The New LPI 102: Vendor Neutral Redux
Our reviewer tackles the latest version of the second exam required for LPI's Level 1 certification.
by Robert M Flemen Jr
8/24/2004 --
| Exam |
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#117-102: LPI 102 Exam (Second of two exams required for LPIC
1 certification) |
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| Vendor |
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Linux Professional
Institute |
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| Status |
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Live (updated March 2003). Available at Prometric and Pearson
VUE testing centers worldwide and through traveling testing
events sponsored by LPI. |
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| Reviewer's
Rating |
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“An order of magnitude harder than the 101 exam. Hit
the books hard, and break out the Linux distro CDs. |
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| Test
Information |
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Approx. 73 questions, 90 minutes, passing score of 500 on
a scale of 200-890. Cost: $100 (U.S.). |
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| Who
Should Take This
Exam? |
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Candidates with hands-on Linux experience who want to prove
their system administration skills. NOTE: Must also pass 101
exam to earn LPI’s Level 1 certification. |
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| Test
Objectives |
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Click
here |
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You may remember a
while ago I reviewed the Linux Professional Institute's (LPI's) 101 exam the
first of two exams needed to obtain LPI’s LPIC Level 1 certification. I
passed 101, but I didn’t do as well as I would have liked, so I redoubled
my efforts, scheduled 102 eight weeks in advance -- which is much more than I
usually do -- then hit the books. I was determined to do better on exam 102 and
hoped the added time and preparation would enable me to do just that. I had heard
rumblings that 102 was more difficult than 101, so I was definitely a little worried
even though I am pretty proficient with the *nixs in general. I started studying
by downloading the test objectives and was surprised to see there was twice the
number of objectives that appeared on the 101 exam. I initially took this to mean
the exam would be more superficial in scope to cover a larger range of objectives
in roughly the same amount of questions. Yeah, right. LPI asks precise, detailed
questions, and indeed this exam is filled with them.
Exam Basics
LPI’s 102 exam consists of approximately 73 multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank
questions, with 500 on a scale of 200 to 890 needed to pass.
The material is broken down into nine objectives: roughly twice the number covered
on the 101 exam. They are:
- The Kernel
- Boot, Initialization, Shutdown and Runlevels
- Printing
- Documentation
- Shells, Scripting, Programming and Compiling
- Administrative Tasks
- Networking Fundamentals
- Networking Services
- Security
As with exam 101, LPI’s examination objectives are presented a little
differently than you may be used to. Each of the topics above contains various
subtopics that are weighted on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the most
important. Questions relating to more important topics will appear in greater
number than those deemed less important. Your first stop should be a visit to
LPI’s Web site here and read the objectives for yourself, paying close
attention to those with a five or higher weighting. There are also sample questions
available for exam 102 here.
To give you a better idea of what's covered, the following is a more in-depth
breakdown of the nine main exam objectives (plus a few exam tips spread throughout).
The Kernel
This is what scares many people new to Linux. Of course, LPI expects candidates
to be very comfortable working with the Linux kernel. The Linux kernel has generally
been described as monolithic, yet it can be very modular. This means drivers
can be compiled as modules and loaded into the kernel either manually or on-demand.
Candidates should know how to use the commands to manipulate these modules to
accomplish everyday kernel tasks.
Here are some of the commands you should have intimate knowledge of:
- depmod
- insmod
- lsmod
- rmmod
- modinfo
- modprobe
- uname
Candidates should know how to compile the Linux kernel from scratch or customize
an existing kernel. Some important concepts include the make
command and its various targets (i.e., config,
oldconfig, xconfig,
menuconfig, modules,
install, modules_install,
depmod).
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Tip: To save time when compiling a kernel, you can use your old
config file by using the command: make
oldconfig. This will carry over all your settings from your
previous kernel and only prompt you for input on new kernel features that
did not exist previously.
