LPIC 1 Exam Cram 2 162
LPIC 1 Exam Cram 2 | |
author | Ross Brunson |
pages | 590 |
publisher | QUE |
rating | 8 |
reviewer | rednuhter |
ISBN | 0789731274 |
summary | Exam cram for Linux LPIC level 1 |
I purchased the book last year after deciding I had no reason to try and keep my windows 95 MCP up to date and wishing to (formally) extend my Linux knowledge. I hit a wrong turn after spending quality time with Que's "General Linux 1" [ISBN]0-78972292-5] to find (as I went to book the exam) the format and topics had changed a fair amount in four years (LPI is constantly evolving...).
It was fine book with some good Lab sections, however it was not preparing me for the onslaught that is the seriously tough LPIC Level 1 exam. After a quick rant in the LPI mailing lists, a friendly poster [ross@brunson.org] noted that a book did exist (recently printed) that accumulated one of the premier LPI Linux trainers knowledge and experience, and by no coincidence he was the author.
My previous guide had been only 340 pages long so I was concerned to find this was closer to 600! Luckily the author wastes nothing, with a considerably helpful introduction, followed by details of the LPIC 101 (both flavors) and the 102 exam culminating in the full LPIC Level 1.
The first half of the book is dedicated to the 101 exam, which is the first part of the LPIC level 1 certifications. This included a lot of trouble-shooting steps for basic booting of Linux with hardware configuration and included vi usage (key strokes, buffers, regular expressions), XFree86 (config and understanding) to text processing with tee, tac, sed etc. The detail involved also dipped into modems, CHAP scripts, hardware identification, jobs, processes, chmod, grep, exit statuses and much much more. This also where the RPM/DEB specifics some in; although I have used Debian for many years I opted to take the RPM exam simply because I believe RPM is more widely commercially used, not that I think it is a better packaging system. These skills are an excellent grounding for basic Linux use and understanding, giving rounded knowledge of all the key areas a Linux user should be aware of.
Each chapter has an example exam and the author often makes use of these to introduce new ideas and concepts to encourage the user to research further. These answers are accompanied by explanations of not only why the right answers were correct, but why the wrong answers were incorrect.
The second half of the book (after a quick 66-question 101 test exam) is much more geared to a junior sysadmin and I found it quite hard going. Topics range from runlevels, daemons, users/groups, kernel compilation, modules, shells, scripting, networking, services, printing and security. As you may imagine, some of these topics are quite extensive and I personally found this half much more difficult to absorb. Note there is only one 102 LPIC exam, there is no RPM/DEB choice. This list does not really do the subject matter justice, as it goes into such things as custom subnet masks, network time utilities, Apache, sendmail, crontabs and even more.
This was followed by a set of 77 test 102 questions with both a quick answer key and a complete set of explanations.
The book includes a pull-out Cram Sheet which can help you memorize things such as the IRQ/IO address for serial ports, the different man page sections and common printer commands.
The author also notes how best to prepare for taking and even resitting the exam (the LPI has a concise retake policy).
The actual exam questions and areas are weighted, and you should ensure you review for the heavily weighted sections at least as much if not more that the lower-weighted ones.
The key 'trick' to passing the exams is to have tried the commands yourself and seen the results, I cannot emphasize this enough! The LPI 'seems' to favor (currently) 2.4.x kernels in the FHS File Hierarchy Standard RPM and DEB varieties, I did most of my investigation either with Knoppix via qemu(in windows) or Debian sid running the 2.6.x kernel. (However, most topics are vendor/distribution neutral and kernel and other obvious differences are noted.)
Although this book contains a lot of examples, it is not for beginners, unless you want to base your Linux learning on it. Sysadmins will find it too simple in places, but should not be complacent as they will find some knowledge nuggets buried that will ultimately help them pass the exams.
