LPIC-1 Exam 101

Exam Objectives Version: Version 5.0

Exam Code: 101-500

About Objective Weights: Each objective is assigned a weighting value. The weights indicate the relative importance of each objective on the exam. Objectives with higher weights will be covered in the exam with more questions.

Topic 101: System Architecture

101.1 Determine and configure hardware settings

Weight: 2

Description: Candidates should be able to determine and configure fundamental system hardware

Key Knowledge Areas:

Enable and disable integrated peripherals.

Differentiate between the various types of mass storage devices.

Determine hardware resources for devices.

Tools and utilities to list various hardware information (e.g. lsusb, lspci, etc.).

Tools and utilities to manipulate USB devices.

Conceptual understanding of sysfs, udev and dbus.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    /sys/

    /proc/

    /dev/

    modprobe

    lsmod

    lspci

    lsusb

 

101.2 Boot the system

Weight: 3

Description: Candidates should be able to guide the system through the booting process.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Provide common commands to the boot loader and options to the kernel at boot time.

    Demonstrate knowledge of the boot sequence from BIOS/UEFI to boot completion.

    Understanding of SysVinit and systemd.

    Awareness of Upstart.

    Check boot events in the log files.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    dmesg

    journalctl

    BIOS

    UEFI

    bootloader

    kernel

    initramfs

    init

    SysVinit

    systemd

 

101.3 Change runlevels / boot targets and shutdown or reboot system

Weight: 3

Description: Candidates should be able to manage the SysVinit runlevel or systemd boot target of the system. This objective includes changing to single user mode, shutdown or rebooting the system. Candidates should be able to alert users before switching runlevels / boot targets and properly terminate processes. This objective also includes setting the default SysVinit runlevel or systemd boot target. It also includes awareness of Upstart as an alternative to SysVinit or systemd.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Set the default runlevel or boot target.

    Change between runlevels / boot targets including single user mode.

    Shutdown and reboot from the command line.

    Alert users before switching runlevels / boot targets or other major system events.

    Properly terminate processes.

    Awareness of acpid.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    /etc/inittab

    shutdown

    init

    /etc/init.d/

    telinit

    systemd

    systemctl

    /etc/systemd/

    /usrbrb/systemd/

    wall

 

Topic 102: Linux Installation and Package Management

102.1 Design hard disk layout

Weight: 2

Description: Candidates should be able to design a disk partitioning scheme for a Linux system.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Allocate filesystems and swap space to separate partitions or disks.

    Tailor the design to the intended use of the system.

    Ensure the /boot partition conforms to the hardware architecture requirements for booting.

    Knowledge of basic features of LVM.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    / (root) filesystem

    /var filesystem

    /home filesystem

    /boot filesystem

    EFI System Partition (ESP)

    swap space

    mount points

    partitions

 

102.2 Install a boot manager

Weight: 2

Description: Candidates should be able to select, install and configure a boot manager.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Providing alternative boot locations and backup boot options.

    Install and configure a boot loader such as GRUB Legacy.

    Perform basic configuration changes for GRUB 2.

    Interact with the boot loader.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    menu.lst, grub.cfg and grub.conf

    grub-install

    grub-mkconfig

    MBR

 

102.3 Manage shared libraries

Weight: 1

Description: Candidates should be able to determine the shared libraries that executable programs depend on and install them when necessary.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Identify shared libraries.

    Identify the typical locations of system libraries.

    Load shared libraries.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    ldd

    ldconfig

    /etc/ld.so.conf

    LD_LIBRARY_PATH

 

102.4 Use Debian package management

Weight: 3

Description: Candidates should be able to perform package management using the Debian package tools.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Install, upgrade and uninstall Debian binary packages.

    Find packages containing specific files or libraries which may or may not be installed.

    Obtain package information like version, content, dependencies, package integrity and installation status (whether or not the package is installed).

