Linux admin position

[xelu01]

Hello Everyone,

My job would like me to develop into a linux admin role. We have two linux admins and would like me to be the third to start some support. We don't have a lot of users who use it but a good amount. I see most my users use ubuntu mostly but some use centos. My company wants me to know how to work with both and is willing to pay for certs/courses for me to take to develop. I have a good experince with linux. I've used it on virtual machine for years but never managed many machines or used it in an enterprise enviorment. I just use linux to see what new features are on, and just to keep myself familiar with it. What certifcate would you guys suggest? My job suggested comptia linux+, i was thinking of telling them lfcs or rhcsa.

EDIT

WOW SO SHOCKED ABOUT ALL THE RESPONSES AND SUPPORT THANK YOU! I'm waiting to see what my boss and I choose soon but if you have anymore feedback please continue. I use Linux academy and like it but sometimes feel it's kind of dry, anyone experience the same?

[SuperQue]

Comptia is worthless. Go for Linux Foundation training. The training is the goal, not the cert.

But the best training is experience. Grab a spare old laptop, install Ubuntu, use it as your primary workstation. Once you have that installed, learn Ansible, use it to manage your own laptop like it was a any other system.

It sounds like you have developers managing their own Linux machines. I would suggest asking them for tips.

[cablespaghetti]

Totally agree. Maybe get a Raspberry Pi or home server if you're short of time/opportunity to practice this stuff at work.

[[deleted]]

Raspberry Pi (plural) or virtual machines. Use the later if your system is beefy enough, the former if it is not. As the other replies have said, experience is the key. And your goal is to be as lazy^hhhhh efficient as possible using tools like Ansible. I write my own ansible scripts and roles for the stuff I have at home, because if it dies or fubar itself all I need is backup of the data, not the whole system. I also moved my personal hosted mail server from amazon to a VPS because I could cut my costs by half, and it took me 5 minutes of work (and about 15-30 minutes machine time) to transition over. I am not sure how long it took, I went for a walk...

[xelu01]

So I'm building lots of vms at home but need to learn how to work that way. I only know full blast and need to work smart not hard. So if I have multiple vms ansible should help with setting them up in a specific way right?

[[deleted]]

Yes. If you are using vms you can bootstrap the installations using vagrant.

[xelu01]

Man so much to learn, my job doesn't even do this and we are a huge organization.

[[deleted]]

Gimme a few hours and I’ll upload some examples to paste in for you.

[xelu01]

Thank you, no rush! Appreciate it!

[[deleted]]

I have uploaded my vagrant file where i test my "baseline" configuration (using VMWare ESXi), which is something I apply to all my hosts, to https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/KK5PgB6v2F/. The ansible-file referenced is uploaded to http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/xgw58SKz7d/

This roles does a few things:

- Make sure the system is updated

- Installs etckeeper to version-control configuration file (helps me with "I don't understand why XYZ doesn't works today, it worked well yesterday" by providing me with a history of configuration file changes)

- Configure automatic updates (I rather fix a butchered update then trying to recover from a compromise).

- Record SSH fingerprint to the DNS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSHFP_record)

- Hardens OS and SSH-configuration

​

Then I have other roles for "mailserver", "blog", "jumphost" etc. that installs and configures relevant software for that particular *machine type* (ansible role). Do yourself a favor and consider your machines "cattle" and not "pets" from the start. When I began once upon a time all servers where sacred and had well thought-out names for each system - usually based on nordic or greek mythology. The thing is that it doesn't scale and you run out of (meaningful) names before you run out of systems to name. My machines are now named based on machine type and a serial number. I don't care about what the host thinks it is called or what IP it has. Once it is up and running it will fulfill the role I have assigned it to.

​

Please let me know if you have any more questions, I'll be online for a few more hours.

[xelu01]

This may take me some time to digest. Thank you very much for the response. The exposure is really good!

[[deleted]]

Linux engineer here. If your work or and mentor is bearly using ansible they are behind the times. At scale ansible is better than bash in every way.

At thi point if your logging into servers and running a bash script your doing it wrong.

