LPIC-2 Linux Engineer (201-450)

Explore how the Linux kernel, an open source core, serves as the interface between software and hardware, manages memory and processes, and loads drivers via modules.

Explore Linux kernel modules, learn to load and unload drivers with insmod, modprobe, and rmmod, verify with lsmod, dmesg, lsusb, lspci, lsdev, and apply udev rules to customize device naming.

Learn how to compile the Linux kernel from source, configure built-in and module options, and install a custom kernel on Ubuntu, including prerequisites and tools.

Explore how the kernel runs in the background by monitoring /proc, kernel version, and loaded modules. Learn to use sysctl and /etc/sysctl.d to adjust kernel limits safely.

Identify whether you’re running systemd by inspecting the init symlink and process list. Use systemctl to manage targets and services, enable at boot, and create custom units in /etc/systemd/system.

Explore how sysv init, rc.d scripts, and run levels govern boot and service management, and how to use chkconfig and service to enable or control services.

Discover how Grub version 2 acts as the Linux bootloader and recover a non-booting system by repairing Grub, updating Grub config, and reinstalling Grub from a live cd or usb.

Learn how the init RAM disk bootstraps the system, loading essential kernel modules for storage and hardware, and how to customize it with mkinitramfs and grub procedures.

Explore fstab configuration to mount Linux disks by UUID, label, or device to /mnt. Edit /etc/fstab with sudo and test using mount -a to verify startup mounting.

Learn how Linux uses virtual memory with swap partitions or swap files. Create, enable, and configure swap to mount at boot via fstab, then monitor memory with free and swapon.

Learn how to mount storage with systemd mount units, create a mount unit file, and enable it at boot, comparing with fstab and exploring benefits, dependencies, and testing.

Explore the Btrfs file system on Linux, learn built-in raid and snapshots, sub volumes, and how to deploy, format, mount, and manage Btrfs for robust storage.

Explore luks full disk encryption in Linux, using a master key and sub keys. Learn to enable, manage keys, and mount encrypted system and data drives.

Learn how linux software raid via mdadm builds and manages redundant storage across multiple disks, covering raid levels—mirror raid1, raid5, raid6, raid10—and practical setup from command line to boot-time mounting.

Learn how to verify and tune ide and sata disks in linux, using lshw and /dev to detect drives, hdparm for parameters, and smartmontools for smart reports and tests.

Discover how linux handles solid state disks and nvme, and learn to use hdparm, fs trim, and nvme-cli to monitor parameters, perform trim or deallocate, and manage name spaces.

Learn to deploy Linux iSCSI targets and clients for SAN storage. Configure tgt on Ubuntu, create IQN, backing store, and connect with open-iscsi, then verify sessions and discuss security caveats.

Explore how the logical volume manager uses physical volumes to form volume groups and logical volumes, enabling safe, dynamic storage with practical steps to create, format, mount, resize, and remove.

Configure Linux network adapters, including static IP setup and DHCP renewal with dhclient, and verify with IP address and IP route. Recognize distro differences in configuration files.

Learn to configure wireless adapters on Linux using network manager and nmcli, including scanning for SSIDs, choosing WPA/WPA2 networks, and creating and activating the connection.

Diagnose linux network issues by scoping the problem, using ping, trace route or trace path, and test ports with netcat; reset networking with systemctl restart NetworkManager when needed.

Diagnose dns issues by using nslookup and dig, compare results across servers with trace, and check configuration files like /etc/hosts and resolv.conf and services like systemd-resolved and network manager.

Discover how source code becomes a program by compiling with GCC and make, configuring dependencies, verifying signatures, and installing from source or repositories.

Learn to back up data with tar, create and optionally gzip-compress archives, and restore them while preserving permissions and ownership with -p and --same-owner.

Learn to back up whole disks with dd, creating or restoring disk images from /dev/sda to /dev/sdb or storage, with progress, block sizes, and recovery options.

Use rsync to clone and back up files between systems, including local and remote copies, with secure transfers via an SSH tunnel and incremental backups.

Communicate maintenance and outages on a multi-user Linux system using banners, motd, wall and mesg. Explore built-in notifications in commands like shutdown for timely user awareness.