MS-IT 2002 project by S.M. Ali Jaffri
Preston Institute of Management Science and Technology
This is a required exam for LPI certification Level 1. It covers basic system administration skills that are common across all distributions of linux.
Each objective is assigned a weighting value. The weights range roughly from 1 to 10, and indicate the relative importance of each objective. Objectives with higher weights will be covered in the exam with more questions.
Description: Candidates should be able to configure fundamental system hardware by making the correct settings in the system BIOS. This objective includes a proper understanding of BIOS configuration issues such as the use of LBA on IDE hard disks larger than 1024 cylinders, enabling or disabling integrated peripherals, as well as configuring systems with (or without) external peripherals such as keyboards. It also includes the correct setting for IRQ, DMA and I/O addresses for all BIOS administrated ports and settings for error handling.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/proc/ioports
/proc/interrupts
/proc/dma
/proc/pci
Description:Ensure devices meet compatibility requirements
(particularly that the modem is NOT a win-modem), verify that both the
modem and sound card are using unique and correct IRQ's, I/O, and DMA
addresses, if the sound card is PnP install and run sndconfig and isapnp,
configure modem for outbound dial-up, configure modem for outbound PPP |
SLIP | CSLIP connection, set serial port for 115.2 Kbps
Description: Candidates should be able to configure SCSI devices using the SCSI BIOS as well as the necessary Linux tools. They also should be able to differentiate between the various types of SCSI. This objective includes manipulating the SCSI BIOS to detect used and available SCSI IDs and setting the correct ID number for different devices especially the boot device. It also includes managing the settings in the computer's BIOS to determine the desired boot sequence if both SCSI and IDE drives are used.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
SCSI ID
/proc/scsi/
scsi_info
Description: Candidates should be able to configure various cards for the various expansion slots. They should know the differences between ISA and PCI cards with respect to configuration issues. This objective includes the correct settings of IRQs, DMAs and I/O Ports of the cards, especially to avoid conflicts between devices. It also includes using isapnp if the card is an ISA PnP device.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/proc/dma
/proc/interrupts
/proc/ioports
/proc/pci
pnpdump(8)
isapnp(8)
lspci(8)
Description: Candidates should be able to install and configure different internal and external communication devices like modems, ISDN adapters, and DSL switches. This objective includes verification of compatibility requirements (especially important if that modem is a winmodem), necessary hardware settings for internal devices (IRQs, DMAs, I/O ports), and loading and configuring suitable device drivers. It also includes communication device and interface configuration requirements, such as the right serial port for 115.2 Kbps, and the correct modem settings for outbound PPP connection(s).
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/proc/dma
/proc/interrupts
/proc/ioports
setserial(8)
Description: Candidates should be able to activate USB support, use and configure different USB devices. This objective includes the correct selection of the USB chipset and the corresponding module. It also includes the knowledge of the basic architecture of the layer model of USB as well as the different modules used in the different layers.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
lspci(8)
usb-uhci.o
usb-ohci.o
/etc/usbmgr/
usbmodules
/etc/hotplug
Description: Candidates should be able to design a disk
partitioning scheme for a Linux system. This objective includes
allocating filesystems or swap space to separate partitions or disks,
and tailoring the design to the intended use of the system. It also
includes placing /boot on a partition that conforms with the
BIOS' requirements for booting.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/ (root) filesystem
/var filesystem
/home filesystem
swap space
mount points
partitions
cylinder 1024
Description:Candidate should be able to select, install, and
configure a boot manager. This objective includes providing alternative
boot locations and backup boot options (for example, using a boot
floppy).
Key files, terms, utilities:
/etc/lilo.conf
/boot/grub/grub.conf
lilo
grub-install
MBR
superblock
first stage boot loader
Description: Candidates should be able to build and install an
executable program from source. This objective includes being able to
unpack a file of sources. Candidates should be able to make simple
customizations to the Makefile, for example changing paths or
adding extra include directories.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
gunzip
gzip
bzip2
tar
configure
make
Description: Candidates should be able to determine the shared
libraries that executable programs depend on and install them when
necessary. Candidates should be able to state where system libraries are
kept.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
ldd
ldconfig
/etc/ld.so.conf
LD_LIBRARY_PATH
Description: Candidates should be able to perform Debian
package management.This objective includes being able to use
command-line and interactive tools to install, upgrade, or uninstall
packages, as well as find packages containing specific files or software
(such packages might or might not be installed). This objective also
includes being able to obtain package information like version, content,
dependencies, package integrity and installation status (whether or not
the package is installed).
