Greg, I realy like to read your review wich are simply great, full of details. I passed the 1st (101) and scheduled the second (102) for september. I'll be ready... Cheerse and let the Penguin gain the DATACENTER yeahhhhhh !
8/28/02: amkia says:
can hack it if you practice, as they say, " practice makes perfect."
9/4/02: David from Germany says:
Not sure if the new 102 Release 2 Beta has mixed things up a bit, it seemed to contain 101 objectives and I passed with a better score than at 101, which I hadn't expected! Good review here though!
10/7/02: Anonymous says:
Just passed 102 Release 2 Beta. I agee that
it's getting really tough ....
10/29/02: Peter from Toronto says:
I found the 102 (original) easier than the 101, since it wasn't as heavy on the memorization of flags. I'd say it's easy for the people who use a networked Linux system regularly. The answers to a lot of the questions can be arrived at through common sense, although a small percentage of some questions were really obscure. What surprised me is that questions rarely coincided with the information presented by the two certification books I used: ExamCram and the O'Reilly one. Breadth of knowledge is the key.
12/10/02: dmon says:
it was a tuffy, I got hammered on alot of rpm and debian install switch combinations. I found one question to have no correct answers in the selections. I called them on it and they admitted in a round about way there was no correct answer. =P
1/29/03: Anonymous says:
for any computer related topics exams, it's not fair to ask questions for pure memory. For example, how many options does mount has and explain each one. we work on computers and we can do a man page on that command. Otherwise, why do we need computers?
2/24/03: Anonymous says:
To who ever wrote "it's not fair to ask questions for pure memory" it TOTALLY is, if you work anywhere you would know that, you would know that lets say oh, your peers are standin around watching what you are doing and you start doing some things straight out of a book! They are gonna think, ooohh wow he knows so much his knowledge is 39.99! LPIC certifies well, breadth of knowledge must be good because in the real world it must be good, me I use the 'mount' command alot for lets see 6 filesystems with options and that is just in my home network...
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