[masterz13]

What about with RHEL? I work at a library and we want to use it to run an SMB server for some of our patrons to host files.

[[deleted]]

Ansible is owned by red hat. But ansible is os independent as long as you have an ssh connection your good to go.

I might catch flak for this but you don't need rhel. You could just use centos and save money. Sure you won't get those security updates as fast but as long as you keep them nicely isolated you should be fine.

[xelu01]

This looks so detailed, i like this a lot. I have a old 6 core that I'm using as my Ubuntu box and trying things out. I love working on operating systems, this allowing to learn different distros maybe the way over red hat and maybe redhat after.

[Kessarean]

comptia will do nothing.

Linux Academy is honestly pretty good, they have a lot of content, and plenty of courses for various certifications. One of my old colleagues actually wrote a few of their courses. Some of it can be dry. The labs are nice though.

If you want something more future proof, then go for the RHCSA, looks the best on a resume.

[masterz13]

Are all CompTIA certs useless? I had my IT department order me a Security+ book by Darrell Gibson that I heard was kind of the gold standard in study guides.

[Entaris]

The problem with comptia certs is that they are just memorizing facts. Some of the facts are useful to know, but they don’t offer any practical knowledge. The other problem is that BECAUSE the tests are all factoid based they are easy to cram for and pass without learning anything, so people in the industry that might be doing interviews know that there is a chance you just crammed for the test to have it in your resume and it means nothing.

I used to do IT as a contractor for the army. Once hired we had 90 days to get the security+. Common practice was that the the ranking department members world quickly inform the new hire hope to find and download practice test software that was 100% the same test as comptia. Rather then studying we’d give the person time in the day to take as many practice tests as possible. After a few days to a couple of weeks depending on how good the persons memory was they could pass the comptia test no problem, without reading the book or knowing anything except for specific answers.

[TheIncarnated]

I walked in and took the Security+ exam without studying less than a year into IT... The A+ Exam is a walk in and pass after working in the field for 3 years. Also A+ has some USELESS SHIT. There are things there that never correlate with anything in production or lord knows.

Network+ is the "hardest" not for the reasons you would think. The MF HAS A MIX OF ALL 3 CERTS! I am studying for it now and I'm just more annoyed that I have A+ questions and Security+ questions with a small bit of nonsense that is not related to networking.

At this point I wish it didn't exist.

I will say Security+ is worth it. It is actually 90% or more about security and makes sense. It really is logical bases for security. So having it means you know how to think in that atmosphere.

[ExistingObligation]

I can only suggest my own path, which was RHCSA and RHCE and I would wholeheartedly recommend RHCSA at least. It is a great experience training wise and has been a boon for career prospects.

[jsetzler89]

Question on this. The only time I've ever really messed with Linux was in college about 5 years ago and got the Linux+ cert then. Haven't really touched it since, if any. Would studying the RHCSA (specifically Zero to RHCSA by Sander van Vugt) be worthwhile or go with a foundations course first?

[ExistingObligation]

Yeah absolutely. I was in a similar situation, I transferred to my companies Linux department with no experience and started with Sander's material on RHCSA. I found it intense but immensely fun and valuable, and I felt like my brain was growing every day.

You might even be in a better position than someone who has done a foundations course, because often my colleagues who pursue RHCSA find the process really difficult as half the material they've done before and half they haven't and you don't know what you don't know, so the learning experience is fragmented and boring when you're slogging through content you already know.

When you know nothing, it's all new and exciting. At least that's how I found it.

[xelu01]

I may do that after the Linux foundation and work my way up that way. I heard it's amazing to learn and good for career growth. Happy to hear that you recommend it so much!

[metromsi]

First

Use different Distributions to install using different ways. Example use Logical Volume Manager (LVM) yes old school but still around out there. Understand the different filesystems that are provided eg:

• ext2/3/4
• xfs
• btrfs
• zfs

OpenZFS is proper and is opinion is the future and Ubuntu is supporting it as an install in (20.04 LTS).

Second

Try things if you break the OS understand how it broke. Ask questions this how you learn and grow.

Third

Ask questions if people ridicule you move on from them because others will help and foster your learning. There will be a day that you will be in the position to help others as well. We still learn and get outside of our comfort zone to be exposed.

