Linux System Administration Class
 

I am currently enrolled in a class for Linux System Administration which is geared towards Comptia's (vendor free) certification. I wanted to take the class before studying and taking the Linux+ certification.

I purchased the required book which oddly is "Getting Started w/ Linux - Novells Guide to CompTIA's Linux+".

I purchased this book for $145 and as I am reading chapter one, this is a huge advertisement for SuSE Enterprise Linux and how great it is. I am totally annoyed that they selected this book to teach a non-vendor specific certification. There are like 30 pages on Yast alone which I assume is their (SuSE) package management system.

Should I drop this class and study on my own? I would never want to use SuSE and don't see how reading an entire chapter on SuSE Ent. Linux will help on the Linux+ certification.

Thoughts?

Uh...

You already paid for the class and the book. Might as well stick with it until you get the certification. I don't use Suse myself but wouldn't commit suicide if my company suddenly said I had to do so.

No, I paid for the book and I have until 1/19 to get a complete refund. I don't find the class useful and will now rather just study my Linux+ book on my own.

In my opinion, we should be learning users, groups, permissions, and so on...I could care less what function key is dedicated to doing what in SuSE Linux and I doubt that will be anywhere on the Linux+ certification exam as this is vendor free exam.

If your reason for getting certification is to add it to your Resume/CV then it might be worthwhile to know details about one of the two main commercial distributions for interview purposes.

Having said that - there are threads here that talk about the value of certifications. I've been a professional SysAdmin for over 15 years and have never gotten one though I have attended a lot of specific training over that time. Employers tend to prefer experience over education but a certification may help separate you from others.

I use SuSE Linux Enterprise Server at work on our server. I won't use SuSE for my workstations though. For my money I would get my money back and buy the EXAM CRAM 2 LPIC 1 book. It will teach you many things in an unbiased way.

I am working in the field and I am RHCT certified. I just think SuSE is a waste of my time. Sorry.

It's probably a good idea to know all the major distros, for interview purposes anyway. I've been remiss myself when it comes to Ubuntu, for example, and knowing my luck that'll be the only one some middle manager I have to yap with will have ever tried... anyway.

A lot of corps use SuSE and Red Hat, like it or not.

Right now I am reading the Sybex Linux + Study Guide 3rd Edition from Amazon.com

another opinion
 

I have seen the book you describe but honestly don't remember anything about it.

There aren't a huge number of books to select from that specifically focus on exam prep so it isn't simply a matter of an instructor saying to a publisher "give me a book that is focused on the current instance of the exam and is also accurate and reasonably priced" (yes some instructors do consider that last part.) Somebody has to write the book first.

Most books will have to be based on some distro, for example the LPI books I have used in the past are suse-based. You simply don't have time in a 1 week or even 2 week class to do exercises on 5 distros and it would be a monumental task write an accurate book based on all those distros. Where necessary (dpkg, etc.) different distros may be mentioned if the cert requires it.

Having taught some of theses classes my opinion is that a lot of the value of the class will come from the instructor being able to focus you (without "cheating") on the best ways to prepare for the exam. One of my shortcomings as an instructor is that once I take a cert test, I walk out remembering maybe 2 questions, so honestly I'm not as much help in that respect as I wish I could be. Even if I could, I wouldn't give out the questions, but I would try to explain the best way to prepare for the test.

Sadly I can't remember much going into exams either, which is one reason I don't have very many certifications. I probably couldn't score 90% on a test of what I ate for breakfast, even with the empty cereal bowl still sitting on my desk.