Archive for March, 2010
Question Dissection: LILO Timeout
Posted by RossB in Articles, Books, Question Dissection Series on 2010/03/27
Note: The Question Dissection Series is designed to present a sample LPIC Exam question taken from various sources for study, providing the right and wrong answers with explanations designed to show you how questions should be read and understood. Additionally there are Notes that point to sites, resources and other tools to help you study properly for the concepts contained in the question.
Question: LILO Timeout
From objective 102.2 Install a Boot Manager
Your system’s /etc/lilo.conf file has been edited to have a value of 50 for the timeout option. What is the effect of this on the system, assuming the lilo command was used afterward to update the boot loader location?
❍ A. The system waits 5 seconds to boot.
❍ B. The system waits 50 seconds to boot.
❍ C. The system won’t boot; it’s incorrect.
❍ D. The system waits the hex value of 50 to boot.
Answer A is correct because it will wait 5 seconds to boot the default entry. The timeout option’s values are in 1/10ths of a second.
Answer B is incorrect because the timeout option’s values are in seconds.
Answer C is incorrect because the system will boot the default entry.
Answer Dis incorrect because the timeout option uses 1/10ths of a second for its value.
Notes: Boot managers are really important, obviously you can’t boot the system if your LILO or GRUB files are pooched. A couple of resources for learning more about this topic exist, the first of which would be Chapter 1 of the current version of my book LPIC 1 Exam Cram 2 (look for it in the sidebar ->), starting on Pg 14, the second would be the lilo man pages, ( man 5 lilo.conf ), and a great HOWTO about the Linux Boot Process titled: From-PowerUp-To-Bash-Prompt-HOWTO.
Any comments, suggestions or questions are welcome.
RossB
Copyright 2000-2009 Ross Brunson
Certifiable: Preparing for the LPIC Level 1 Certification – Part 1
Posted by RossB in Articles, Certifiable Series on 2010/03/26
Certifiable is a series dedicated to helping you get ready to take the LPIC 1 exams, both in mental state and how to study and experiment more effectively.
Let’s Roll
So, you’ve decided you need to get a Linux Cert, and have chosen the Linux Professional Institute’s LPIC Level 1. Excellent — it’s not an easy cert, but I’m absolutely certain I can be of assistance in your reaching this goal.
Plenty of people have taken the Linux Professional Institute Certification (LPIC) exams, but only approximately 40% make it through the first exam (101) on the first try. That’s a pretty slim margin, but it helps keep the certification worthy and respected in the exam industry.
It’s funny, but if you have someone take the two exams (101 and 102) that make up the LPIC Level 1 cert back to back, they’ll usually do worse on the 102 exam. If they pass the 101 exam, then work for a while at those tasks and study for the 102, they usually do BETTER on the 102 exam, mostly because they have practiced and absorbed the tasks that make it easier to understand what’s being asked, and have some frame of reference for being able to answer those harder and higher-level questions.
Realistically, people prepare for the LPIC exams in several ways—some advisable, others not quite cheating but not recommended. It’s better to avoid even the appearance of cheating, and you’ll feel much better about the resulting cert if you play it by the book.
Studying and Preparing
The following list is a (recommended) set of things you should do to prepare for this set of exams (and others):
- Study the objectives, thoroughly.
- Understand every command listed in the objectives.
- Try everything mentioned several times on a live machine.
- Read every study guide in existence.
- Buy books like this one and read them thoroughly.
- Search the Web to find answers (known hereafter as Googling).
- Take a class, do all the labs, and use it as a springboard to learn more.
- Acquire your own Linux guru to bug incessantly with questions about how things work.
- Join your local Linux user group (LUG) and geek out regularly, or start the local LUG if it doesn’t already exist.
- Read every study and article (TCO, implementation, and so on) published on the topic.
- Regularly learn a new topic and focus on measurable steps.
Now for the list of things you should avoid when preparing for these (or any) exams:
- Surfing the “braindump” sites; most of the answers are fallacious at best, and fantasy and criminally wrong at worst.
- Using test-preparation guides that purport to “guarantee” your passing.
