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Softpanorama |
May the source be with you, but remember the KISS principle ;-)
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Books are better and more effective that pure
computer-based instruction for preparing to tests and exams.
Certification definitely has its merits, but one need to understand that it's a mixed blessing. Certification is not a replacement for very skills that are evaluated; with some training one can usually answer multiple choice questions without such skills.
In the absence of certification, employers tend to evaluate prospective employees' skills using probation periods for new hires, practical demonstrations of skill (fix this and that), or bringing trusted technical employees into the interview process.
If certification is available if usually quickly became a part of pre-selection process as employers prefer candidates with certifications. This leads them to ignore or undervalue candidates who lacks certifications, even of the latter has relevant skills. That harms both employee and employer. Well-marketed certifications give employers an illusion that they can safely rely on the certification as a credential. This is the nature of marketing...
Naturally, once it is established as a "standard", employees are virtually required to obtain it. If a certification can be made into a de-facto "standard", then the employment market for the relevant skill set becomes recursively dependent on that certification.
In view of those considerations I think that system administration certification and its close relatives (networking and security certifications) should:
Be affordable. The price for Sun exam ($150) is IMHO the highest limit for a decent certifications. If the certificationrequeres you to shell $450 for the exam, it is natural to suspect that it is partially a scam.
System administrator certification probably should consists of two parts like in Solaris -- generic administration issues and advanced and or "unix-flavour-specific" issues.
Testing should be administered uniformly with test having approximately the same level of difficulty.
Training should be affordable and not require shelling $3000 per class. Sun training classes are probably the best in the industry but few administrators outside large companies can afford them. I think they should be made more affordable.
Dr. Nikolai Bezroukov
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[Jan 16, 2006] Solaris Certification Exams Strategy was added
[Dec 1, 2006] Solaris 9, Part II certification exam page was added
[May 16, 2005] Solaris 9, part I certification exam (CX-310-014) page was added
[Apr 18, 2004] Solaris Certification page was created
[Jan 14, 2003] Information Security Resources and Links at RTEK 2000, The Internet Career Training School in Baltimore, MD -- very good collection of links
Training resources from Resourcemax
UnixReview.com Top 50 Things to Know to Pass the Sair Exam 104
This month, I’ll look at the final exam required by Sair to become a Linux Certified Administrator (LCA). Over the preceding three months, I’ve dissected exams 101 (Installation and Configuration), 102 (System Administration), and 103 (Networking). You must pass four Sair exams for this entry-level certification, and this month I’ll cover Exam 104: Security.
To register for any of the Sair exams, contact a Prometric Testing Center by visiting www.2test.com or VUE testing center at: www.vue.com. The links in this article point you to locations where you can learn more about individual topics that I can’t delve into here due to space constraints. Be sure to follow the links and learn as much as you possibly can about the products that are included on the exam.
| UnixReview.com: Top 50 Things to Know to Pass the Sair Exam 102 |
(Apr 8, 2001, 17:00 UTC) (2397 reads) (6 talkbacks) (Posted by
mhall)
"Last month, I took a detailed look at the
101 (Installation and Configuration) exam from Sair. This month, I turn to Exam
102 (System Administration) and give it the same scrutiny. It is one of the four
Sair exams you must pass to become a Linux Certified Administrator (LCA). Passing
Exam 102 will earn you the designation of Linux Certified Professional (LCP)."
UNIXReview.com:
The Top 50 Things to Know to Pass the LPIC Exam 102 (Jan 15, 2001)
NewsForge Linux certification programs Will only the strongest survive -- not all Linux certifications are created equal.
Most people in the Linux certification industry say there's room for more than one product, and the vendors all have heavyweight backers -- Red Hat, of course, backs the Red Hat certification; Thomson Corp. owns Sair; and distributions such as SuSE, Caldera, and Mandrake have rallied around LPI.
During LinuxWorld New York last week, Sair announced its level II training and exam for Linux certified engineers. At the same time, the LPI folks were surveying Linux system administrators as they prepared to create their level II exam. Also recently announced is a new Linux+ certification basic-level certification from CompTIA, which has support from both LPI and Sair.