The book is easy to read, with some real-world examples that are ideal to reinforce the information presented. (It has been noted that practice lab sections could have been included; see author reply here)
Unfortunately, there are a fair number of misprints, technical inaccuracies and spelling mistakes current errata but a quick session with man will set you straight and very few directly spoil the otherwise accuracy of the book (the author notes that a second reprint is addressing these).
The CD comes with the obligatory PDF version of the book and a test program, this has caused some problems for some Linux users although fixes are now available. The test program tries to recreate the testing environment, with optional timer and instant result features. I personally found it very useful to identify areas I was weak in and required further investigation.
The book does a good job not to stray off into GPL licensing or any other non (LPIC Level 1) related topic, leaving further investigation up to the reader offering links where relevant.
It took me about 15-20 hours to revise for the 101 RPM exam and I passed with (apx) 96% where as the revision for the 102 exam was over a much longer period (and a more turbulent part of my life) taking about 40-50 hours which gave me a (apx) pass of 86% (remember the questions are weighted, my percentage scores are simply against the number of questions I got right and makes me feel good).
Preparing you for the LPI LPIC level 1 exams (part 1(RPM/DEB) and part 2)
Not only did I find the book easy to get on with and an indispensable asset for passing the exam but it has had pride of place on my desktop and makes an excellent reference tome.
The LPI website does now list Ross's book and there are various other resources available for a quick google, or just wait for the Slashdot crowd to fill up the comments below.
You can purchase LPIC 1 Exam Cram 2 from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Hmmmm (question and thought) (Score:0)
AC (anonymous coward)
Re:Hmmmm (question and thought) (Score:0)
(parens) (Score:5, Funny)
Re:(parens) (Score:0)
No, somebody needs to read articles for their content instead of looking only at their form.
argh (Score:0, Offtopic)
(Parentheses) (Score:3, Funny)
Re:(Parentheses) (Score:2)
Re:(Parentheses) (Score:2)
Re:(Parentheses) (Score:0)
So what? Parentheses made it well structured. (Score:1, Interesting)
A lot of technical people use what might be considered "excessive" parenthesizing in English, purely to make the logical structure of sentences stand out more.
If you can't handle it, tough. And don't bother attempting LISP then or your little brain will explode.
Re:So what? Parentheses made it well structured. (Score:2)
This is precisely why they're frowned upon in published writing - because if you're writing to an audience, it's considered polite to make the decisions about which words to include or not in the final draft before you publish it. Parentheses are a way of deferring that decision to the reader, who is apt to be confused by their being forced to play editor at the same time as they're trying to understand what you're saying to them.
(lisp) (Score:5, Funny)
Definition of LPIC (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Definition of LPIC (Score:0)
Did you pass the test? Did you make more money? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Did you pass the test? Did you make more money? (Score:2)
Re:Did you pass the test? Did you make more money? (Score:2)
The RHCE is much harder since its a performance based test, but it is specifically for redhat which does have its limitations.
Re:Did you pass the test? Did you make more money? (Score:1)
I was an enterpreneur at the time I did the tests. Then I got a nice offer from one of the cool companies and have been working for them for half a year now and am quite happy with my job.
Dunno whether the certificates had anything to do with me getting the job, though...
Re:Did you pass the test? Did you make more money? (Score:2)
Re:Did you pass the test? Did you make more money? (Score:1)
Compaines in the UK do not appear to be interested in the LPICs at the moment.
But the US and else where seem to be slowly picking up on the value.
(run that by me again...) (Score:0, Redundant)
"The Trick" (Score:5, Insightful)
The real trick is actually knowing wtf you are doing, instead of flailing around like a tipped turtle.
Re:"The Trick" (Score:1)
Ya think? Out of the whole review this is the one sentence that jumped out of the parenthesis at me.
It does not merely concern me, it scares the bejeezus out of me.
And just what is a guy like this going to do when he brings his newly minted certification to me, looking for a job, with no relevant work experience, and my first response is. .