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
unpack
configure
/etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg
/var/lib/dpkg/*
/etc/apt/apt.conf
/etc/apt/sources.list
dpkg
dselect
dpkg-reconfigure
apt-get
alien
Description: Candidates should be able to perform package
management under Linux distributions that use RPMs for package
distribution. This objective includes being able to install, re-install,
upgrade, and remove packages, as well as obtain status and version
information on packages. This objective also includes obtaining package
information such as version, status, dependencies, integrity, and
signatures. Candidates should be able to determine what files a package
provides, as well as find which package a specific file comes from.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/etc/rpmrc
/usr/lib/rpm/*
rpm
grep
Candidate should be able to Interact with shells and commands using
the command line. This includes typing valid commands and command
sequences, defining, referencing and exporting environment variables,
using command history and editing facilities, invoking commands in the
path and outside the path, using command substitution, applying commands
recursively through a directory tree and using man to find out
about commands.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
.
bash
echo
env
exec
export
man
pwd
set
unset
~/.bash_history
~/.profile
Candidate should be able to apply filters to text streams. Tasks
include sending text files and output streams through text utility
filters to modify the output, and using standard UNIX commands found in
the GNU textutils package.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
cat
cut
expand
fmt
head
join
nl
od
paste
pr
sed
sort
split
tac
tail
tr
unexpand
uniq
wc
Candidate should be able to use the basic UNIX commands to copy,
move, and remove files and directories. Tasks include advanced file
management operations such as copying multiple files recursively,
removing directories recursively, and moving files that meet a wildcard
pattern. This includes using simple and advanced wildcard specifications
to refer to files, as wella as using find to locate and act on
files based on type, size, or time.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
cp
find
mkdir
mv
ls
rm
rmdir
touch
file globbing
Candidate 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.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
tee
xargs
<
<<
>
>>
|
` `
Candidate should be able to manage processes. This includes knowing
how to run jobs in the foreground and background, bring a job from the
background to the foreground and vice versa, start a process that will
run without being connected to a terminal and signal a program to
continue running after logout. Tasks also include monitoring active
processes, selecting and sorting processes for display, sending signals
to processes, killing processes and identifying and killing X
applications that did not terminate after the X session closed.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
&
bg
fg
jobs
kill
nohup
ps
top
Candidate should be able to manage process execution priorities.
Tasks include running a program with higher or lower priority,
determining the priority of a process and changing the priority of a
running process.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
nice
ps
renice
top
The candidate 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.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
grep
regexp
sed
Candidate must be able to edit text files using vi. This
objective includes vi navigation, basic vi nodes, inserting, editing,
deleting, copying, and finding text.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
vi
/, ?
h,j,k,l
G, H, L
i, c, d, dd, p, o, a
ZZ, :w!, :q!, :e!
:!
Description: Candidates should be able to configure disk
partitions and then create filesystems on media such as hard disks. This
objective includes using various mkfs commands to set up
partitions to various filesystems, including ext2, ext3, reiserfs,
vfat, and xfs.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
fdisk
mkfs
Description: Candidates should be able to verify the integrity of filesystems, monitor free space and inodes, and repair simple filesystem problems. This objective includes the commands required to maintain a standard filesystem, as well as the extra data associated with a journaling filesystem.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
du
df
fsck
e2fsck
mke2fs
debugfs
dumpe2fs
tune2fs
Description: Candidates should be able to configure the mounting of a filesystem. This objective includes the ability to manually mount and unmount filesystems, configure filesystem mounting on bootup, and configure user mountable removeable filesystems such as tape drives, floppies, and CDs.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/etc/fstab
mount
umount
Description: Candidates should be able to manage disk quotas for users. This objective includes setting up a disk quota for a filesystem, editing, checking, and generating user quota reports.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
quota
edquota
repquota
quotaon
Description: Candidates should be able to control file access through permissions. This objective includes access permissions on regular and special files as well as directories. Also included are access modes such as suid, sgid, and the sticky bit, the use of the group field to grant file access to workgroups, the immutable flag, and the default file creation mode.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
chmod
umask
chattr
Description: Candidates should be able to control user and group ownership of files. This objective includes the ability to change the user and group owner of a file as well as the default group owner for new files.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
chmod
chown
chgrp
Description: Candidates should be able to create and manage hard and symbolic links to a file. This objective includes the ability to create and identify links, copy files through links, and use linked files to support system administration tasks.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
ln
Description: Candidates should be thouroughly familiar with the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, including typical file locations and directory classifications. This objective includes the ability to find files and commands on a Linux system.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
find
locate
slocate
updatedb
whereis
which
/etc/updatedb.conf
Candidate should be able to configure and install X and an X font server. This objective includes verifying that the video card and monitor are supported by an X server, as well as customizing and tuning X for the videocard and monitor. It also includes installing an X font server, installing fonts, and configuring X to use the font server (may require a manual edit of /etc/X11/XF86Config in the "Files" section).