    Awareness of apt.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    /etc/apt/sources.list

    dpkg

    dpkg-reconfigure

    apt-get

    apt-cache

 

102.5 Use RPM and YUM package management

Weight:  3

Description: Candidates should be able to perform package management using RPM, YUM and Zypper.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Install, re-install, upgrade and remove packages using RPM, YUM and Zypper.

    Obtain information on RPM packages such as version, status, dependencies, integrity and signatures.

    Determine what files a package provides, as well as find which package a specific file comes from.

    Awareness of dnf.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    rpm

    rpm2cpio

    /etc/yum.conf

    /etc/yum.repos.d/

    yum

    zypper

 

102.6 Linux as a virtualization guest

Weight: 1

Description: Candidates should understand the implications of virtualization and cloud computing on a Linux guest system.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Understand the general concept of virtual machines and containers.

    Understand common elements virtual machines in an IaaS cloud, such as computing instances, block storage and networking.

    Understand unique properties of a Linux system which have to changed when a system is cloned or used as a template.

    Understand how system images are used to deploy virtual machines, cloud instances and containers.

    Understand Linux extensions which integrate Linux with a virtualization product.

    Awareness of cloud-init.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    Virtual machine

    Linux container

    Application container

    Guest drivers

    SSH host keys

    D-Bus machine id

Topic 103: GNU and Unix Commands

103.1 Work on the command line

Weight: 4

Description: Candidates should be able to interact with shells and commands using the command line. The objective assumes the Bash shell.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Use single shell commands and one line command sequences to perform basic tasks on the command line.

    Use and modify the shell environment including defining, referencing and exporting environment variables.

    Use and edit command history.

    Invoke commands inside and outside the defined path.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    bash

    echo

    env

    export

    pwd

    set

    unset

    type

    which

    man

    uname

    history

    .bash_history

    Quoting

 

103.2 Process text streams using filters

Weight: 2

Description: Candidates should be able to apply filters to text streams.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Send text files and output streams through text utility filters to modify the output using standard UNIX commands found in the GNU textutils package.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    bzcat

    cat

    cut

    head

    less

    md5sum

    nl

    od

    paste

    sed

    sha256sum

    sha512sum

    sort

    split

    tail

    tr

    uniq

    wc

    xzcat

    zcat

 

103.3 Perform basic file management

Weight: 4

Description: Candidates should be able to use the basic Linux commands to manage files and directories.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Copy, move and remove files and directories individually.

    Copy multiple files and directories recursively.

    Remove files and directories recursively.

    Use simple and advanced wildcard specifications in commands.

    Using find to locate and act on files based on type, size, or time.

    Usage of tar, cpio and dd.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    cp

    find

    mkdir

    mv

    ls

    rm

    rmdir

    touch

    tar

    cpio

    dd

    file

    gzip

    gunzip

    bzip2

    bunzip2

    xz

    unxz

    file globbing

 

103.4 Use streams, pipes and redirects

Weight: 4

Description: Candidates should be able to redirect streams and connect them in order to efficiently process textual data. Tasks include redirecting standard input, standard output and standard error, piping the output of one command to the input of another command, using the output of one command as arguments to another command and sending output to both stdout and a file.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Redirecting standard input, standard output and standard error.

    Pipe the output of one command to the input of another command.

    Use the output of one command as arguments to another command.

    Send output to both stdout and a file.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    tee

    xargs

 

103.5 Create, monitor and kill processes

Weight: 4

Description: Candidates should be able to perform basic process management.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Run jobs in the foreground and background.

    Signal a program to continue running after logout.

    Monitor active processes.

    Select and sort processes for display.

    Send signals to processes.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    &

    bg

    fg

    jobs

    kill

    nohup

    ps

    top

    free

    uptime

    pgrep

    pkill

    killall

    watch

    screen

    tmux

 

103.6 Modify process execution priorities

Weight: 2

Description: Candidates should should be able to manage process execution priorities.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Know the default priority of a job that is created.