"Well, that's ok, it doesn't necessarily shut you out, just describe to me, in detail, how you set up and administer your home network." ?
I know, I know, in today's world I'm a "weirdo," but I don't want to see your cert, I want to see what you can do before I hire you, so yes, you might want to have "tried the commands yourself" before you actually come to me for a job based on skill with those commands.
Now if you lack those skills that doesn't even mean I won't hire you, but you might have to be willing to spend some time mopping floors before I let you near a live terminal, and I assume I'm even going to have to teach you how to do that properly, which costs me time and money that comes out of what I can afford to pay you.
So why don't you just learn your shit before you show up at my door, k?
I've posted "read a book" any number of times in this very forum. I guess I'll have to start appending what I thought was the obvious corollary: Now do something.
KFG
The proof reader of the above. . . (Score:2, Funny)
Need more coffee. A brain wouldn't hurt either.
KFG
Re:"The Trick" (Score:0)
Re:"The Trick" (Score:2)
Doing this stuff for 5 years helps.
Any point other than passing an exam? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Any point other than passing an exam? (Score:0)
Re:Any point other than passing an exam? (Score:3, Insightful)
They're not ideal if you're learning the material for the first time.
Re:Any point other than passing an exam? (Score:2)
I can't speak to the book, but LPIC is an excellent gauge of Linux domain knowledge. This exam really can't be passed without having spent many hours at a Linux command prompt.
Re:Any point other than passing an exam? (Score:1)
Re:Any point other than passing an exam? (Score:3, Informative)
Review of the review (Score:2)
Just kidding. I'm a fan of the "Exam Cram" series, since I think that if the industry is going to judge me on my credentials, instead of my ability, then I should be allowed to get my credentials based on my test-taking savvy instead of relying on my actual (awesome) skill.
But the real benefit of the Exam Cram format is that by asking me questions, they show me the areas in which I'm less versed. Hitting those areas leads to others and by the time I get back to the questions they're easily answered.
but seriously, who cares (Score:3, Insightful)
Interviewer: tell me about your Unix experience
Me: well, I've adminned about 50 Solaris boxes all over the country, and I've been running my own domain on 2 Linux machines since 1997, and never been hacked. [insert lengthy discussion of the coolness of nscd here]
Interviewer: You're hired.
Certs are an extension of the Microsoft mentality - if you keep repeating something, eventually people believe it (Developers! Developers! Developers!). The more people who buy into the cert racket, the more PHBs are going to (mistakenly) base critical decisions on what certified people say, often to their detriment.
Re:but seriously, who cares (Score:0)
Re:but seriously, who cares (Score:2)
Re:but seriously, who cares (Score:1)
Re:but seriously, who cares (Score:1)
I may be biased - I have passed the 101, and am taking the 102 in two weeks.
Re:but seriously, who cares (Score:1)
Of course there isn't a good substitute to good old hands-on experience but having experience and having a certification isn't mutually exclusive. Still, a PHB is better off relying on a certification than simply on the word of an applicant.
Comment removed (Score:2)
LPI's policy page (as referenced in the review) (Score:1)
Re:LPI's policy page (as referenced in the review) (Score:0)
Re:LPI's policy page (as referenced in the review) (Score:1)
And, uh, I'll try and start using the preview button
Re:LPI's policy page (as referenced in the review) (Score:2)
Re:LPI's policy page (as referenced in the review) (Score:1)
I'm a little too used to fark.
People who pass LPIC like parenthesis? (Score:2, Interesting)
I recommend "Parenthisizers Anonymous" (Score:2, Funny)
Yes, you can get help (from others). You don't have to face this by yourself (alone). You can learn to use your favorite language (lisp) without feeling the desire (that burning need) to litter your entire conversation (or posts) with an amazing (literally amazing) amount of parenthetical notes (or notations, if you prefer).