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
XF86Setup
xf86config
xvidtune
/etc/X11/XF86Config
.Xresources
Candidate should be able setup and customize a Display manager. This objective includes turning the display manager on or off and changing the display manager greeting. This objective includes changing default bitplanes for the display manager. It also includes configuring display managers for use by X-stations. This objective covers the display managers XDM (X Display Manger), GDM (Gnome Display Manager) and KDM (KDE Display Manager).
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/etc/inittab
/etc/X11/xdm/*
/etc/X11/kdm/*
/etc/X11/gdm/*
Candidate should be able to customize a system-wide desktop environment and/or window manager, to demonstrate an understanding of customization procedures for window manager menus and/or desktop panel menus. this objective includes selecting and configuring the desired x-terminal (xterm, rxvt, aterm etc.), verifing and resolving library dependency issues for X applications, exporting X-display to a client workstation.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
.xinitrc
.Xdefaults
xhost
DISPLAY environment variable
This is a required exam for LPI certification Level 1. It covers basic system administration skills that are common across all distribution sof Linux.
Each objective is assigned a weighting value. The weights range roughly from 1 to 10, and indicate the relative importance of each objective. Objectives with higher weights will be covered in the exam with more questions.
Candidates should be able to manage and/or query a kernel and kernel loadable modules. This objective includes using command-line utilities to get information about the currently running kernel and kernel modules. It also includes manually loading and unloading modules as appropriate. It also includes being able to determine when modules can be unloaded and what parameters a module accepts. Candidates should be able to configure the system to load modules by names other than their file name.
Key files, term and utilities include:
/lib/modules/kernel-version/modules.dep
/etc/modules.conf & /etc/conf.modules
depmod
insmod
lsmod
rmmod
modinfo
modprobe
uname
Candidates should be able to customize, build, and install a kernel and kernel loadable modules from source This objective includes customizing the current kernel configuration, building a new kernel, and building kernel modules as appropriate. It also includes installing the new kernel as well as any modules, and ensuring that the boot manager can locate the new kernel and associated files (generally located under /boot, see objective 1.102.2 for more details about boot manager configuration).
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/usr/src/linux/*
/usr/src/linux/.config
/lib/modules/kernel-version/*
/boot/*
make
make targets: config, menuconfig, xconfig,
oldconfig, modules, install, modules_install,
depmod
Candidates should be able to guide the system through the booting
process. This includes giving commands to the boot loader and giving
options to the kernel at boot time, and checking the events in the log
files.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
dmesg
/var/log/messages
/etc/conf.modules or /etc/modules.conf
LILO
GRUB
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
runlevel, and properly terminate processes. This objective also includes
setting the default runlevel.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
shutdown
init
/etc/inittab
Description: The candidate should be able to manage print
queues and user print jobs. This objective includes monitoring print
server and user print queues and troubleshooting general printing
problems.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
lpc
lpq
lprm
lpr
/etc/printcap
Description: Candidates should be able to manage print queues
and manipulate print jobs. This objective includes adding and removing
jobs from configured printer queues and converting text files to
postscript for printing.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
lpr
lpq
mpage
Candidate should be able to install a printer daemon, install and configure a print filter (e.g.: apsfilter, magicfilter). This objective includes making local and remote printers accessible for a Linux system, including postscript, non-postscript, and Samba printers.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
lpd
/etc/printcap
/etc/apsfilter/*
/var/lib/apsfilter/*/
/etc/magicfilter/*/
/var/spool/lpd/*/
Candidates should be able to use and administer the man
facility and the material in /usr/share/doc/. This objective
includes finding relevant man pages, searching man page sections,
finding commands and man pages related to them, and configuring access
to man sources and the man system. It also includes using system
documentation stored in /usr/share/doc/ and determining what
documentation to keep in /usr/share/doc/.
