LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell

Larger Cover

Covers General Linux Exams 101 and 102

By Jeff Dean

Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Released: May 2001

Pages: 576

Companies ranging from IBM to Novell are dramatically expanding Linux training and development. Certification will be a key part of this trend, and support is growing for an industry-wide Linux certification program. Most companies want a vendor-neutral certification initiative, and the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) is the leading effort in this direction. As more corporations adopt Linux as the networking backbone for their IT systems, the demand for certified technicians will become even greater.

LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell prepares system administrators for the basic LPI General Linux 101 exam and the more advanced 102 exam, and includes information on objectives and test suggestions. It also provides readers who aren't planning to take the exam with an excellent understanding of the targeted Linux concepts and functions.

The book is divided into two parts, one for each of the LPI exams. Each part features a summary of the exam, a Highlighter's Index, labs, suggested exercises, and practice exams to help you pass the LPI exams with flying colors.

Part I covers the General Linux 101 Exam:

GNU and Unix commands
Devices, Linux filesystems, and the filesystem hierarchy standard
Boot, initialization, shutdown and run levels
Documentation
Administrative tasks

Part II covers the General Linux 102 Exam:

Linux installation and package management
The Linux kernel
Text editing, processing, and printing
Shells, scripting, programming, and compiling
X-Windows
Networking fundamentals
Network services
Security

For those preparing to take the LPI Linux Certification Exams, this book will prove to be invaluable in its scope and breadth. Linux newbies will also find this book useful for learning more about how to use their Linux system.

Jeffrey Dean is a Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) with professional experience in IT management and training delivery.