You may want to start with using footnotes instead of parenthetical asides. This will allow you to gradually wean yourself off of your dependence on parenthesis. Note that some experts recoomend using braces instead of parenthesis. This won't do at all! You will still be dealing with your, ahem, addiction. Your readers will just think that you have gone completely nutso-wheelies and are trying to communicate in bash shell script.
Once you have managed to replace your use of parenthesis with footnotes, you can gradually and carefully eliminate the use of footnotes. In no time at all you will be writing clear, easily understood sentences. You readers will love you. Your parents, spouse, or SO will be proud of you. Your descendents will no longer have to avoid embarassing questions about your parenthetical love affair by telling stangers that they are RMS' illegitimate love children. World peace will become a reality.
The fate of future generations rests in your capable hands. Think of the children, man!
And for you, Relevance for Newbies (Score:0)
Re:I recommend "Parenthisizers Anonymous" (Score:1)
I have never coded in Lisp, Java is my prefered language, but c,c++,perl,python and a few others do contribute now and then.
Nor have a written anything for publication before, maybe I need a proof reader.
Thanks for the (constructive) critisim.
Re:I recommend "Parenthisizers Anonymous" (Score:2)
Oh, bother. I wasn't trying to be overly critical! Yes, you were a bit excessive with the parenthesis :-) That's more or less what I started to say, but then I got caught up in the spirit of the thing. You saw the results; I just hope the intended humor came through.
Re:I recommend "Parenthisizers Anonymous" (Score:1)
Certification versus Actual Job Experience (Score:5, Insightful)
Assume there are 2 people up for a job:
(1) If neither has the experience and one has the certification, the one with the certification wins.
(2) If one has the experience and no certification and other has no experience but a certification, the person with experience wins.
(3) If both have the same experience and only one has the extra certification, the one with the certification wins.
(4) If both have the same certifications and the same experience, the one who is cheaper wins.
(5) If both have certifications and neither has any experience, the one who talks better wins.
(5) If neither has any certifications or experience, the one who looks better wins.
Re:Certification versus Actual Job Experience (Score:0)
Re:Certification versus Actual Job Experience (Score:1)
Re:Certification versus Actual Job Experience (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Certification versus Actual Job Experience (Score:1)
Which Cert? (Score:2)
Re:Which Cert? (Score:2)
As far as novell
LPI must run their servers... (Score:2)
Re:LPI must run their servers... (Score:0)
On a cable modem connection.
Attacking the messenger's horse (Score:0)
Re:Attacking the messenger's horse (Score:0)
What does (Score:0)
'is the authoritative tree-based text to aid and abet interested parties accomplishing a LPI LPIC level 1 certification'
What the fuck is this... who the fuck talks like this. It's a god damn book for the LPIC 1. That's all you gotta say. Adding all the other shit may make it sound like it's really hard to get the certification and that you aren't just an IT dickhead who dropped out of CS.
Re:What does (Score:0)
Re:What does (Score:1)
It is (currently) the only (up to date) printed guide for the Linux Professional Institute Certification (LPIC) Level 1 exam.
I had to get enough information about the LPI that the book would make sense and vise versa, it was tough to juggle.
You might be a good sysadmin (Score:0, Offtopic)
What the fuck (is wrong with) you? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:What the fuck (is wrong with) you? (Score:1)
I also enjoy putting brackets around unnecessary conditional statements (various languages), ignoring the rules of precidents.
for instance the above sentence makes sense with out the additional information the brackets.
I also enjoy putting brackets around unnecessary conditional statements.
but the additional information helps a reader understand further, that I was talking about langauges.
I tried taking all the bracketed information out of article and it still makes sense.
the parenthsis is there to help the reader but only if they want that help.
I an innocent until Slashdot proves me guilty
Re:What the fuck (is wrong with) you? (Score:2)
Your parenthetical obsession shows that you clearly know, and have identified, the parts of your writing which add no value to what you have to say. Why not do your reader a favour and remove them? It is a standard editing technique to go through text deleting all the words that add no real meaning, and then stitch together what's left with punctuation and conjunctions. If I were editing your work, all the parentheticals would be struck out on the first pass and never seen again.
