System Architecture
Determine and configure hardware settings
Description
Candidates should be able to determine and configure fundamental system hardware.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Enable and disable integrated peripherals.
- Configure systems with or without external peripherals such as keyboards.
- Differentiate between the various types of mass storage devices.
- Set the correct hardware ID for different devices, especially the boot device.
- Know the differences between coldplug and hotplug devices.
- Determine hardware resources for devices.
- Tools and utilities to list various hardware information (e.g. lsusb, lspci, etc.)
- Tools and utilities to manipulate USB devices
- Conceptual understanding of sysfs, udev, hald, dbus
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
- /sys
- /proc
- /dev
- modprobe
- lsmod
- lspci
- lsusb
Questions
Boot the system
Description
Candidates should be able to guide the system through the booting process.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Provide common commands to the boot loader and options to the kernel at boot time.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the boot sequence from BIOS to boot completion.
- Check boot events in the log files.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Change runlevels and shutdown or reboot system
Description
Candidates should be able to manage the runlevel of the system. This objective includes changing to single user mode, shutdown or rebooting the system. Candidates should be able to alert users before switching run level and properly terminate processes. This objective also includes setting the default run level. It also includes basic feature knowledge of potential replacements to init.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Set the default runlevel.
- Change between run levels including single user mode.
- Shutdown and reboot from the command line.
- Alert users before switching runlevels or other major system event.
- Properly terminate processes.
- Knowledge of basic features of systemd and Upstart
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Linux Installation and Package Management
Design hard disk layout
Description
Candidates should be able to design a disk partitioning scheme for a Linux system.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Allocate filesystems and swap space to separate partitions or disks.
- Tailor the design to the intended use of the system.
- Ensure the /boot partition conforms to the hardware architecture requirements for booting.
- Knowledge of basic features of LVM
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Install a boot manager
Description
Candidates should be able to select, install and configure a boot manager.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Providing alternative boot locations and backup boot options.
- Install and configure a boot loader such as GRUB Legacy.
- Perform basic configuration changes for GRUB 2.
- Interact with the boot loader
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Use Debian package management
Description
Candidates should be able to perform package management using the Debian package tools.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Install, upgrade and uninstall Debian binary packages.
- Find packages containing specific files or libraries which may or may not be installed.
- Obtain package information like version, content, dependencies, package integrity and installation status (whether or not the package is installed).
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Use RPM and YUM package management
Description
Candidates should be able to perform package management using RPM and YUM tools.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Install, re-install, upgrade and remove packages using RPM and YUM.
- Obtain information on RPM packages such as version, status, dependencies, integrity and signatures.
- Determine what files a package provides, as well as find which package a specific file comes from.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
GNU and Unix Commands
Work on the command line
Description
Candidates should be able to interact with shells and commands using the command line. The objective assumes the bash shell.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Use single shell commands and one line command sequences to perform basic tasks on the command line.
- Use and modify the shell environment including defining, referencing and exporting environment variables.
- Use and edit command history.
- Invoke commands inside and outside the defined path.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Process text streams using filters
Description
Candidates should be able to apply filters to text streams.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
Send text files and output streams through text utility filters to modify the output using standard UNIX commands found in the GNU textutils package.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Perform basic file management
Description
Candidates should be able to use the basic Linux commands to manage files and directories.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Copy, move and remove files and directories individually.
- Copy multiple files and directories recursively.
- Remove files and directories recursively.
- Use simple and advanced wildcard specifications in commands.
- Using find to locate and act on files based on type, size, or time.
- Usage of tar, cpio and dd.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Use streams, pipes and redirects
Description
Candidates should be able to redirect streams and connect them in order to efficiently process textual data. Tasks include redirecting standard input, standard output and standard error, piping the output of one command to the input of another command, using the output of one command as arguments to another command and sending output to both stdout and a file.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Redirecting standard input, standard output and standard error.
- Pipe the output of one command to the input of another command.
- Use the output of one command as arguments to another command.
- Send output to both stdout and a file.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Create, monitor and kill processes
Description
Candidates should be able to perform basic process management.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Run jobs in the foreground and background.
