Course Syllabus: Linux Essentials Instructor: Jay Hanks Email: jayhhanks@gmail.com Phone: Office: (740) 364-2299 Courseware Course #: Hours: Meeting Days & Times: Location TestOut Linux Pro 4.1 LPI Linux Essentials NT8800G 82.5 hours (80 classroom, 2.5 testing) Monday & Wednesday 5:30pm 9:30pm Course Prerequisites WorkKeys pretesting High School Diploma or GED Course Materials Notebook and pen for note taking Desktop Computer with Linux OS Personal Laptop (optional) Course Description Linux adoption continues to rise world-wide as individual users, government entities and industries ranging from automotive to space exploration embrace open source technologies. This expansion of open source in enterprise is redefining traditional Information and Communication Technology (ICT) job roles to require more Linux skills. Whether you re starting your career in Open Source, or looking for advancement, independently verifying your skill set can help you stand out to hiring managers or your management team. This Linux Essentials course is a great way to show employers that you have the foundational skills required for your next job or promotion. It also serves as an ideal stepping-stone to the more advanced LPIC Professional Certification track for Linux Systems Administrators. This course is designed to help you prepare for the LPI Linux Essentials Certification Exam
Course Objectives The course objectives include: Preparing students for post-program success, both in the work force and in their educational pursuits. Preparing students to process information using higher order thinking skills and to engage in sound decision-making. Providing a rich learning environment utilizing research-based methods of instruction, state-of-the-art technology, and current resources and materials. Maintaining high expectations for all students regardless of educational needs and providing support necessary for achievement. Providing a challenging, worthwhile curriculum based on current industry/academic expectations. Specifically and upon successful completion of the course and the Linux Essentials Certification, the students will be able to: o Demonstrate understanding of FOSS, the various communities, and licenses o Demonstrate knowledge of open source applications in the workplace as they relate to closed source equivalents o Understand basic concepts of hardware, processes, programs and the components of the Linux Operating System o Work on the command line and with files o Create and restore compressed backups and archives o Implement system security, users/groups and file permissions for public and private directories o Create and run simple scripts 2
Grading Evaluation of student performance is based upon pupil performance objectives relating to course competencies study. The number of competencies mastered and the degree of mastery is translated into appropriate grades consistent with the C-TEC Board of Education policy on grading guidelines, practices, and procedures. In the process of evaluation, instructors obtain several grades for each student within the time frame of the program/course. These grades may include, but are not limited to, performance on tests, quizzes, homework, assignments, special research projects, classroom participation, lab competency mastery and/or improvement and the demonstration of positive employability traits. Projects This course will use hardware, software, and library projects which are designed to give you an opportunity to apply what you are learning and to research particular aspects of networks and networking more deeply than class time alone would allow. Getting Help If you have questions or need to have something explained there are lots of ways to get help. Here are some options, in no particular order: Stop by and see Program Coordinator Send your question via email to Program Coordinator or course instructor Quizzes and Exams There will be quiz at the end of each chapter for this class and a Final Exam. Students passing the Linux Essentials Certification Exam within 1 week of the course ending date will receive a grade of 100% on the final exam. Participation/Attendance It is expected each student to participate in class discussion and to engage your fellow students along with the instructor in the activity of learning. Among other things this means that each student will have completed any reading, exercises, projects, etc. that are due. Additional means of measurement is the component of taking attendance at the start of class. Assignments will be turned-in at the start of class on the day they are due. Any assignment (exercise or project) will be accepted for partial credit for up to one week after the due date. They will be marked down according to how late they are. One week or more after the due date for any particular assignment it will not be accepted any longer for credit. The breakdown for how your grade will be determined is as follows: Quizzes 10% Homework Assignments 25% Lab Projects 30% Participation/Attendance 10% Final Exam/Certification 25% Students must maintain a 70% GPA. Final grades will be assigned based upon the student's accumulated points. Letter grades will be assigned using the following scale: 3
Grading Scale 90-100% - A 80-89% - B 70-79% - C 60-69% - D 59% or below F Credentialing The LPI Linux Essentials Certification https://www.lpi.org/certification/linux-essentials/ Course Policies Disruptive Behavior Disruptive behavior of any type is NOT permitted and may result in dismissal from the program. Sleeping during class, tardiness to class, excessive talking during class, use of cell phones in class, inappropriate Internet usage, and disrespectful behavior are examples of disruptive behavior. Plagiarism Submitting plagiarized work for an academic requirement is considered academic misconduct. Plagiarism is the representation of another s work or ideas as one s own; it includes the unacknowledged word-for-word use and/or paraphrasing of another person s work, and/or inappropriate unacknowledged use of another person s ideas. Diversity - It is the responsibility of the instructor and the students to foster and maintain a harmonious, non-threatening and non-discriminating environment in the classroom. Therefore, all individuals are to be respected as equal and contributing partners of our society. Attendance: Must maintain at least 90% rate of attendance. You are required to attend all classes. However, you may miss up to 2 classes and still pass the course. Any other absences must be approved by the program supervisor. 4
Linux Essentials: Course Sequence Module 0 Introduction This module introduces the students to the Linux+ certification exams; LX0-101 and LX0-102. Module 1 Using Linux This module introduces the students to using Linux. They will learn about the Linux shell, help options, the role of environment variables, using aliases, text editors, redirection and piping available on a Linux system. Students will also learn about commands to manage files and directories, links, FHS, and how to locate and search files for specific character patterns. Module 2 Installation and Localization This module examines designing an effective installation, installing a Linux operating system, and configuring country and language-specific settings. Module 3 Boot and Shutdown In this module students will learn concepts about the Linux boot process, installing bootloaders, managing runlevels, using init scripts, and shutting down the system. Module 4 User Interfaces and Desktops This module teaches the students about configuring an X Window system and display managers, and providing accessibility to people with impairments. Module 5 Software Installation This module discusses installing application packages using RPM and Debian, and managing shared libraries. Module 6 Users and Groups This module examines the fundamentals of managing user and group accounts. Module 7 Disk and File System Management In this module students will learn concepts about managing disk partitions, managing, monitoring and maintaining file systems, restricting disk space to users, managing file and directory ownership and permissions, and archiving data on a Linux system. Module 8 Hardware Installation This module discusses hardware installation. Topics covered include; device drivers, managing kernel modules, and managing Hotplug and Coldplug devices. Module 9 Processes and System Services In this module students will learn the basics of managing and prioritizing processes, managing tasks, printing, and time. This module also provides an overview of using Structured Query Language (SQL). 5
Module 10 System Monitoring This module discusses concepts of system monitoring; system logging, using scripts to execute commands and processing a text stream. Module 11 Networking This module examines the basics of networking, configuring network interfaces, configuring routing, configuring DNS settings, and troubleshooting network communication problems. Module 12 Security This module examines the fundamentals of security on the Linux system. This includes the root user account, promoting user security and restrictions, increasing network security, file auditing and login blocking. Students will also become familiar with using the xinetd and inetd super daemons, OpenSSH and SSH port tunneling, a public key to authenticate to a computer, and the GnuPG encryption tool. Practice Exams In Practice Exams students will have the opportunity to test themselves and verify that they understand the concepts and are ready to take the certification exams. 6