Passed LPIC-201

Hi everyone!
Just wanted to share some experience in passing LPIC2-201 exam. (Sorry for my English. It would be great if you correct my mistakes) So,here we go - first of all, lpic2 is version 4 now, and it has suffered some major changes , you can check all the changes on lpi's wiki pages.
Short variant of all the changes would look like this:
-No DNS(bind), no OpenVPN, no iptables - these moved to LPIC2.202 exam. As I see it - it's a big plus, since almost all "network services" objectives moved to LPIC-202, for the reasons of integrity. ( Why the hell didn't they do it earlier?)
-Also some utilities and terms were removed - like "cpio as a backup tool", and "btrfs" "reiserfs" - both removed in favour for xfs and xfs-tools.
+New objectives added - iSCSI - both client and server part, and "Capacity planning" - this one includes "Resource management" - with the highest weighting value of 6(!).
A few words about preparation for the exam: 1. Roderick's book is outdated! But still, it covers like 70%-80% of whole objectives. You should definetely use this book!
2.I also read IBM Redbook - "Linux Performance and Tuning Guidelines", it's completely free to download, use google. Some of you may find it highly technical, but with a combination of some web-sites and videos you'll get an idea about metrics, monitoring, and tools. penguintutor.com is one of many such web-sites.
3. man-pages and practice - both are extremely important for your preparation.

PS. I don't recommend any commercial video-tutorials like cbtnuggets and others - a year ago when i prepared for lpic-1 certification, i checked a free version of it (the objective was about hald,s-bus, and virtal filesystems). IMO it was -really- weak as a preparation resource. But if you have only "windows background" (no offence), perhaps those videos would suit your need to get some basic idea, but nothing more than that.
Please,remember, it's only my opinion.
PPS. Comparing to LPIC-1 (which i think is a piece-of-cake-exam) lpic2 is somewhat challenging, and stimulative - lot's of interesting stuff! Yay! - I'm really glad to that fact.
I wish good luck to all exam-takers.
Best regards.
Any comments and questions are welcome : )

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OctalDump

Congrats!

Just a couple of links which might help.

Version 4 went live in 2013. I think the Roderick book, which appears to be the only one available, is from 2011.

Linux Performance and Tuning Guidelines are with Lenovo now (stupid IBM selling off all their cool stuff)

opethdisciple

Well done!!

I plan to tackle the LPIC 1 and 2 next year. It's a little off putting how there isn't really any structure to the exams however.

I guess the point is to go out there and find out the information by reading around the subject.

Thank you for you post. Very informative.

The Urban Penguin has some good videos on the LPIC 2 material:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kon1nHz3Hk&list=PLtGnc4I6s8duKXPypO75QPvD4ZsmXpYc2

varelg

Congratulations on the pass! Not a small feat! I wonder what made you stick with LPI line of certs as opposed to other Linux certs. Requirement at work maybe?

masq

Thank you all for your comments!
OctalDump is totally correct, ver.4 went live in 2013, so the LPIC-2 preparation guide by Roderick Smith had already started to loose its applicability . But in any case - it's the only structured guide which you can get , and it's also a good reference! - Same with lpic-1 book\exam.

opethdicsiple, thanks ) At first glance it looks like the exam objectives sequence in LPIC is a mess, especially in LPIC1. For example Novell's CLA program is a way better - it goes from some "linux basics",so to say, to more advanced topics. But if you stick to Roderick's book, you'll have no problems at all, because it's properly structured from the basics > to advanced, as it should be. In addition to this book, you should use any source of information about any objectives\terms\utilities. UrbanPenguin is a great resource, i just forgot to mention it.. - i read dozens of web-sites while preparing for the exams, just searched " <smth> HOWTO" like "Linux LVM Howto" and read anything useful and interesting i could find, and understand

The more you read - the better. And yeah! - practice, if you find some lab-like howto, try it yourself, for like 10 times, think what else can you implement with this knowledge, try it, - afterwards it'll be a second nature to you. One thing that I like in Linux,among other things - it's all about understanding the concepts - you find out how something works, learn the concepts, and only then you try to implement it.< and this is the way you should prepare for the LPIC exams. Good luck!

varelg, thanks ) Well, there are several reasons why I stick with LPI certification. - 1. There are not many certifications that you may call "recognizable" in my country. The most valued for the Linux SA or Linux senior SA jobs , I guess, are - Cisco, LPI, RedHat and perhaps anything that deals with system management like Puppet. It may surprise you, but LPI certs are valued AS MUCH as RHs' . - because they only justify your basic skills as system administrator, even if they are practical, like with RH. - Like yeah, you got some knowledge, and some skills, but the rest is up to you and your current or potential employee. Certs are considered as a "plus" by the employees and interviewers, just a "plus" . - And i'm talking about so called "advanced" certs, like LPIC-2 \ RHCSE \ CCNA..
lpic1\lpic-essent.\rhcsa\ccent - these are useless alone, or with a combination of one with another, even if you tend to get an entry position in IT. They may help, but not much, because you are expected to have real experience, not just basic skills, or some concept understanding alone. But still, they are great as the basics, as the beginning of your IT-journey, especially if you really learn smth ,not just triyng to fool the point'n'click tests.2. The price. I just can't afford myself to pay for RHCSA exam and fail it. Sad but true.
3. I came to conclusion, that no matter what is your position, your current employee doesn't care, whether you got some certs or not. But, as I plan to change my job in a year or so, i already started to search for some linux SA vacancies, and i found that a big number of employees ( IT companies) consider lpic\rh\cisco cert as a requirement, or as a plus at least. And so we came to the main reason why am i following lpi-way - it stimulates to learn, it fills one's knowledge gaps, and hopefully - it'll make you more competitive in the labor market )...

