🐧 Linux Essentials Lab (LPI 010-160)

This project documents my hands-on practice for the Linux Essentials (010-160) exam objectives.
The lab was built with VMware Workstation Pro 17, using both Rocky Linux 10 Server (Minimal) and Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS.

Most screenshots were taken in Rocky Linux, but I worked across both VMs to highlight similarities and differences between Debian-based and RHEL-based systems.

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🎯 Learning Objectives (mapped to 010-160)

• Linux & open source basics (distros, licensing, help systems)
• Navigation & files (paths, wildcards, text viewing)
• Command line power (pipes, redirection, search, editors)
• OS & processes (boot, services, logs, hardware)
• Security & permissions (users, groups, chmod/chown, ACLs)
• Networking basics (IPs, routes, name resolution, firewalls)
• Package managers (APT on Ubuntu, DNF on Rocky)
• Scripting & automation (bash fundamentals, cron)
• Troubleshooting (DNS, fstab, etc.)

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🧱 Lab Topology

Ubuntu VM

• Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
• 2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 40 GB disk
• NAT adapter (VMnet8)
• Packages: open-vm-tools, curl, wget, nano, less, man-db

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Rocky VM

• Rocky Linux 10 (Minimal)
• 2 vCPU, 7.5 GB RAM, 40 GB disk
• NAT adapter (VMnet8)
• Packages: open-vm-tools, curl, wget, nano, less, man-pages

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🖼️ Screenshots

1. System Identity & Release Info

• uname -a, /etc/os-release, hostnamectl
• Both Ubuntu and Rocky release identifiers

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2. Navigation & Files

• pwd, ls -la, cd, mkdir, touch, cp, mv, rm
• Tree view of nested directories

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3. Text Viewing & Editing

• man ls, less, nano editor, writing scripts

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4. Command Line Power

• Pipes and redirection

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5. Packages & Repositories

• APT (Ubuntu) vs DNF (Rocky)
• Installing, inspecting, and removing packages

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6. Users, Groups, Permissions

• Adding users, group membership, sudo/wheel access
• Ownership and file permissions
• ACLs (Access Control Lists)
• Sticky bit/shared directories

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7. Processes, Services, and Logs

• ps aux, pgrep, systemctl, journalctl
• Service management

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8. Hardware & Storage

• Inspecting CPU and block devices
• Mounting loopback devices

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9. Networking & Name Resolution

• ip a, ip r, ping, host, getent hosts
• Configuring firewalls

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10. Bash, Scripts, and Automation

• Writing and running bash scripts
• Cron jobs (crontab -e, crontab -l) See /scripts/quickbackup.sh for the full backup script used in this lab

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11. Break/Fix Drills

• DNS misconfiguration and recovery
• fstab errors and fixes

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✅ Self-Test Checklist

• Identify kernel & distro (uname -r, /etc/os-release)
• Navigate with absolute/relative paths and wildcards
• Install/remove packages with APT and DNF
• Manage users, groups, and permissions (chmod, chown, ACLs)
• Inspect processes/services with systemctl and journalctl
• Configure IPs, routes, and name resolution
• Write/run a bash script and schedule with cron
• Mount and test filesystems with /etc/fstab
• Troubleshoot common issues (DNS, fstab)

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📚 Notes

This lab shows practical Linux skills across two families of distributions:

• Debian-based (Ubuntu) → APT package manager
• RHEL-based (Rocky) → DNF package manager

Practicing on both clarified differences in package handling, service names, log locations, and firewall tools.