Rating: 
Summary: great study guide--I passed!
Review: The first thing I want to say about reading this book is : I passed! Certification books serve four purposes: first, they serve as a way to prepare for computerized certification exams. Second, they provide a 'training plan' for learning the objectives in the certification. Third, can a book explain system administration concepts while limiting a reader's exposure to difficult, elusive topics until later? Fourth, can a book like this still be useful post-certification? Part One (covering the 101 test) contained generous amounts of examples for text-processing commands and a really top notch discussion of permissions, ownership, booting and documentation. Helpfully, 'need to know' boxes are scattered throughout the book to indicate how important a topic is on the test. Frequently, the author will point out that although he explained a certain topic in depth, it won't be covered in depth on the test. I really appreciated that, although I found that the actual test covered certain topics (such as X Windows) in much more depth than Dean leads us to believe. One thing, by the way, to remember, is that often the book gives only the 5 or 6 most popular switches for each command. If you learned about these commands only from this book, you might be overlooking some important switches. I found this especially to be true when Dean discussed user management. I consider usermod 'g and usermod 'G to be really important commands, but this book didn't even mention them. On the other hand, Dean gave an explanation of regular expressions which was quite adequate for the purposes of this book. Although omitting some switches proved exasperating at times, the simplified view of the commands can be helpful for linux newbies. Part Two (covering 102 test) covered a lot more ground: Apache, sendmail, nfs, dns, tcp-ip; heck, books have been written on each of those topics. The book covered well these topics in particular: compiling a kernel, troubleshooting tcp-ip and using rpm's. I found his discussion of Debian package management to be hard to follow, although that may be because I've never used it before in real life (but watch out! The test covers this in depth!). The book's discussion of network services (nfs, sendmail, apache, samba) was shallow at best, but I doubt anyone would rely on such a book for maintaining a web server, for example. But it provided some of the basics at least. The section on X Window was succinct and helpful. Also, some of the information presented is outdated, at least on Red Hat's latest distribution. Red Hat, for example, no longer uses inetd for startup, and some of the directory paths have since changed. These are minor quibbles, and one of the challenge of passing a certification like this is asking yourself: should I be learning things for the exam that are no longer accurate or relevant in current distributions? Certifications test the knowledge available at the time of test creation, when in reality new applications are being added and processes streamlined every day. The book contains lots of sample multiple choice items, review questions and exercises. The multiple choice items didn't really add much to the book, but I frequently referred to the review questions. (Remember, the LPI exam has fill-in-the-blanks questions). Don't overlook the excellent 'highlighter's index' at the back of the book. Two minor quibbles. First, the cover is not very strong and is bent, torn and curled over. The other is that the LPI exam objectives are not located at the front or back of the book. Rather, the table of objectives for 101 are in the front, and objectives for 102 are in the middle. I referred to this table constantly to see the amount of weight LPI was giving to a particular topic. Also, because the table of contents follow the LPI learning objectives (probably a smart thing), it is often difficult to find documentation about a certain command. For that I might recommend Linux in a Nutshell , 3rd Edition, which serves as a comprehensive index of commands and system utilities. It is excellent. Also, General Linux I Exam Prep (Exam: 101) by Dee Ann LeBlanc (published in 2000), is an extremely helpful book (and available for significantly reduced price used). Although it was one of the first to market and didn't address the LPI objectives explicitly, the exercises and presentation of material are every bit as good as Dean's book. Keep in mind also that LPI Linux Certification is not sufficient in and of itself. You will probably end up referring to other books such as Matt Welsh's Running Linux, Olaf Kirch's Linux Network Administrator's Guide or the unbelievably good Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition .
Rating:
Summary: LPI Linux Certification book review
Review: This 500 page book covers the topics contained on the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) certification tests. LPI has three levels of certification - LPIC1 or Junior Level Administration, LPIC2 or Intermediate Level Administration, and LPIC3 or Senior Level Administration. Currently LPIC3 is still under development. At the time this book was published (June 2001) LPIC2 was still under development and LPIC1 had been in use for 6 months. This book only covers the level 1 certification so the title should probably be changed to reflect that in the next edition since LPIC2 is now out.
I really liked this book. My experience with Linux started with RedHat 5, but until recently it has always been more of a hobby activity than work related. As such I tended to poke around in areas of interest or necessity rather than explore all the subsystems within Linux. In this way I ended up knowing some things about configuring Linux networking, but absolutely nothing about setting up custom kernels or printing just because I never had a need or desire to do that. This book was great for walking you through each of the Linux topic areas and giving you a solid grounding in how the subsystem works, the relevant configuration files, and what to expect on the exam for each topic. When you are experimenting with something like turning on user and group disk quotas for the first time it is very helpful to have a step by step explanation of what to do and why you are doing it. That type of information is sometime hard to get from the man pages.