Sair's level II exam, an addition to Sair's level I Linux certified administrator exam, includes electives on Apache, MySQL, Sendmail, and Perl. Tobin Maginnis, president of Sair Linux and GNU, talks up his program's "comprehensive, in-depth, and objective nature" that's not biased toward any distribution.
Sair's most recent numbers say 712 people have passed one or more of the four tests that make up level I, and 131 have passed all four tests. Test takers must also pass four tests to receive the Level II certification from Sair.
Over at LPI, organizers are hoping for community support to launch the level II exam. Responses to the job analysis survey are needed to write the questions, says Dan York, co-founder of LPI. "We felt that (the exams) ought to be independent and controlled by Linux professionals who were actually using Linux, rather than a courseware company, which is motivated by revenue, or by a distribution," he says. "We wanted to see Linux certification controlled by the community."
LPI people also talk up their psychometric analysis of the exams, which, they say, insures questions are both scientific and fair.
There's some disagreement among the certification vendors and the more than half dozen Linux training companies about whether the Linux certification market has room for all of them. LPI has given about 1,300 exams since mid-2000, with about a 50% pass rate, and more than 10,000 people have gone through Red Hat training, with about 4,000 taking the Red Hat certified engineer exam and about 2,500 passing, according to Peter Childers, vice president of Global Learning Services for Red Hat.
Solarisprep.com has now launched its Full 81 practice Exam for Solaris 7 310-009. The Exam Engine usage is totally Free and can be used as many times as you like. The practice Exam Engine Interface is practically identical to the real thing, you are also given feedback at the end of the Exam in the form of a subject summary, regarding how well you did on the specified Objectives laid out by Sun. The Exam Engine pulls from over 200+ questions randomly from a pool each time you use it.
| Fortuitous.com: Fortuitous Technologies Linux training manuals now GPLed |
"Fortuitous Technologies is proud to
present the Linux community with our Linux Fundamentals course curriculum. We
hope that it will be beneficial to trainers and companies alike who seek high
quality course materials for Linux at a low cost."
By Dan York
... ... ...
The Challenge of Linux Certification
Why tell you all of this information? Mostly to set the stage to talk about the challenge of Linux certification. You see, there's a basic issue here-no one is in charge! Unlike other operating systems, there is no central "Linux, Inc." No one company can simply dictate the standards for certification or for anything else. Instead there is the whirling bazaar of companies, organizations and individuals all cooperating to build the Linux operating system, yet many of them also competing with each other as well.
While it may sound chaotic, it actually works surprisingly well and continues to grow dramatically. That lack of central control is both a strength and a weakness. As far as certification goes, you have the freedom to choose from among several different programs, but the challenge for you is to figure out which is best for you.
As of August 2000, there are really three main Linux certification programs out there, with a fourth just emerging. Alphabetically, the three existing programs are:
On the emerging side, CompTIA has just recently announced its Linux+ program. Let's take a look at each of these in turn, starting basically in the order in which the programs developed.
The Distribution Vendor-Red Hat
As Red Hat was developing its training classes throughout 1997 and 1998, it became clear to them that they wanted an end goal of some type of certification for students. At the time, there was no distribution-neutral program out there, so Red Hat decided to develop its own. Besides that, many of the people involved with Red Hat were not pleased with the quality of other existing IT certification programs, such as those of Microsoft and Novell, and wanted to do things a little bit differently. So they did, and in late 1998 and early 1999 launched their own program.
The Red Had Certified Engineer (RHCE) certification consists of a day-long exam that includes a computer-based component, but primarily focuses on lab-based practical exam situations. Originally, you had to take Red Hat's five-day RH300 training class in order to take the exam, but later the exam was also offered separately. The exam itself consists of three parts:
The exams are held at training centers operated by either Red Hat, Global Knowledge or IBM Global Services. There are also a number of individual training centers and companies that are now offering the RHCE exam.
As mentioned, you can take the exam without the training class. Red Hat refers to this as RH302 and, as of August 2000, the cost in the United States is listed as $749. The exam objectives are listed on the Red Hat Web site, www.redhat.com. Do be aware that the listed prerequisites for the RHCE training class assume a fairly solid understanding of Linux and/or UNIX.
