Linux+ Certification Training

We offer private customized training for groups of 3 or more attendees.

Course Description

 
This course helps you prepare for the CompTIA Linux+ Certification exam. The course teaches Linux user commands, shell script programming, and essential Linux system administration tasks. Note that completion of this course alone is not adequate preparation to pass the exam. The actual Linux+ Certification is designed to measure the competencies of Linux professionals who have six to twelve months of practical experience with the Linux operating system. Thus, after this course you need more study, practice, and experience prior to taking the exam.
Course Length: 5 Days
Course Tuition: $2090 (US)

Prerequisites

We assume that you have used a computer before and have a basic understanding of how to interact with one. Any previous UNIX or Linux experience you may have will be very helpful, whether as a user, administrator, or programmer.

Course Outline

 

Getting Started
What is UNIX?
A Brief History of UNIX
Linux
The Toolkit Philosophy
Linux Distributions
Free Software and Open Source Movements
Logging In
Logging Out
Try a Few More Commands
Changing Your Password
Online Documentation - man Pages
Online Documentation - info Pages

The File System - Files
What is a File?
The ls Command
The cat Command
The more and less Commands
The head and tail Commands
Copy, Rename, and Delete: cp, mv, rm
File Names
Working with MS-DOS Disks; mtools

The File System - Directories
Hierarchical File System
Pathnames
The pwd and cd Command - Navigating Directories
The mkdir and rmdir - Managing Directories
The cp Command (again) - Copy Files
Two Useful Directory Names - . and ..

Text Editors
Linux Text Editors
The pico Editor
The Nedit Editor
The Emacs Text Editor
The vi Text Editor Family

Editing With vi
What is vi?
Getting Started - vi Buffering
Command Mode and Insert Mode
Getting Started
Moving the Cursor Around
Inserting Text
Deleting a Character or Line
Undo Last Command
Opening a New Line
Save Your Work or Abort the Session
Review of vi Commands

Text Handling Utilities
The grep Utility
The tr Utility
The cut Utility
The sort Utility
The wc Utility
The diff Utility
The lpr Utility

File System Security
File Permissions
The chmod Utility
Directory Permissions
The umask Command
The chown, chgrp, and su Commands

Using the Shell
What is a Shell?
The Command Line
Standard Input, Standard Output and Error
Using Default Standard In and Output
I/O Redirection
I/O Redirection - Examples
I/O Redirection - Warning
Appending Output of a File
Pipes
The tee Utility

Filename Generation
Filename Generation
The ? Special Character
The * Special Character
The [] Special Characters
The ! Special Character

Shell Programming Concepts
What is a Shell?
Which Shell?
What is a Shell Script?
Why Use Shell Scripts?

Flow Control
The Exit Status of Commands
Command Line Examples
The test Command
The if-then-else Construct
The elif Construct
A Loop Example

X Windows and Desktops
The X Window System
Using X
Window Managers and Desktops
The Gnome Desktop
The KDE Desktop
Applications: The GIMP
Applications: OpenOffice
Applications: Web Browsers

Overview of System Administration
A Brief History of UNIX
Linux
Linux Distributions
Online Documentation - The man Pages
Online Documentation - The info Pages

User Administration
What is a "user" in Linux?
The /etc/passwd File
Passwords
The /etc/shadow File
Groups
The /etc/group File
Adding Users
Deleting Users
Modifying User Attributes
The Login Process
/etc/profile and .profile
The su Command

File Systems and Files
Files and Inodes
Files
Directories
Symbolic Links
Named Pipes and Sockets
Device Files
Character and Block Devices
A File System Tour
The find Command

Advanced File System Concepts
File System Concepts
Traditional UNIX File Systems
UNIX File System Advances
The Virtual File System
ext2 File System Design
The Superblock
Extended File Attributes
Recovery and Journaling
Third-Generation File Systems
 Disk Management
Partitions and File Systems
Making a File System
The fdisk Command
The mkfs Command
The mount Command
The fstab File
The fsck Command
The df Command
The du Command

Archiving Files
Backup Strategies
Archiving Tools
The tar Command
The cpio Command
The dump Command
The zip Utility
The dd Utility
Compressing Files
Backup Strategies

Linux Processes
Overview of Processes
Process Space
The fork/exec Mechanism
Process Table
The ps Command
The /proc File System
Background Processes
The kill Command

Job Scheduling
Scheduling Jobs
The crond and atd Daemons
The at Command
The crontab Command
Format of cron Files
System crontab Files

