Complete Linux Training to get HIRED in 2026

Create a bootable CentOS 9 installation media with Balena Etcher, using a USB 3.0 drive of at least 16 GB, formatting and flashing the CentOS ISO.

Install CentOS 9 from a USB drive by selecting uEFI boot and grub bootloader, then configure a standard partition and create a user administrator account in the graphical installer.

Discover how type one and type two hypervisors arbitrate hardware resources, enable virtual machines, and use vcpu pinning and pci passthrough, with VirtualBox as the course tool.

Download the VirtualBox Windows installer, verify virtualization is enabled in task manager and the BIOS, and install; if virtualization is unavailable, consider a non-virtualization setup or a better machine.

Create a CentOS 9 virtual machine in VirtualBox, configure four cores and 50 GB storage, set up a user, customize partitions and swap, then install and reboot.

Explore the CentOS 9 Linux terminal using a terminal emulator, and learn echo, printenv, and export in bash scripting to manage environment variables.

Master vi and vim for Linux system administration by editing files, switching between command and insert modes, saving, exiting, deleting, yanking, pasting, and using vim tutor and cat.

Explore file permissions: read, write, and execute for user, group, and others. Use chmod, chown, and chgrp, with symbolic or numeric modes, to manage owners.

Create hard and symbolic links with ln, compare inodes to verify shared data or separate targets, and use absolute paths to prevent broken links.

Explore standard input, output, and error streams, and master redirection operators (>, >>, <) and pipes (|) to chain commands like cat, sort, and wc.

Search file contents with grep and regular expressions, piping proc cpuinfo to locate the model name. Use star and question mark wildcards to pattern-match across files.

Identify file types with the file command, distinguish built-in from external commands with type and which, and search files using find or locate, updating the database with updatedb.

Learn to package files with tar and zip, create and extract archives, apply gunzip compression with tar -z, and use zip/unzip for cross-platform backups.

Understand linux processes, their ids, and how to observe them with ps and watch. Learn how to send signals like sigterm, sigkill, and hangup to terminate or forcefully stop processes.

Define persistent aliases in bashrc to map common commands and enable color output, then source ~/.bashrc or open a new shell to load them automatically.

Manage multiple Linux users by monitoring who is logged in, viewing login history with last, and using id and all users to inspect user IDs, groups, and sessions.

Learn to notify all logged-in users during maintenance with the wall command and broadcast banners, or message a specific user with write, while managing access via SSH and user settings.

Understand how umask alters default file rights from 666 to 644, and how the special (s) and sticky bits control execution permissions and directory deletion restrictions.

Learn to run commands in foreground or background, manage jobs with ctrl-z, bg, fg and kill, and adjust priority with niceness, while using top and stress to monitor cpu usage.

Use crontab to schedule Linux tasks through the cron daemon. Define minute, hour, day of month, month, and weekday fields with examples like Friday at 5 a.m. and every minute.

Explore how systemd targets replace runlevels, view available targets with systemctl list-units --type=target, and switch boot targets between multi-user and graphical to fit server or desktop setups.

Learn to shut down and reboot a Linux machine with root privileges after kernel upgrade, using sudo power off or the shutdown command, and schedule with -h to notify users.

Explore systemd as the modern service manager for Linux, learning units, services, targets, and how to create, enable, and monitor custom services with systemctl.

Explore how system logs capture events with systemd journal, journalctl, and syslog, compare binary structured logs with traditional text logs, and manage log rotation and persistence.

Explore the Linux boot process from BIOS or UEFI through GRUB to the kernel and the initial ram filesystem, and how systemd transitions to userspace.

Explore SELinux, the mandatory access control framework that enforces kernel-level security policies, applies least-privilege confinement, and uses security contexts and booleans to protect Linux systems.

Discover how linux kernel uses modular kernel modules to extend drivers, file systems, and network support, and learn to load them with modprobe, inspect /lib/modules, and apply signing.

