What version to practice with?

malcybood

Hi guys,

I am looking to pursue my Linux+ after my CCNA and in preperation for gathering the study resources I was wondering which version I should download an iso image to practice on?

Debian, red hat, suse? As it is fairly new to me (except learning basic user, files, permissions at university) and I don't use Linux at work I was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction in regard to the Linux+ exam.

My company are looking at switching from a Win XP Pro environment to Suse Linux next year and I want to get this cert before this happens so I can push for promotion and hopefully move into the implementation team. Is Suse a viable option for the Linux + exam to practice on?

Regards

Malc

sprkymrk

First, I applaud you on your proactive decision to learn this before your company moves to SUSE.

Here are some good resourses to start with:
http://www.techexams.net/co_linuxplus.shtml

CompTIA states that the exam is vendor neutral, but I have heard it leans heavily toward a Red Hat based distro. I would download Fedora for the majority of your practice, but also recommend getting your SUSE practice in as well. That way you can practice and learn the objectives on 2 different platforms.

malcybood

Thanks Sparkymrk, I just like to learn and I know none of the "techy guys" have linux certs yet, but plan to by summer next year. I'm coming to the end of the line in my desktop role and see this as an opportunity to say I know a bit about it already and get more involved in the technical side of things.

It'll be a 2500 user migration so I'm sure they will need more than 3 "techy" guys in head office to oversee/implement the transition.

Anyway enough about that, thanks for the advice on versions. I take it you download the OS onto a CD and you can run the OS from there or is it better to actually install the OS on a partitioned logical drive?

From what I can gather the Linux+ is mainly about familiarising yourself with the Linux environment with a bit of networking "theory" thrown in. It's not actually teaching you about configuring Linux servers for enterprise networks but thats way way away for me yet anyway!

sprkymrk

I don't think there is a "LiveCD" version of Fedora, so you would need to install it on your drive. You would need to download the iso files, then burn CD's from those (don't just copy the iso file to CD, you have to choose the option to create a CD from an image file).

You could certainly practice with a Live Distro like Knoppix if you don't want to install a new OS on your computer, but I don't think it would be quite as good as the "real" thing. In addition, installing it to your drive is necessary to get hands-on with modifying system files like init'd, the bootloader, and such.

malcybood

I've just bought a new Sony Vaio laptop and want to keep it for recreational uses thats all.

I've also got an old Tosh Tecra 8200 with 256mb ram and 30gb HDD that I don't mind wiping to accomodate Linux though.

Thanks again

webslngr

Here is a link to the new Fedora Core 6 "Live-Spins" iso torrents. I hope it helps. However I recommend installing any distro numerous times to prepare for this exam, not just using live CD's Good luck.

http://torrent.fedoraunity.org/torrents

sharptech

Also you can set up a virtual PC to play w/ Linux..

http://www.ffnn.nl/pages/articles/linux/vmware-player-image-creation.php

Slowhand

I definately want to second sprkymrk's notion, and tell you that it's a very, very good idea to get certified before the changeover happens so you're not stuck with a whole new network full of computers no one knows how to administrate. I know of more than one company that could learn from your intuition.

In any case, I think you should definately practice with the version of SuSE you're planning on deploying at your company. SuSE is an RPM-based distro, and you'll find there are a lot of similarities between it and Red Hat, but it's not directly based on Red Hat. However, Linux+ does use Fedora as the example OS, and that will become very apparent as you begin reading books on the exam, along with other study material like CBT Nuggets and TestOut. You'll definately need a familiarity with how Fedora works, how init scripts work in Red Hat distros, and how they're different in other flavors of Linux.

In the end, though, CompTIA wants you to learn as much as possible about general GNU/Linux concepts. In theory, you should be able to sit down with any distro and be able to perform all the administrative tasks you learned for the exam. Not that it will always be true, but that's the general idea. You learn a basline of "general" Linux practices, and then you apply those towards the larger scope of an individual OS, like SuSE. The reason SuSE/Novell have their own certification path is because they've added so much to SuSE, in addition to "the basics" you learn with Linux+ or LPI.

Linux+ is a very good place to start. Something your company may want to look into, though, is the prospect of getting some of the admins SuSE/Novell Certifications at some point, to better take advantage of the systems you're migrating to. (This might also be helpful in making your pitch to be a part of the SuSE support team, showing your bosses that you're well-informed about what's required to support and administrate these systems.)

malcybood

Thanks for the advice. We currently have a Technical team in head office and only one of them is a real "Novell Head", he has a Master CNE and he is EXPECTED to gain the SUSE certs in order for the migration to go ahead as he is Technical Assurance for most projects.

There will also be 2 or 3 others on the Technical team that will go on the course but knowing them it is more a case of them going on the course to keep their job as opposed to learn about SUSE linux in order to help the switchover, hence why I'm doing it off my own back to get recognised.

It is already being murmoured around IT that I have passed the Net+ and pursuing the CCNA (booked and sit in Jan) therefore I see the potential Linux migration as an ideal opportunity to say ME ME ME as I'm pretty certain nobody else in the field engineer role (what i do now) is pursuing any certs currently.

This is all very good stuff, thanks guys all noted.