Introduction

Welcome to the LPIC-2: Linux Professional Institute Certification Study Guide. If you used our LPIC-1: Linux Professional Institute Certification Study Guide to study for your LPIC-1 exam, welcome back! We're glad that you decided to stay with us for your LPIC-2 study resources.

Just like our LPIC-1 Study Guide, this book contains detailed explanations for all of the LPIC-2 exam objectives, along with example questions, flashcards for self-study, and practice questions. The purpose of this book is to help you pass both of the LPIC-2 exams, 201 and 202. These exams cover more advanced topics than the LPIC-1 exam, such as the Linux kernel, system startup, filesystems, network operations, DNS servers, web servers, file servers, email servers, network client management, and security. This book will walk you through all of these topics, helping prepare you for the LPIC-2 exam questions.

LPI's Certification Program

The purpose of the Linux Professional Institute's (LPI) LPIC-2 program is to define the basic knowledge required to administer small to medium-sized mixed (Microsoft and Linux) networks, focusing on the Linux operating system. The program guides professionals wishing to build on knowledge gained from the LPIC-1 program.

It is expected that you have already passed the LPI Linux Essentials (optional) exam and the LPIC-1 (or CompTIA Linux+) exam and have at least five years' experience in administering a Linux server(s) in a mixed network environment.

The successful LPIC-2 candidate should have at a minimum knowledge and experience concerning the following topics:

1. Administering multiple Linux servers
2. Advising management on computerization and purchasing
3. Planning and managing a small, mixed-network environment, which includes the following:
   1. LAN server:
      1. Client management
      2. DHCP
      3. DNS
      4. NFS
      5. Samba
   2. Internet gateway:
      1. Firewall
      2. Mail
      3. OpenSSH
      4. VPN
      5. Web cache/proxy
   3. Internet server:
      1. FTP server
      2. Web server
      3. Web server with a reverse proxy
4. Team supervision skills

If you've already passed the LPIC-1 exam, you've proven to the world that you're proficient with the basic operation of Linux, along with the basic Linux commands. But don't stop there. When you pass the LPIC-2 exam, that will demonstrate that you have the skills that companies look for when hiring Linux administrators. Having the LPIC-2 certification validates your skills, and it helps prepare you for working with Linux servers in a commercial environment.

How to Become Certified

The LPIC-2 certification is available to anyone who has an active LPIC-1 certification and who passes the two required exams: 201 and 202.

To take an LPI exam, you must first register with LPI to obtain an LPI ID number (if you already did this for the LPIC-1 exam, you must use your existing LPI ID number for the LPIC-2 exam). If you need to register, you can do this online at https://cs.lpi.org/caf/Xamman/register. LPI will email your LPI ID number to you. With that you can log into the LPI Marketplace to purchase an exam voucher.

The exams are administered by Pearson VUE. The exam can be taken at any Pearson VUE testing center. If you pass, you will get a certificate in the mail saying that you have passed. Call (877) 619-2096 for Pearson VUE contact information.

To register for the exam with Pearson VUE, go to http://www.vue.com. Enter the exam voucher number that you received from the LPI Marketplace, and schedule the time and place to take the exam.

Who Should Buy This Book

Anyone who wants to pass the LPIC-2 certification exams may benefit from this book. You should already have a basic knowledge of Linux, as covered by the LPIC-1 exam material. If not, you should start with our LPIC-1: Linux Professional Institute Study Guide book and then move on to this book. This book focuses on the more advanced Linux topics covered by the LPIC-2 201 and 202 exams. Once you obtain your certification, this book will continue to be useful by serving as a handy resource for information on installing and maintaining Linux servers.

Even if you don't plan to take the LPIC-2 exams, this book makes an excellent resource for understanding advanced Linux server topics. It covers topics such as creating your own web server, email server, and file server. These skills are required by Linux administrators in small and medium-sized network environments.

This book is written with the assumption that you have a basic knowledge of Linux. You should be familiar with how Linux works and be able to work in the Linux command line, including the core commands such as ls, cp, mv, cat, less, ps, free, and uptime. You should also already know how to install a default Linux distribution environment, because that is not covered in this book.

You'll need a Linux system with which to practice and perform the chapter activities. Any Linux desktop or server distribution will work for the activities in this book; however, we focus on the Ubuntu and CentOS Linux desktop distributions for our examples.

How This Book Is Organized

This book consists of 12 chapters plus supplementary information: an online glossary, this introduction, and the assessment test after the introduction.

Part I of the book, Chapters 1 through 6, covers the LPIC-2 201 exam topics. Part II, Chapters 7 through 12, covers the 202 exam topics. Each chapter begins with a list of the exam objectives that are covered in that chapter. However, the book doesn't cover the objectives in order.

Part I: The LPI 201 Exam

Chapter 1: Starting a System    This chapter covers how Linux boots from the system BIOS. It discusses the Linux bootloader program and how to create a dual-boot Linux environment.

Chapter 2: Maintaining the System    This chapter describes how to install and manage resources on a Linux system. It also covers how to back up Linux systems and communicate with system users to warn of system issues or downtime.

Chapter 3: Mastering the Kernel    This chapter focuses on the core of the Linux system-the kernel. It walks you through how to install a custom kernel, as well as how to create and maintain kernel modules required to support the hardware on your Linux system.

Chapter 4: Managing the Filesystem This chapter explores the different Linux filesystems and how to manage and maintain them, as well as how to troubleshoot them when problems occur.

Chapter 5: Administering Advanced Storage Devices    This chapter takes a look at two of the more advanced storage methods used in Linux environments. It focuses on how to use RAID devices in Linux, either as hardware devices or using a software RAID emulator. It also demonstrates how to implement a Logical Volume Manager in a Linux environment.

Chapter 6: Navigating Network Services    This chapter takes a deeper look at how Linux interacts in a network environment. It covers how to use the Linux command-line commands to set up a network interface and how to troubleshoot basic network problems.

Part II: The LPI 202 Exam

Chapter 7: Organizing Email Services    This chapter examines how to run an Internet email server using Linux. It covers the two most popular email servers-sendmail and Postfix, as well as walking you through how to use the most popular Linux email client packages-Courier and Dovecot.

Chapter 8: Directing DNS    This chapter covers the basics of the DNS system and how to configure your Linux server to offer DNS services on your network.

Chapter 9: Offering Web Services    This chapter covers how to run your own web server using a Linux server. It discusses how to install and manage the Apache web server-the most popular web server on the Internet. It also covers the nginx web server, a newer up-and-coming web server that's quickly gaining in popularity. Also, this chapter dives into the basics of Squid, a popular web proxy server used by many companies as a web firewall to block users from accessing inappropriate websites.

Chapter 10: Sharing Files    This chapter discusses how to use your Linux server as a file server in a local network. It covers using both FTP and NFS to serve files, as well as the popular Samba package to serve files to Microsoft Windows clients on a network.

Chapter 11: Managing Network Clients    This chapter explores how to use a Linux server to provide basic network services to clients on a local network. It shows how to create a DHCP server for serving dynamic IP addresses, how to create an LDAP server for providing simple network directory services, and how to use PAM to provide authentication services to local applications.

Chapter 12: Setting Up System Security    This chapter explores some ways to use your Linux server security in a network environment. It covers using the iptables program as a firewall, OpenSSH for remote communication with clients,...