General Linux Exam 101
1. Chapter 1 Exam 101 Overview
2. Chapter 2 Exam 101 Study Guide
  1. Exam Preparation
3. Chapter 3 GNU and Unix Commands (Topic 1.3)
  1. Objective 1: Work Effectively on the Unix Command Line
  2. Objective 2: Process Text Streams Using Text-Processing Filters
  3. Objective 3: Perform Basic File Management
  4. Objective 4: Use Unix Streams, Pipes,and Redirects
  5. Objective 5: Create, Monitor, and Kill Processes
  6. Objective 6: Modify Process Execution Priorities
  7. Objective 7: Making Use of Regular Expressions
4. Chapter 4 Devices, Linux Filesystems, and the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (Topic 2.4)
  1. Objective 1: Create Partitions and Filesystems
  2. Objective 2: Maintain the Integrity of Filesystems
  3. Objective 3: Control Filesystem Mounting and Unmounting
  4. Objective 4: Set and View Disk Quotas
  5. Objective 5: Use File Permissions to Control Access to Files
  6. Objective 6: Manage File Ownership
  7. Objective 7: Create and Change Hard and Symbolic Links
  8. Objective 8: Find System Files and Place Files in the Correct Location
5. Chapter 5 Boot, Initialization, Shutdown, and Runlevels (Topic 2.6)
  1. Objective 1: Boot the System
  2. Objective 2: Change Runlevels and Shutdown or Reboot the System
6. Chapter 6 Documentation (Topic 1.8)
  1. Objective 1: Use and Manage Local System Documentation
  2. Objective 2: Find Linux Documentation on the Internet
  3. Objective 3: Write System Documentation
  4. Objective 4: Provide User Support
7. Chapter 7 Administrative Tasks (Topic 2.11)
  1. Objective 1: Manage Users and Group Accounts
  2. Objective 2: Tune the User Environment
  3. Objective 3: Configure and Use System Log Files
  4. Objective 4: Automate System Administration Tasks
  5. Objective 5: Maintain an Effective Data Backup Strategy
8. Chapter 8 Exam 101 Review Questions and Exercises
  1. GNU and Unix Commands (Topic 1.3)
  2. Devices, Linux Filesystems, and the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (Topic 2.4)
  3. Boot, Initialization, Shutdown, and Runlevels (Topic 2.6)
  4. Documentation (Topic 1.8)
  5. Administrative Tasks (Topic 2.11)
9. Chapter 9 Exam 101 Practice Test
  1. Questions
  2. Answers
10. Chapter 10 Exam 101 Highlighter’s Index
  1. GNU and Unix Commands (Topic 1.3)
  2. Devices, Linux Filesystems, and the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (Topic 2.4)
  3. Boot, Initialization, Shutdown, and Runlevels (Topic 2.6)
  4. Documentation (Topic 1.8)
  5. Administrative Tasks (Topic 2.11)
General Linux Exam 102
1. Chapter 11 Exam 102 Overview
2. Chapter 12 Exam 102 Study Guide
  1. Exam Preparation
3. Chapter 13 Hardware and Architecture (Topic 1.1)
  1. Objective 1: Configure Fundamental System Hardware
  2. Objective 2: Set Up SCSI and NIC Devices
  3. Objective 3: Configure Modems and Sound Cards
4. Chapter 14 Linux Installation and Package Management (Topic 2.2)
  1. Objective 1: Design a Hard Disk Layout
  2. Objective 2: Install a Boot Manager
  3. Objective 3: Make and Install Programs from Source
  4. Objective 4: Manage Shared Libraries
  5. Objective 5: Use Debian Package Management
  6. Objective 6: Use Red Hat Package Manager (RPM)
5. Chapter 15 Kernel (Topic 1.5)
  1. Objective 1: Manage Kernel Modules at Runtime
  2. Objective 2: Reconfigure, Build, and Install a Custom Kernel and Modules
6. Chapter 16 Text-Editing, Processing, and Printing (Topic 1.7)
  1. Objective 1: Perform Basic File Editing Operations Using vi
  2. Objective 2: Manage Printers and Print Queues
  3. Objective 3: Print Files
  4. Objective 4: Install and Configure Local and Remote Printers
7. Chapter 17 Shells, Scripting, Programming, and Compiling (Topic 1.9)
  1. Objective 1: Customize and Use the Shell Environment
  2. Objective 2: Customize or Write Simple Scripts
8. Chapter 18 X (Topic 2.10)
  1. An Overview of X
  2. Objective 1: Install and Configure XFree86
  3. Objective 2: Set Up xdm
  4. Objective 3: Identify and Terminate Runaway X Applications
  5. Objective 4: Install and Customize a Window Manager Environment
9. Chapter 19 Networking Fundamentals (Topic 1.12)
  1. Objective 1: Fundamentals of TCP/IP
  2. Objective 3: TCP/IP Troubleshooting and Configuration
  3. Objective 4: Configure and Use PPP
10. Chapter 20 Networking Services (Topic 1.13)
  1. Objective 1: Configure and Manage inetd and Related Services
  2. Objective 2: Operate and Perform Basic Configuration of sendmail
  3. Objective 3: Operate and Perform Basic Configuration of Apache
  4. Objective 4: Properly Manage the NFS, SMB, and NMB Daemons
  5. Objective 5: Set Up and Configure Basic DNS Services
11. Chapter 21 Security (Topic 1.14)
  1. Objective 1: Perform Security Administration Tasks
  2. Objective 2: Set Up Host Security
  3. Objective 3: Set Up User-Level Security
12. Chapter 22 Exam 102 Review Questions and Exercises
  1. Hardware and Architecture ( Topic 1.1)
  2. Linux Installation and Package Management ( Topic 2.2)
  3. Kernel ( Topic 1.5)
  4. Text Editing, Processing, and Printing ( Topic 1.7)
  5. Shells, Scripting, Programming, and Compiling (Topic 1.9)
  6. X (Topic 2.10)
  7. Networking Fundamentals (Topic 1.12)
  8. Networking Services (Topic 1.13)
  9. Security (Topic 1.14)
13. Chapter 23 Exam 102 Practice Test
  1. Questions
  2. Answers
14. Chapter 24 Exam 102 Highlighter’s Index
  1. Hardware and Architecture
  2. Linux Installation and Package Management
  3. Kernel
  4. Text-Editing, Processing, and Printing
  5. Shells, Scripting, Programming, and Compiling
  6. X
  7. Networking Fundamentals
  8. Networking Services
  9. Security
Chapter 25 Glossary

Colophon

Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animal on the cover of LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell is a Texas longhorn cow. Christopher Columbus originally brought cattle to the New World from Spain. Descendants of these animals mated with English cows, and the offspring gradually evolved into the breed we know today.

Unfortunately, this animal was once on the verge of extinction. In the 1800s and the early 1900s, tallow was a valued resource, as it is a key ingredient in candles and soaps. Animal fat is a major component of tallow, and the naturally lean longhorn didn't have enough of it to be considered useful in making a fat-based concoction. As a result, the longhorn was cross-bred with cattle who had more fat, so cattle ranchers would be assured of a larger financial profit in the tallow industry. Purebred Texas longhorns were being phased out. However, in 1927, the U.S. Congress decided to step in, and formed a government herd of this breed, to save them from disappearing altogether. Very few purebred Texas longhorns were found, but Congress did manage to round up 27 animals, which were placed in a reserve area in Oklahoma. Today, the Texas longhorn is enjoying a rebirth of sorts, with numbers in the U.S. of up to 100,000. Mary Brady was the production editor and proofreader, and Norma Emory was the copyeditor for LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell. Nicole Arigo and Claire Cloutier provided quality control. Edith Shapiro and Sada Preisch provided production assistance. John Bickelhaupt wrote the index.

