Slawomir Kawala <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, I wonder why Samba is so important? I think (or rather I know) > that many network / system administrators* never needed to use > Samba, even that they are experienced linux (and not only linux) > users. In my opinion Samba exam should be only one of the > possibilities and nothing more. > * ok, but I know only net/sys administrators working for ISPs.
Three (3) points ... (again, I'm an "outsider" here) 1. More factual ... real "industry" input ... IIRC (I was not involved with this), there are at least six (6) exams planned for the level 3 track. Samba and LDAP are the two (2) exams that were identified by industry as those of most critical need. FYI, for those who wonder who "industry" is, 55% of LPI's revenue comes from Japan. 2. More professional opinion ... who's the "industry"? Understand that most ISP/ASPs are _not_ often looking for certified indviduals, at least not compared to _enterprise_ corporations with extensive LAN/WAN knowledge. The latter very much _wants_ certified individuals who understand network-wide authentication, directory, file and naming services. That's LDAP, Samba and related technologies. 3. Another consideration ... what's in a name? Just because the exam names are "LDAP" and "Samba" doesn't mean there isn't a cross of technologies and capabilities. Concepts of LDAP are applicable to network-wise authentication, naming, schema, etc... including for "enterprise" web capabilities. Samba also involves inter-OS object and schema exchange, general file services and other things. I don't know how extensive the objectives are, but I know Matt has done his best to cover the "real, enterprise" foundations. CASE-IN-POINT: >From what I've seen, or at least seen considered (and very much agree with), level 3 exams are _not_ going to be test on how to manage "standalone" servers. While that might be popular with 97% of "fly-by-night" ASP/ISP operations/consultants is _not_ flying with _enterprise_ industry, which 3% of us other consultants deal with. Remember what a certification program is for. It's not designed to test "generic, I can hack this at home" common knowledge, but "practices and principles" common knowledge. When a company hires a LPI Certified (LPIC) individual -- much less a "Mastery" LPIC level 3 (LPIC-3) -- they expect that individual to understand _enterprise_ concepts. And that includes the foundation of network-wide authentication and naming, with directory/schema and possibly file service operations. Again, while that may not be popular with 97% of "generic, hack" Linux companies and consultants, it is very much the _driver_ of us other 3%. And that's means there is a _strategic_darth_ in the industry for that type of knowledge. If we're just going to cater to the 97%, then why bother with LPIC-3 at all? Industry has really said we need solid, enterprise-level understanding of how to tie networks and systems together at level 3. ;-> -- Bryan J. Smith Professional, Technical Annoyance [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://thebs413.blogspot.com -------------------------------------------------- Fission Power: An Inconvenient Solution _______________________________________________ lpi-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://list.lpi.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lpi-discuss