Boot, Initialization, Shutdown and Runlevels
To pass this exam, you'll also need to be fairly comfortable with the Linux
boot process, at least in a general sense. The system generates a wealth of
information at boot time that may enable you to diagnose problems or just make
sure everything is in tip-top shape. Familiarity with both of the common Linux
boot loaders is important: GRUB and LILO are both tested, as well as their respective
configuration files (grub.conf and lilo.conf). Make sure you have a firm grasp
on the concept of runlevels and how to change them. You can permanently change
your systems runlevel by editing the
/etc/inittab file. Runlevels can vary by Linux distribution, but
the most common setup (and the one you’ll be tested on) is as follows:
0 - Halts the system
1 - Places the system in single-user mode, which is mainly used for
troubleshooting
2 - Multi-user, but no network support; multiple local logins allowed
3 - Standard multi-user and networked login
4 - Undefined
5 - Multi-user, networked and graphical login
6 - Reboots system; do not change this to your default runlevel in
/etc/inittab
You can manually change the runlevel at any time using either the init
or telinit command (i.e.,
to reboot the system you could use the command init
6).
You also need to be familiar with how to reboot and shutoff a system completely.
Two common examples are:
- To reboot your system immediately you would use (-r
= reboot):
shutdown -r now
- To shut your system completely off you would use (-h
= halt):
shutdown -h now
Tip: If the boot messages fly by too fast, you can see them again
by using the dmesg
command. The output of dmesg
will most likely fly by too fast as well, but there are solutions for that:
Using the dmesg | more
command will show the output a screen at a time, advancing a line at a time.
You could also narrow your search by using grep,
for example: dmesg | grep
eth0 would show only lines that contained eth0
(most likely the name of your Ethernet card).
Printing
Printing is very important to getting the best score you can on this exam. Every
forum I read regarding this exam states that the person taking the exam did
poorly because they did not study printing enough. The objectives weigh printing
as a one on level of importance, but be prepared to face several questions regarding
printer configuration and printing in general.
Tip: Printer capabilities are stored in the /etc/printcap
file.
To get a handle on this objective area, be sure to study the following commands:
Documentation
This is probably one of the easier topics you’ll face. A candidate for
the LPIC Level 1 certification is expected to know how to use the help system,
system documentation, and system communication files and commands that Linux
provides. Know the following:
Shells, Scripting, Programming and Compiling
Don’t worry, you’re not going to be asked to decipher some complex
shell script or do any programming for the exam. Candidates only need to know
some shell scripting basics and how to make a shell script executable.
Tip: Scripts can be made executable using the chmod
command. For example, if you wanted to make a script executable for everyone
on your system, use a command such as:
chmod a+x myscript.
Candidates should have knowledge of the users shell environment and how to
customize it -- this includes changing environment variables, editing files
for shell customization and writing bash functions. Get familiar with the following:
- ~/.bash_profile
- ~/.bashrc
- ~/.bash_login
- ~/.bash_logout
Note: The tilde (~)
indicates the user’s home directory, so ~./bashrc
would be /home/rflemen/.bashrc.
The period (.) indicates
the file is hidden, but if you’re taking exam 102, you should already
know that.
Some simple shell script components to become familiar with are while
and for loops. Study the
correct syntax for those loops and be able to identify what they are doing in
small code snippets.
Administrative Tasks
If you studied hard for 101, your life will be that much easier on this exam
objective, as there is some overlap between the two exams here. User administration
is a big part of this objective, so brush up on creating, deleting and maintaining
users and groups. Having a firm grasp of how files like /etc/passwd
and /etc/shadow. Know
what entries in these files look like, as well as what each section does, and,
more importantly, who has access to these files.
Tip: Only root has access to the
/etc/shadow file. This is where Linux stores encrypted passwords
when password shadowing is enabled on your system, which is a good idea!
System administration is important in this objective as well. Study how log
files work in Linux and how to schedule automated tasks to run using tools such
as cron, anacron
and at. Be able to configure
access to these utilities using their respective configuration files.
Surprisingly, LPI pays a large amount of attention to ntp and maintaining the
time on your Linux system. I was a little surprised by this, so don’t
make the same mistake. Study ntp
and how to configure it -- and then study it again.
