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.
(parens) (Score:5, Funny)
(Parentheses) (Score:3, Funny)
Re:(Parentheses) (Score:2)
Re:(Parentheses) (Score:2)
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)
(lisp) (Score:5, Funny)
Definition of LPIC (Score:4, Funny)
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
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.
"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 admin
The proof reader of the above. . . (Score:2, Funny)
Need more coffee. A brain wouldn't hurt either.
KFG
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: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 are
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: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 bett
Re: (Score:2)
LPI's policy page (as referenced in the review) (Score:1)
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 expe
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: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: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.
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 ta
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, an
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
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
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 exa
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 ca
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
O'Reilly book? IBM LPI exam prep tutorials! (Score:1)
I passed with best scores in my company (630/640 out
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)