If you believe that they do have value, then don't stick them between apologetic parentheses - it's like you're constantly muttering under your breath in the middle of sentences. The 'body language' of your writing speaks of insecurity and uncertainty.
The most obvious offender in the article is the sentence "It is (currently) the only (up to date) printed guide for the Linux Professional Institute Certification (LPIC) Level 1 exam.". Your qualifications add nothing but doubt to the reader's mind. The fact that your statement is true now but may not always be so is a given - nobody will hold anything against you for not being able to see into the future. So the "(currently)" drops out immediately. The fact that there are other guides which are out of date, presumably, deserves some mention, but your "(up to date)" qualifier feels apologetic and weak. What was wrong with saying "It is the only guide to the current LPIC Level 1 exam"?
Have some confidence, and don't over-qualify all your sentences, and you'll find that people can read you much more smoothly.
Re:What the fuck (is wrong with) you? (Score:1)
thank you
Rather SuSE than RH (Score:1)
Re:Rather SuSE than RH (Score:2)
Re:Rather SuSE than RH (Score:1)
Re:Rather SuSE than RH (Score:2)
Every single cert has answers and they are all on the net. The key is knowing how to implement and answer the questions in the proper manner. That includes fixing a box thats broken within a certain time frame.
Also FWIW the LPI is most certainly *NOT* a SuSe oriented exam. The only section of the exams that contain any sort of vendor specific material is the first section of the level 1 exam that has a selection for RPM and DEB. Thats it.
I dont have the slightest idea where you got the idea that the level 3 is going to be yast oriented since yast is more a level 1 tool than a level 3 tool and including anything about it would be going against the stated goal of being vendor neutral.
Re:Rather SuSE than RH (Score:1)
Re:Rather SuSE than RH (Score:2)
There is nothing on those tests that is anymore SuSe specific than Debian specific. The only stuff that is distro specific is in the earliest test (101) and wont be in the 30x series of tests. There is nothing about YaST in ANY LPIC test.
IBM consultant would be more likely. Or were you unaware that they are backing SuSe and partially funded Novell's purchase ?
Re:Rather SuSE than RH (Score:1)
I have seen probably every question in the LPI pools at one time or another and to my knowledge there aren't any places where what you alledge occurs. This is a *vendor/distro neutral* certification and much work has been done to make it free of such situations.
There were a SLCP and SLCE set of SUSE-specific exams that LPI and SUSE had collaborated on, but those are now gone and Novell has it's own NCLP and NCLE that replace those.
BTW, have you taken the exams personally?
The Software Doesn't Work (Score:0)
Re:The Software Doesn't Work (Score:2)
Maybe that was the troubleshooting section of the exam and you failed it? Being able to get something to work is always important if you want to get certified.
LPIC vs RHCE .. (Score:1)
What is the best ? (yea i know experience is the best, i know, but just compare this 2 certs).
But, what proves to be better for the companies and individuals ?
Re:LPIC vs RHCE .. (Score:2)
Re:LPIC vs RHCE ... (Score:4, Informative)
As for the testing method: As far as I know RH test the execturion of actual skills instead of asking multiple choice questions. with Redhat you get several broken systems that you have to fix, whit LPI you get a lot of questions (~90 for each level 1 exam) that you can guess prettty well without knowing the actual answer. This is clearly a less advanced method. On the other hand, you will have to study for both exams, and while studying you will pick up the rest of the skills you need, no matter what the testing method is.
If you feel like taking some LPI-like tests: you can have a go at my site [linux-studie.nl](sorry mostly in dutch but the exam questions are english). There is also a lot of free LPI related content there, no need for expensive books IMHO.
As for me, I hold LPI level 2 certification. If you would like to help developing a training method a-la redhat (here's a broken system, fix it) based on UML, drop me a line. It would probably look a loot like this [linuxzoo.net].
