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Thoughts from the DevOps world

The Second Level LPIC Certification (LPIC-2): How To

3 min read Dan career linux

As I mentioned in the first post of the certification series, I took the next step up in LPI’s certification ladder and earned LPIC-2 (verify). Was it easy? Was it hard? Let’s find out.

Introduction

LPIC-2 is awarded after passing two exams, but only if you already hold a LPIC-1 certification. In total, that means four exams to go from zero to LPIC-2.

  • Exam 201: Advanced system administration, including kernel and boot loader configuration, filesystems and troubleshooting.
  • Exam 202: Common services such as e-mail, HTTP, proxies and file sharing.

As with LPIC-1, the exams can be taken in any order, and the certification is granted once both are passed.

Logistics

I took both exams at a Pearson VUE test center (two different locations, in fact). Each exam normally costs around EUR 150. The second one was paid for by my current employer.

Preparation

Everything I said in the first post still holds. Books alone won’t get you through, and neither will light hands-on experience. The questions aren’t tricky: if you have actually used the software or worked through the scenarios, the answer comes quickly. If not, guessing won’t save you. I also noticed that some questions appear (seemingly at random) in both the level 1 and level 2 exams, so the boundary between “harder” level 1 topics and “easier” level 2 topics is very thin.

Two books proved useful. Keep in mind I’ve been doing hands-on Linux system administration for 13 years, so they served mainly as refreshers and helped me score higher. Without that knowledge base to connect the dots, there’s no way to pass, even if you knew every question in advance.

  1. LPIC-2 Linux Professional Institute Certification Study Guide: Exams 201 and 202: I found it lacking in depth on the exam topics, and its practice questions were far easier than the real ones. It was printed before LPI’s last update, so it doesn’t cover everything needed. It is useful for exam 201, though, and I thought the PAM chapter was particularly well written.

  2. Hexa Marathon Guide: LPIC-2: Linux Network Professional: Practice problems on LPI 201 and 202: It contains real exam questions (though not all of them, and I won’t ask how the author got them), but its formatting had serious shortcomings. Alongside the real questions, many others cover topics that no longer apply to current LPIC exams. On its own, it would only help people with a great photographic memory, but I found it excellent for structuring the knowledge I’d gained elsewhere and for getting higher scores.

Summary

How much did it cost to get here?

  • Preparation books (1, 2, 3): approx. EUR 80
  • Exams: four in total, EUR 480 (one was paid directly by my employer)
  • Other: the first two exams were taken in a conference setting, so there were additional transport and hotel costs for the trip to Brussels (excluded from this calculation).

I wouldn’t call that a lot of money to prove you know Linux. The Red Hat certifications (RHCSA, RHCE) cost at least twice as much, possibly more once you add their (likely mandatory) training. Some will say a certification doesn’t help you land a better job, but I’d argue it’s better to have something that might give you an edge over the competition.

Is LPIC-3 next? Maybe, but LPIC-3 is about specialization, and you must choose between mixed environments, security and virtualization. All of these are, more or less, out of my league for now.

That’s it. Thanks for reading!