Linux Essentials

LPI Linux Essentials Certification by The Urban Penguin

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Linux Essentials

This material was originally produced by The Urban Penguin, http://www.theurbanpenguin.com . Video material supporting you material can be found on this website and the blog site http://wp.theurbanpenguin.com . Andrew Mallett is The Urban Penguin and he holds Linux certification in Red Hat, SUSE, Ubuntu as well as the LPI. For updates you can follow theurbanpenguin: on twitter @theurbanpenguin on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/theurbanpenguin This material has been produced under the Creative Commons share and share alike license. As such it can be freely distributed and shared on the understanding that no charge is made for this training material. This document was created on Ubuntu 13.10 and LibreOffice 4.0. Many of the screen-shots have been captured using Kazam.

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Linux Essentials

Linux Essentials - What is the Certification

Over the last few years I have been writing many video tutorials freely available on YouTube, ( http://www.youtube.com/theurbanpenguin ); These in the main are aimed at those wishing to learn and gain more experience in Linux. Linux is not just for seasoned administrators and certainly not only for administrators; there is much that the Operating System has to offer, both in administration and user function. The LPI, Linux Professional Institute, has introduced the Linux Essentials certification aiming it at young people though schools, colleges and academics, as well as those just wanting to make their first steps in Linux. The LPI have identified the gap in finding skilled Linux professionals and the are committed to addressing this skills shortage. Involving young people and their teachers will help, the more secondary and college tutors that have a understanding of Linux then the more Linux will naturally be taught within schools. This is important when you consider that Linux is free and the Operating Systems and Applications used in school should not matter as we want a generation growing up with the understanding of how the software works. In this way the knowledge gained can be applied to any new software or OS that is presented. For adults wishing to make those first steps into using Linux this course provides the means of understanding the Operating System and how to tame it. Using the command line can be daunting but you will soon learn how it has been enhanced to help you work quickly and effectively. Having command line experience in Linux will not only help you understand and use the OS but can act as your key to a new career. The exam can be taken at Pearson Vue testing centres, payment can be made through Pearson Vue or vouchers may be purchased from the LPI Marketplace web site: http://www.lpimarketplace.com/product_p/ess_p.htm. During the course we will follow the key objectives of the exam and investigate Linux both from simple administration and usage perspectives. Knowledge gained from the Linux Essentials can prove valuable for those wishing to take their training further in the LPIC professional program. In taking this course you will gain experience in Linux and will help you to demonstrate skills in the following areas Understanding of the basic concepts of processes, programs and the components of an Operating System. Having a basic knowledge of computer hardware A knowledge of Open Source Applications such as OpenOffice in the Workplace as they relate to Closed Source or proprietary equivalents from other software vendors. An understanding of navigation systems on a Linux Desktop and what tools can be used to locate help. Basic skills of using a command line interface The skills needed to use basic functions in command line text editors such as vi or nano This material is published under the Creative Commons Share-Alike License, the material can be used freely and changed, so long as any changes are also shared under the same agreement.

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Linux Essentials Each objective of this course is accompanied by at least one video which can be used as part of the learning experience. Follow the link the related video to this lesson. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TILMEERsu60

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Linux Essentials

Topic 1:The Linux Community and a Career in Open Source (weight: 7)

1.1 Linux Evolution and Popular Operating Systems
Weight 2

Description Knowledge of Linux development and major distributions.

Key Knowledge Areas: Open Source Philosophy. Distributions. Embedded Systems. The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities: Android. Debian. CentOS. In this objective we take a look at what we mean by Open Source software and how Linux was born. Open Source software is available on many platforms not just Linux distributions. Likewise not all software included in a Linux distribution is necessarily Open Source. This document was created in LibreOffice which is Open Source software and is available on a collection of different Operating Systems. Currently this is being edited on a Ubuntu Linux distribution but it could quite easily be Windows or a MAC system. In using LibreOffice I have the freedom to choose the host Operating System; for future edits and revisions I am not restricted to using the same OS that the document was originally created on. Open Source is making the source code ,(the source code is the program code that makes the application function), of the application available so that users of the software can learn how the program works and contribute to the future development. In doing so this often has the effect of enabling the application across many OSs as other developers may add the required support for those platforms. Of course not all users will want to or be able to work with the source code, this is for software developers; however for those that can write code this may be of value.
We often talk about free software but free is much more than of no cost ; free is much more about your freedom to use the software how you wish.

