When it comes to finding employment in the technology sector, we can trust that our college degree or previous work experience speak for us about what we know how to do. But if we still do not have the second, the first will not always allow us to demonstrate our knowledge in highly specialized fields …
… It is for this purpose that they were created professional certificates, issued by private entities respected in the sector and that allow us to certify that we have been put to the test in specific fields such as programming in a certain language, the use of a certain software tool or, as the case at hand, the administration of a certain operating system.
LPI, Certificate Provider for Linux Professionals
Linux Professional Institute was born as a non-profit organization in 1999 with the aim of promoting worldwide the use of Linux in corporate environments, and currently is the largest provider of professional certificates in this field.
The objective of the LPIC certifications since its creation in 2009 is to validate the ability of IT professionals to use and manage Linux systems, as well as the tools that we can find most frequently in them.
To this end, the Linux Professional Institute regularly review and update the content of your tests, to keep abreast of operating system changes… and industry needs.
To this is added that the LPI is based, when explaining what Linux and its tools are and how they work, on the ‘Linux Standard Base’ standard, so that this certification is not perceived as linked to a certain distribution (Ubuntu, Red Hat, SUSE, etc.), but allows to demonstrate knowledge applicable to all of them.
exist several different certificates under the ‘LPIC’ umbrella, differentiating by skill level and subject matter:
Linux Essentials
Linux Essentials is a introductory certificate, which demonstrates basic knowledge about the use and operation of Linux, as well as about the open source industry. Unlike the following certificates, it consists of a single exam and its validity period is for life.
LPIC-1
LPIC-1 is the first of the certificates intended for Linux system administrators: “will validate the candidate’s ability to perform command line maintenance, install and configure a computer running Linux, and configure basic networks.”
It is made up of two exams (101 and 102), and once granted its validity is 5 years.
- Note: If you manage with English, a good resource to review the syllabus of these two exams can be this magnificent collection of free tutorials prepared by IBM.
It is not necessary to pass Essentials to take the LPIC-1 exam, but it will be necessary to obtain the LPIC-2, and this one for the LPIC-3
LPIC-2
LPIC-2 is the next phase of the LPI certificates, designed to accredit ‘Linux engineers’. In this case, we must demonstrate knowledge related to the advanced system administration (including kernel-related tasks), file system, networking, and system security.
We should also be able to “install and configure network services fundamentals such as DHCP, DNS, SSH, web servers, file servers based on FTP, NFS and Samba, etc. “.
It is made up of two exams (201 and 202), and once granted its validity is 5 years.
LPIC-3
There are three different ways to achieve the LPIC-3 level, which come to be specializations in different advanced areas of Linux:
LPIC-3 Mixed Environments: Exam 300, focused on the use of Samba, and on user management and file sharing.
LPIC-3 Security: Exam 303, focused on cryptography, access controls, and host and network assurance.
LPIC-3 Virtualization and High Availability: Exam 304, focused on virtualization and high availability cluster management.
Language and cost of exams
The exams are available in different languages (the options differ according to the level), although it will depend on whether we choose to do it face-to-face at VUE test centers or online through the OnVUE platform.
For example, Spanish will only be an option if we opt for the LPI-1 certificate (both in person and online); If we opt for any of the others, the only option that will guarantee us to be able to take any of the exams will be English.
Regarding prices, All exams have a cost of € 160, with the exception of 010 (the one for Linux Essentials), which costs just € 115.