The Courseware Vendor-Sair
Separately from all of this, in 1998, Dr. Tobin Maginnis was working with his students at the University of Mississippi and decided to apply his ideas to the creation of a Linux certification program. He developed a "knowledge matrix" that broke down information about Linux into four main "usage areas":
Each of these usage areas are then divided into six general system components:
Using this matrix, he began to develop courseware and exams to mold to this model. He and his company, Sair, www.linuxcertification.com, defined a program with three levels of certification:
Each level will consist of four exams (targeted at the four usage areas) costing $100 apiece and available through 2,900 Prometric testing centers worldwide. As of August 2000, the four exams of Level 1 are available globally in English.
Simultaneously to the exam development, Sair was also developing books that are published through John Wiley & Sons, and courseware that is available through Sair Linux & GNU Accredited Centers for Education, of which there are a number available throughout the world.
As with RHCE, you do not have to take the training class, but can simply look at the exam objectives and take the exams if you feel you have the necessary knowledge level.
Along the way, Sair did pick up some support from within the Linux community and has an advisory board consisting of various people and companies that work with Linux.
The Community Project-Linux Professional Institute
In 1998, independently from the Sair effort, another group of individuals working with Linux began to get concerned about the direction of Linux certification. Red Hat had launched its program, and Caldera and SuSE were talking about doing ones as well. The concern was that if all the separate distributions created certification programs, the resulting fragmentation would hurt the overall effectiveness of a combined Linux certification program.
So, doing what people will do in the Linux and Internet world, they started a mailing list in the fall of 1998 and started discussing how a plan might be structured. To make a long story shorter, out of all this discussion emerged what would become the Linux Professional Institute (LPI), www.lpi.org. At the beginning, Caldera Systems merged its plans into those of LPI, as SuSE did later. Much later, another Linux certification program, DigitalMetrics, also merged its program into that of LPI.
The discussion went on to define that the LPI program should be distribution-neutral, vendor-independent, available globally and as inexpensive as possible. With those goals in mind, work began.
LPI developed its program a bit differently than the others. A large concern was to ensure the legal defensibility and statistical validity of the exams, and so the organization went down the route of using the psychometric exam-development processes used by most other IT certification programs. This involved, for instance, performing an extensive "job skills analysis," which surveyed more than 1,000 Linux system administrators to determine what exactly they did on a routine basis. Out of this data emerged the objectives that were turned into the LPI exams.
LPI went on to define three levels of certification, with two exams at each level. The first level is targeted at a junior-level Linux administrator. The second at a more senior or advanced administrator and the third at more of a "guru" or specialist. After a lengthy six-month debate on names, the certification was named simply "LPI Certified Level 1" (LPIC1), "LPI Certified Level 2" (LPIC2), etc.
The exams cost $100 each and are available through the 2,300 VUE test centers worldwide. As of August 2000, the two exams for Level 1 (exams #101 and #102) are available globally in English, with Japanese versions of the exam becoming available within the next few months. Work is underway to define Level 2, which should start becoming available in early 2001.
One thing a bit different about LPI from the other two programs is that LPI does not specify how you prepare for the exams. There is no approved courseware or designated training centers. LPI specifies only the certification standards and leaves the education up to the individual.
Which is not to say that there isn't education out there for LPI. In fact, because of this openness, you can now prepare for LPI exams from more than seven different courseware vendors, six books from different publishers, a couple of Web-based training classes and hundreds of individual training centers. Alternatively, you can download the objectives from the Web site and simply study on your own using your Linux system.
Without training revenue to support it, LPI is primarily funded through more than 40 corporate and individual sponsors, as well as through a portion of the exam fee paid by candidates. LPI has also gathered support from an extensive advisory council and involves many volunteers in its effort. LPI is also unique in that it is a community project and is open to anyone to become more involved with the process.
The Newcomer-CompTIA Linux+
If you are not familiar with CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association is an independent nonprofit organization that offers certification programs and also pursues public policy issues. CompTIA is most widely known for the A+ certification, as well as the newer Network+ and i-Net+ programs. Back in 1999, the membership started to suggest that they ought to be looking into Linux and incorporating that into their programs. They began to talk with the other organizations offering Linux certification and started to consider how best to proceed.