The word Linux itself refers to the core code in the Linux distribution; Linux is the kernel and is available as Open Source and is freely available. Linus Torvalds, a Finnish student, developed this initially in 1991 and in 1992 released the code under the GPL License. Often, although incorrectly, Linux if often referenced as the distribution; if Linux is the kernel the distribution is the collection of software applications and drivers that make Linux usable on your hardware. Common distributions include : Red Hat http://www.theurbanpenguin.com

Linux Essentials CentOS Fedora Ubuntu SUSE Linux Enterprise Server openSUSE Debian ArchLinux Puppy Linux

You may visit the web site of an organization to download and obtain copies of the distribution you wish to use, or you may visit http://distrowatch.com : this is a great resource and lists available distributions, ranking them by copies downloaded. You will also learn that Linux is used in many computing devices such as android phones, TiVo boxes and may other household and business appliances. Using a free OS makes good sense keeping the cost of the product down in not having to license an OS from a commercial supplier. Watch the video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_LuI4pKdoXg

1.2 Major Open Source Applications

Weight 2

Description Awareness of major applications and their uses.

Key Knowledge Areas: Desktop Applications. Server Applications. Mobile Applications. Development Languages. Package Management Tools and repositories. OpenOffice.org, LibreOffice, Thunderbird, Firefox. Blender, Gimp, Audacity, ImageMagick. Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL. NFS, Samba, openLDAP, Postfix, DNS, DHCP. C, Java, Perl, shell, Python, PHP.

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

This topic for the LPI Linux Essentials certification looks at some major open source application in Linux. These include, server, desktop and mobile Linux applications. These will include Server and Desktop applications: http://www.theurbanpenguin.com

Linux Essentials

Server: Apache - web server Squid - Web proxy SSH Secure Shell remote access server DNS Domain name resolution DHCP Automatic IP Address allocation NTP - Time Server Gimp - Graphics OpenOffice / LibreOffice - Office Applications Audacity Sound recording Firefox - Browser Thunderbird - Email

Desktop

As well as introducing some applications we can learn how we manage application with online software repositories, or repos. These repos will differ with each distribution, however the main purpose as each of these tools is the same: to be able to install software from intra-net or internet based software sources without having to locate the software you require. The tools that are used to manage software in these repositories as listed below: CentOS Red Hat SUSE Ubuntu : yum : yum : zypper : apt :apt

Debian

These software repos enable software to be installed simply and easily and, of course, without cost.
This document was created in LibreOffice on Ubuntu Linux, some of the screen-shots I have included have been taken with Kazam, Open Source screen capture software.

Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6KzdmsrKdow The second video is on OpenOffice.org: http://www.youtube.com/watch? feature=player_embedded&v=ZMxFwZMjdpU

1.3 Understanding Open Source Software and Licensing

Weight 1

Description Open communities and licensing Open Source Software for business.

Key Knowledge Areas: http://www.theurbanpenguin.com

Linux Essentials Licensing. Free Software Foundation (FSF), Open Source Initiative (OSI). The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities: GPL, BSD, Creative Commons. Free Software, Open Source Software, FOSS, FLOSS. Open Source business models. Nice to know: Intellectual Property (IP): copyright, trademarks and patents. Apache License, Mozilla License This topic although not very practical or hands on is fundamentally important to your understanding into the ethos of freedom. Many of us in the Western world have grown up free, having the liberty to do what we want when we want; living in a very commercial world; to most of us free means that there is no cost or charge. For those who havent grown up with such liberty in their life, free, would perhaps mean the ability to express their own opinions or dress they way they wish. If you own a computer why would you not want they same level of freedom to be able to choose how software acts on you machine, if you have software why should you be restricted from modifying the way it works or behaves and why should you be restricted in distributing the software to friends. Free software and open source software is more about free as in liberty rather than gratis. Life and licensing are never simple and there are more open source licenses than you may wish for, we will take a look at some common open source licenses GPL: The GNU Public License covers much of the software in Linux distributions and extremely summarized grants you rights to use and distribute software as you wish, changes you make to the software should be contributed back to the project. BSD : The Berkeley Software Distribution License is currently a 3 clause agreement that allows for redistribution of software provided it includes the original copyright notice Creative Commons: The creative commons license allow for content creators to be able to collaborate on projects to improve the quality and diversity of content. For example an illustrator may want to add graphical content to a writers book. Incidentally this material is published under a Creative Commons License. Equally as important as the licenses are the organizations that support the ethos of free software and for us, it is important to recognize their work and support them where we can , through membership, donations, purchases or simply promoting these organisations with friends and colleagues. The free software foundation: www.fsf.org The Open Source Initiative: opensource.org Finally in the supporting video we will investigate how organisations can produce revenue streams from open source software. With Linux distributions we some of the most profitable organisations ,like Red Hat and SUSE, who can make their revenue from consulting and support; the reality is there are many ways to make money from open source including as I do via my web site maintaining advertising revenue. http://www.theurbanpenguin.com

Linux Essentials Watch the video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=o6Ct6JaHcRk

1.4 ICT Skills and Working in Linux

Weight Description 2 Basic Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills and working in Linux.

Key Knowledge Areas: Desktop Skills. Getting to the Command Line. Industry uses of Linux, Cloud Computing and Virtualization. The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities: Using a browser, privacy concerns, configuration options, searching the web and saving content. Terminal and Console. Password issues. Privacy issues and tools. Use of common open source applications in presentations and projects.

So you want a job in IT!

We are now going to introduce some of the skills that you will need to start supporting Linux. This will vary depending if you are supporting servers or desktops. Desktops can bring their own challenges as there are many different GUI, (Graphical User Interface), systems or Window Managers. In the supporting video we will take a look at some of the main players but there are many we could choose from Gnome KDE Unity Supporting Linux desktops is not that far removed from supporting any Desktop. Much of this relates to knowing your was around the OS and knowing how to find and understand log files. Users and support personnel will also need to be introduced to the OpenOffice and LibreOffice suites. As with many Open Source solutions these are available on Windows, Linux, MAC and Solaris Operating Systems and the functionality will be the same across those platforms. The two office suites are very similar with LibreOffice being a recent fork from OpenOffice. Both these suites contain the usual suspects of a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software that we will take a quick look at in the supporting video. Users will also need access in many situations to websites using a browser so knowing your way around Firefox will be useful. Again Firefox is available on most common Operating Systems. A consideration in a Desktop strategy would be first to get users using Open Source, once that is in place then a movement to a Linux distribution is not difficult as the applications will be the same and familiar to your users. http://www.theurbanpenguin.com

Linux Essentials

Even though the GUI exists we can still access the command line using Linux desktops; we may do this through our Window Manager accessing some form of graphic console such as the KDE Konsole program or with the Gnome-terminal. If we have physical access to the desktop or server we can usually access the physical terminal screens or terminals, in geek-speak tty1 through to tty6, using the Alt + Ctrl + F1 for tty1, Alt + Ctrl + F2 for tty2, etc. We can return to the comfort of the graphical console with Alt + Ctrl + F7. The following screen-shot illustrates access to the command line using the gnome-terminal application.

Of course managing Linux is not all about managing the desktop. Linux distributions frequently are found supporting users as back-end servers; be this for web server platforms, print servers, file services, email , databases and, of course, much more. Increasingly, as companies implement cloud and virtual servers, they may download appliances. These appliances are pre-configured servers that often run Linux. Of course, when we think about it, Linux is the perfect choice for these appliances as Linux is available at no cost and freely available to redistribute. In addition to Linux appliances you may also find that your Linux knowledge goes some way to supporting the virtualization hosts such as Citrix XenServer. Linux is truly everywhere when it comes to IT. Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-kRON17Kul8

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