Ellie Volckhausen designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is an original illustration created by Lorrie LeJeune. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout based on a series design by Nancy Priest. Anne-Marie Vaduva converted the files from Microsoft Word to FrameMaker 5.5.6 using tools created by Mike Sierra. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book; the code font is Constant Willison. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. This colophon was written by Mary Brady.

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Customer Reviews

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oreilly LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell

3.6

(based on 15 reviews)

REVIEWS

Reviewed by 15 customers

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9/16/2004

(1 of 2 customers found this review helpful)

2.0

PLESE UPDATE THE BOOK

By Ramon Ramos

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell:

well, the book its good for learning the basic things of linux, but not for pass the certification.

8/17/2004

(1 of 2 customers found this review helpful)

2.0

Out of date

By Lars Westergren

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell:

This book is informative and well written. However, it is getting very old, and therefore it is NOT a good source if you are going to take the LPI Linux exam! If you go to the LPI.org site, you will see that the objectives for passing (for instance) the 101 test have changed a lot since the book was written. Only two objectives out of five are essentially unchanged (GNU, Unix Commands, filters, and the chapter on Devices, Linux Filesystems, Filesystem Hierarchy Standard). However, 60% of the test has changed and now include The X Windows system, Linux installation and package management, and hardware and architecture. These were previously part of the 102 test.

Another problem with the book is the large number of typos in the command examples, and that as the chapters have been moved around between the 101 and 102 sections, several test and review questions have remained in the wrong chapters. There is a large list on the errata page, and I have found many more.

It could be that I am using a non-standard distro (Mandrake), but many of the commands listed in the book have changed. For instance "top -q" does not work, there is no such parameter. "rm -d" is obsolete on many distros, you should use "rm -r" instead.

However, the greatest problem with this book is that it no longer covers what is part of the LPI exams. I think O'Reilly should add a "deprecated" warning to this book on the homepage, as you would likely fail if you went to the test prepared with only this book. I had been studying the book for a couple of weeks until I felt rather sure I was going to pass the test. When I booked a time to take the test, I noticed I had to check wether to take the Debian or RPM version of the test. I didn't think much of it until there was three days left before the test. I started thinking, hang on, isn't RPM part of exam 102, why did I have to check that for 101? I decided to go the LPI homepage where I got quite a shock. Stupid of me not to do it earlier, but still. I now have one day left... but I think it will work. Google is my friend.

:-)

Summary - good but dated book if you want to learn Linux. As a guide to pass the LPI test it is terrible.

4/13/2004

(0 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

3.0

good book, but ....

By Anonymous

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell:

This book has some very good qualities, it is informative and I have learned a lot from it. However, if you don't have good eye sight and have a hard time reading italics it is not so good. It needs to be double spaced and raise the font size for easier readability. It also needs to be updated, to reflect linux in it's present state as well as staying within the context of the exam. I am glad it is more RedHat based, and errors or not it is worth reading. But please, make it easier for people who wear glasses to read.

9/13/2003

(0 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

3.0

LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell Review

By Bilal Hmouda

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell:

Good book ,though it is a hard content so newbies will be having difficulties but in general it is a good reference to pass both exam and finish daily tasks ,but updates are required to pass the new version of the LPI

in brief this is the best book you can read to pass the LPI

7/30/2003

(0 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

2.0

LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell Review

By Joe Li

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell:

One more comment that I find that there are some differences between the English version and the Chinese version (URL: http://www.oreilly.com.tw/chinese/linux/lpi_linux.html). Although the Chinese one does not contain the new Level-1 objectives, it looks a little bit better than an outdated English version. I highly recommend O'reilly to take some actions about that.

7/6/2003

(0 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

3.0

LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell Review

By Joe Li

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell:

It's a good reference book for all candidates for LPIC Level 1. Although the objectives of LPIC is redefined that the structure of content becomes unuseful, the content is full of information for the examination. Also, it's a good guide for preparing LPIC examination.

I also promote the style of this examination guide that including highlights, mock exam and exercises. I'm seldom got similar books at bookshops.

I suggest O'reilly may publish an updated version. Or post a new reading guide for new objectives on web. Also, errata list may keep update as possible that too many unconfirmed erratas (either it's a real errate or not) may lead some candidates to be failed in LPIC exam.

