Passed LPIC-202. LPIC-2 certified now.

So, Topic says it, finally passed second exam - LPIC-202,part 2. As in my previous thread, i'll post several notes about the exam, and some study tips.
First of all, - LPI exams are very, -very- forgiving, you can miss a few things, but in general, you must know ins and outs of the exam objectives. Like, i still don't know apache and LDAP well, but for the rest - i felt like overprepared, because i have a lot of practice with dns, email, security,file sharing, and networking, and that's what i face day-to-day in my current job.
Just looking at the objective weights (lpi.org) , one can come to a conclusion, that you'll be tested most (in order from highest importance to the lowest) on:
- bind9, samba, apache, slapd, postfix, sshd
- nginx, squid, nfs, ftp-servers, security (nat,iptables, PAM, fail2ban etc.)
- dhcp, ldap-client part, openvpn .
There is no way, i mean it, no way you can pass the exam if you prepared only by reading. It really feels like this exam has a practical nature behind, even if it is "point'n'click and 'fill the blanks' exam". I feel like i wouldn't pass if i didn't study as hard as i did. There are no 'catch questions' at all , but you're exptected to know a lot. This exam is the hardest among 101,102,and 201.
And a few tips:
- Im not 100% sure, but I guess Roderick's book is the only all-in-one preparation material for the exam. l read his book for like 3 times, it's not bad, but it misses a lot of details. I mean it, it misses a ton.. I consider his book as 'not bad' for curios fellas, who want just to read smth and learn about linux, but as a preparation resource - it's way less than enough to make you ready for the 202nd exam. Linuxacademy will soon get their courses ready for LPIC-2, perhaps you could use it. Personally im not a big fan of video tutorials, the majority of video corses i watched before - .. well.. they sucked hard.. ( am I allowed to say things like that ?)
- So yeah, a single book won't help you much. Build a lab, it is important as never before. Use VBox or VMWare or whatever you're most familiar with. Deploy servers, routers, and clients in your virtual environment. Try it, do it yourself, and remember what you did. You can't just memorize configuration options, unless you wrote config files yourself from scratch.
- As for some additional preparation resources, i read "The Book of Postfix", "Squid proxy server: beginner's guide", "Mastering OpenVPN" , and a few about LDAP.
(Speaking of LDAP and OpenLDAP, i want to say that i'm not using it in my environments. Frankly, i think the idea behind LDAP is great, it's really awesome, but the implemention of it's concepts - is just a piece of $#!7. So i made myself to read like 3 books about it, and get my hands dirty)
Well, that's it. Good luck with your exams.
As for me, for now i'll concentrate more on Virtualization, High-load, HA, configuration management tools and my scripting skills. I'm not sure when i'll get myself to LPIC-3 exam, i feel like it's time to have a break with certification, and get back to work ))

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Comments

Kinet1c

Congrats on the pass, will be something I'll look at next year maybe.

joneno

Great review and congratulations on your pass.

varelg

Congrats on the pass! What made you go for LPIC-2, was it a requirement at work?

masq

Thanks everyone!
varelg, no, it wasn't. There are several reasons why I chose LPI, not RH certification, but I just want to make it clear - if you're a linux system administrator, go for both. LPIC is a great certification route, really.

I think the biggest advantage of it is that it makes you learn linux fast, learn it well, and learn it the hard way; RH certification has plenty of resources you can use, like books, video courses, oncamp classes, but for LPIC2, and especially LPIC3 - it's all up to you.

Anyway, go for both, LPIC and RH. That's what I'll do for sure, but not in the near future, and only after my LPIC-3:Virt&HA

DAVIS NGUYEN

Congrats!

vteche

Congrats on the pass...

At the moment I'm studying for RHCSA, but before RHCSA i started for LPIC, to be honest, it did not keep me motivated, because onething was in my mind at all time that the Exam is not practical! it would be multiple choice question, it is ok not to understand configuration,troubleshooting in details. an example is like, to configure Auto mount of NFS and Samba, you have to install, check the services if its started and is enabled at the startup, and be able to set correct mount points in /etc/fstab file, which is different with NFS and Samba.

