Attention System Administrators: New Linux Certifications Launched Specially For You

Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization committed to Linux and everything that goes along with it, has just announced its new Linux Certification Program that targets system administrators (unlike most of rival Linux credentials, by the way). There are two certifications – one for early career system admins (LFCS) and one for seasoned, engineer-level admins (LFCE).

The vision for this certification program of the Linux Foundation was providing system administrators with some reputable and reliable means of verifying their skills through a certification exam that can be taken online – anytime, anywhere. The exams are performance based and do not include any multiple choice questions. Instead, candidates are tested at the command line on the skills they use every day.

Linux Foundation certification exams are distro-flexible and allow candidates to choose the distro they want to certify in. All of this is explained in a cute promotional video from the Linux Foundation:

Now, let’s take a closer look at both certifications and their exams.

• A Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS) credential validates the holder’s skills to do basic to intermediate system administration from the command-line for systems running Linux. Linux Foundation Certified System Administrators are knowledgeable in the operational support of Linux systems and services and are responsible for first line troubleshooting and analysis, and decide when to escalate issues to engineering teams.
• A Linux Foundation Certified Engineer (LFCE) possesses a wider range and greater depth of skills than the Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS). Linux Foundation Certified Engineers are responsible for the design and implementation of system architecture. They provide an escalation path and serve as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) for the next generation of system administration professionals.

Both certification exams are performance-based and candidates will need to perform tasks or solve problems using the command line interface in their chosen Linux distribution (you can choose from CentOS 6.4, openSUSE 13.1, or Ubuntu 14.04.

Don’t expect to cheat or to get a friend to pass the exam for you though, since candidates are monitored by a proctor during the exam session via streaming audio, video, and screensharing feeds.

The exam takes 2 hours and has the minimum passing score set at 65%. It has been released in English only, however, more languages may be added in the due course.
Full exam overview, domains, objectives and registration information is available here on the Linux Foundation website.

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