Linux Plus Certification For Linux ProfessionalsIn the year 1991 Linus Torvalds initially created Linux as a hobby. Since then, many software companies have embraced the operating system but it is still not as popular among the home users as Microsoft's Windows operating system. Linux is not an individual product and hence the certification for the same is not provided by any one entity. The certification bodies comprise of those commercial vendors and various other organizations that have helped in its development. These entities have also come up with new versions of the Linux operating system since the time of its birth. The Linux Plus Certification certifies that an IT professional is well versed with the knowledge of Linux operating system, right from their installation to the application of free software and open source licenses. The Linux Plus certification exam has been created so as to remain vendor-neutral. It is not very popular amongst IT professionals because of the difficulty involved in obtaining it. The RHCE exam is a tough one and this certification requires an even higher skill level. For this reason the Linux Plus certification has not gained as much popularity as the Red Hat Linux Distribution. The Linux Plus certification is intended for those IT professional who have been using Linux operating system for at least six months. So, anyone having an experience between six to twelve months on this operating system can try for the Linux Plus certification. The exam for this certification is split into different areas of Linux: installation, management, configuration, security, documentation, and hardware. The Linux Plus certification exam is a computer based test. It consists of multiple choice questions. Each question has four possible answers. There is some commonality as far as subject matter for the exams is concerned. These commonalities are: installation methods, boot loader configuration, managing packages, navigating directories via the command line, security considerations and network administration including TCP/IP configuration. This exam also tests an IT professionals capability of managing configuration files for common applications that Linux servers are expected to run. The Linux Plus certification exam directs a candidate focus on to Linux as a network operating system and not as a desktop platform. Earlier, this exam gave more importance to hardware-related questions which were covered at the A plus level. Due to this, this exam drew a lot of criticism. The recent version of the exam has done away with this problem. The Computing Technology Industry Association provides a CompTIA Linux+ certification too. It is a certification that validates the Linux skills of an IT professional. IT professionals with this certification are capable of explaining fundamental management of Linux systems right from the basic command level to the different application levels. This certification allows a lot of scope to those who are trying to build a career in Linux and Linux related areas. The certification costs around $ 218.00. |