LPIC-1 exam prep: the first exam
You study the topics of the first LPIC-1 exam, system architecture, installation, package management, the command line and file systems, hands-on on two different distributions.
Level 201 · 21 lessons · 18 practice labs
Lessons
System architecture
- Hardware settings: /sys, /proc, udev and modules
- Booting the system: boot loader, kernel, init
- Runlevels, targets, shutdown and reboot
- Short task: find a driver problem in the boot logs
Installation and package management
- Designing a disk layout
- Installing and configuring a boot loader
- Shared libraries: ldd and ldconfig
- Debian package management
- RPM and DNF package management
- Linux as a virtual machine guest
- Short task: install and verify the same software on two distributions
GNU and Unix commands
- The command line, streams, pipes and redirection
- Text filters and regular expressions
- Basic file management and archives
- Processes, priorities and job control
- Fast editing with vi
- Short task: build a summary report from a log file in one pipeline
Devices and file systems
- Creating partitions and file systems
- Maintaining file system integrity
- Mounting, permissions, links and finding files
- Capstone: apply the first exam’s topics on one server
Practice labs
- Set the default target to text mode: You switch the default systemd target of a server that boots into a graphical interface to multi-user and verify by rebooting.
- Schedule a shutdown with a warning to users: With shutdown you plan a reboot ten minutes ahead with a message to logged-in users, then cancel the plan and set it again.
- Move an old init script to a systemd unit: You convert a service run by a SysV-style init script into an equivalent systemd unit and note how runlevels map to targets.
- Find the missing shared library: You list a failing program's dependencies with ldd and identify the library that can't be found and the package providing it.
- Register a custom library directory: You register a library installed under /opt through ld.so.conf.d, refresh the ldconfig cache and show the program starts.
- Solve a wrong version loaded through LD_LIBRARY_PATH: You diagnose a program loading an old library version because of a user's environment variable and put the proper, lasting method in place.
- Query package details on two distributions: You query the version, file list and dependencies of the same software on a Debian-based and an RPM-based server and compare them.
- Finish a half-installed package: On a Debian-based server you repair a package left unconfigured and its missing dependency and bring the package database back to a consistent state.
- Extract a deleted config file back out of its package: Without reinstalling you use rpm2cpio and dpkg-deb on two distributions to extract the deleted original file from its package and put it back.
- Get the shell distribution from the passwd file: With cut, sort and uniq you count how many accounts use each shell and produce a sorted list.
- Make bulk changes in a config with sed: In a configuration file you replace the old server name with the new one while skipping comment lines and leave a backup of the original.
- Pull fields out of a mail log with regular expressions: With extended regular expressions and sed groups you pull sender, recipient and status out of a mail log into a table.
- Send a long job to the background and bring it back: You suspend a running compression job, continue it in the background, watch it with jobs and bring it back to the foreground.
- Start a low-priority job that survives logout: You start a report with nohup and nice, show it still runs after you log out and change its priority with renice.
- End a stubborn process tree with signals: You clean up a program that spawns children and ignores TERM using the right signal order and its parent process and verify no zombies remain.
- Show hard versus symbolic links through inodes: You make both kinds of link to one file and explain with inode numbers which still works after the original is deleted.
- Bulk-fix wrong permissions with find: In a web directory you find and fix world-writable files and scripts that should not be executable with find -exec.
- Set file system check options and repair a damaged image: You set an ext4 partition's check counter and reserved-block ratio with tune2fs, repair a damaged image with fsck and report the result.
About this course
You study the topics of the first LPIC-1 exam, system architecture, installation, package management, the command line and file systems, hands-on on two different distributions.
What you will learn
- System architecture
- Installation and package management
- GNU and Unix commands
- Devices and file systems
Prerequisites
Finishing the level 101 courses of the same path, or knowing those topics, is enough.
Lab environment
Lessons run in your own Kali Linux terminal in the browser, connected to a private lab network. Nothing to install.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this course right for my level?
- The course is at level 201; it assumes you know the topics of the lower-level courses.
- Is there anything to install?
- No. Every lesson runs in your own lab environment that opens in the browser.
- How do lessons work?
- Each lesson has 8 to 10 steps and a short quiz. Early steps show the command to type, later steps give less help; if two attempts fail, the solution opens.
- Can I try it for free?
- Yes. The first three lessons of every course are free.