PS Sorry if u're tired of reading my long posts. But i hope they are of some help to smbd.

OctalDump

I think RHCE and LPIC are the only Linux certs I see mentioned in job listings. RHCE is about 5x more common than LPIC.
Linux+ doesn't rate a mention. Rarely see RHCSA or RHCA. Sometimes they will mention other certifications for networking, AWS or VMware or similar. Usually a lot of technologies are listed by name and "experience using" eg Puppet, Chef, Zabbix, Backula etc.

Actually, looking at the Linux roles, they rarely ask for any certification. Less than Windows roles and much less than networking.

masq

OctalDump wrote: »

I think RHCE and LPIC are the only Linux certs I see mentioned in job listings.

That's very true. Agreed.

RHCE is about 5x more common than LPIC.

Well... i think it depends on where you live. No doubt RH is more common cert in US, and in Australia - as i conclude from your posts and your profile : )
But in Europe things go a little different. For example looking at the linux SA positions, you'll find things like " LPIC-2 or RHCE" in a vacancy text, if there is some mentioning of certs at all - otherwise you'll see only smth like "3+ year experience with CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu".
RH cert is 1distro-oriented, and RHEL is a commercial product - both are not quite popular here.
PS Im not arguing or smth, just want to make things clear. Ideally one should have both lpic and rhcse certs : ) Especially if your boss pays for it! ))

varelg

I don't think a RHCSA exam itself is THAT much pricier. Both LPI exams (and you have to pass both if you want your cert to be valid) put together cost as much as a single RHCSA exam. I mean if price is the only reason...
Interesting perspective of how some Linux certs are valued outside of the US. So masq, how are Linux Foundation certifications valued in your part of the world, if at all? They are also performance-based exams.
I went through both LPIC exams and saw how their questions look like, it's great that wording is straight-forward but it's that nit picking on options of commands that is off-putting. If I really need to use certain handle, man pages are in front of me in no time.

OctalDump

varelg wrote: »

I don't think a RHCSA exam itself is THAT much pricier.

The risk of failure on the RHCSA is entirely on one exam. The LPIC is 2 exams, so the risk is less.
RHCSA isn't worth much. It's the RHCE that you want, so basically double cost. If you do the official training... yeah, that's like GIAC expensive.

OctalDump

masq wrote: »

Well... i think it depends on where you live. No doubt RH is more common cert in US, and in Australia - as i conclude from your posts and your profile : )
But in Europe things go a little different. For example looking at the linux SA positions, you'll find things like " LPIC-2 or RHCE" in a vacancy text, if there is some mentioning of certs at all - otherwise you'll see only smth like "3+ year experience with CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu".
RH cert is 1distro-oriented, and RHEL is a commercial product - both are not quite popular here.
PS Im not arguing or smth, just want to make things clear. Ideally one should have both lpic and rhcse certs : ) Especially if your boss pays for it! ))

I think the RHCE is popular not just because of RedHat but also because there aren't many well known, quality, certifications in Linux land. You might be fortunate to live somewhere where people are more aware of LPIC. Possibly it could be also that the hands on nature of RHCE appeals more to those hiring.

But like I said, most of the listing don't ask for any certification. They just list the technologies that they want you to have experience with. Often they list multiple flavours of Linux, CentOS/RHEL and Ubuntu are probably the most common and are all about the same number.

Looking at the IT market generally here, Linux does seem a lot less interested in certifications than networking or security.

masq

OctalDump wrote: »

I think the RHCE is popular not just because of RedHat but also because there aren't many well known, quality, certifications in Linux land. You might be fortunate to live somewhere where people are more aware of LPIC.

Well, I'm not that fortunate : ) , but in my country (Poland) , lpi certs are valued -as much- as RH's. Not more than that. I'd say - they're the same, even considering this hands-on exam of redhat certification(!), - this one verifies your -basic- skills only,as well as lpi cert.

Possibly it could be also that the hands on nature of RHCE appeals more to those hiring.

