Course Overview
Linux Essentials Training for the LPI Linux Essentials certification aimed at people coming to Linux and computing for the first time. It lays the foundation knowledge necessary for the LPI Level 1 trainings and up.
Course Prerequisites
Outline
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Linux Essentials Exam Objectives
1.1 Linux Evolution and Popular Operating Systems
Description: Knowledge of Linux development and major distributions.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- open source Philosophy
- Distributions
- Embedded Systems
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
- Android
- Debian, Ubuntu (LTS)
- CentOS, openSUSE, Red Hat
- Linux Mint, Scientific Linux
1.2 Major open source Applications
Description: Awareness of major applications as well as their uses and development.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Desktop Applications
- Server Applications
- Development Languages
- Package Management Tools and repositories
Terms and Utilities:
- OpenOffice.org, LibreOffice, Thunderbird, Firefox, GIMP
- Apache HTTPD, NGINX, MySQL, NFS, Samba
- C, Java, Perl, shell, Python, Samba
- dpkg, apt-get, rpm, yum
1.3 Understanding open source Software and Licensing
Description: Open communities and licensing open source Software for business.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Licensing
- Free Software Foundation (FSF), open source Initiative (OSI)
Terms and Utilities:
- GPL, BSD, Creative Commons
- Free Software, open source Software, FOSS, FLOSS
- open source business models
1.4 ICT Skills and Working in Linux
Description: Basic Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills and working in Linux.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Desktop Skills
- Getting to the Command Line
- Industry uses of Linux, Cloud Computing and Virtualization
Terms and Utilities:
- Using a browser, privacy concerns, configuration options, searching the web and saving content
- Terminal and Console
- Password issues
- Privacy issues and tools
- Use of common open source applications in presentations and projects
Finding Your Way on a Linux System
2.1 Command Line Basics
Description: Basics of using the Linux command line.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Basic shell
- Command line syntax
- Variables
- Globbing
- Quoting
Terms and Utilities:
- Bash
- echo
- history
- PATH env variable
- export
- type
2.2 Using the Command Line to Get Help
Description: Running help commands and navigation of the various help systems.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Man
- Info
- Terms and Utilities:
- man
- info
- Man pages
- /usr/share/doc/
- locate
2.3 Using Directories and Listing Files
Description: Navigation of home and system directories and listing files in various locations.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Files, directories
- Hidden files and directories
- Home
- Absolute and relative paths
Terms and Utilities:
- Common options for ls
- Recursive listings
- cd
- . and ..
- home and ~
2.4 Creating, Moving and Deleting Files
Description: Create, move and delete files and directories under the home directory.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Files and directories
- Case sensitivity
- Simple globbing and quoting
Terms and Utilities:
- mv, cp, rm, touch
- mkdir, rmdir
The Power of the Command Line
3.1 Archiving Files on the Command Line
Description: Archiving files in the user home directory.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Files, directories
- Archives, compression
Terms and Utilities:
- tar
- Common tar options
- gzip, bzip2
- zip, unzip
3.2 Searching and Extracting Data from Files
Description: Search and extract data from files in the home directory.
Key Knowledge Areas:
Terms and Utilities:
- grep
- less
- cat, head, tail
- sort
- cut
- wc
3.3 Turning Commands into a Script
Description: Turning repetitive commands into simple scripts.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Basic shell scripting
- Awareness of common text editors
Terms and Utilities:
- #! (shebang)
- /bin/bash
- Variables
- Arguments
- for loops
- echo
- Exit status
The Linux Operating System
4.1 Choosing an Operating System
Description: Knowledge of major operating systems and Linux distributions.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Windows, Mac, Linux differences
- Distribution life cycle management
Terms and Utilities:
- GUI versus command line, desktop configuration
- Maintenance cycles, Beta and Stable
4.2 Understanding Computer Hardware
Description: Familiarity with the components that go into building desktop and server computers.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Hardware
Terms and Utilities:
- Motherboards, processors, power supplies, optical drives, peripherals
- Hard drives and partitions, /dev/sd*
- Drivers
4.3 Where Data is Stored
Description: Where various types of information are stored on a Linux system.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Programs and configuration, packages and package databases
- Processes, memory addresses, system messaging and logging
Terms and Utilities:
- ps, top, free
- syslog, dmesg
- /etc/, /var/log/
- /boot/, /proc/, /dev/, /sys/
4.4 Your Computer on the Network
Description: Querying vital networking configuration and determining the basic requirements for a computer on a Local Area Network (LAN).
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Internet, network, routers
- Querying DNS client configuration
- Querying Network configuration
Terms and Utilities:
- route, ip route show
- ifconfig, ip addr show
- netstat, ip route show
- /etc/resolv.conf, /etc/hosts
- IPv4, IPv6
- ping
- host
Security and File Permissions
5.1 Basic Security and Identifying User Types
Description: Various types of users on a Linux system.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Root and Standard Users
- System users
Terms and Utilities:
- /etc/passwd, /etc/group
- id, who, w
- sudo, su
5.2 Creating Users and Groups
Description: Creating users and groups on a Linux system.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- User and group commands
- User IDs
Terms and Utilities:
- /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/group, /etc/skel/
- id, last
- useradd, groupadd
- passwd
5.3 Managing File Permissions and Ownership
Description: Understanding and manipulating file permissions and ownership settings.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- File/directory permissions and owners
- Terms and Utilities:
- ls -l, ls -a
- chmod, chown
5.4 Special Directories and Files
Description: Special directories and files on a Linux system including special permissions.
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Using temporary files and directories
- Symbolic links
Terms and Utilities:
- /tmp/, /var/tmp/ and Sticky Bit
- ls -d
- ln -s More information on the Linux Essentials objectives can be found at the LPI web site.