Notes

Topic 105: Shells, Scripting and Data Management
105.1 Customize and use the shell environment

Weight: 4

Description: Candidates should be able to customize shell environments to meet users’ needs. Candidates should be able to modify global and user profiles.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Set environment variables (e.g. PATH) at login or when spawning a new shell
Write Bash functions for frequently used sequences of commands
Maintain skeleton directories for new user accounts
Set command search path with the proper directory

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

source
/etc/bash.bashrc
/etc/profile
env
export
set
unset
~/.bash_profile
~/.bash_login
~/.profile
~/.bashrc
~/.bash_logout
function
alias
lists


105.2 Customize or write simple scripts

Weight: 4

Description: Candidates should be able to customize existing scripts, or write simple new Bash scripts.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Use standard sh syntax (loops, tests)
Use command substitution
Test return values for success or failure or other information provided by a command
Perform conditional mailing to the superuser
Correctly select the script interpreter through the shebang (#!) line
Manage the location, ownership, execution and suid-rights of scripts

Terms and Utilities:

for
while
test
if
read
seq
exec


105.3 SQL data management

Weight: 2

Description: Candidates should be able to query databases and manipulate data using basic SQL commands. This objective includes performing queries involving joining of 2 tables and/or subselects.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Use of basic SQL commands
Perform basic data manipulation

Terms and Utilities:

insert
update
select
delete
from
where
group by
order by
join

Topic 106: User Interfaces and Desktops
106.1 Install and configure X11

Weight: 2

Description: Candidates should be able to install and configure X11.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Verify that the video card and monitor are supported by an X server
Awareness of the X font server
Basic understanding and knowledge of the X Window configuration file

Terms and Utilities:

/etc/X11/xorg.conf
xhost
DISPLAY
xwininfo
xdpyinfo
X


106.2 Setup a display manager

Weight: 1

Description: Candidates should be able to describe the basic features and configuration of the LightDM display manager. This objective covers awareness of the display managers XDM (X Display Manger), GDM (Gnome Display Manager) and KDM (KDE Display Manager).

Key Knowledge Areas:

Basic configuration of LightDM
Turn the display manager on or off
Change the display manager greeting
Awareness of XDM, KDM and GDM

Terms and Utilities:

lightdm
/etc/lightdm/


106.3 Accessibility

Weight: 1

Description: Demonstrate knowledge and awareness of accessibility technologies.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Basic knowledge of keyboard accessibility settings (AccessX)
Basic knowledge of visual settings and themes
Basic knowledge of assistive technology (ATs)

Terms and Utilities:

Sticky/Repeat Keys
Slow/Bounce/Toggle Keys
Mouse Keys
High Contrast/Large Print Desktop Themes
Screen Reader
Braille Display
Screen Magnifier
On-Screen Keyboard
Gestures (used at login, for example GDM)
Orca
GOK
emacspeak

Topic 107: Administrative Tasks
107.1 Manage user and group accounts and related system files

Weight: 5

Description: Candidates should be able to add, remove, suspend and change user accounts.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Add, modify and remove users and groups
Manage user/group info in password/group databases
Create and manage special purpose and limited accounts

Terms and Utilities:

/etc/passwd
/etc/shadow
/etc/group
/etc/skel/
chage
getent
groupadd
groupdel
groupmod
passwd
useradd
userdel
usermod


107.2 Automate system administration tasks by scheduling jobs

Weight: 4

Description: Candidates should be able to use cron or anacron to run jobs at regular intervals and to use at to run jobs at a specific time.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Manage cron and at jobs
Configure user access to cron and at services
Configure anacron

Terms and Utilities:

/etc/cron.{d,daily,hourly,monthly,weekly}/
/etc/at.deny
/etc/at.allow
/etc/crontab
/etc/cron.allow
/etc/cron.deny
/var/spool/cron/
crontab
at
atq
atrm
anacron
/etc/anacrontab


107.3 Localisation and internationalisation

Weight: 3

Description: Candidates should be able to localize a system in a different language than English. As well, an understanding of why LANG=C is useful when scripting.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Configure locale settings and environment variables
Configure timezone settings and environment variables

Terms and Utilities:

/etc/timezone
/etc/localtime
/usr/share/zoneinfo/
LC_*
LC_ALL
LANG
TZ
/usr/bin/locale
tzselect
timedatectl
date
iconv
UTF-8
ISO-8859
ASCII
Unicode

Topic 108: Essential System Services
108.1 Maintain system time

Weight: 3

Description: Candidates should be able to properly maintain the system time and synchronize the clock via NTP.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Set the system date and time
Set the hardware clock to the correct time in UTC
Configure the correct timezone
Basic NTP configuration
Knowledge of using the pool.ntp.org service
Awareness of the ntpq command

Terms and Utilities:

/usr/share/zoneinfo/
/etc/timezone
/etc/localtime
/etc/ntp.conf
date
hwclock
ntpd
ntpdate
pool.ntp.org


108.2 System logging

Weight: 3

Description: Candidates should be able to configure the syslog daemon. This objective also includes configuring the logging daemon to send log output to a central log server or accept log output as a central log server. Use of the systemd journal subsystem is covered. Also, awareness of rsyslog and syslog-ng as alternative logging systems is included.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Configuration of the syslog daemon
Understanding of standard facilities, priorities and actions
Configuration of logrotate
Awareness of rsyslog and syslog-ng

