Pursuing Linux+/LPIC-1/Novell CLA

mrgreggie

So now that I've finished my Network+ studies, I have decided to tackle Linux before heading down the Cisco route. Linux+ seems like a good deal, since passing it give me the LPIC-1, and in turn the Novel Certified Linux Administrator.

I've ordered the following study materials:
-CompTIA Linux+ Complete Study Guide
-LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell
-LPIC-1 In Depth

I think the LPIC-1 In Depth is on my doorstep now and the other two should be here tomorrow. I'll flip through each one and decide which one I want to start with first. I'll admit ahead of time that I am a Sybex fanboy, so I'll probably be favoring their book as my first read.

I'm an avid Ubuntu user, and as such lack a bit of command line experience . That being said, I don't have a timeframe for when I'll be able to obtain this certification, but hopefully I'll have a better idea in a few weeks.

Virtualbox is already on my lappy, which has enough power to toss around a few VMs with ease (AMD Phenom II Quad-Core N930, 6GB RAM). From my limited forum research here, it seems like RedHat, SUSE, and Debian are the three that I'll need to work with. How do Fedora, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu, and CentOS compare to their "official" counterparts from the perspective of LPIC-1 studies? I also noted Linux From Scratch, which sounds like fun.

I'll be sure to post back here with updates as I work through it all.

brownwrap

mrgreggie wrote: »

So now that I've finished my Network+ studies, I have decided to tackle Linux before heading down the Cisco route. Linux+ seems like a good deal, since passing it give me the LPIC-1, and in turn the Novel Certified Linux Administrator.

I've ordered the following study materials:
-CompTIA Linux+ Complete Study Guide
-LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell
-LPIC-1 In Depth

I think the LPIC-1 In Depth is on my doorstep now and the other two should be here tomorrow. I'll flip through each one and decide which one I want to start with first. I'll admit ahead of time that I am a Sybex fanboy, so I'll probably be favoring their book as my first read.

I'm an avid Ubuntu user, and as such lack a bit of command line experience . That being said, I don't have a timeframe for when I'll be able to obtain this certification, but hopefully I'll have a better idea in a few weeks.

Virtualbox is already on my lappy, which has enough power to toss around a few VMs with ease (AMD Phenom II Quad-Core N930, 6GB RAM). From my limited forum research here, it seems like RedHat, SUSE, and Debian are the three that I'll need to work with. How do Fedora, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu, and CentOS compare to their "official" counterparts from the perspective of LPIC-1 studies? I also noted Linux From Scratch, which sounds like fun.

I'll be sure to post back here with updates as I work through it all.

I plan to pursue the same route, once I get Sec+ out of the way. I don't know enough about the Linux+ certification process to lay down a plan yet. Still formulating ideas.

varelg

mrgregie, prep literature wise, you've got all it takes to pass the exam. Just make sure that books you've got cover the current exam objectives.
As a self- declared Sybex fanboy, you may find yourself reading O'Reilly's title much more often than you expected
You definitely have to work much, much more on the command- line. 101 is all about bash, which you get with any distro, so at the point that you're on your choice of a working distro won't make much difference. OK, except with the exam objectives concerning packaging
Regarding using VBox (if that's what you are using for virtualization) for preparation of 102, you'll have to first familiarize with the networking in VBox before labbing per 102 objectives. Here, you'll also find Debian vs. RedHat differencies, this time it's default location of some very important network configuration files.
Good luck on your Linux journey

mrgreggie

varelg wrote: »

mrgregie, prep literature wise, you've got all it takes to pass the exam. Just make sure that books you've got cover the current exam objectives.
As a self- declared Sybex fanboy, you may find yourself reading O'Reilly's title much more often than you expected
You definitely have to work much, much more on the command- line. 101 is all about bash, which you get with any distro, so at the point that you're on your choice of a working distro won't make much difference. OK, except with the exam objectives concerning packaging
Regarding using VBox (if that's what you are using for virtualization) for preparation of 102, you'll have to first familiarize with the networking in VBox before labbing per 102 objectives. Here, you'll also find Debian vs. RedHat differencies, this time it's default location of some very important network configuration files.
Good luck on your Linux journey

Thanks! I have a tiny bit of experience with remoting in to VBox, so I've already seen the plethora of networking options that I'll have to learn about.

I've read plenty of good reviews on the In a Nutshell book, so I think you may be right regarding my future appreciation for O'Reilly. I forgot to mention earlier that I also have Linux Phrasebook, which is fairly concise but not quite reference material. It's what I've been using off and on up until now whenever I've venture into the command line.

My LPIC-1 In Depth book came in last night. Just flipping through it, I think this certification is going to be even more fun than Network+ was. I've been wanting to improve my Linux skills for a long time, and it appears that with this cert I'll get to do a lot more hand on exploring outside of just reading books.