Key commands and terms:
man
apropos
whatis
MANPATH
Description: Candidates should be able to find and use Linux
documentation. This objective includes using Linux documentation at
sources such as the Linux Documentation Project (LDP), vendor and
third-party websites, newsgroups, newsgroup archives, and mailing lists.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
not applicable
Description: Candidates should be able to notify the users
about current issues related to the system. This objective includes
automating the communication process, e.g. through logon messages.
Key files, terms and utilities include:
/etc/issue
/etc/issue.net
/etc/motd
Description: Candidate should be able to customize shell environments to meet users' needs. This objective includes setting environment variables (e.g. PATH) at login or when spawning a new shell. It also includes writing bash functions for frequently used sequences of commands.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
~/.bash_profile
~/.bash_login
~/.profile
~/.bashrc
~/.bash_logout
~/.inputrc
function (Bash built-in command)
export
env
set (Bash built-in command)
unset (Bash built-in command)
Candidate should be able to customize existing scripts, or write simple new (ba)sh scripts. This objective includes using standard sh syntax (loops, tests), using command substitution, testing command return values, testing of file status, and conditional mailing to the superuser. This objective also includes making sure the correct interpreter is called on the first (#!) line of scripts. This objective also includes managing location, ownership, execution and suid-rights of scripts.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
while
for
test
chmod
Candidate should be able to add, remove, suspend and change user
accounts. Tasks include to add and remove groups, to change user/group
info in passwd/group databases. The objective also includes creating
special purpose and limited accounts.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
chage
gpasswd
groupadd
groupdel
groupmod
grpconv
grpunconv
passwd
pwconv
pwunconv
useradd
userdel
usermod
/etc/passwd
/etc/shadow
/etc/group
/etc/gshadow
Candidate should be able to modify global and user profiles. This
includes setting environment variables, maintaining skel directories for
new user accounts and setting command search path with the proper
directory.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
env
export
set
unset
/etc/profile
/etc/skel
Description: Candidate should be able to configure system
logs. This objective includes managing the type and level of information
logged, manually scanning log files for notable activity, monitoring log
files, arranging for automatic rotation and archiving of logs and
tracking down problems noted in logs.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
logrotate
tail -f
/etc/syslog.conf
/var/log/*
Candidate 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. Task include managing cron and at jobs and
configuring user access to cron and at services.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
at
atq
atrm
crontab
/etc/anacrontab
/etc/at.deny
/etc/at.allow
/etc/crontab
/etc/cron.allow
/etc/cron.deny
/var/spool/cron/*
Candidate should be able to plan a backup strategy and backup
filesystems automatically to various media. Tasks include dumping a raw
device to a file or vice versa, performing partial and manual backups,
verifying the integrity of backup files and partially or fully restoring
backups.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
cpio
dd
dump
restore
tar
Candidate should be able to properly maintain the system time and
synchronize the clock over NTP. Tasks include setting the system date
and time, setting the BIOS clock to the correct time in UTC, configuring
the correct timezone for the system and configuring the system to
correct clock drift to match NTP clock.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
date
hwclock
ntpd
ntpdate
/usr/share/zoneinfo
/etc/timezone
/etc/localtime
/etc/ntp.conf
/etc/ntp.drift
Candidates should demonstrate a proper understanding of network
fundamentals. This objective includes the understanding of IP-addresses,
network masks and what they mean (i.e. determine a network and broadcast
address for a host based on its subnet mask in "dotted quad" or
abbreviated notation or determine the network address, broadcast address
and netmask when given an IP-address and number of bits). It also covers
the understanding of the network classes and classless subnets (CIDR)
and the reserved addresses for private network use. It includes the
understanding of the function and application of a default route. It
also includes the understanding of basic internet protocols (IP, ICMP,
TCP, UDP) and the more common TCP and UDP ports (20, 21, 23, 25, 53, 80,
110, 119, 139, 143, 161).