Identify a machine's hardware resources: cpu, memory, pci and usb devices, and use proc cpuinfo, free -h, and dmi/PCI data to explain cores, hyper-threads, numa, and virtualization.

Learn to edit text with a stream editor, print and transform lines, delete ranges, perform in-place substitutions with backups, and apply basic regular expressions for daily system administration.

Learn to compare text files with diff and vim diff, and verify changes using cmp and hash sums like sha256 and md5.

Learn to use tmux to run multiple terminals in one session, create and navigate panes, split windows, detach and reattach sessions over ssh.

Set the Linux time zone using time date ctl and adjust locale with locale ctl. Ensure America Los Angeles and English us utf eight, and enable network time protocol synchronization.

learn to set up virtual machines on linux using kvm and qemu, verify virtualization support, install required packages, enable the daemon, and create Lubuntu virtual machines using virt-manager.

Learn how a swap file supplements ram by spilling memory to disk, create and enable a 16gb swap file, and configure persistence with fstab and swappiness.

Partition disks into logical sections to support dual boot, separate system and user data, and host different file systems via MBR or GPT partition tables.

Monitor disk usage on a USB drive by using df -h to inspect sdb1, then generate and verify two gigabytes of data with sudo dd and a random.txt file.

Encrypt the USB partition with cryptsetup, overwriting sdb1 to install an encrypted file system, then create an ext4 inside it, mount via /dev/mapper, and protect data with a passphrase.

Learn to create reusable bash scripts using shebang and path setup, automate tasks, and master variables, control structures, loops, functions, arrays, and text and file processing.

Learn to use DNF and yum on CentOS, enable CodeReady Linux Builder and EPEL, install htop, and manage RPM-based packages with install, update, and remove.

Explore how ethernet frames, MAC addresses, and switches enable layer 2 networks; learn IPv4 routing, subnetting, NAT, ARP, TCP/UDP sockets, and diagnostic tools like ICMP and traceroute.

Explain the difference between hypervisors and containers, highlighting how containers share the host kernel, use Docker as the engine, and employ Katara to emulate networks with containerized hosts.

Install Docker on CentOS, enable the service, and verify with HelloWorld; install Katara from an RPM, resolve dependencies, and verify with Katara. CentOS 9 requires a glibc rebuild.

Configure the ATC /etc/network/interfaces file to bring up interfaces with static IP, netmask, and gateway using auto, and compare systemd networking with legacy init.d startup.

Explore how a router links two subnets across separate collision domains using static routing, with explicit routes or a default gateway, and validate with ping in a hands-on lab.

Connect a katara lab to the internet by creating a tap interface, bridging with R1, and enabling NAT masquerading via iptables so PC1 and PC2 share internet access.

Configure a dhcp server on the router to dynamically assign ip addresses to pc1 and pc2, using discovery, offers, renewals, leases, and dns, gateway settings.

Learn to send raw tcp and udp packets between two hosts with netcat, capture with tcpdump into a pcap file, visualize in Wireshark, and inspect tcp sequence numbers and acks.

Explore why static routing fails on scalability, reliability, and heterogeneity, and learn to configure OSPF on Linux, including areas, costs, and backbone/border router roles.

Learn how SSH creates a secure tunnel over the public internet, using diffie-hellman key exchange and public key authentication to ensure encryption, integrity, and authentication.

Learn ssh remote access between two lab PCs by creating a user, starting the ssh server, and using public key authentication with ssh-keygen and ssh-copy-id, plus tmux persistence.

Learn how ssh local port forwarding creates an encrypted tunnel that forwards a local port to a remote host, enabling access to restricted services from abroad.

Explore remote port forwarding with ssh to expose a local web app behind a home firewall via a public server, contrasting with local port forwarding.

Learn to access private network servers through a jump host using ssh -J, creating a secure tunnel from the client via the border router to S1 and S2.