Oh, and I subscribed to Linux Journal a few months ago. It's a fun magazine, and perhaps some of the articles will serve as good practice material.:D

mrgreggie

Book order decided. I will start with the Sybex book and work through it normally, then the Course Technology book to see if they cover anything that wasn't mentioned or missed. The LPI in a Nutshell book looks awesome, and will make a perfect study reference once I have all of the basics down.

varelg

mrgreggie wrote: »

Oh, and I subscribed to Linux Journal a few months ago. It's a fun magazine, and perhaps some of the articles will serve as good practice material.:D

Better yet, you may be granted some discount on their LPIC-1 courses since you are Linux Magazine subscriber.

twodogs62

I already have Linux+, but looking to do lip this year. Nice to also apply this to CLA.
Can't get too much practice with Linux.

rogue2shadow

I'd also suggest this:
Amazon.com: Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming, A (2nd Edition) (9780131367364): Mark G. Sobell: Books.

I have done a decent run through the Sybex book (have yet to read X server and cron jobs) and filled in a lot of gaps (and beyond) with the Practical Guide. You'll find the Sybex is straight to the point with all the objectives.

brownwrap

mrgreggie wrote: »

Book order decided. I will start with the Sybex book and work through it normally, then the Course Technology book to see if they cover anything that wasn't mentioned or missed. The LPI in a Nutshell book looks awesome, and will make a perfect study reference once I have all of the basics down.

Which book are you referring to when you say "Course Technology"?

I finished my Sec+ and trying to decide my next step. I found a freebie of the Novell site, a 1,000 admini guide for Suse. I would like to get this three for one, but I have CISSP in the back of my head as well.

TheShadow

brownwrap wrote: »

Which book are you referring to when you say "Course Technology"?

Course Technology is the publishing arm of Thompson/Prometric. They make very expensive textbooks used by the school/university system. They have several books for Linux/UNIX and also partnered with Novell and Sair. I assume that he may be talking about "Getting Started with Linux: Novell's Guide to CompTIA's Linux+ (Course 3060)"

Amazon.com: Getting Started with Linux: Novell's Guide to CompTIA's Linux+ (Course 3060) (9781418837303): Jason Eckert, Novell: Books

mrgreggie

rogue2shadow wrote: »

I'd also suggest this:
Amazon.com: Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming, A (2nd Edition) (9780131367364): Mark G. Sobell: Books.

I have done a decent run through the Sybex book (have yet to read X server and cron jobs) and filled in a lot of gaps (and beyond) with the Practical Guide. You'll find the Sybex is straight to the point with all the objectives.

I want to pass the exam, but I'll take all of the references I can find. I'd prefer to have functional skills and understanding over just being certified. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out for sure.

TheShadow wrote: »

Course Technology is the publishing arm of Thompson/Prometric. They make very expensive textbooks used by the school/university system. They have several books for Linux/UNIX and also partnered with Novell and Sair. I assume that he may be talking about "Getting Started with Linux: Novell's Guide to CompTIA's Linux+ (Course 3060)"

Amazon.com: Getting Started with Linux: Novell's Guide to CompTIA's Linux+ (Course 3060) (9781418837303): Jason Eckert, Novell: Books

I was referencing the book LPIC-1 In Depth. My last book published by Course Technology was an A+ Q&A book that I thought was garbage. This one, however, seems pretty sweet.

Anywho, I was playing around a bit with CentOS last night, and also installed Ubuntu 10.04 in VM as well so I don't hose my machine trying Debian stuff on my host OS Perhaps this Saturday and Sunday I can dive into the material. Thanks for all of the input folks, I appreciate it very much

N2IT

Bump

Great post with a ton of info

mrgreggie

BUMP!

It has been a while, life kinda sidetracked me from my Linux+ studies. I will be restarting as of today, and will be sure to be more proactive in posting updates here.

I'm starting with the Sybex book, and will work from there.

ally_uk

I'm in the same boat as you buddy, Linux+ Sybex book and train signal newest videos is what I'm using

Kferg

I ordered the following to help

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]LabSim for Linux+ TestOut Corporation

[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell
Author: Jeffrey Dean

[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Linux+ (TM)Certification Study Guide
Author: Drew Bird, Mike Harwood

CompTIA Linux+ Complete Study Guide (Exams LX0-101 and LX0-102)

Im hoping this will give me enough to get a position. I have had multiple call backs for Linux jobs but they are all looking for senior people and i only have about 2 years exp with linux and 10 in the windows field but im ready to get out of windows and work with something more.
[/FONT]

Nefarious

Took LX0-101 a month ago, LX0-102 yesterday... passed both...

The only book I used for this course was:
Amazon.com: CompTIA Linux+ Complete Study Guide (Exams LX0-101 and LX0-102) (9780470888452): Roderick W. Smith: Books

This book did a fantastic job of going over the objects. I thought it was a little light on emphasizing the reading man pages. Seriously, you need to know the commands. I also though he was a little heavy on chapters that had a lighter weight in the objectives vs others that high higher weight... For example, I thought there was more detail on X Configuration (8% of the exam) than there was on Networking Fundamentals (23% of exam).

I've been working with Linux for 10+ years in desktop / server environments. I'm not going to say that this was "easy" given my experience. There are may different ways to do the same thing in Linux. This book did a good point of pointing those out and reminding you of commands you have never had to use (and may never even use again) that they may test you on.

I'd also recommend having a lab and your disposal to do some tinkering on your own... This book was lame when it comes to lab work. I'll also say if you're going to build a box to learn Linux for the test, I'd stay away from Ubuntu. It's great and all, but I feel it does too much for you. Grab RHEL / CentOS or Debian... give yourself the chance to screw up something so you can figure out how to fix it and learn