Early in 2000, discussions started to get serious and culminated with a joint announcement in July between CompTIA, Caldera Systems, LPI and Sair that they would all work together to create a Linux+ certification program. The general idea is that it will build upon the other CompTIA certification programs, such as Network+, and provide a growth path for someone looking to get into Linux, but who doesn't have much experience with Linux or UNIX systems. You could think of it as being targeted at an "advanced user" or an administrator coming over from a Windows or NetWare environment. It will come in somewhere below the Level 1 programs of either LPI or Sair, and a logical step for someone after achieving Linux+ would be to go on into either or both of those programs.
Development of the single Linux+ exam is under way now and the exam should be deployed sometime in 2001, presumably through the standard Prometric and VUE testing channels. Visit www.comptia.org for more information.
Other Programs
While these programs are the primary ones available to you, there are at least two others that deserve mentioning.
Brainbench (www.brainbench.com) is a company (formerly Tekmetrics) that offers Web-based certification exams. Its exams cover a very wide range of topics and do include a Linux exam. Being Web-based without any type of proctor involved, it is difficult to verify the security of the exam process. Still, it is an option that is out there.
ProsoftTraining.com, found online at (www.prosofttraining.com), is primarily known as the provider of courseware and exams for the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) program. But it did have a UNIX certification program available, and in 1999 it revamped the program and released it as a Linux certification program with an exam available through Prometric. However, ProsoftTraining.com has indicated that it will be shifting to supplying courseware and merging the existing Linux certification program into that of LPI. Details are yet to be announced, but the merger should occur sometime in 2000.
[Sept 16, 2000] Brainbench and Linux Certification Roundup
Brainbench charges no fees to take their exams. Instead, the company caters to employers seeking a source for qualified job applicants. After you pass a Brainbench exam, you can list your results for these prospective employers to review. This is intended as a recruiting strategy and is funded by pricy access subscriptions charged to corporate customers.
The Linux exams offered by Brainbench include:
After taking both of the administration exams, I can say that they're not trivial, and they differ significantly from other Linux certifications like the LPIC, RHCE, and Sair Linux & GNU. Instead of testing at a certain level of knowledge using a static exam, these exams use questions requiring knowledge ranging from simple to highly detailed, delivered by an adaptive testing engine. I was surprised at the depth and breadth of coverage present in the exams. And here's the big difference: The results Brainbench reports to prospective employers may contain qualitative analysis of your exam performance, including specific strengths and weaknesses. This information can help employers to determine if you are qualified for senior positions.
If you want to allow non-participating employers to access your record, you can request that it be mailed or e-mailed, or you can give interested parties your Brainbench transcript number. They can enter the number on the Brainbench web site to immediately see your certifications.
Probably the biggest criticism of Web-based testing is the ease with which examinees can cheat. It's an honor system, and the advertised certifications could be considered suspect unless verified by the hiring employers. However, for paying Brainbench client companies, this is easily done during the interview process. Brainbench offers verification exams as a service to their clients, in both a short and long form, with immediate e-mail notification of results.
The cheating problem makes Brainbench certifications (and other Web-based programs) a dubious competitor for proctored certification techniques, and savvy employers won't be fooled. However, as a recruiting vehicle using the freely administered exams, and as an assessment system with the verification exams, Brainbench offers a credible, convenient, and substantive service to both examinees and employers. Those employers who need to quickly and objectively evaluate the skills of applicants may be very interested in this technique.
For anyone interested in certifying their Linux skills, the Brainbench offerings can help establish your qualifications. They're also excellent practice exams, and cost you nothing.
O'Reilly Network: Linux Professional Institute Certification, Part II(Jul
29, 2000)
O'Reilly Network: Sair Linux and GNU Certification(Jun 10, 2000)
O'Reilly
Network: Linux Professional Institute Certification(Apr 08, 2000)
O'Reilly
Network: The RHCE Experience(Feb 28, 2000)
O'Reilly
Network: The Linux Professional - Why Certify?(Feb 26, 2000)
[July 15, 1999] PC Week: Red Hat enters certification partnership
Red Hat announced a partnership with Global Knowledge Inc. It will provide a training program that culminates in certification for developers who want to specialize in Linux. Although the certification will be specific to Red Hat, courses will not focus specifically on Red Hat's Linux distribution. Rather, they will impart general Linux knowledge and education about the open source concept. The training will be available in 15 cities across the U.S. and Canada starting in September, the sources said. The move adds further enterprise momentum to Linux, which already has gained hardware certification through a battery of tests set up by Keylabs Inc. Red Hat contract with Global Knowledge is not exclusive and they expect similar certifications for other Linux distributions, such as those from TurboLinux and Caldera Systems Inc. They offer three 4 day courses at $2K a course:
[July 6, 1999] PC Week Novell stepping up education efforts
...plans to introduce new courses on Novell Directory Services and related technology and to create a new type of certification, called the Certified Directory Engineer.