The book itself closely follows the LPIC1 exam structure. LPIC1 consists of two tests (101 and 102) with about 60 questions each. The topics covered in each test are numbered using a "level.topic" notation such as 1.5 or 2.4 for topic 5 on test 101 and topic 4 on test 102 respectively. The book itself has two parts - part one covering exam 101 and part 2 covering exam 102. Each part has 6 sections. The first section is an exam overview which outlines the topics on that exam and the number of objectives for each topic with a description of what the topic is about. Section two is a study guide with a more detailed breakdown of each topic and objective with the weight of each objective has on the exam. An example of a topic and an objective are "Administrative tools" and "Maintain an effective data backup strategy" respectively. These tables supposedly can help you prioritize which objectives to focus on, but I found that there were so many objectives (~60 for exam 101) with the majority of weights between 3 and 5, that it was only occasionally useful to see if the objective was weight 1 (minimum) versus 7 (maximum) when deciding how much time to spend on an objective. The third section is the meat of the book with a chapter on each topic and lots of details about each objective. I found this well written and easy to follow and understand. There are lots of examples to help explain commands and concepts, and some areas end up being a mini reference for a utility or command with just the most common options. I found it best if I read these chapters away from the computer then went back and sat at a Linux console to experiment with the things which were new to me until I understood it. After the chapters on the topics, the next section is review questions and exercises where you get a chance test your knowledge and reread the stuff you missed. The exercises require a live Linux system to run shell commands and scripts and reinforce the material covered. A play system where you can repartition disks and regenerate the kernel is highly recommended. Once you are done reviewing, there is a sample LPI exam and if you pass it (70%) you probably have a pretty good grasp of the material in the book. The last section is called "Highlighter's Index". It is like a Coles notes version of the material. This is a great way to refresh you memory after you have been away from the material for a while or just before you write the exam.
So what's wrong with the book? Well for starters it has become a little dated. LPI has changed the tests over the past three years moving topic areas from one test to another so the organization of the book no longer follows the current exam topics. LPI has left the topic numbers consistent however so matching up current exam content to chapters in the book isn't that hard. It sounds like LPI does this on a regular basis since the books topics were already shuffled to agree with the exams as of June 2001. Since I planned to write both 101 and 102 at the same time it didn't really matter to me, but for someone studying for one or the other, it means the practice exams are no longer as relevant. To give you an idea of the changes, here is the current exam content compared to the book organization:
As of August 2004:
LPI 101 exam topics (book placement)
* Hardware & Architecture (Part 2 - exam 102)
* Linux Installation & Package Management (Part 2 - exam 102)
* GNU & Unix commands (Part 1 - exam 101)
* Devices, Linux Filesystems, Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (Part 1 - exam 101)
* The X Window System (Part 2 - exam 102)
102 topics:
* Kernel (Part 2 - exam 102)
* Boot, Initialization, Shutdown and Runlevels (Part 1 - exam 101)
* Printing (Part 2 - exam 102)
* Documentation (Part 1 - exam 101)
* Shells, Scripting, Programming, and Compiling (Part 2 - exam 102)
* Administrative Tasks (Part 1 - exam 101)
* Networking Fundamentals (Part 2 - exam 102)
* Networking Services (Part 2 - exam 102)
* Security (Part 2 - exam 102)
I found very few mistakes in the book itself. There was a missing diagram in the printing section, a missing line continuation character in one of the example configuration files, and a dyslectic reference to exam 201 when they meant 102, but other than that the sample code was accurate and the examples worked. Being three years old means that you won't find much on the latest innovations in Linux but then again this is a foundation type exam where much of the material is timeless.
So, how well does it prepare you to write the LPI certification exams? The book is an excellent starting point but you will need to use other materials as well to fill in areas that can be asked on the exams. Plan on using the man pages to go beyond what is in the book, and plan on referring to the LPI website to see what is currently included in each topic area since this does change. For example, in the book the "Security" topic does not mention ipchains or iptables which are now part of the material included in the 102 exam. I just wrote both the 101 and 102 exams on August 28th and this book plus other resources were used to prepare. I estimate that the book covers 85-90% of the current exam contents so it is highly recommended as long as you recognize the limitations and don't use it as your sole preparation guide. Since I wrote the paper version of the exams I won't know whether I passed on not for another 4-6 weeks, but I suspect that without the book my chances would have been a lot lower.
In summary, this book is very worthwhile for anyone preparing to take LPI level 1 certification, but it is a little out of date so be forewarned to cross check it's contents with the current LPI exams, especially if you are only writing one. I find it an excellent general reference book as well for those times when you have to jump into an area that you kinda know but have probably forgotten enough that a quick review is in order before diving in. I'd give this a 4.5 or higher if it was more current, but it sounds like the LPI exams themselves are a moving target.