- Signal a program to continue running after logout.
- Monitor active processes.
- Select and sort processes for display.
- Send signals to processes.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Modify process execution priorities
Description
Candidates should be able to manage process execution priorities.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Know the default priority of a job that is created.
- Run a program with higher or lower priority than the default..
- Change the priority of a running process.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Search text files using regular expressions
Description
Candidates should be able to manipulate files and text data using regular expressions. This objective includes creating simple regular expressions containing several notational elements. It also includes using regular expression tools to perform searches through a filesystem or file content.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Create simple regular expressions containing several notational elements.
- Use regular expression tools to perform searches through a filesystem or file content.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Perform basic file editing operations using vi
Description
Candidates should be able to edit text files using vi. This objective includes vi navigation, basic vi modes, inserting, editing, deleting, copying and finding text.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Navigate a document using vi.
- Use basic vi modes.
- Insert, edit, delete, copy and find text.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Devices, Linux Filesystems, Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
Create partitions and filesystems
Description
Candidates should be able to configure disk partitions and then create filesystems on media such as hard disks. This includes the handling of swap partitions.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Use various mkfs commands to set up partitions and create various filesystems such as:
- ext2/ext3/ext4
- xfs
- reiserfs v3
- vfat
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Maintain the integrity of filesystems
Description
Candidates should be able to maintain a standard filesystem, as well as the extra data associated with a journaling filesystem.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Verify the integrity of filesystems.
- Monitor free space and inodes.
- Repair simple filesystem problems.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Control mounting and unmounting of filesystems
Description
Candidates should be able to configure the mounting of a filesystem.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Manually mount and unmount filesystems.
- Configure filesystem mounting on bootup.
- Configure user mountable removeable filesystems.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Manage disk quotas
Description
Candidates should be able to manage disk quotas for users.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Set up a disk quota for a filesystem.
- Edit, check and generate user quota reports.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Manage file permissions and ownership
Description
Candidates should be able to control file access through the proper use of permissions and ownerships.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Manage access permissions on regular and special files as well as directories.
- Use access modes such as suid, sgid and the sticky bit to maintain security.
- Know how to change the file creation mask.
- Use the group field to grant file access to group members.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Create and change hard and symbolic links
Description
Candidates should be able to create and manage hard and symbolic links to a file.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Create links.
- Identify hard and/or softlinks.
- Copying versus linking files.
- Use links to support system administration tasks.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Find system files and place files in the correct location
Description
Candidates should be thouroughly familiar with the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS), including typical file locations and directory classifications.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Understand the correct locations of files under the FHS.
- Find files and commands on a Linux system.
- Know the location and purpose of important file and directories as defined in the FHS.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
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Shells, Scripting and Data Management
Customize and use the shell environment
Description
Candidates should be able to customize shell environments to meet users' needs. Candidates should be able to modify global and user profiles.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Set environment variables (e.g. PATH) at login or when spawning a new shell.
- Write BASH functions for frequently used sequences of commands.
- Maintain skeleton directories for new user accounts.
- Set command search path with the proper directory.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Customize or write simple scripts
Description
Candidates should be able to customize existing scripts, or write simple new BASH scripts.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Use standard sh syntax (loops, tests).
- Use command substitution.
- Test return values for success or failure or other information provided by a command.
- Perform conditional mailing to the superuser.
- Correctly select the script interpreter through the shebang (#!) line.
- Manage the location, ownership, execution and suid-rights of scripts.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
SQL Data Management
Description
Candidates should be able to query databases and manipulate data using basic SQL commands. This objective includes performing queries involving joining of 2 tables and/or subselects.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Use of basic SQL commands.
- Perform basic data manipulation.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
User Interfaces and Desktops
Install and configure X11
Description
Candidates should be able to install and configure X11.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Verify that the video card and monitor are supported by an X server.
- Awareness of the X font server.
- Basic understanding and knowledge of the X Window configuration file.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Setup a display manager
Description
Candidates should be able setup and customize a display manager. This objective covers the display managers XDM (X Display Manger), GDM (Gnome Display Manager) and KDM (KDE Display Manager).