    Run a program with higher or lower priority than the default.

    Change the priority of a running process.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    nice

    ps

    renice

    top

 

103.7 Search text files using regular expressions

Weight: 3

Description: Candidates should be able to manipulate files and text data using regular expressions. This objective includes creating simple regular expressions containing several notational elements as well as understanding the differences between basic and extended regular expressions. It also includes using regular expression tools to perform searches through a filesystem or file content.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Create simple regular expressions containing several notational elements.
    Understand the differences between basic and extended regular expressions.
    Understand the concepts of special characters, character classes, quantifiers and anchors.
    Use regular expression tools to perform searches through a filesystem or file content.
    Use regular expressions to delete, change and substitute text.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    grep

    egrep

    fgrep

    sed

    regex(7)

 

103.8 Basic file editing

Weight: 3

Description: Candidates should be able to edit text files using vi. This objective includes vi navigation, vi modes, inserting, editing, deleting, copying and finding text. It also includes awareness of other common editors and setting the default editor.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Navigate a document using vi.

    Understand and use vi modes.

    Insert, edit, delete, copy and find text in vi.

    Awareness of Emacs, nano and vim.

    Configure the standard editor.

Terms and Utilities:

    vi

    /, ?

    h,j,k,l

    i, o, a

    d, p, y, dd, yy

    ZZ, :w!, :q!

    EDITOR

 

Topic 104: Devices, Linux Filesystems, Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

104.1 Create partitions and filesystems

Weight: 2

Description: Candidates should be able to configure disk partitions and then create filesystems on media such as hard disks. This includes the handling of swap partitions.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Manage MBR and GPT partition tables

    Use various mkfs commands to create various filesystems such as:
      ext2/ext3/ext4

      XFS

      VFAT

      exFAT


    Basic feature knowledge of Btrfs, including multi-device filesystems, compression and subvolumes.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    fdisk

    gdisk

    parted

    mkfs

    mkswap

 

104.2 Maintain the integrity of filesystems

Weight: 2

Description: Candidates should be able to maintain a standard filesystem, as well as the extra data associated with a journaling filesystem.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Verify the integrity of filesystems.

    Monitor free space and inodes.

    Repair simple filesystem problems.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    du

    df

    fsck

    e2fsck

    mke2fs

    tune2fs

    xfs_repair

    xfs_fsr

    xfs_db

 

104.3 Control mounting and unmounting of filesystems

Weight: 3

Description: Candidates should be able to configure the mounting of a filesystem.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Manually mount and unmount filesystems.

    Configure filesystem mounting on bootup.

    Configure user mountable removable filesystems.

    Use of labels and UUIDs for identifying and mounting file systems.

    Awareness of systemd mount units.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    /etc/fstab

    /media/

    mount

    umount

    blkid

    lsblk

 

104.4 Removed

 

104.5 Manage file permissions and ownership

Weight: 3

Description: Candidates should be able to control file access through the proper use of permissions and ownerships.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Manage access permissions on regular and special files as well as directories.

    Use access modes such as suid, sgid and the sticky bit to maintain security.

    Know how to change the file creation mask.

    Use the group field to grant file access to group members.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    chmod

    umask

    chown

    chgrp

 

104.6 Create and change hard and symbolic links

Weight: 2

Description: Candidates should be able to create and manage hard and symbolic links to a file.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Create links.

    Identify hard and/or soft links.

    Copying versus linking files.

    Use links to support system administration tasks.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    ln

    ls

 

104.7 Find system files and place files in the correct location

Weight: 2

Description: Candidates should be thoroughly familiar with the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS), including typical file locations and directory classifications.

Key Knowledge Areas:

    Understand the correct locations of files under the FHS.

    Find files and commands on a Linux system.

    Know the location and purpose of important file and directories as defined in the FHS.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

    find

    locate

    updatedb

    whereis

    which

    type

    /etc/updatedb.conf