Terms and Utilities:

syslog.conf
syslogd
klogd
/var/log/
logger
logrotate
/etc/logrotate.conf
/etc/logrotate.d/
journalctl
/etc/systemd/journald.conf
/var/log/journal/


108.3 Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) basics

Weight: 3

Description: Candidates should be aware of the commonly available MTA programs and be able to perform basic forward and alias configuration on a client host. Other configuration files are not covered.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Create e-mail aliases
Configure e-mail forwarding
Knowledge of commonly available MTA programs (postfix, sendmail, qmail, exim) (no configuration)

Terms and Utilities:

~/.forward
sendmail emulation layer commands
newaliases
mail
mailq
postfix
sendmail
exim
qmail


108.4 Manage printers and printing

Weight: 2

Description: Candidates should be able to manage print queues and user print jobs using CUPS and the LPD compatibility interface.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Basic CUPS configuration (for local and remote printers)
Manage user print queues
Troubleshoot general printing problems
Add and remove jobs from configured printer queues

Terms and Utilities:

CUPS configuration files, tools and utilities
/etc/cups/
lpd legacy interface (lpr, lprm, lpq)

Topic 109: Networking Fundamentals
109.1 Fundamentals of internet protocols

Weight: 4

Description: Candidates should demonstrate a proper understanding of TCP/IP network fundamentals.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Demonstrate an understanding of network masks and CIDR notation
Knowledge of the differences between private and public “dotted quad” IP addresses
Knowledge about common TCP and UDP ports and services (20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 53, 80, 110, 123, 139, 143, 161, 162, 389, 443, 465, 514, 636, 993, 995)
Knowledge about the differences and major features of UDP, TCP and ICMP
Knowledge of the major differences between IPv4 and IPv6
Knowledge of the basic features of IPv6

Terms and Utilities:

/etc/services
IPv4, IPv6
Subnetting
TCP, UDP, ICMP


109.2 Basic network configuration

Weight: 4

Description: Candidates should be able to view, change and verify configuration settings on client hosts.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Manually and automatically configure network interfaces
Basic TCP/IP host configuration
Setting a default route

Terms and Utilities:

/etc/hostname
/etc/hosts
/etc/nsswitch.conf
ifconfig
ifup
ifdown
ip
route
ping


109.3 Basic network troubleshooting

Weight: 4

Description: Candidates should be able to troubleshoot networking issues on client hosts.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Manually and automatically configure network interfaces and routing tables to include adding, starting, stopping, restarting, deleting or reconfiguring network interfaces
Change, view, or configure the routing table and correct an improperly set default route manually
Debug problems associated with the network configuration

Terms and Utilities:

ifconfig
ip
ifup
ifdown
route
host
hostname
dig
netstat
ping
ping6
traceroute
traceroute6
tracepath
tracepath6
netcat


109.4 Configure client side DNS

Weight: 2

Description: Candidates should be able to configure DNS on a client host.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Query remote DNS servers
Configure local name resolution and use remote DNS servers
Modify the order in which name resolution is done

Terms and Utilities:

/etc/hosts
/etc/resolv.conf
/etc/nsswitch.conf
host
dig
getent

Topic 110: Security
110.1 Perform security administration tasks

Weight: 3

Description: Candidates should know how to review system configuration to ensure host security in accordance with local security policies.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Audit a system to find files with the suid/sgid bit set
Set or change user passwords and password aging information
Being able to use nmap and netstat to discover open ports on a system
Set up limits on user logins, processes and memory usage
Determine which users have logged in to the system or are currently logged in
Basic sudo configuration and usage

Terms and Utilities:

find
passwd
fuser
lsof
nmap
chage
netstat
sudo
/etc/sudoers
su
usermod
ulimit
who, w, last


110.2 Setup host security

Weight: 3

Description: Candidates should know how to set up a basic level of host security.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Awareness of shadow passwords and how they work
Turn off network services not in use
Understand the role of TCP wrappers

Terms and Utilities:

/etc/nologin
/etc/passwd
/etc/shadow
/etc/xinetd.d/
/etc/xinetd.conf
/etc/inetd.d/
/etc/inetd.conf
/etc/inittab
/etc/init.d/
/etc/hosts.allow
/etc/hosts.deny


110.3 Securing data with encryption

Weight: 3

Description: The candidate should be able to use public key techniques to secure data and communication.

Key Knowledge Areas:

Perform basic OpenSSH 2 client configuration and usage
Understand the role of OpenSSH 2 server host keys
Perform basic GnuPG configuration, usage and revocation
Understand SSH port tunnels (including X11 tunnels)

Terms and Utilities:

ssh
ssh-keygen
ssh-agent
ssh-add
~/.ssh/id_rsa and id_rsa.pub
~/.ssh/id_dsa and id_dsa.pub
/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key and ssh_host_rsa_key.pub
/etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key and ssh_host_dsa_key.pub
~/.ssh/authorized_keys
ssh_known_hosts
gpg
~/.gnupg/