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LFCS Exam - Domains and Competencies = Outdated?

KonstantinA
KonstantinA Posts: 29
edited April 2020 in LFS201 Class Forum - Discontinued

At this link: https://training.linuxfoundation.org/certification/linux-foundation-certified-sysadmin-lfcs/
there is a domain to be tested "Service Configuration – 20%" that is not covered on both LFS201 and LFS101.
Also the "Certification Preparation Guide" document, available for download, shows the same information, but it is dated "October 2018".
On the same time the full course for the LFCS exam: https://training.linuxfoundation.org/training/linux-for-system-administrators/
doesn't cover that domain as well.

So, what i am seeing is outdated, or simply i have to cover that domain with self-study? I'm confused with this.

Comments

  • coop
    coop Posts: 917
    edited April 2020

    By itself, "service configuration" is a rather vague term. Topics that fit into it are all over LFS201 including systemd, systemctl, init stuff, etc. As far as comments about the certification preparation guide they should be addressed to the certification staff, not the training staff as they are distinct entities with a firewall separating them. My guess is they just didn't adjust the date as I know those documents do get updated.

    However, it is also certainly true that in the detailed drop down for "service configuration" there are topics that are not mentioned in LFS201 or only briefly so. The course is also already very very long and some of those topics (like the DNS and HTTP and IMAP etc) would make no sense to cover here -- and they are covered in the following course, LFS211. If I could control the exam content I would have told the committee to not specify such things as it is unrealistic to have them. However, I do not have any such authority. Having overly broad or extensive specifications is a product of design by committees of stakeholders rather than of trainers unfortunately.

    You also have to think in terms of what could be asked of you to do on an exam problem with a limited amount of time, and some of these topics would lead to a rather impossible exam.

    Other topics are clearly in the courses, such as the ones about querying and modify system services, and those on containers and VMs. However what does it mean to "manage and configure containers" ? That can be anything from a simple example to a complicated Kubernetes cluster.

    You don't need 100 percent to pass and you get a free retake if you fail. So just try to estimate what is likely to be there and what is not, and if you have specific questions, ask the certification staff. I hope this helps. Like I said, I maintain this course but I have no influence on the domains and competencies, I use them as a resource just like you. This courses is designed to help produce competent admins and engineers and hopefully help with the exam, but it not an exam prep course by design.

  • mstepien
    mstepien Posts: 593

    KonstantinA,

    You can reach certification team at certificationsupport@linuxfoundation.org.

  • KonstantinA
    KonstantinA Posts: 29

    I will send an email, for clarification.
    Thanks.

  • KonstantinA
    KonstantinA Posts: 29

    Just an update, in case, others are in the same position like me:

    1) Everything on the site is up to date and stands valid
    2) Re-read the reply from @coop above

    On a personal note, i can't eliminate the possibility of one-off tasks, for example (the following is a scenario made by me):

    "The DNS administrator left on vacation, but he forgot to enable zone transfers between the primary and secondary BIND servers. He has send you an email asking you to update the configuration".

    The above is a 1 minute task, so i will re-fresh basic BIND and Apache configuration, to be prepared in any case.

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