Novell Certified Linux Professional Exam (050-689)

Exam Description:

The Novell Certified Linux Professional (Novell CLP) is for people interested in being Linux administrators. Skills demonstrated by someone holding a Novell CLP certification include: installing Linux servers into a network environment, managing users and groups, troubleshooting the SUSE LINUX file system, managing and compiling the Linux kernel, and troubleshooting network processes and services--just to name a few. As with all Novell certifications, course work is never required. One need only pass a Novell Practicum (050-689) in order to achieve the certification. The Novell authorized training materials for this certification are designed to introduce students to basic Linux concepts and progress them through the tasks of managing a Linux network environment. The Novell Practicum is a scenario based exam where students apply the knowledge they have learned to solve real-life problems--showing they not only know what to do, but that they can actually do it as well.  

Exam Objectives and Sub-Objectives:

Following are the objectives of this exam.

1. Perform an installation of SLES 9 (from CD) that includes the following steps

• Pre-installation considerations
• Selecting Installation options
• Selecting software components
• Configuring hardware components and devices (including partitioning)
• Adding passwords and users
• Simple installation troubleshooting

2. Navigate in the KDE and GNOME desktop environments by doing the following

• Log in and log out
• Shutdown and reboot SLES 9 from the Desktop+
• Shutdown and reboot SLES 9 from the command line (using halt, poweroff, reboot, shutdown, and init)
• Use the Konqueror or Nautilus file manager
• Access file menus (especially the KDE menu), desktop icon, and panel icons
• Start and use YaST from the command line and desktop

3. Locate and use Help resources in the Linux system such as the following

• man pages
• info pages
• GUI-based help

4. Perform the following file management tasks in the SLES 9 system

• Select an appropriate Linux file system
• Configure Linux file system partitions (from the command line and from YaST)
• Configure a Linux file system with Logical Volume Management (LVM) from YaST
• Mount and unmount a file system
• Change directories and list directory contents
• Create and view files
• Find files and search file content
• Manage file permissions and ownership
• Set up and configure disk quotas
• Monitor and check a file system (using df, du, lsof, fuser, fsck, e2fsck, and reiserfsck)
• Create a boot, rescue, or module disk

5. Do the following from the Linux shell and command line

• Log in as root and switch user accounts.
• Access the command line interface from the Desktop and from virtual servers (such as Ctrl+Alt+F1)
• Use command syntax and special characters
• Use piping and redirection
• Manage user accounts
• Use the basic Linux mail command

6. Use Linux text editors

• Use the vi command Line editor to edit files
• Use a desktop editor (such as Kate) to edit files

7. Locate, view, and use the following types and sources of SUSE LINUX system information

• Boot log information (/var/log/boot.msg)
• Hardware information (using /proc/, hwinfo, hdparm, fdisk, iostat, lspci, and siga)
• Hardware driver information (hwinfo)
• System and process information (using top, uptime, ps. netstat, uname, KDE System Guard, and Xosview)
• Configure the syslog daemon (syslog.conf) to schedule logged events
• View log files with YaST
• Archive log files with logrotate

8. Administer processes by doing the following

• View processes from the GUI and the command line interface (using top, ps, and KDE System Guard) Manage foreground and background processes from the command line (using bg, &, fg, ps, pstree, nice, renice, and top)
• Stop processes from the command line (using kill and killall)
• Manage processes with KDE System Guard

9. Manage runlevels by doing the following

• Manage runlevels from the command line interface (by using init 0, init 1, and so on)
• Configure runlevels from YaST
• Change the runlevel at boot

10. Schedule jobs by doing the following

• Schedule a job with cron
• Run a job one time only with at

11. Manage the kernel by doing the following

• Locate and understand the purpose of files and directories related to the kernel (such as /boot/initrd)
• Manage modules from the command line (using lsmod, insmod, rmmod, modprobe, depmod, modinfo, and kmod)
• Modify kernel parameters with Powertweak

12. Manage the GRUB boot loader by doing the following

• Start the GRUB shell
• Modify the GRUB configuration file (using /boot/grub/menu.lst)
• Configure GRUB with YaST

13. Manage system and hardware settings by doing the following

• View and change system settings (using /proc/sys/)
• Configure /etc/sysconfig/ files with YaST
• Use SuSEPlugger to view parameters and access YaST modules
• Modify hardware parameters with Powertweak
• Monitor hard drive space (using df, du, Info Center, and Kdiskfree)

14. Manage the network configuration by doing the following

• Configure a network card with YaST (both static IP address and DHCP)
• Configure a network card from the command line (using ifconfig and ip)
• Perform network connection management tasks from the command line (using ping, netstat, netcat, traceroute, iroute, ifup, and ifdown)
• Configure host and domain names manually (with /etc/HOSTNAME and /etc/resolv.conf)
• Configure a network connection manually (using files in /etc/sysconfig/network)
• Manage the routing table from the command line (using route and ip)
• Save routing settings to a configuration file (/etc/sysconfig/network/routes)
• Configure routing from YaST
• Assign IP addresses from the command line (using add, del, and show)
• Analyze network traffic (using tcpdump and ethereal)