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Turn the display manager on or off.
- Change the display manager greeting.
- Change default color depth for the display manager.
- Configure display managers for use by X-stations.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Accessibility
Description
Demonstrate knowledge and awareness of accessibility technologies.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Keyboard Accessibility Settings
- Visual Settings and Themes
- Assistive Technology (ATs)
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Administrative Tasks
Automate system administration tasks by scheduling jobs
Description
Candidates should be able to use cron or anacron to run jobs at regular intervals and to use at to run jobs at a specific time.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Manage cron and at jobs.
- Configure user access to cron and at services.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Localisation and internationalisation
Description
Candidates should be able to localize a system in a different language than English. As well, an understanding of why LANG=C is useful when scripting.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Locale settings.
- Timezone settings.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Essential System Services
Maintain system time
Description
Candidates should be able to properly maintain the system time and synchronize the clock via NTP.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Set the system date and time.
- Set the hardware clock to the correct time in UTC.
- Configure the correct timezone.
- Basic NTP configuration.
- Knowledge of using the pool.ntp.org service
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
System logging
Description
Candidates should be able to configure the syslog daemon. This objective also includes configuring the logging daemon to send log output to a central log server or accept log output as a central log server.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- syslog configuration files
- syslog
- standard facilities, priorities and actions
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) basics
Description
Candidates should be aware of the commonly available MTA programs and be able to perform basic forward and alias configuration on a client host. Other configuration files are not covered.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Create e-mail aliases.
- Configure e-mail forwarding.
- Knowledge of commonly available MTA programs (postfix, sendmail, qmail, exim) (no configuration)
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Manage printers and printing
Description
Candidates should be able to manage print queues and user print jobs using CUPS and the LPD compatibility interface.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Basic CUPS configuration (for local and remote printers).
- Manage user print queues.
- Troubleshoot general printing problems.
- Add and remove jobs from configured printer queues.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Networking Fundamentals
Fundamentals of internet protocols
Description
Candidates should demonstrate a proper understanding of TCP/IP network fundamentals.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Demonstrate an understanding network masks.
- Knowledge of the differences between private and public "dotted quad" IP-Addresses.
- Setting a default route.
- Knowledge about common TCP and UDP ports (20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 53, 80, 110, 119, 139, 143, 161, 443, 465, 993, 995).
- Knowledge about the differences and major features of UDP, TCP and ICMP.
- Knowledge of the major differences between IPv4 and IPV6.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Basic network configuration
Description
Candidates should be able to view, change and verify configuration settings on client hosts.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Manually and automatically configure network interfaces
- Basic TCP/IP host configuration.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Basic network troubleshooting
Description
Candidates should be able to troubleshoot networking issues on client hosts.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Manually and automatically configure network interfaces and routing tables to include adding, starting, stopping, restarting, deleting or reconfiguring network interfaces.
- Change, view, or configure the routing table and correct an improperly set default route manually.
- Debug problems associated with the network configuration.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Configure client side DNS
Description
Candidates should be able to configure DNS on a client host.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Demonstrate the use of DNS on the local system.
- Modify the order in which name resolution is done.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Security
Perform security administration tasks
Description
Candidates should know how to review system configuration to ensure host security in accordance with local security policies.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Audit a system to find files with the suid/sgid bit set.
- Set or change user passwords and password aging information.
- Being able to use nmap and netstat to discover open ports on a system.
- Set up limits on user logins, processes and memory usage.
- Basic sudo configuration and usage.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Setup host security
Description
Candidates should know how to set up a basic level of host security.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Awareness of shadow passwords and how they work.
- Turn off network services not in use.
- Understand the role of TCP wrappers.
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities
Questions
Securing data with encryption
Description
The candidate should be able to use puplic key techniques to secure data and communication.
Proficiency Level
Novice Apprentice Competent Proficient Expert Master
- Perform basic OpenSSH 2 client configuration and usage.
- Understand the role of OpenSSH
- Perform basic GnuPG configuration and usage.
- Understand SSH port tunnels (including X11 tunnels).
Terms (Acronyms) and Utilities