Re:LPIC vs RHCE .. (Score:1)
How do they compare? Well, they're very different animals. I'd probably give more respect to the RHCE, but LPIC 2 isn't a pushover...
I'd say that a multiple choice test just can't simulate real life. When am I going to need to know an obscure command line switch when I don't have access to a man page or --help?
Has it helped me get a job? Well, I'm unemployed and have been hunting for as long as I can remember, but that may be largely due to the fact that I suck at bullshitting people these days. I do think they're to be credited for getting me some interviews, though.
LPIC was a waste of time (Score:0)
How the LPI tests are made. (Score:4, Informative)
They made two different tests with the remaining questions. Each test has its sequence randomised as well as the order of the answers (there is the explanation for your 'unstructured' comment), to make it harder to memorize the answers instead of the subjects.
Recently LPI began adding new experimental questions to the exam that are not recognisable but do not count for the final score. The score for each experimental question is validated against the total score of the student. experimental questions that perform good (distinguise passers from failers) are added to the validated questions pool, so that it pays of even less to memorise answers from practice exams (from testking for example, search for testking lpi on edonkey...).
Hope that helps.
You can try some non-lpi-verified tests here [slashdot.org] if you can wade through the dutch stuff (test are in english).
Oops wrong link (Score:2)
Still need a study book with the Exam Cram book (Score:2)
Re:Still need a study book with the Exam Cram book (Score:2)
Out of date soon? (Score:2)
What tree would that be? (Score:1)
Is that b-tree, balanced n-ary tree, red-black tree, or
(slaps head)
Oh, a book! Wow, I've been coding for too long today!
Re:What tree would that be? (Score:2)
Seriously people (Score:2)
http://www.computer.org/ [computer.org]
Brits: The British Computer Society
http://www.bcs.org.uk/ [bcs.org.uk]
Aussies: The Australian Computer Society
http://www.acs.org.au/ [acs.org.au]
etc etc.
Re:Seriously people (Score:1)
i hate stock people pictures (Score:1, Funny)
yep, those people sure look like linux sysadmins to me. Its like they put a camera in the server room!
Re:i hate stock people pictures (Score:1)
Oigevalt... (Score:1)
Care for an IT Manager's Point of View? (Score:1)
Okay, I've had to hire a few admins, and here's my point of view with regard to certifications:
If you seek out people with certifications, you're going to get boatloads of resumes from people who have certs and no experience. If you're looking for cheap bodies and like to train greenhorns, this can be an effective way to build a decent staff in a hurry. But you can be sure that, unless you pay competitively, these people will leave you within two years, three at the max.
Experienced people who are informed that they must pass one or more certification exams are interesting to watch. The ones who take the tests seriously tend to pass with high scores - - although there occasionally are surprises even for these people. But the ones who don't bother to try a practice exam before going to the test booth quite often don't want to talk about their experience afterwards, especially if they have to pay for anything beyond one attempt. This is something I've seen several times. My point is that the exams concocted by the big vendors - - i.e., Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, etc. - - can be eye poppers if you don't get yourself into the right frame of mind before you go for the exam. The people who are the most disparaging of certifications are typically people who have never sat for - - or passed - - a certification exam. I went through the MCSE in the early days of NT4, and despite the fact that I'd worked for years with Unix-style networking, both serial and TCP/IP, I found that passing those exams required some studying.
O'Reilly book? IBM LPI exam prep tutorials! (Score:1)
I passed with best scores in my company (630/640 out of 800/800).
But which book is really best?
Re:O'Reilly book? IBM LPI exam prep tutorials! (Score:1)
Dan Robbins did a great job with his DW tutorials, but there are some out of order and wrong topic on the wrong exam items there too.
The Exam Cram is up to date and while it's got a few little irritating editing goofs in it, a lot of people seem to like it.
Also from an LPI Cert (Score:1)