What to put most focus on? awk/sed, security, logs?

addiktion

Hello fellow tech examies I am going to be taking the Linux+ Exam March 19th. I've been using TestOut and "Linux+ guide to Linux certification" by Thomson Course Tech and both have been a great help because I've had no previous linux experience. I've been using linux for about 3 or 4 months now and have grown fond of its power over windows as well as how stable it is. Anyway I was wondering where I should put most of my focus on with the little time left that I have to study.

I plan to study overall everything but I want to make sure I have the "bulk" questions pinned down well.

1. Should I focus mostly on the text editors? command options, vi, sed, awk? grep, cat, etc.
2. Daemon services. I.E Inittab, Fstab, cron?
3. Security or setting up web/file services. I.E ssh, dhcp, dns, iptables, security, apache etc?
4. File permissions? chown, chmod, chgrp, umask, etc

Anyone see anything on quotas, df, mpstat, systat, apm, acpi, fsck, ports?

I've read a few posts on the people who have passed and they have been a big help. I feel my weaker points are in sed, awk, nano because i prefer vi.

sprkymrk

Hi addiktion:

Good luck on your exam. Have you checked out the objectives on CompTIA's website?

http://certification.comptia.org/resources/objectives.aspx

The breakdown is as follows:

1.0 Installation 19%
2.0 Management 26%
3.0 Configuration 20%
4.0 Security 21%
5.0 Documentation 6%
6.0 Hardware 8%
Total 100%

addiktion wrote:

1. Should I focus mostly on the text editors? command options, vi, sed, awk? grep, cat, etc.
2. Daemon services. I.E Inittab, Fstab, cron?
3. Security or setting up web/file services. I.E ssh, dhcp, dns, iptables, security, apache etc?
4. File permissions? chown, chmod, chgrp, umask, etc

The objectives really explan this in great detail, it's a 9 page pdf that I really recommend you download. Here are a couple of excerpts that relate to your question:

CompTIA Objectives wrote:

Domain 2.0 Management – 26%

The candidate is expected to be able to fully utilize vi, manage the Linux system completely from the command-line, including permission and user account management, and create basic shell scripts.

2.1 Manage local storage devices and file systems (for example:: fsck, fdisk, mkfs) using CLI commands
2.2 Mount and unmount varied filesystems (for example: Samba, NFS) using CLI commands
2.3 Create files and directories and modify files using CLI commands
2.4 Execute content and directory searches using find and grep
2.5 Create linked files using CLI commands
2.6 Modify file and directory permissions and ownership (for example: chmod, chown, sticky bit, octal permissions, chgrp) using CLI commands
2.7 Identify and modify default permissions for files and directories (for example: umask) using CLI commands
2.8 Perform and verify backups and restores (tar, cpio)
2.9 Access and write data to recordable media (for example: CDRW, hard drive, flash memory devices)
2.10 Manage runlevels and system initialization from the CLI and configuration files (for example: /etc/inittab and init command, /etc/rc.d, rc.local)
2.11 Identify, execute, manage and kill processes (for example: ps, kill, killall, bg, fg, jobs, nice, renice, rc)
2.12 Differentiate core processes from non-critical services (for example: init, [kernel processes], PID, and PPID values)
2.13 Repair packages and scripts (for example: resolving dependencies, repairing, installing, updating applications)
2.14 Monitor and troubleshoot network activity (for example: ping, netstat, traceroute)
2.15 Perform text manipulation (for example: sed, awk, vi)
2.16 Manage print jobs and print queues (for example: lpd, lprm, lpq, CUPS)
2.17 Perform remote management (for example: rsh, ssh, rlogin)
2.18 Perform NIS-related domain management (yp commands)
2.19 Create, modify, and use basic shell scripts
2.20 Create, modify, and delete user and group accounts (for example: useradd, groupadd, /etc/passwd, chgrp, quota, chown, chmod, grpmod) using CLI utilities
2.21 Manage and access mail queues (for example: sendmail, postfix, mail, mutt) using CLI utilities 2.22 Schedule jobs to execute in the future using "at" and "cron" daemons
2.23 Redirect output (for example: piping, redirection)

As you can see, it's very specific and detailed. They have a list like this for each of the domains, so it's well worth going through from top to bottom and making sure you know how to perform each task. I would say that, yes, you should know how to do everything you asked in your list, plus everything else in the objectives. The percentage breakdown should give you a good idea of the major areas they test you on. One good thing is that since it is a multiple choice exam, the correct answer will be listed, so even if you are weak using awk or sed, you only have to be familiar enough to recognize the correct answer when you see it rather than come up with the correct answer from scratch.

Again, best of luck to you and let us know how you do!

Gennosuke HIGAKI

Hi,

addiktion wrote:

1. Should I focus mostly on the text editors? command options, vi, sed, awk? grep, cat, etc.
2. Daemon services. I.E Inittab, Fstab, cron?
3. Security or setting up web/file services. I.E ssh, dhcp, dns, iptables, security, apache etc?
4. File permissions? chown, chmod, chgrp, umask, etc

In terms of my experiences, I name 4, 2, 3, 1 in order of priority. As for (1), VI is a must, that is, basic operatins. I think you don't have to worry about sed and awk too much. These handle REGULAR EXPRESSION or Tibetan coding. Basic formula and operations would be enough.

If you were interested, visit http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/sed2/

This book is easy, insteresting, and really practical.

Regards

addiktion

Thanks for the replies so far guys!

I totally spaced looking at the requirements. Maybe because I'm just scrambling around seeing what I need to know. I've decided to print out the objectives and go through and highlight areas I feel weak in and focus on those as much as possible.

I'm only going to focus on the 4 major areas that consist of 85% of the test. A lot of which I feel pretty comfortable with after going through and reading the objectives. I'll let you know how I do on March 19th

P.S All the test I've taken thus far in TestOut I've gotten about 88% I'm trying to get past that final test in TestOut which requires 95% of the 98 questions presented. Haven't quite gotten there yet.

My friend who passed with a 760 also is giving me some pool of questions he found useful so I'll let you know how successful those are.