... The company plans to roll out this fall the Certified Database Operator program for users of Oracle Corp. databases with Novell's NDS and NetWare. At the same time, Novell will debut Course 910, which will train and certify Microsoft Certified Solutions Engineers on NDS for NT, so those users can manage their mixed networks with the Novell directory, officials said.
Education as big business
It's all part of a larger Novell effort to increase its focus on education and credentials with users. Internal Novell research has indicated that many users who are CNEs do not have formal education but rather study on their own.... At the same time, other vendors are building loyal relationships with users by creating their own certifications, such as Microsoft's MCSE. ...In 1993, Novell research indicated that about 20 IT certifications existed. In 1996, that jumped to about 60. In 1999, more than 200 IT certifications are available to IT engineers.
...Nortz said Novell CEO Eric Schmidt has charged his group with increasing revenue from the education and consulting services group from 13 percent of overall Novell revenue in 1998 to 30 percent in 2002.
...Nortz said certification used to be almost nil in terms of revenue, but new figures show companies can charge quite a bit for the courses that are required for IT managers to receive their credentials. In one Novell presentation, the revenue potential for a Certified NetWare Administrator is laid out. It lists five required courses that education partners can buy for $1,140. But the suggested retail price of the courses is $7,275, for a profit of $6,135 to the provider. Another potential revenue generator will come from "continuing certification requirements," or CCRs, which Novell will introduce in September. These are yearly tests that must be passed in order for credential users to keep their certifications.
...Users generally welcome more education, as it gives them better job prospects. But one user, who has taught courses, also admits to mixed feelings. "To a point, it's important to job prospects," said the user, who requested anonymity. "The certification is required to get certain types of contracts. ... I see the positives and negatives. It provides at least some minimum level of knowledge on the products, but it's not really an indication of how they can handle it. And something like the directory certification will be useful for those focused on the directory, but first it really has to be recognized by the people who are hiring the talent."
[July 3, 1999] Linux Professional Institute Advisory Committee -- interesting reading ;-)
[June 18, 1999] Macmillan Introduces Mandrake-based distribution
[June 17, 1999] The Linux Professional Institute to Deliver Certification Exams in July
[June 8, 1999] Linux Certification Rolls Forward
...[LPI] it's not a Caldera show. It's an independent effort, which Caldera wholeheartedly supports because it "will lead to the best possible certification program, because its not specific to any one distribution."
According to Leibovitch, the LPI is now working with an advisory board that includes representatives form all the major Linux reseller distributors. These include Allan Smart, Caldera's director of education services; Lonn Johnston, Pacific HiTech's VP North American operations; Donnie Barnes, Red Hat's director of technical programs and Marc Torres, SuSE Inc.'s president.
...The first certification, naturally enough, will be the Basic with others to quickly follow. There will also be, later in the game, specific certifications for the major distributions.
But, what will participants be tested on? Plans are, unsurprisingly, sketchy at this point. But, what can be safely said is that someone with the basic level will be able to serve on a Linux helpdesk or work as a system administration assistant. At the next level, Standard, graduates will be system administrator ready. At the top, the Advanced level, graduates will be able, depending on their specializations, to work as a senior system administrator, database system administrator or cross-network system integrator.
Training, however, isn't in the LPI's current plans. For that, resellers will need to turn to still nascent Linux training companies and the existing training programs of Caldera, which are geared to generic Linux, or Red Hat with its Red Hat specific courses.
The LPI still doesn't have its ducks in a row on how the tests will be delivered. Although, LPI has had preliminary contact with such old pros of the testing world as Sylvan Prometric and Virtual University Enterprises, LPI may well try an entirely different approach.