I guess you're right.
There are some positions which -require- linux certs, as i see it, the only reason for that - is primary candidate screening. And afterwards, if u're lucky to get to the final interview with the head of IT dep., - then it's all up to you, your knowledge and experience, forget about your certification, it wont help you anymore )) And as i said before - if there is mentioning of "cert is a plus" or certs are required by the employer - they dont care whether you'll have LPIC, Novell, or RedHat. The only exception - is when you are expected to have experience with very specific "field" so to say.. - Like RHEL ONLY, or SLES ONLY - but that is a very rare circumstance even in IT industry.
Please , dont think that i'm not competent in the area of RH certification, i interviewed like 5-7 people with rhcsa certs , - and it was more than enough to make a conclusion bout it. : )
varelg, Well.. speaking about other certs, like LinuxFoundation, or CompTIA with their $whatever+ certifications - they are not recognizable here, i guess that very few even heard of it, but they could be possibly be considered by hr ( not by it-fella that's goin to interview you afterwards) as a witness that you are a passionate about linux/network/you name it. Certificate is always a good thing to have.

ccnpninja

Congrats!

varelg

OctalDump wrote: »

The risk of failure on the RHCSA is entirely on one exam. The LPIC is 2 exams, so the risk is less.
RHCSA isn't worth much. It's the RHCE that you want, so basically double cost. If you do the official training... yeah, that's like GIAC expensive.

Following that train of thought: it's LPIC-2 you want, LPIC-1 is just a step to get there. Hence, 4 exams so basically double the cost. If you stick to the cost calculation only.
Where is an LPI cert taking you? And where a Red Hat cert?
And leave the Red Hat official training cost aside: of the Red Hat exam takers that I met and took the official training, none paid from their own pocket, it was paid by the employer.

OctalDump

varelg wrote: »

Following that train of thought: it's LPIC-2 you want, LPIC-1 is just a step to get there. Hence, 4 exams so basically double the cost. If you stick to the cost calculation only.
Where is an LPI cert taking you? And where a Red Hat cert?
And leave the Red Hat official training cost aside: of the Red Hat exam takers that I met and took the official training, none paid from their own pocket, it was paid by the employer.

So, I just looked up the actual prices for me. The LPIC exams are $125 each. $250 to get LPIC-1, then $500 to LPIC-2. $625 to get LPIC-3. The RedHat exams are $715 for each of RHCSA and RHCE.

European prices seem to be 104Euro for LPIC and 470Euro for RedHat.

So, even LPIC-3 is similar price to RHCSA, and about half of cost of RHCE. Also consider that there are more locations to do the LPIC exams than the RedHat exams, so travel costs are less.

If you are somewhere where these certs have equal value, and you have to pay out of your own pocket, it's pretty clear which is the more attractive option. Of course, if your employer is paying, do whatever has the best course catering and gets you out of the office the longest

varelg

OctalDump, RHCSA exam is $400, each of the LPIC exams are $180. Are we going to also list what an RH cert gets you and what an LPI cert gets you?

Dakinggamer87

Congrats on pass!!

OctalDump

varelg wrote: »

OctalDump, RHCSA exam is $400, each of the LPIC exams are $180. Are we going to also list what an RH cert gets you and what an LPI cert gets you?

The US prices for LPIC is $188/exam. So cheaper to get LPIC2 ($392) than RHCE ($400). LPIC2 is closer to RHCE than RHCSA for difficulty. RHCSA is very low value for demand. Depending on the market, between 2x and 10x more RHCE jobs than RHCSA. CompTIA puts RHCSA alongside LPIC1, but from experience they cover different things from a different angle. LPIC is probably more challenging for people working with only one flavour of Linux regularly, since you need to know stuff about multiple distros (like yum and apt-get command line options) to pass. I think maybe RHCSA is more challenging than RHCE for experienced Red Hat people, as some of the stuff covered in RHCSA is less 'every-day' than the stuff an admin might do.

But it depends on the market you are in also. As OP says, LPIC is about same recognition as Red Hat in Poland. That makes the decision different, to say USA where LPIC has much lower recognition, and demand maybe even less than RHCSA.

In Australia, LPIC is probably has more demand than RHCSA but less than RHCE. But most, more than 90%, of Linux jobs don't ask for any certification. So, the question is more which one will help you get the skills for the job, in which case you don't need to even do the exams.

The suspicion I have is that Linux jobs tend to be hired by people with a more with a technical bent, and seem to be more common in IT services companies (ISPs, web hosts, Cloud services etc). I think that means that you will be grilled a bit harder on your technical competencies, so the specific certifications are less important, and might even count against you if you have difficulty answering questions in the interview.

TL;DR
Understand the market you are in before making a choice. Consider if certification is worth it at all. Don't get a "paper cert".

varelg

As clearly posted on the LPI website, each LPIC-1 exam costs USD180.
Which one is closer to which, maybe it's totally up to you to decide but as far as "paper certs" LPI gives you aplenty and if you choose to go Linux+ route and take LPI tests as Linux+ you are getting even more paper. From Novell and LPI, in addition to the one from CompTIA. Paper aplenty.

OctalDump

varelg wrote: »

As clearly posted on the LPI website, each LPIC-1 exam costs USD180.

$188, even. Yeah, I'm not sure where I got that $90 figure from. This must also be one of the few exams which is more expensive in USA than here. Clearly in the USA, things are more in favour of Red Hat.