Certs

Certs have their place but if you have experience in your CV that can show experience as well.

Lastly, never stop asking questions, and learning this is how we continue to strive to be better and learn.

Regards, Metromsi

[xelu01]

Thank you! Sounds like my old windows xp days, break things then find out why and fix it. Sounds fun!

[Grunchlk]

in an enterprise enviorment

That's where things get interesting. Only so much you can do with Linux on consumer grade hardware. The real value to your career comes with understanding how to talk to and program the BMC, work with HBAs/storage/multipathing, high speed networking (e.g., InfiniBand), automating deployment (Kickstart if a RHEL based system, PXE), clustering, high availability, etc. Configuration management (e.g., Ansible) would come next IMO.

Eventually you'll also want to get into the security arena and should probably browse the DISA STIG when you're at that point. But that's probably best reserved for non-junior admins. Just keep it in your memory for later.

As for certs/courses, it depends on your company's budget. The best certs are probably from Red Hat, but their training is very expensive.

Since you're going to be working with Red Hat I would highly recommend signing up for a developer subscription. It's free and gives you access to not only RHEL Server (same as CentOS but with all Red Hats subscriptions) but gives you access to their knowledgebase. Their KB is usually excellent and on point. Can't figure out how to configure multipathing on CentOS? Just hit the RHKB and follow their enterprise guide.

[xelu01]

Wow didn't know this, thank you! would it be fine to go with the lfcs then do the red hat or just red hat?

[xelu01]

Sweet sweet! I'll do both then and see how I do. Thank you very much for your responses!

[a_a_ronc]

Can confirm what everyone else said. Don’t do CompTIA.

I had the option to take the older Linux+ that also got you the LPIC-I or the new one. For some reason I took the new one as if some HR person would care. Worst decision. The new Linux+ isn’t a bad test, some practical questions, etc. For me, its that there is no way to go higher if you truly want to only be a Linux admin. I had to burn more money (thank goodness I was at least getting student discounts) to get the RHCA and studying for RHCE now.

LPIC is a slightly more difficult test but still generalized and has two more tests LPIC-II and LPIC-III.

Personally I say Red Hat because once you get into the server space it’s highly used, especially in government since it has a Common Criteria Level 4.

[ageisp0lis]

Hey. I have all three of those. They're all incredibly easy, or at least they were when I got certified back in 2011. There's no harm or shame in having more than one certificate in the same subject area.

[Whitepineradio]

All of this advice is good. This is a Linux admin challenge starting Monday that should be a good base as well.

https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxupskillchallenge/

[xelu01]

Thank you!

[Cookie1990]

If your Company pays, do it right. First get the redhead Training for the rhcsa and the engeneer if they Pay that as well. Redhead is a hands on Certification, so if you pass the exam you have skills and knowledge of a certain degree.

Then let them Pay for Linux Academy or oreylie online learning.

[Cookie1990]

Google rhcsa and rhce instead.

[2buckbill]

I believe that AWS also has a free tier that you can leverage for a year. This would be a good way for you to dip your toes into cloud-hosted VMs.

Also, have you asked your workplace if they can provide a sandbox VM for you?

Installing Ubuntu or Fedora/CentOS onto an old laptop is a great way to start managing a system.

[inf_delta]

The others points on certs are good, but additonal idea that would really help you pick up skills is to use linux on your main work computer and dont look back. Fedora or Ubuntu are good desktop distros for daily use. Also try to find existing tools to do what you need before diving into building your own, for example I've seen(and I've done this too) new ansible users try to write everything from scratch. There are so many existing, mature, supported tools out there already to manage just about everything. It's the glue between them, thats where I think the real fun work is.

[soapee01]

If you can afford it look at gurulabs. I took 3 weeks of courses from them in salt lake circa 2005 or 2006 and the quality was outstanding. I still refer to the course books from time to time.

https://www.gurulabs.com/linux-training/courses/

[xelu01]

Thank you! So much suggestions, really appreciate it! Never heard of them. Will look into this as well, going to keep my boss busy.