Networking Fundamentals and Networking Services
The next two objectives are so intertwined that I am combining them for this
article. In some ways, these topics are the heart and soul of the LPI 102 exam
objectives, as shown by the weightings. Therefore, you basic networking knowledge
from other exams will help with this objective area -- if you haven't taken
one lately, be sure to brush up with a good textbook.
Know the basics of IP addressing, including classes and subnet masks, but don’t
worry too much as this is not the CCNA exam, so we’re just talking basics
here. Know the tools of the trade for network troubleshooting, such as:
- ping
- dig
- traceroute
- whois
- dig
- telnet
- ftp
- route
- netstat
- ifconfig
Be aware of all the major networking files as well: Know where they are and
what they contain. The files below come to mind:
Finally, have a working knowledge of Apache, Sendmail, Samba, BIND and SSH.
For the exam, know the basics of these services and what their main configuration
files are. LPI does not expect you to be an expert with all of these services
-- that's what the Level 2 certification is for!
Security
You will be tested on your knowledge of Linux security basics. General hint:
Turn off services not in use and use shadowed passwords. Linux firewalls are
also covered in these objective, so have a working knowledge of ipchains
and iptables, including
basic configurations.
Tip: As with all firewalls, start by denying everything and work
your way from there. If you need to open ports to traffic, it’s much
easier to start with a base of deny all and add the services you need individually.
For all the Windows gurus out there, you also need to be familiar with IP masquerading,
a Linux version of NAT. This means you should use private IPs on your network
and have a few real addresses do all the requests external to your network on
behalf of those clients.
Candidates also need to be able to configure user-level security, including
quotas, logins, memory usage and processes. Basically, know how to keep the
average Joe user in place and not let him run amuck on your system.
Studying for the Exam
I was forced to take the same approach to studying as when I took exam 101 last
year, as there still were no study guides on the market for the updated 102
exam. I ended up using O’Reilly’s LPI
Linux Certification in a Nutshell and LPIC
1 Certification Bible from John Wiley & Sons. I took the updated
test objectives and marked off the chapters I needed to read. Even with a textbook
or two, you must get some hands-on experience with Linux to have any hope of
passing this exam. I am currently still recommending SuSE and Mandrake to use
because they are common and user-friendly. Boson has some exam simulation software,
but it’s based on the older objectives, so some of the questions you answer
will not be topics on this exam. My advice is to give yourself plenty of time
to prepare for this exam. It covers a lot of information, and it takes time
to digest all of these topics and understand them enough to confidently walk
into the test center and ace the exam.
Closing Thoughts
I found this exam to be much harder than 101, which in itself is a challenge.
Be especially prepared for fill-in-the-blank questions: There's no guessing
on these -- you either know the answer or you don’t. And take the time
to properly fill out these kind of questions, because sometimes either the full
path to a file or command may be required, or a command line option may be needed.
Here's a question I made up as an example:
What file can be edited to change the default runlevel of the system?
(Please provide full path to the file)
You confidently type: inittab.
Well, guess what? You’re wrong. The correct answer would be: /etc/inittab.
The question asked for the full path to the file. Also, watch out for misspellings
-- forget one of the "t"s in inittab
and your answer’s wrong. You need to read every question carefully,
and then read it again for good measure.
While the exam is challenging, it is fair, and I think it genuinely gauges
the basic Linux skills of the candidates who sit for it. By the way, here’s
the scoop on my exam: I passed! But it was by the skin of my teeth. I absolutely
shudder when I think of LPI’s Level 2 exams 201 and 202 -- they must be
brutal. I am working on my CCNA and CWNA right now, so I’m putting LPIC
Level 2 on hold for the time being, but I'll be sure to share my review here
on CertCities.com. Good luck! 
Robert M. Flemen Jr. is an IT professional with more than seven years of experience
in the IT field, including time as a network administrator, technical support
analyst and IS quality control analyst. Certifications held include: MCSA, MCDST,
MCP, A+, Network+, Server+, Security+, iNet+, Linux+, CIW-A, LCP, and LPIC Level
1. You can visit his forums at http://www.syn-4ck.org
or contact him at rflemen@hotmail.com.
More articles by Robert M Flemen Jr:
LPI 101: Vendor-Neutral Linux Certification
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