System Startup and Shutdown
Overview of the Bootup Sequence
LILO
GRUB
Kernel Startup
The init Daemon
/etc/inittab
The init Command
The rc Scripts
The chkconfig Command
Single-User Mode
The shutdown Command
Communicating with Users: The wall Command

Performance Monitoring and Tuning
Swapping and Paging
Managing Swap Space
Managing Kernel Resources
The vmstat Command
The top Command
The strace Command

Networking Fundamentals
IP Addresses and Netmasks
Name Resolution
The /etc/hosts File
DNS Configuration
DNS Tools
Default Route

Configuring TCP/IP
Network Interfaces
The ifconfig Command
Network Scripts
The netstat Command
The route Command
The traceroute Command
Ping
Using Telnet

Network Services
TCP/IP and Ports
The /etc/services File
The xinetd Daemon
The /etc/xinetd.conf File
Host-Based Access Control

Sharing Filesystems
File and Print Sharing
Sharing Filesystems with NFS
NFS Mounts
Samba Server Overview
The smb.conf File
The smbclient Utility
Mounting smb Shares

Linux System Security
Security Overview
Security Basics
PAM - Pluggable Authentication Modules
Configuring PAM
The Linux Firewall
Configuring the Firewall with iptables
Secure networking with ssh
System Logs
Security Resources

Package Management
Software Installation and Management
The rpm Command
Installing and Upgrading Software with rpm
Removing Packages
The rpm Database
Building Software from Source

Server Configuration and Management
The Apache Web Server
Traditional Linux Printing
CUPS - The Common UNIX Printing System
webmin - Remote System Administration
Managing FTP
Internet Mail Service
Managing Domain Name Service
Standard Network Services

Appendix A - Linux Installation

Appendix B - The lpd Printing System
Printing Overview
Adding a Printer
The lpd Daemon
The /etc/printcap File
The lpr, lpq, and lprm Commands
The lpc Command
Network Printers
Interfaces and Filters
 

Course Directory [training on all levels]

Upcoming Classes
Gain insight and ideas from students with different perspectives and experiences.

Linux Unix Uses & Stats

Linux Unix is Used For:
Desktop Mainframe Computers Mobile Devices Embedded Devices
Difficulty
Popularity
Year Created
1991/1971
Pros
Performance:
Linux supports many efficient tools and operates them seamlessly. Because it's architecture is lightweight it runs faster than both Windows 8.1 and 10. 
 
Security:
Because Linux is an open-source software,  anyone can contribute code to help enhance the users’ experience i.e., adding features, fixing bugs, reducing security risks, and more.
 
 
Software Development:
The terminal in Linux is a *wild card*. You can do almost anything with it. This includes software installation, application and server configurations, file system management, and etc.
 
Large-scale:
Open-source projects benefit from having an attentive community. As a result, Linux is more secure than Windows. Instead of installing anti viruses to clean malware, you just have to stick to the recommended repositories. 
 
Efficient: 
Developers have the convenience of running servers, training machine learning models, accessing remote machines, and compiling and running scripts from the same terminal window. 
 
Free: 
Linux is free (you can put it on as many systems as you like) and you can change it to suit your needs.
Cons
Learning Curve: 
Linux is not for everyone, there is a learning curve in switching to Ubuntu. To actually learn Linux efficiently would take a user one to several years.
 
No Tech Support:
Unlike Windows, there isn’t a dedicated tech support, so getting help for things is up to you. 
 
Designer Compatabilty:
Linux is not as user friendly as Windows or as ‘straight out of the box design’ As an example for design choices, Adobe hasn’t released any of its products to Linux users. So it’s impossible to run them directly. The Ubuntu alternative is a free software called GIMP. 
 
Gaming Capabilities: 
Most games aren’t available in Linux. But that’s not to say you can’t make it happen, it's just not as easy.   
Linux Unix Job Market
Average Salary
$85k-$105k
Job Count
n/a
Top Job Locations

New York City
Boston
San Francisco 

Complimentary Skills to have along with Linux Unix
The following are types of jobs that may require Linux skills.  The top 15 job titles on Dice.com that mention Linux in their postings are:
- DevOps Engineer
- Software Engineer
- Java Developer
- Systems Engineer
- Systems Administrator
- Senior Software Engineer
- Network Engineer
- Python Developer
- Linux Systems Administrator
- Software Developer
- System Administrator
- Linux Administrator
- Linux Engineer
- Senior Java Developer
- C++ Developer

Interesting Reads Take a class with us and receive a book of your choosing for 50% off MSRP.