September 2004
Rating: 
Summary: Don't rely on this book alone!
Review: This book has most everything you will need. HOWEVER, Base your study around the objectives listed at lpi.org and not from the book! I knew all the nutshell test 1 info inside and out. the only problem is there is info on test one that nutshell saves for test two. I guess the best advice is to know both tests inside and out before taking either one.
Rating: 
Summary: THE linux reference to have for beginers to intermediates
Review: This book is a 10 compared to other linux books I've read. I have Running Linux at home, the book looks bland next to this one. Network+ All in One certification was the best IT book I had ever read, now I put this one right next to it. The book explains all the linux commands you'll need to know to do basic administration and offers on average 4 examples of each command with various keys and the output. Everyone with little Linux experience should have this book, it's a wealth of command information and how Linux works. My only "bummer"? I wish they were more exercises at the end of each chapter, but then again, just type in the examples on a Linux box and you'll get just as much practice!. I'm going for my Linux+ and LPI (101/102) certifications, I'm sure this book will help me reach my goals. Blashy, A+, i-Net+, Network+
Rating:
Summary: Helped Me Pass
Review: This book is considerably better than others I've tried on the subject (I passed LPI 101 using the QUE book by Theresa Hadden and I've read the ExamCram 102 book as well as this one before passing LPI 102). You just get a feeling that a bit more time and effort went into this volume than into the others. Typos are rare, the presentation style is clear and direct, Mr. Dean is obviously very knowledgeable about the subject. That said, some things that appeared on the exam were not in the book, and questions at the end of each chapter would have helped. On the other hand, the ExamCram book had typos and inaccuracies in the review questions themselves! There's nothing funnier than finding a typo in the end-of-chapter test (the correct answer marked as d instead of c, a couple of choices being identical, etc). Thankfully, the tests at the end of this book's exam sections did not have such surprises. I hope O'Reilly publishes a book on the Level 2 LPI exams when those come out - I know I'd buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Best Nutshell book on Linux
Review: This book is so much better than Linux in a Nutshell (2nd edition). It is perfect as a learning aid and study guide for LPI Certification. I realize that newer editions of Linux in a Nutshell exist but who cares? This book in my opinion is all you need and is a much better alternative. This book is still 1st edition while Linux in a Nutshell has released 4 editions - this should say something about the two books! I haven't found any glaring errors as some reviewers have but of course the errata on the O'Reilly website will resolve the issue.
Rating:
Summary: It's a great book BUT
Review: This is an excellent book, very comprehensive. Organized by subject matter. The explanations are very clear and easy to understand. The writing style is easy to follow and direct without being too cutsey or annoying. I will say there are a number of shortcomings that will hopefully be fixed in edition 2. 1. Not enough practice problems (there is just 1 practice exam for each one exam) 2. Sometimes they screw up the topics. For instance, there is a whole mess of stuff on shell scripting in the "LPI101" section; yet the LPI website says that shell scripting is in part 2. 3. There are a few typos. I will say that after having taken LPI 101, but not 102, and passed, that there are some holes in the book. For instance, (and this is not a real example) the book may tell you about "ls" and "ls -l" and "ls -a" but the test may ask about "ls -c" or "ls --sort=size" or something. So there are some holes in the book! You have to be careful. But OVERALL it's a good book, if you learn everything in the book you will pass. Just don't expect that it will give you the keys to the test.
Rating:
Summary: Good Study Aid - Great Reference
Review: This was one of two study guides I used for the LPIC Level 1 Cert. The other proved pretty useless, so the bulk of the reading/studying I did was with this book. I passed both exams on the first try. There were a few items on the exam not covered in the text, and there are a few errors in the book (which isn't a real big deal, as the errors are documented on the publisher's web site) which accounts for my rating of 4 instead of 5, but all in all, it was a very useful aid, and pivotal in my success on the exams. One very positive aspect of this book is that it goes farther than just preparing you for the exams. It is a great teaching aid to Linux in general, and has proven to be an invaluable reference even after the exams. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Its good but not good ENOUGH
Review: Today i passed LPI 102 exam so im an LPI certified . I already passed LPI 101 before this book was realeased . I want to say this book is good and will make you pass . But you wont get a full or a good mark , because it lacks few stuff that need to be added .
Rating:
Summary: Don't depend on this book alone to pass
Review: While the book's explanation of the topics covered was excellent, it had some major problems. First, its breakdown of the topics between exam 101 and exam 102 was not consistent with LPI's. As an example, package management and X Windows are covered as an exam 102 topic but they are exam 101 topics. Second, the book completely omits the "Maintain system time" topic and does not go into enough detail into others such as DNS and ssh.
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