Certification > System Administration > Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS)
CERTIFICATION

Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS)

The Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS) exam is ideal for candidates looking to validate their ability to proficiently install, configure, and operate Linux-based systems, whether on-premises or cloud-based.

Not sure where to start? You may consider reviewing our suggested LFCS learning path.

EXAM SIMULATOR! Learners will now have access to an exam simulator, provided by Killer.sh, to experience the exam environment. You will have two exam simulation attempts (36 hours of access for each attempt from the start of activation). Simulation includes 20-25 questions (which are exactly the same for every attempt and every user (unlike those found on the actual exams) and graded simulation results.

UPCOMING POLICY CHANGE: Please note that our Certification Period Policy is changing effective April 01, 2024, 00:00UTC. Certifications achieved on or after this date will expire 24 months from the date the program certification requirements, including passing the exam, are met. We encourage anyone interested and prepared to schedule and take your exam before the policy change. Please see additional details here.

Who Is It For

LFCS is ideal for candidates early in their Linux system administration or open source career. Candidates should have completed training in Linux system administration.
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About This Certification

LFCS was developed by The Linux Foundation to help meet the increasing demand for Linux administration talent. The exam consists of performance-based items that simulate on-the-job tasks and scenarios faced by sysadmins in the real world. The exam is independent of distribution-specific tasks, therefore selecting a platform in the exam preparation checklist is no longer required.
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What It Demonstrates

Certified Linux systems administrators can work proficiently to operate Linux-based systems, understand key concepts, use Linux to deploy and operate applications and services and understand Linux networking fundamentals and it's role of supporting cloud-native deployments.
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Domains & Competencies
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Operations Deployment25%
Configure kernel parameters, persistent and non-persistent
Diagnose, identify, manage, and troubleshoot processes and services
Manage or schedule jobs for executing commands
Search for, install, validate, and maintain software packages or repositories
Recover from hardware, operating system, or filesystem failures
Manage Virtual Machines (libvirt)
Configure container engines, create and manage containers
Create and enforce MAC using SELinux
Networking 25%
Configure IPv4 and IPv6 networking and hostname resolution
Set and synchronize system time using time servers
Monitor and troubleshoot networking
Configure the OpenSSH server and client
Configure packet filtering, port redirection, and NAT
Configure static routing
Configure bridge and bonding devices
Implement reverse proxies and load balancers
Storage20%
Configure and manage LVM storage
Manage and configure the virtual file system
Create, manage, and troubleshoot filesystems
Use remote filesystems and network block devices
Configure and manage swap space
Configure filesystem automounters
Monitor storage performance
Essential Commands20%
Basic Git Operations
Create, configure, and troubleshoot services
Monitor and troubleshoot system performance and services
Determine application and service specific constraints
Troubleshoot diskspace issues
Work with SSL certificates
Users and Groups10%
Create and manage local user and group accounts
Manage personal and system-wide environment profiles
Configure user resource limits
Configure and manage ACLs
Configure the system to use LDAP user and group accounts

The Linux Foundation worked with industry experts and the project’s community to identify the core domains and the critical skills, knowledge and competencies applicable to each certification. Performance-based exams were then developed based on the competencies that were identified.
Exam Details & Resources
This exam is an online, proctored, performance-based test that requires solving multiple issues from a command line running Linux. Candidates have 2 hours to complete the tasks. Please review The Linux Foundation certification Policies and FAQ below.
Prerequisites
There are no pre-requisites for this exam.
Reviews
Jul 2022
Nothing seemed too hard, as if the people who wrote the exam were trying to be superfluous, or show off arcane knowledge, which can be a problem in the Linux community - bravo & kudos for that! If you studied, and already have had first contact with content in all the domains, if you know your commands and associated flags (or know where to g to find them), if you've done some independent tinkering, you should be fine.
Jul 2022
HANDS-ON! Way better than multiple choice exams, where you have to memorize CLI arguments. A hands-on exam allows you to actually use the tools one would use on a daily basis, man pages and so on.
Apr 2022
I love that I was granted a free retake, not only because it provided a chance to review a few topics, but also because I gravely underestimated how quickly those 2 hours would fly by the first time around, so this time I hit the ground running, and also had far less anxiety due to knowing the format and what to expect overall.
Feb 2021
I liked how the questions were worded, there was no point where I was confused by how a question was asked.