Looking to become a Sys Admin...

[linuxden]

Hi all,

Am looking to become a linux sys admin and am very interested in finding out the path of study other admins have followed...
i am currently looking at "LPI" certification, does anyone know about it and its standing in the linux comunity??? red hat certification?? should i use fedora core on my spare laptop???

Any info from sys admins greatly apreciated...

Thanks to all

[Derek Djons]

Can't help you much with referencing towards the right studies but right now I'm following this (http://learnlinux.tsf.org.za/) one in my spare time. It's a side project of Mark Shuttleworth and his people.

It covers also the basics which you need to know in becoming sys. admin. The course consists out of Six books (1103 pages) and the ability to do an exam and receive a real certificate by a acknowledged Linux organization.

[linuxden]

Derek,

Will look into this further thank you for your response...

Will get back to you...

[linuxden]

Wow Now thats a lot of reading!!! Mark shutleworth is so cool!!! He is pushing the spirit of Ubuntu even into publishing...!! ;o)

God i love Open source!!!

[Derek Djons]

Wow Now thats a lot of reading!!! Mark shutleworth is so cool!!! He is pushing the spirit of Ubuntu even into publishing...!! ;o)

God i love Open source!!!

Yeah it's really wonderful. I've also one of the people being torn from the hive and the matrix... now I can also breed the fresh air :)
Open Source is not only the product, it's also the people and the knowledge which are being shared in order to benefit from it all.

If you have some spare time check out this Q&A with Mark Shuttleworth. He explains in a clear way some sumier information about Ubuntu and his key developers. It's very intersting: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1165754797197197496&q=mark+shuttleworth

[Liam]

Hi all,

Am looking to become a linux sys admin and am very interested in finding out the path of study other admins have followed...
i am currently looking at "LPI" certification, does anyone know about it and its standing in the linux comunity??? red hat certification?? should i use fedora core on my spare laptop???

Any info from sys admins greatly apreciated...

Thanks to all

Got no certs, though I'm currently working toward at BS in IT at night (for IT BS) to complement my Liberal Arts BA. I'll probably look at a RHCE and/or one of the Cisco certs when I'm done with school. Especially if my employer wants to pony up.

I got my current job through a friend of a friend who knew about my Linux experience.

My advice: build your own home networks. Get familiar with RedHat. Learn the basics of networking, and some Cisco IOS. Learn how to administer a simple Windows domain, and get some at least academic knowledge of the commercial Unices. Read a few books on TCP/IP. Learn some Perl.

Then, start networking. Attend your local LUG meetings at least semi-regularly. Administer a few web sites for friends. Chat up people you meet who are in the industry.

It's a lot of work, and more involved than simply going to school and ending up with an internship, but I've found relying on my own cussedness and self-motivation far more rewarding than necessarily going with a 'program.' On the other hand, you may find a 'program' easier to cope with.

For your first 'real' job, look at smaller IT/software oriented companies, or other industries with small shops that rely heavily on IT. They're far more likely to let you learn on the job, and usually far more flexible about platform requirements that bigger companies. Development houses, web hosts, and architecture firms are all probably good places to look.

[blueturtl]

Any info from sys admins greatly apreciated...

Well for starters I want you to read this and think about it:
The Six Dumbest Ideas in Computer Security (http://www.ranum.com/security/computer_security/editorials/dumb/)

This is pretty good base information no matter what OS you decide to administer. Food for thought, I don't claim everything in this is absolutely 100% right...

[linuxden]

Interesting read...

A lot of that makes sense and has definately emphasised that a fresh approach to network security is important... (also that i need to read up a lot on security...)

Thanks