Hi guys,

I have a couple of questions:

1) What skills do I need to work as Linux Systems Administrator?
2) What courses should I take?
3) What servers/Distros are mostly used?

I work as Systems Administrator of W$ndows systems however I'm looking for another job so I found many openings for Linux Admins and since I love Linux I would like to start working as an Admin.
I've been using Linux for about 2 years now.

Moderator If I posted this on the wrong forum please move it to the right one. I wasn't sure where to post these questions.
Thanks! :=)

any advice is appreciated.

Try this in google 'Linux certification'. I came up with ' Results 1 - 10 of about 1,100,000 for Linux certification. (0.21 seconds)'.

This is a hard question.
I guess if you are a windows system administrator....then you have the general skills.
But from my experience you should be able to write and understand code in C,Perl,Python,PHP,HTML (this mainly so you can modify existent code from applications etc or to create custom interfaces).
You should by really good in networking technologies.Try to certify for CCNA,CCNP and also learn security concepts.Also a "hacking training" once in a while really helps to keep you informed.

Courses - I don't know...I only take certifications exams after I learn at home.

Regarding distros you should be familiar with Slackware,Debian,Fedora,CentOS,Red Hat and also BSD family mainly OpenBSD and FreeBSD.
OpenBSD is usually used for firewall/VPN


Very important: debugging skills, optimization, kernel modification and optimization, file system maintenance and optimization,raid concepts(software/hardware), programming skills etc etc.
Buy a subscription to a linux magazine to keep informed.Keep 3-4 computers at home(small lab) to practice new things.Be familiar with VoIP, failover/high availability systems,routing protocols, Cisco routers and switches
Also databases: MySQL Postgresql, SQL language, database clusters...it all helps to know
Not to forget terms like: IDS,NIDS,HIDS,IPS


But all this apply to me....every system administrator and every job requires specific skills

Sorry for the blunt post I re-read your post and that's not what you were asking.

The O'Reilly LPIC certification book is a nice overview of many of the varied topics you should be familiar with as a Linux Systems administrator. it makes a nice outline for material you should learn.

a small book really at 980 pages.. http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596005283/


If you look over in the certification forum there should be information on different courses that are available and certifications as well.

Hi,

Certification would be fine but not the whole answer. There are multiple sources for extending or appending your knowledge of GNU/Linux. I would suggest that you look at the 'FREE' stuff available on the net. You could start by looking at the 'Linux Tutorial' section of 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

There is more in the 'Linux Help' section of the Links. You have to decide what area or distribution you wish to support for GNU/Linux. Generally, support for System Admin for GNU/Linux would not really be that difficult. Yet, it would be easier if you define the distribution then perform within that arena.

thank you guys!!!! 62chevy, don't worry man! I will follow your advices and hopefully get a Linux Admin job soon. :=) Happy Easter!!!!

ddaemonunics, thanks for your advice. I have at home a small lab which has a pc running OpenSuse, pc running Ubuntu server, pc running W$ndows 03 server and my laptop which has OpenSuse, xp, vi$ta.
Things have been bad at work and I think they will cut down my hours in the next couple of days so I've been looking for another job and I realized that Linux Admins make more money than W$ndows Admins.
thanks.

Some answers/comments:

1. same as MS, only done the Linux way... IOW, the same things need doing from the business perspective eg set up apache/nfs/samba/ftp/ new users etc etc. Just learn to do it the Linux way, especially the cmd line, just in case the gui isn't avail or insufficient to the task.
2. courses: up to you, but RedHat are prob the most well known in the heavy commercial environment. You can practice on Centos (RH sw, but free) . 1st 2 are RHCT, RHCE
3. All sorts of distros are used, see distrowatch.com top 10, but look at your local career ads to see what is popular in your area.

Learn all (ok most...) of this if you can: http://rute.2038bug.com/rute.html.gz

I'm going crazy! Yesterday I went to B&N to check out some Linux Magazines and books but the list is so big!!!! I found Ubuntu LTS server administration by Sander then I found another book title Linux Administration, Linux+ . it's hard. I haven't decided yet which one to get. anyways thanks all for your posts! It really helped! Wish me luck! :=)

Hi Farslayer,

I was looking at this book and it has very good reviews however it was released in 2006. should I purchase it? or just get a more updated book from another Author?
thanks!

how about this one?

http://www.amazon.com/LPIC-1-Linux-P...9506157&sr=1-1

Like I mentioned it's a great book to provide an outline of the material you should know.. it certainly is not a comprehensive learning guide for all the contained material. If it were it would have 10 times the number of pages it currently does. I would say the material in that book is still very relevant overall.. that one book should cover everything in exam 101 and 102.. If you look at the links on that page, that is quite a bit of materail, and probably a number of topics you hadn't even considered.

LPIC is vendor neutral, so it covers Debian based systems as well as RPM based systems. I'm not suggesting you get the certification unless you want to (It's better than the Linux + cert, and Far less expensive than the Redhat or Suse Certs) But as a general guide of knowledge it's a good reference.

There's lots of ways to skin a cat, this is just one suggestion.

Best of luck in your endeavors.

Thank you very much farslayer!!! I will get O'relly's book. Happy Easter!