Explore virtual private networks as encrypted tunnels over the public internet, enabling remote access to private networks using OpenVPN, IPsec, or WireGuard.

Learn OpenVPN on Linux, tunneling traffic over UDP, and build a public key infrastructure with a certification authority to issue server and client certificates.

Explore IPsec as a standardized, robust VPN protocol using ESP and authentication headers in tunnel mode, and configure strongSwan with a certificate authority for road warriors.

Discover WireGuard's simple, fast VPN architecture using public key cryptography with no PKI, featuring client-server mutual authentication and lightweight UDP tunnels ideal for IoT.

Discover how the domain name system translates human readable names into IP addresses using a distributed hierarchical DNS, caching, TTLs, and recursive resolution.

Configure dns clients by editing /etc/resolv.conf to use name servers like 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1, verify with dig, and map local names in /etc/hosts for quick resolution and load balancing awareness.

Configure an authoritative bind DNS server to manage the linux.edu forward zone, creating A records for pc1, pc2, dns, and an alias, plus NS and start-of-authority entries.

Configure an authoritative DNS to also act as a recursive resolver for delegated zones, using glue records for the parent-child zone interface and implementing zone delegation for students.linux.edu.

Learn how web servers process requests, serve content, and secure communications with https using certificates, certificate authorities, and self-signed options, plus Apache and Nginx virtual hosting.

Explore the Apache http server architecture, modular design, and tls https support, with virtual hosts and http to https redirects demonstrated in a two-host lab.

Explore nginx’s event-driven architecture with a master process and memory-efficient workers that serve thousands of connections and manage caching like no other. Configure sites and SSL, redirect HTTP to HTTPS.

Explore forward proxies, caching, and content filtering with squid, an open-source http/https proxy, using ACLs and blacklists in transparent mode. Compare forward and reverse proxies.

Discover the Linux netfilter firewall with iptables and nftables front ends, including hooks (pre routing to post routing), tables (filter, nat, mangle), and stateful processing with TCP and UDP behavior.

Explore iptables and Netfilter basics, including table and chain architecture, port forwarding, a DMZ, NAT and masquerade, connection tracking, and practical lab steps for securing a Linux firewall.

Discover nftables, the modern replacement for iptables, with a unified framework for ipv4, ipv6, arp, and bridge filtering, plus native sets and maps for flexible firewall rules.

Learn to automatically ban brute-force ssh attempts with fail2ban, using syslog to log failures, configure an sshd jail, and apply dynamic firewall rules via iptables.

Explore the Linux network file system (NFS), a distributed file system protocol developed by Sun Microsystems in 1984, that makes remote directories appear as local and centralizes storage.

Learn to implement samba to enable cross-platform file and print sharing on Linux with Windows and macOS clients, including active directory integration and user authentication through smbd and windbind.

Compare FTP and SFTP: FTP sends passwords in plain text over two channels, while SFTP tunnels FTP through a single SSH channel for encrypted transfer.

Configure Postfix as the mail transfer agent and Procmail for local delivery on a single Linux server, then test mail flow with command line tools.

Explore the three main databases—MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB—covering relational schemas, document storage, and NoSQL approaches, plus admin tasks like installation, user management, backups, and tuning differences.

Illustrates configuring new user defaults via login.defs and /etc/skel, including password aging, length, and hash method, and forcing a password change on first login.

Learn how the pam pluggable authentication modules centralize Linux authentication for ssh and login. Explore per-service pam.d configurations, module types (authentication, account, password, session), and fail-lock options.

Explore Kerberos, LDAP, and Radius as centralized authentication solutions; learn Kerberos' single sign on with tickets and the roles of LDAP for user data and Radius for network access.

Create and run a Docker container from an Ubuntu image, define a Dockerfile, install Python 3, expose port 8080, and run hello from a container.

Learn to build a CI/CD pipeline with Ansible and Kubernetes, streamlining automated builds, tests, staging, and production deployment, using infrastructure as code for scalable, self-healing releases.