3/8/2003

(0 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

3.0

LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell Review

By paul

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell:

On the whole it's a good book but lpi certs are very much a moving target - the current publication does not include topics which are now current in the Level 1 exams such as 'notifying system users' and 'setting the hardware clock'.

The long list of 'unconfirmed' errors are well and truly confirmed by readers - the fact that the publisher has not acknowledged them seems a little churlish. Why aren't these mistakes acknowledged? Does the publisher think they are anomalies ???!

I would recommend this book though, as there really is little else to go on for these exams. It is a good book but READ THE ERRATA BEFORE PURCHASING!

7/17/2002

2.0

LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell Review

By Jan Hrabe

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell:

This book is certainly a useful summary of the topics required for the LPI 101 and 102 exams. The material corresponds reasonably well with the actual tests (at least the ones I took). That said, there are quite a few shortcomings.

First, there are too many errors and typos. Just as an example, on page 348: script sourcing is described as execution in one script comment, example 2-6 claims to show a system-wide .bashrc file (with the leading dot), and example 2-7 claims to source the /etc/bashrc, although it does not. Not every page has 3 errors on it, of course, but generally the book does not make an impression of being proofread too carefully.

Second problem is that the author does not seem to have much experience with any other ditribution than RedHat. Almost all examples are RH-specific, and sometimes the description is valid only for the RH system. E.g., the pump command, whois being a link to fwhois, the Xsetup_0 configuration file, or usage of the RH-modified font server ("unix:/-1") in XF86Config. The exams are truly distribution-neutral, the book is not.

The last comment concerns my impression that the author ran out of energy while writing the book. The chapters on 101 exam are much better than those on 102 exam. The last few chapters on networking and security are particularly weak. E.g., the description of non-routable networks (10.* and friends) or the DNS service is not sufficient to answer the test questions. The highlighter's index for 102 exam is also much worse than that for the 101 exam. E.g., the rpm and dpkg summary is only six lines long while these are the most important test topics of the 102 exam (as is also indicated by their high weights).

In summary, I would somewhat reluctantly recommend this book to those taking the LPI test - despite all the problems, it represents a useful and fairly complete overview. However, don't rely on it too much and check the manpages and HOWTOs often.

5/3/2002

5.0

LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell Review

By kt

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell:

I used LPI Linux in a nutshell to help me achieve LPI Level 1 Certification in 2 months. The author is quite knowledgeable and his explanations made it a good read. I really enjoyed the format as it covered each objective and the layout was like a tutorial. It will be a good reference book aside my other Oreilly books.

I hope Oreilly will have another LPI certification book for level 2 soon. Oreilly has a good thing going here with their "nutshell books"

1/30/2002

5.0

LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell Review

By Diarmuid Ó Briain

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell:

This is without doubt the very best Linux book I have had the fortune to read. It is clear and concise and made the LPI exams a pleasure.

When is the LPIC Intermediate (Level II) in a Nutshell due ???????

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Save a Tree - Go Digital what is this?

General Linux Exam 101

Chapter 1 Exam 101 Overview

Chapter 2 Exam 101 Study Guide

Chapter 3 GNU and Unix Commands (Topic 1.3)

Chapter 4 Devices, Linux Filesystems, and the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (Topic 2.4)

Chapter 5 Boot, Initialization, Shutdown, and Runlevels (Topic 2.6)

Chapter 6 Documentation (Topic 1.8)

Chapter 7 Administrative Tasks (Topic 2.11)

Chapter 8 Exam 101 Review Questions and Exercises

Chapter 9 Exam 101 Practice Test

Chapter 10 Exam 101 Highlighter’s Index

General Linux Exam 102

Chapter 11 Exam 102 Overview

Chapter 12 Exam 102 Study Guide

Chapter 13 Hardware and Architecture (Topic 1.1)

Chapter 14 Linux Installation and Package Management (Topic 2.2)

Chapter 15 Kernel (Topic 1.5)

Chapter 16 Text-Editing, Processing, and Printing (Topic 1.7)

Chapter 17 Shells, Scripting, Programming, and Compiling (Topic 1.9)

Chapter 18 X (Topic 2.10)

Chapter 19 Networking Fundamentals (Topic 1.12)

Chapter 20 Networking Services (Topic 1.13)

Chapter 21 Security (Topic 1.14)

Chapter 22 Exam 102 Review Questions and Exercises

Chapter 23 Exam 102 Practice Test

Chapter 24 Exam 102 Highlighter’s Index

Chapter 25 Glossary

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Jeff Dean

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