- Several vendors offer what (at least to this author) look like exact copies of the questions. This is illegal.
- Using study-buddy situations in which a group of candidates serially take the exam, slowly building a pool of questions for later examinees.
Taking an exam can be a very nerve-wracking experience. When I do bootcamps, part of the introductory briefing is to take everyone to the testing center and let them see the “torture chamber” so it’s not unknown when exam time comes.
Take Heart, Grasshopper
The LPIC exams are one of the most difficult in the industry, and I’m not just telling you this to make you uncomfortable, either. The usual Microsoft or Cisco question can be quite wordy, with a lot of fluff and distracters—not the LPIC. LPIC questions are rarely more than a couple of sentences and are usually as blunt as a two-by-four to the knees.
Rather than worry about the environment and how the testing center will be, concentrate on the exam questions, the types and strategies, and how you’ll prepare for the exam. Good preparation makes the rest of the experience take a back seat. You’re there to take the exam, not worry about whether they’ll give you enough paper or pens.
Prepare — For Success
This series—besides explaining the LPIC exam environment and software, will describe some proven exam-taking strategies you should be able to use to your advantage.
Enjoy,
RossB
Copyright 2000-2009 Ross Brunson
Hello and Introduction
Posted by RossB in Announcements, Articles, Books on 2010/03/24
Hi, I’m Ross Brunson, a long-time Linux sysadmin, consultant and trainer. I created and taught for a number of years the world’s first LPIC Level 1 Boot Camps, helping thousands of attendees learn Linux and consequently pass their LPIC 1 exams. I’m a member of the LPI Technical Advisory Council, a board member of the Open Source Software Institute and a speaker at Linuxworld and other technical conferences.
In 2003 I got tired of all the LPIC books being so out of date, so I pitched the concept of an Exam Cram to Pearson/Que and they went for it. I began using the book in class, with great results, I could talk less, they could read more, and pass rates went way up!
Commercially, the book has been very successful, still selling briskly, and has helped many tens of thousands of hopeful candidates learn Linux and pass their LPIC exams. The book is written not as an exam dump, but in a conversational style that closely follows the typical classroom experience, giving the reader the experience of “a boot camp in a can” as one of my kind attendees so elegantly put it.
Good news, we’re updating the book, and it’ll be out in Q2 of 2009, featuring all the original goodness, plus updates to include all changes that have occurred since the original publication. Ok, so the alternative Good News is that instead of going through the standard publishing process, which is very long, time-consuming and pays very little, I’m taking all my classroom experience and creating a set of Moodle courses that will encompass all the best training, information and tips about preparing for and getting the LPIC 1 certificiation.
This blog, the new Moodle courses, Youtube channel, Twitter feed and other avenues are to help spread the word, educate potential candidates and to raise the awareness of the Linux Professional Institute’s great entry-level certification — the LPIC 1.
I’ve learned a great deal since that book was written, and continue to every day. From now on, I’ll be blogging, tweeting, building courses and screencasting my experiences along the way, and trying to make getting this foundational and very lucrative certification easier for everyone, accessible from anywhere in the world, at very affordable costs.
If I can help out, or there’s a topic you want to see covered in a post or a video, feel free to shoot me an email or leave a comment, I’ll consider and try to use any reasonable input.
Thanks and stay tuned, there’s a LOT of information coming your way.
Enjoy,
RossB
Copyright 2000-2009 Ross Brunson
And… We have Liftoff! Er, Again.
Posted by RossB in Announcements on 2010/03/05
Welcome to the LPICPrep.com Blog, where you’ll find the aggregation of all the different articles, videos, examples and experiences in the Linux/Unix training world by Ross Brunson.
Coming up is the first Youtube video from the LPICPrep channel, a series of articles about the upcoming LPI objectives and exam refreshes, dissections of sample questions and much more.
Also coming is a set of courses done in Moodle, using some advanced techniques to help you get informed and study all about the LPIC Certification.
Subscribe to the RSS Feed, become a subscriber on the Youtube channel or just follow the action on Twitter, it’s going to interesting and fun.
Thanks,
RossB