LFCA - Fact Sheet¶

Exam Overview¶

Exam Name: Linux Foundation Certified IT Associate (LFCA) Duration: 90 minutes Questions: 60 multiple-choice questions Passing Score: 70% Cost: $250 USD Valid For: 3 years Delivery: Online proctored

📖 LFCA Certification Page - Registration and details 📖 Linux Foundation Training - Official courses 📖 Introduction to Linux (Free) - Free foundational course

Target Audience¶

This certification is designed for: - IT professionals beginning their Linux journey - Students pursuing a career in system administration - Help desk and support staff expanding their skills - Professionals transitioning from Windows to Linux - Anyone seeking foundational Linux/cloud/DevOps knowledge

Exam Domains¶

Domain 1: Linux Fundamentals (20%)¶

Linux Distributions: | Distribution | Family | Package Manager | Use Case | |-------------|--------|-----------------|----------| | Ubuntu | Debian | apt/dpkg | Desktop, servers, cloud | | Debian | Debian | apt/dpkg | Servers, stability-focused | | RHEL | Red Hat | dnf/rpm | Enterprise servers | | CentOS/Rocky | Red Hat | dnf/rpm | Free RHEL alternative | | SUSE/openSUSE | SUSE | zypper/rpm | Enterprise, Europe | | Fedora | Red Hat | dnf/rpm | Cutting-edge features | | Arch | Arch | pacman | Advanced users, rolling release |

Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS): | Directory | Purpose | |-----------|---------| | / | Root filesystem | | /bin | Essential binaries (ls, cp, mv) | | /boot | Boot loader files, kernel | | /dev | Device files | | /etc | System configuration files | | /home | User home directories | | /lib | Shared libraries | | /opt | Optional/third-party software | | /proc | Virtual filesystem (process info) | | /root | Root user's home directory | | /sbin | System binaries (admin tools) | | /tmp | Temporary files | | /usr | User programs and data | | /var | Variable data (logs, mail, spool) |

Open Source Licenses: | License | Type | Key Feature | |---------|------|-------------| | GPL v2/v3 | Copyleft | Derivatives must be GPL | | MIT | Permissive | Minimal restrictions | | Apache 2.0 | Permissive | Patent protection included | | BSD | Permissive | Very minimal restrictions | | LGPL | Copyleft (weak) | Library linking allowed |

📖 Filesystem Hierarchy Standard - FHS specification

Domain 2: System Administration (20%)¶

User Management Commands: | Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | useradd user | Create user | | usermod -aG group user | Add user to group | | userdel -r user | Delete user and home | | passwd user | Set/change password | | groupadd group | Create group | | id user | Show user/group IDs | | whoami | Current username |

File Permissions:

-rwxrwxrwx = owner/group/others
r=4, w=2, x=1
chmod 755 file  = rwxr-xr-x
chmod 644 file  = rw-r--r--
chown user:group file

Key System Admin Commands: | Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | systemctl start/stop/restart svc | Service management | | systemctl enable/disable svc | Boot behavior | | journalctl -u svc | View service logs | | apt install pkg | Install package (Debian) | | dnf install pkg | Install package (RHEL) | | ps aux | List processes | | top / htop | Interactive process monitor | | kill PID | Terminate process |

📖 System Administration Guide - RHEL documentation

Domain 3: Cloud Computing (20%)¶

Cloud Service Models: | Model | Description | Examples | |-------|-------------|---------| | IaaS | Infrastructure as a Service | EC2, Azure VMs, GCE | | PaaS | Platform as a Service | Heroku, App Engine, Elastic Beanstalk | | SaaS | Software as a Service | Gmail, Salesforce, Office 365 | | FaaS | Function as a Service | Lambda, Cloud Functions, Azure Functions |

Cloud Deployment Models: | Model | Description | |-------|-------------| | Public | Shared infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP) | | Private | Dedicated infrastructure (on-premises or hosted) | | Hybrid | Combination of public and private | | Multi-cloud | Using multiple cloud providers |

Virtualization vs Containers: | Feature | Virtual Machines | Containers | |---------|-----------------|------------| | Isolation | Full OS per VM | Shared kernel | | Size | Gigabytes | Megabytes | | Boot time | Minutes | Seconds | | Overhead | High | Low | | Portability | Limited | High | | Hypervisor | Required | Not needed |

📖 Cloud Computing Fundamentals - Linux Foundation cloud training

Domain 4: DevOps and Site Reliability (16%)¶

Git Basics: | Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | git clone url | Clone repository | | git add . | Stage changes | | git commit -m "msg" | Commit changes | | git push | Push to remote | | git pull | Pull from remote | | git branch name | Create branch | | git checkout branch | Switch branch | | git merge branch | Merge branch |

CI/CD Pipeline Stages: 1. Source - Code commit triggers pipeline 2. Build - Compile code, create artifacts 3. Test - Run automated tests 4. Deploy - Deploy to staging/production

Configuration Management Tools: | Tool | Language | Agent | |------|----------|-------| | Ansible | YAML/Python | Agentless (SSH) | | Puppet | Ruby/DSL | Agent-based | | Chef | Ruby | Agent-based | | Salt | YAML/Python | Agent-based (or agentless) |

📖 DevOps Fundamentals - DevOps training

Domain 5: Security Fundamentals (12%)¶

Key Security Concepts: | Concept | Description | |---------|-------------| | Least privilege | Grant minimum required access | | Defense in depth | Multiple security layers | | CIA triad | Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability | | Authentication | Verifying identity (who you are) | | Authorization | Granting access (what you can do) |

Linux Security Tools: | Tool | Purpose | |------|---------| | firewalld / iptables | Firewall management | | ssh-keygen | Generate SSH key pairs | | chmod / chown | File permission management | | sudo | Privileged command execution | | SELinux / AppArmor | Mandatory access control |

Domain 6: Networking Fundamentals (12%)¶

OSI Model Layers: | Layer | Name | Protocols/Devices | |-------|------|------------------| | 7 | Application | HTTP, HTTPS, DNS, SSH, FTP | | 6 | Presentation | SSL/TLS, encryption | | 5 | Session | Session management | | 4 | Transport | TCP, UDP | | 3 | Network | IP, ICMP, routers | | 2 | Data Link | Ethernet, MAC, switches | | 1 | Physical | Cables, signals, hubs |

Common Ports: | Port | Protocol | Service | |------|----------|---------| | 22 | TCP | SSH | | 25 | TCP | SMTP | | 53 | TCP/UDP | DNS | | 80 | TCP | HTTP | | 443 | TCP | HTTPS | | 3306 | TCP | MySQL | | 5432 | TCP | PostgreSQL |

📖 Networking Fundamentals - Networking training

Key Facts to Remember¶