Key files, terms and utilities include:
/etc/services
ftp
telnet
host
ping
dig
traceroute
whois
Candidates should be able to view, change and verify configuration settings and operational status for various network interfaces. This objective includes manual and automatic configuration of interfaces and routing tables. This especially means to add, start, stop, restart, delete or reconfigure network interfaces. It also means to change, view or configure the routing table and to correct an improperly set default route manually. Candidates should be able to configure Linux as a DHCP client and a TCP/IP host and to debug problems associated with the network configuration.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/etc/HOSTNAME or /etc/hostname
/etc/hosts
/etc/networks
/etc/host.conf
/etc/resolv.conf
/etc/nsswitch.conf
ifconfig
route
dhcpcd, dhcpclient, pump
host
hostname (domainname, dnsdomainname)
netstat
ping
traceroute
tcpdump
the network scripts run during system initialization.
Candidates should understand the basics of the PPP protocol and be able to configure and use PPP for outbound connections. This objective includes the definition of the chat sequence to connect (given a login example) and the setup commands to be run automatically when a PPP connection is made. It also includes initialisation and termination of a PPP connection, with a modem, ISDN or ADSL and setting PPP to automatically reconnect if disconnected.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/etc/ppp/options.*
/etc/ppp/peers/*
/etc/wvdial.conf
/etc/ppp/ip-up
/etc/ppp/ip-down
wvdial
pppd
Candidates should be able to configure which services are available
through inetd, use tcpwrappers to allow or deny services on a
host-by-host basis, manually start, stop, and restart internet services,
configure basic network services including telnet and ftp.
Set a service to run as another user instead of the default in
inetd.conf.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/etc/inetd.conf
/etc/hosts.allow
/etc/hosts.deny
/etc/services
/etc/xinetd.conf
/etc/xinetd.log
Candidate should be able to modify simple parameters in sendmail
configuration files (including the "Smart Host" parameter, if
necessary), create mail aliases, manage the mail queue, start and stop
sendmail, configure mail forwarding and perform basic troubleshooting of
sendmail. The objective includes checking for and closing open relay on
the mailserver. It does not include advanced custom configuration of
Sendmail.
Key files, terms and commands include:
/etc/sendmail.cf
/etc/aliases or /etc/mail/aliases
/etc/mail/*
~/.forward
mailq
sendmail
newaliases
Candidates should be able to modify simple parameters in Apache
configuration files, start, stop, and restart httpd, arrange for
automatic restarting of httpd upon boot. Does not include
advanced custom configuration of Apache.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
apachectl
httpd
httpd.conf
Candidate should know how to mount remote filesystems using NFS,
configure NFS for exporting local filesystems, start, stop, and restart
the NFS server. Install and configure Samba using the included GUI tools
or direct edit of the /etc/smb.conf file (Note: this
deliberately excludes advanced NT domain issues but includes simple
sharing of home directories and printers, as well as correctly setting
the nmbd as a WINS client).
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/etc/exports
/etc/fstab
/etc/smb.conf
mount
umount
Candidate should be able to configure hostname lookups and
troubleshoot problems with local caching-only name server. Requires an
understanding of the domain registration and DNS translation process.
Requires understanding key differences in configuration files for bind 4
and bind 8.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/etc/hosts
/etc/resolv.conf
/etc/nsswitch.conf
/etc/named.boot (v.4) or /etc/named.conf (v.8)
named
The candidate should be able to obtain and configure OpenSSH. This
objective includes basic OpenSSH installation and troubleshooting, as
well as configuring sshd to start at system boot..
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/etc/hosts.allow
/etc/hosts.deny
/etc/nologin
/etc/ssh/sshd_config
/etc/ssh_known_hosts
/etc/sshrc
sshd
ssh-keygen
Description: Candidates should know how to review system
configuration to ensure host security in accordance with local security
policies. This objective includes how to configure TCP wrappers, find
files with SUID/SGID bit set, verify packages, set or change user
passwords and password aging information, update binaries as recommended
by CERT, BUGTRAQ, and/or distribution's security alerts. Includes basic
knowledge of ipchains and iptables.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/proc/net/ip_fwchains
/proc/net/ip_fwnames
/proc/net/ip_masquerade
find
ipchains
passwd
socket
iptables
Candidate should know how to set up a basic level of host security.
Tasks include syslog configuration, shadowed passwords, set up of a mail
alias for root's mail and turning of all network services not in use.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
/etc/inetd.conf or /etc/inet.d/*
/etc/nologin
/etc/passwd
/etc/shadow
/ets/syslog.conf
Candidate should be able to configure user level security. Tasks
include limits on user logins, processes, and memory usage.
Key files, terms, and utilities include:
quota
usermod