tommcd,

I'm learning to get a job. I never came across a job requirement with a slackware on it. So for this reason alone, at least for now, it's off the list. The objective is to learn the ways of enterprise linux administration.

Perhaps a benchmark of Linux mastery is when you are confronted with a Windows problem, and assert "Oh, I don't know how to do that on Windows, but I could fix it with Linux".
--- rod.

well as far as I can see, large portion of host based issues are trivial, the real mastery comes when more than one system is involved in solution/troubleshooting.

I thought Gentoo was the hardest to use and required you to have extensive knowledge about Linux. What about Arch Linux as well? Sorry, a bit new to Linux and I was planning on making my way up to Gentoo and LFS eventually.

Question, is there a website or a video on Youtube or some other streaming website, or maybe even a PDF or FTP/P2P download that can teach me more about Linux and how to work your way around them? I'm only in 11th grade, 17 years old, and I plan on using Linux for the rest of my life, who knows, maybe even try OpenBSD once to see how it is, etc. My main goal is to become an IT Security, secondly is a White Hat Hacker working for a company or even the government. My last goal to fall back on would be a programmer. If none of those work, I'm not sure, but I'd definitely be making LFS in my free time if I ended up with an Office Job. Anyway, main question, where can I find more to know about Linux, but not up to server administration, but to use as a home desktop and a workstation.

I recommend that you google linuxcbt. I was in a similar situation as yours and they offer no nonsense structured video training from a certified trainer. I would recommend that you start with LinuxCBT SLES-11 Edition (40 hours). This is SUSE but they also have one for Redhat, depending on which way you choose to go. Be warned however, that learning linux for the enterprise is a multi month time commitment, especially in the beginning, and one that shouldn't be rushed.

Strong Linux, database, web development, and security skills are always going to be in heavy demand regardless of the latest technology so it is a wise investment. Thirties is hardly over the hill so spend six month honing your skills to see if this is the road that you want to take. I would have given you the address but this is my first post so I wasn't able to.

I've been checking on linuxcbt before and I didn't like it as it was very basic and shallow. And I think about looking for in-class training. You mentioned web development. How web development comes along with system administration? I think of it as of a completely different skill-set.

Yes, I was going to say that earlier. At the risk of exposing too much info, I was well into my thirties when Linux was first born. I don't think you should need to become a monk just to learn how to paddle around in an OS.
--- rod.

I found unix/linux course in local community college. It is very cheap (I'm a resident), but I'm not sure it will stand up to the expectations. I want learning new stuff, not going over the same things again. I'm trying to decide between rhel and solaris to learn for a certification. I have met a guy who learned for Solaris certification by himself, didn't take any classes. I've been reading about rhel certification and they impose many expensive requirements, so I'm not sure.

Hi,

I come from academia and we used UNIX everywhere. Slackware is clean and useful to learn Gnu/Linux. Met my needs for a free *NIX like OS. Not everyone is using Red Hat. Loads of servers & clients utilize Slackware. BSD would be another choice but you stated that expanding understanding and experience with Gnu/Linux thus the recommendation to use Slackware.
Get Slackware Linux has useful resources & links to mirrors. Of course Slackware is not a hold your hand distribution but you will find help here at LQ Slackware forum.

You could use a VM to host a Gnu/Linux. That way the install to the VM would not cause problems with the host. VirtualBox is just one VM available. Look at Virtual section of Slackware®-Links. More than just Slackware links!

BTW, VM are used throughout the industry so that too would enhance your abilities for employment.

I really do not see a problem with learning Solaris to expand your UNIX understanding as related to Solaris but if you want overall learning experience for Gnu/Linux then that would not be my first choice. That is unless you are aiming for a Solaris shop.

Certs are not what most employers or interviewers look for. Most will know within a few minutes if your worth anything after communicating with you. Some pretest to filter out the rough and wanna Be's. Many years ago I had one interviewer take me to a terminal an then set a task. Of course I passed but their offer was to low.

Just a few links to aid you to gaining more understanding;



1 Linux Documentation Project

2 Rute Tutorial & Exposition

3 Linux Command Guide 

4 Bash Beginners Guide

5 Bash Reference Manual

6 Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide

7 Linux Newbie Admin Guide

8 LinuxSelfHelp

9 Utimate Linux Newbie Guide
10 Linux Home Networking
11 Virtualization- Top 10

The above links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

"Knowledge is of two kinds. We Know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it."- Samuel Johnson

onebuck,

thanks for the post, I know about these. For a beginners they are too much and for good instructions they are too general. I found Red Hat' documentation (comes with Centos) to be much superior. I have many books on Linux (both paper and ebooks) but I need focused approach. There are so many different aspects of Linux, that if I would try mastering even half of them, it would take years. One thing is to improve your skills when you have a job, another is to sharpen the basic skill-set to get a job. Today I'm focusing on a latter.

Linux From Scratch. You go through and build an entire Linux system. But from scratch. I am going through the procees now, and I am learning tons.

FormatC,

I don't want learning it from scratch, really and I scrolled the book. Linux is a complex system with lots of subsystems of unequal importance. And today's Linux enterprise solutions, as far as I can tell from Unix Academy DVDs I'm watching and books I'm reading, flies well above "scratch" level. If I would be doing it as a hobby, most likely I would take this route, but I see, there's bunch of really important enterprise level storage, network, backup, sync, servers, configuration and monitoring solutions to pay attention to them.

kienlarsen,

It sounds like you're interested in a career as a Sys Admin. If that's the case, you will most likely need a combination of experience and certification to get the position you want. This may mean spending some time in positions you're not interested in long term to build your resume.

LPIC and Linux+ probably won't do you much good, as they are generally regarded as "basic" certifications.

The Red Hat certifications are good in that they are pretty well respected in the industry and many companies are using Red Hat machines. Classes can be expensive, though.

There are alternatives to official Red Hat courses (see the link in my signature) and there are good books available if you prefer self study. Tommasino and Jang both have books out that are excellent for this purpose.

Hope this helps.
__________
www.OneCourseSource.com

Re RH, I'm pretty sure you can just do the exam without the course if you want.
There's a load(!) of good manuals (free to read) at www.linuxtopia.org, inc full sets for RHEL 5 & 6.
Obviously you'd use Centos at home (free ver of RHEL).