15. Manage user and group accounts by doing the following

• Create, modify, and delete users and groups from YaST
• Create and delete users and groups from the command line
• Set defaults for new user accounts from YaST
• Configure user authentication with PAM
• Monitor login activity (using who, w, finger, last, lastlog, and faillog)

16. Manage and configure network file systems by doing the following

• Configure an NFS (Network File System) server and client with YaST
• Configure an NFS server manually
• Configure and mount NFS directories
• Monitor the NFS system from the command line (using rpcinfo and showmount)
• Configure a Samba server and client with YaST
• Monitor and test Samba from the command line (using testparm, nmblookup, smbclient, smbstatus, and rcsmb)  

17. Manage resources on the network by doing the following

• Configure an NIS (Network Information Service) master server, slave server, client, and users with YaST
• Configure Maps manually (using ypdomainname and make)
• Manage NIS from the command line (using ypdomainname, ypwhich, ypcat, ypmatch, yppasswd, and yppoll)  

18. Manage software packages by doing the following

• Install and manage RPM software packages from the command line with the rpm command
• Install RPM software packages from YaST
• Compile software from source (using make and make install)
• Verify and update software library access (using ldd, /etc/ld.so.conf, and /etc/ld.so.cache)
• Update your SLES 9 installation from a YaST Online Update (YOU) server

19. Enable Internet services by doing the following

• Synchronize time with netdate and hwclock
• Synchronize time with NTP (using ntpdate, ntp.conf, ntptrace, and YaST)
• Configure an HTTP Apache Web server with YaST
• Configure an Apache Web server from the configuration files (such as httpd.conf and default-server.conf)
• Manage the Apache Web server from the command line (using apache2 and apache2ctl)
• Configure a virtual Host for the Apache Web server
• Limit access to the Apache Web server (using allow, deny, and htpasswd2)
• Configure an SSL encryption with an Apache Web server (using RSA key pairs and configuration files)
• Configure the Extended Internet Daemon (xinetd) from YaST and the command line (using xinetd and xinetd.conf)
• Configure the TCP wrapper
• Install, configure, and run PureFTPd server

20. Configure and use a DNS server by doing the following

• Install and configure the BIND server software (bind and bind-utils packages)
• Configure a caching-only DNS server
• Configure a master server and one or more slave servers for your domain
• Configure a client computer with YaST to use the DNS server
• Query the DNS server from the command line (using host and dig)

21. Deploy and use OpenLDAP on a SLES 9 server by doing the following

• Install and set up an OpenLDAP server (using the slapd.conf and ldap.conf files)
• Add entries to the LDAP server by creating and using an LDIF file (and the commands recode and ldapadd)
• Query information from the LDAP server at the command line (using ldapsearch)
• Delete and modify entries of the LDAP server at the command line (using ldapmodify and ldapdelete)
• Use the GQ graphical applications to access data in the LDAP server

22. Manage backup and recovery on a SLES 9 server by doing the following

• Archive, compress, and uncompress files (using tar, gzip, bzip2, and zcat)
• Work with magnetic tapes with the mt command
• Copy data with the dd command
• Mirror directories with the rsync command
• Automate data backups with the cron service
• Boot a corrupted system directly into a shell
• Boot a corrupted system with the Installation media
• Start and use the SLES 9 rescue system

23. Create basic shell scripts by doing the following

• Use basic script elements (such as variables, command substitutions, and arithmetic operations)
• Use variable substitution operators (such as ${variable-value}, ${variable=value}, and ${variable+value})
• Use control structures (such as if and until commands, case statements, and loop processing)
• Use advanced scripting techniques (such as shell functions and getopts)

24. Manage remote access by doing the following

• Configure an OpenSSH server and client (by editing sshd_config and ssh_config files)
• Use SSH client commands (such as scp, ssh, ssh-add, ssh-agent, ssh-keygen, and ssh-keyscan)
• Enable Remote Administration with YaST
• Configure and access an Installation Server with YaST

25. Secure a SLES 9 server by doing the following

• Secure the BIOS with a password
• Secure the GRUB boot loader with a password
• Configure directory ACLs from the command line (using getfacl and setfacl)
• Configure Security Settings with YaST

26. Find performance bottlenecks by doing the following

• Analyze processes and processor utilization (using top, uptime, mpstat, and KDE System Guard)
• Analyze memory utilization and performance (using free, vmstat, and KDE System Guard)
• Analyze storage performance (using vmstat and iostat)
• Analyze network utilization and performance (using KDE System Guard, Traffic-vis, and ip)

Exam Detail: