Community Based Linux certification

Evan Leibovitch writes "The Linux Institute has recently opened a website to provide information on its professional certification program that has already been about half a year in the making. Like the Digital Metrics program recently announced on Slashdot, it has no big names behind it, just a lot of hard and dedicated workers. However, unlike other Linux certification attetmpts, this one is community based, non-profit, and non-distribution-specific. "

Don't you stop?

[Anonymous Coward]

Man, Rob should just relegate these ACs
to score=-1 land

A good idea for a test

[palpatine]

Here's a test that would definitely get you some sort of certification:

They put you in a room with a computer running Linux, a case of beer, and a randomly selected piece of hardware on the table. The hardware isn't supported on Linux. Your task is to find out what the hardware does, insert it into the computer, and write a device driver for the device in the form of a kernel patch. You must also drink the entire case of beer. You have 30 minutes.

Nice idea, but

[mackga]

I still can't get to the site. Did the /. effect melt their server(s)?

Admin != C programmer

[cthonious]

Why does everyone think you need to understand kernel source to admin Linux? This is patently ridiculous. I don't understand a lick of c and I'm doing just fine adminning linux ... you don't need to know any programming at all other than very basic shell scripting ... but advanced shell scripting helps a great deal. C or writing drivers has nothing to do with being an admin. on the other hand, there are a lot of c programmers who don't know a lick about setting up sendmail, DNS, or any other server programs ... that is what adminning is.

Sounds good...

[taliesen]

Sounds good, and their material looks decently thought out, but damn is that site ugly (IMHO)...
something needs to be done about the color scheme...

Reading linux source hardly an expert makes

[Jeffrey Baker]

If it's a common sense approach, WTF would I buy the book?

IS REDHAT DOWN? Speaking if certifiers,,,

[NikoDemous]

Just curious if anyone here has taken the RHCE course yet?


Nick
LSG

Level 1 a waste of time

[Cassius]

Level 1 is so low and useless it wouldn't be worth the time to take the test.

Really, are you going to drive to some test center somehwere and take an hour out of your life to show someone you can select the right timezone in the RedHat install?

Reading linux source hardly an expert makes

[Jonathan White]

Ok, I feel rather compelled to reply based upon the problem solver remark....
Reading the source is obviously done after the manuals have been perused, it is the way that one fully understands what the program is doing. There are certainly things that the source will reveal that the manual does not.

Since you bring up secure shell (the fact that you refer to it as sshd speaks volumes), an understanding of the fundamentals of cryptography when combined with a source file will show you most of what the security concious admin needs to know. A manual certainly cannot be trusted for this information, if the programmer half assed the random number generator, why would he document it?

Personally I would recommend 'The Design and Implementation of the 4.4 BSD Operating System' combined with the books of W. Richard Stevens but that's a little much to expect from an (usually) underpaid sys admin.

I might not be certified, but I am certifiable

[Master Switch]

Cool, but you don't become a linux expert by reading certification manuals. You become a linux expert by hacking at it over and over again, and reading the source code:) I suppose that certification is good, because it gives the management types a warm fuzzy fealing.

Deep thoughts on Certification

[rark]

Well, the Linux Institute site now appears to be
/.ed, but that's not going to stop me from commenting on certifications :) --- it's a kind of catch-22 -- Certification is needed. There are people out there who know nothing billing themselves as linux experts. One guy I worked with at one point claimed to know as much as I did, and I gave him the benefit of the doubt right up until the four hour conversation that I spent explaining that he couldn't cd into bash, that it was a shell and he was already there. And 'showstrings' is not a bash command, no matter how you type it, and the fact that it's not there does *not* mean that the server has been compromised. OTOH, certifications of any type (not just technical) have been used for years to shut people (especially people without money or other resources)who would have been otherwise qualified out of jobs, which is totally antithesis to my view of what open source software should be. And yes, being able to pass a written test proves very little about your linux ability and knowledge, but tests using actual hardware and software are more expensive and harder to administer. It's certainly something the linux community needs to think about.

rark!

Admin != C programmer

[Skapare]

True, you don't need to know C or understand kernel source to admin Linux. But not knowing it does limit the scope of what you can do. It is just like any other skill or understanding. What it does for me (and I've been programming in C since 1982 on over a dozen different platforms) is give me the ability to diagnose problems in programs I am trying to install, and modify those that don't do exactly what I want.

Another example is networking skills. You don't have to understand TCP/IP to admin a system, but it has its advantages if you do know it. And knowing HTML has some advantages, as well :-)

I would suggest learning as many related skills you can, especially if you want to improve your career position even in the sysadmin track.