The Linux certification's real value will only be seen when resellers have certificates on their walls and can determine whether they result in more business and/or higher rates. With the support of all the major Linux reseller vendors and a vendor neutral approach, though, this is one certification that should pay for itself.
[May 17, 1999] Linux Professional Institute FAQ
[May 17, 1999] Unix Workstation System Administration Education Certification -- very good with free quizzes and lessons...
[May 17, 1999] Linux Training Resources
[March 22, 1999] ZDNN: Is Red Hat a mini Microsoft -- critical view of Red Hat certification
**** CertPortal.com
**** Training resources from Resourcemax
**** Computer Certification - About.com
**** How To Get Certified Without Paying An Arm And Two Legs
**** Complete Certification List
University Alliance - Degrees Online
Etc.
Computer professionals who are certified by Novell or Microsoft are usually more respected than non-certified folks, although the value of Netware and Microsoft-certified professionals deteriorated in recent years ;-). Microsoft has put some good thought into creating an affordable program. See:
[June 10, 1999] Sm@rt Reseller Certification -- an interesting selection of materials (not Linux related)
[May 20, 1999] Red Hat reminding some of that other empire -- M$ certification has become a standard by which all are judged. I know all too many nulls that have managed to pass the certifications. This has gotten them jobs in positions where they have no business. The fact that you have taken a test and passed means very little, but still it's important
Extensive certification programs offered by companies like Microsoft help employers gauge the expertise of potential employees. And Microsoft's program has gone a long way toward making it the de facto standard in the corporate world. Borrowing a page from the enemy's playbook, Red Hat started offering training classes and certification tests in February. For $2,498, techies get four days of classroom instruction, a full day of testing and, if they pass muster, a Red Hat certified engineer accreditation. So far, about 75 people from around the world have come to Durham to take the test. The classes are filled through July. "It's another element that goes toward making Red Hat Linux a fully supported operating system," said Peter Childers, who was hired by Red Hat six months ago to launch the certification program. But for many Linux users, having a Linux certification named Red Hat is a little too reminiscent of the ways of the empire based in Redmond, Wash. "I will never become Red Hat-certified because I disagree with their program," said Chuck Meade, chief technology officer of Cary-based Moongroup Consulting. "They are almost taking a Microsoft approach, saying that Red Hat is Linux, and that just isn't true." Meade, who specializes in Linux projects like network consulting and e-mail, said he uses Red Hat Linux because he thinks it's the best version available, but when it comes to certification, he doesn't want the Red Hat name attached. "[Certification] should follow the model of Linux itself," he said.
32BitsOnline.com - Linux Certification - A Dream [Regular Columns-Editorial-Ronny Ko]
Linux Certification for the Software Professional Programmer by Tobin Maginnis (ptm@sairinc.com)
Dan York's 6-part article in Linux Gazette on certification issues.
PC
Week Next Linux milestone Certification By Scott Berinato, PC Week Online
April 19, 1999 9:00 AM ET
Companies such as Caldera, of Orem, Utah, with its release this week of OpenLinux 2.2, hope that independent certification of Linux products and engineers will focus attention on the operating system's capabilities instead of on the fact that it is based on open source code.
Even Linux creator Linus Torvalds has separated himself somewhat from the phenomenon.
"I've actually tried to be less involved with the open-source [public relations]," said Torvalds, in San Jose, Calif. "My problem is, if you get religious about things, you are going to fail eventually because you don't accept the viewpoints of others, regardless of how open-minded you start out."
These latest steps to make Linux a credible contender for enterprise deployment further de-emphasize the importance of open source code as a selling point.
Many large software developers, such as Novell, Sun Microsystems Inc. and Microsoft, have publicly embraced the concept but have done little with it beyond furthering the hype.
SAGE - Certification -vendor neutral certification.
Copyright © 1996-2008 by Dr. Nikolai Bezroukov. www.softpanorama.org was created as a service to the UN Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP) in the author free time. Submit comments This document is an industrial compilation designed and created exclusively for educational use and is placed under the copyright of the Open Content License(OPL). Original materials copyright belong to respective owners. Quotes are made for educational purposes only in compliance with the fair use doctrine.
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Last modified: June 02, 2008