Audience
The LPIC-3 certification is the culmination of LPI’s multi-level professional certification program. LPIC-3 is designed for the enterprise-level Linux professional and represents the highest level of professional, distribution-neutral Linux certification within the industry.
LPIC-3 304 covers administering Linux enterprise-wide with an emphasis on virtualization and high availability.
Prerequisites
Delegates must have an active LPIC-2 certification to receive LPIC-3 certification, but the LPIC-2 and LPIC-3 exams may be taken in any order. The following courses are available to help you achieve LPIC-2:
- LPIC-2: Linux Engineer Certification (Part 1 - Exam 201)
- LPIC-2: Linux Engineer Certification (Part 2 - Exam 202)
Duration
5 days. Hands on.
This course is available on site only. Please call for details.
Course Objectives
The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) is the premier certification body for vendor independent Linux certifications.
This course prepares students for the LPIC-3 Virtualization and High Availability exam (exam 304-200), which may be taken on the fifth day of the course. With the included revision sessions, practice tests and hands-on exercises delegates will be confident sitting the exam.
To become LPIC-3 certified, candidates with active LPIC-1 and LPIC-2 certifications must pass at least one of the following specialty exams:
- LPIC-3: Linux Enterprise Professional Certification - Mixed Environments (Exam 300)
- LPIC-3: Linux Enterprise Professional Certification - Security (Exam 303)
- LPIC-3: Linux Enterprise Professional Certification - Virtualization and High Availability (Exam 304)
Upon successful completion of these requirements, they will be entitled to the appropriate specialty designation. In this case delegates will be awarded the LPIC-3 Linux Enterprise Professional: Virtualization and High Availability certification.
Course Content
Virtualization
Virtualization Concepts and Theory
Candidates should know and understand the general concepts, theory and terminology of Virtualization. This includes Xen, KVM and libvirt terminology.
Key knowledge areas:
• Terminology
• Pros and Cons of Virtualization
• Variations of Virtual Machine Monitors
• Migration of Physical to Virtual Machines
• Migration of Virtual Machines between Host systems
• Cloud Computing
Xen
Candidates should be able to install, configure, maintain, migrate and troubleshoot Xen installations. The focus is on Xen version 4.x.
Key knowledge areas:
• Xen architecture, networking and storage
• Xen configuration
• Xen utilities
• Troubleshooting Xen installations
• Basic knowledge of XAPI
• Awareness of XenStore
• Awareness of Xen Boot Parameters
• Awareness of the xm utility
KVM
Candidates should be able to install, configure, maintain, migrate and troubleshoot KVM installations.
Key knowledge areas:
• KVM architecture, networking and storage
• KVM configuration
• KVM utilities
• Troubleshooting KVM installations
Other Virtualization Solutions
Candidates should have some basic knowledge and experience with alternatives to Xen and KVM.
Key knowledge areas:
• Basic knowledge of OpenVZ and LXC
• Awareness of other virtualization technologies
• Basic knowledge of virtualization provisioning tools
Libvirt and Related Tools
Candidates should have basic knowledge and experience with the libvirt library and commonly available tools.
Key knowledge areas:
• libvirt architecture, networking and storage
• Basic technical knowledge of libvirt and virsh
• Awareness of oVirt
Cloud Management Tools
Candidates should have basic feature knowledge of commonly available cloud management tools.
Key knowledge areas:
• Basic feature knowledge of OpenStack and CloudStack
• Awareness of Eucalyptus and OpenNebula
High Availability and Cluster Management
High Availability Concepts and Theory
Candidates should understand the properties and design approaches of high availability clusters.
Key knowledge areas:
• Understand the most important cluster architectures
• Understand recovery and cluster reorganization mechanisms
• Design an appropriate cluster architecture for a given purpose
• Application aspects of high availability
• Operational considerations of high availability
Load Balanced Clusters
Candidates should know how to install, configure, maintain and troubleshoot LVS. This includes the configuration and use of keepalived and ldirectord. Candidates should further be able to install, configure, maintain and troubleshoot HAProxy.
Key knowledge areas:
• Understanding of LVS/IPVS
• Basic knowledge of VRRP
• Configuration of keepalived
• Configuration of ldirectord
• Backend server network configuration
• Understanding of HAProxy
• Configuration of HAProxy
Failover Clusters
Candidates should have experience in the installation, configuration, maintenance and troubleshooting of a Pacemaker cluster. This includes the use of Corosync. The focus is on Pacemaker 1.1 for Corosync 2.x.
Key knowledge areas:
• Pacemaker architecture and components (CIB, CRMd, PEngine, LRMd, DC, STONITHd)
• Pacemaker cluster configuration
• Resource classes (OCF, LSB, Systemd, Upstart, Service, STONITH, Nagios)
• Resource rules and constraints (location, order, colocation)
• Advanced resource features (templates, groups, clone resources, multi-state resources)
• Pacemaker management using pcs
• Pacemaker management using crmsh
• Configuration and Management of corosync in conjunction with Pacemaker
• Awareness of other cluster engines (OpenAIS, Heartbeat, CMAN)
High Availability in Enterprise Linux Distributions
Candidates should be aware of how enterprise Linux distributions integrate High Availability technologies.
Key knowledge areas:
• Basic knowledge of Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability Add-On
• Basic knowledge of SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension
High Availability Cluster Storage
DRBD/cLVM
Candidates are expected to have the experience and knowledge to install, configure, maintain and troubleshoot DRBD devices. This includes integration with Pacemaker. DRBD configuration of version 8.4.x is covered. Candidates are further expected to be able to manage LVM configuration within a shared storage cluster.
Key knowledge areas:
• Understanding of DRBD resources, states and replication modes
• Configuration of DRBD resources, networking, disks and devices
• Configuration of DRBD automatic recovery and error handling
• Management of DRBD using drbdadm
• Basic knowledge of drbdsetup and drbdmeta
• Integration of DRBD with Pacemaker
• cLVM
• Integration of cLVM with Pacemaker
Clustered File Systems
Candidates should know how to install, maintain and troubleshoot installations using GFS2 and OCFS2. This includes integration with Pacemaker as well as awareness of other clustered filesystems available in a Linux environment.
Key knowledge areas:
• Understand the principles of cluster file systems
• Create, maintain and troubleshoot GFS2 file systems in a cluster
• Create, maintain and troubleshoot OCFS2 file systems in a cluster
• Integration of GFS2 and OCFS2 with Pacemaker
• Awareness of the O2CB cluster stack
• Awareness of other commonly used clustered file systems