So with RH, You know it is a practica testl and you are under this pressure always to know each and every single bit of the blueprint in detail and be able to configure and troubelshoot, and there is no single material that prepares you for that..... You have to use every single material and come with your own scenarios.

daviddws

very cool.. not many LPIC-2's out there.

junilinux

Congratulations, really get impressed what you got with LPIC 2 certification. I am also on the same route with you now but for passing LPIC2, it could take me a long time with lots experiences prepared. By the way, can you reveal a little bit about your work and...how many years you have dealt with Linux so far?

masq

DAVIS NGUYEN, daviddws,
Thanks, guys. : )

vteche,
Well... what can I say.. I'm glad u've found something that motivates you, and that little "something" is practical exam by RH.
Soo.. go for it.

junilinux,
Sure, not a big deal - I work as a system administrator for an IT Outsourcing company, started as a helpdesk-guy here, got a proposal for a system administrator position in a year or so. Worked with mixed environments - win* servers, desktops, and several Linux-based platforms, and now I tend to switch to Linux environment completely, because..well... there's a bunch of reasons, I'll just say that our clients tend to move their IT-infrastructure on Linux, and my boss gives win*-related tasks to my less experienced colleagues. (I have like 6+ y. of experience in IT, and like 4+ with Linux) The main reason why I went for lpi certification - is filling the gaps, and I had many, believe me, and of course it's not as expensive as rh exams are.

junilinux

masq, thanks a lot for your information. On your perspective, what do you think about the requirement experiences for passing LPIC2? Hmm, actually I intend to get it but I do not know exactly how much I should prepare for it as well as the time needed for learning, gathering... Maybe more 2 years, 3 years...? LPIC1 is just the beginning...

masq

Well, it depends on your previous experience. Think of LPIC-1 as a bare basic stuff, like software manipulation, file operations, database-related stuff, system booting, logging, you name it... Whatever LPIC-1 covers now (it's been a while and new objectives were added, and some were removed completely) it's just the basics, but still, it's a very good foundation for your further studies -> wheter it'll be LPIC-2,3 or RH certification route. It took me a month to prepare and pass lpic-1, but I already had some experience with linux. In any case, I'm sure lpic-1 is easy as hell, because no matter what the objectives are today (check lpi.org), there is a huuuuuge number of resources for your preparation on the net.
It's absolutely doable, even for a newbie, BUT you gotta prepare for the exam.

Certification is a challenge.

For lpic-2 things are little more complicated, you absolutely gotta have some real practice, not to mention that you have to get information for your studies from a number of resources, not some single book. Don't worry if you find the exam objectives tough today, "everything is good in its season" they say. As you get lpic-1, get the basics, and you gain some experience, your further studies and practicing will go smoothly. Linux is a conservative thing, it'll take some time, I'd say it takes a lot of time, it's whether you have this time and ready to spent it, or not.

Good luck.

Expect

Congrats!

masq

Thanks, mate. Doin' my best to be one of few LPIC-3+RHCE holders ; )

lovejoi

I understand that it is not correct place , but anyway I will ask you

Can you tell how many time i have for prepare after pass 101-400 exam before go on second 102-400 for get LPIC-1 certificate ? Is it have any limitations? Thanks in advance.

Expect

@masq reach out if you have any questions regarding RHCE/LPIC-3

masq

Thanks! I'll keep it mind ; )

masq

2lovejoy

After completing a single exam for LPIC-1, or LPIC-2, it gets "Active" status for 5 years, just like the LPIC certification. So you have 5 more years to complete another exam. ( I'm not really sure, I thought i've seen this info somewhere in LPI's Policy text )
I wouldnt count on this time period, really, because YOU are the one who's interested to gain knowledge in one piece, so to say, NOT lpi. So it would be better to prepare for both exams at a time, then pass one exam, then take a break for like a couple of weeks, reread your study notes, and pass another one. MHO.

lovejoi

I interested period between 2 exam for get LPI-1 level.