-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [BizNix] Thursday's meeting, Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 09:51:45 -0800 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] SUPPRESSING SPAM MAIL This Thursday is the meeting co-hosted by BizNix and PANUG that focuses on suppressing spam mail. The meeting will be heavily attended so please RSVP by replying to this email so we can have adequate food and seating. If you're not a BizNix member, please refer to the BizNix web site at http://www.biznix.org/join.html for information on attending meetings as a non-member. LINUX SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION On December 11-14, BizNix is hosting a four-day, hands-on training class for Linux system administrators. Refer to the BizNix web site at http://www.biznix.org for details. LPI CERTIFICATION by Ed Sawicki Yesterday I took the LPI Linux certification tests at the only VUE testing center in Portland and learned that I'm the first person to take the LPI tests here. I passed the tests and now I'm a, uh.. they don't actually say what I am. I went digging on the LPI web site and learned that I'm a LPIC1, I think. Not as catchy as MCSE or CNE. I think I'll tell people that I'm "LPI Certified". I signed a form stating that I would not divulge test questions and answers and I won't. However, I can be vague and generalize. I took both the LPI tests 101 and 102. Each test allows about 1.5 hours. I finished them in 30 minutes each and then spent another 15 minutes trying to memorize the questions. I was surprised at the level of detail in the 101 test. You really need to know ALL of the command line options and switches for programs such as ls, find, rpm, etc. In real life, I don't remember these. That's why we have man pages. When you take the test, you have no man pages. The 101 test also has detailed questions about pipes, redirection, STDIN, STDOUT, file handles and such. You need to review the SYNTAX of piping and redirection before taking the test. You should also know file permissions, process control (ps, kill, top, renice, etc.) and the details surrounding the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files. I paid the price by not reviewing the gory details of cron jobs before going down for the test. I'm sure I got at least two questions wrong. One controversial issue that keeps popping up on the LPI discussion lists is the fact that you need to know both RPM and Debian package management for the test. For most of us, this means that you'll have to bone up on the "other" package manager that you never use and don't have installed on your system. Indeed, I was asked questions about both and in about equal amounts. The 102 test was easier in the sense that you're not asked about command line options and switches. I did better on this test. You need to know the details of inetd in particular. The questions relating to Apache and Samba were relatively easy. The scoring is weird. They say that test scores range from 200 to 800. You must get 460 to pass which, if things are linear, translates to 43%. The nice thing about the LPI tests is that questions and answers made sense. I had only one complaint with a question that was a bit tricky but not wrong. This in sharp contrast to taking my Novell CNE tests where I had complaints with at least half of the questions. I think this is testimony to the fact that the test is designed by people who work with Linux every day instead of professional test preparers. Unlike the SAIR/GNU tests, the LPI tests had only one or two qustions that could be considered "religious". That is, questions about the Open Source movement that you don't need to know about to do the job. _______________________________________________ BizNix mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://alcpress.com/mailman/listinfo/biznix
