Difference between revisions of "LPIC-304 Objectives V2"

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__FORCETOC__
 
__FORCETOC__
 
==Introduction==
 
==Introduction==
The description of the entire [[LPIC-3]] programme is listed [[LPIC-3|here]].
+
The description of the entire [[LPIC-3]] program is listed [[LPIC-3|here]].
 
<br /><br />
 
<br /><br />
 +
 
==Version Information==
 
==Version Information==
  
These objectives are version 2.0.0 '''DRAFT'''.
+
These objectives are version 2.0.0.
 +
 
 +
There is also a [[LPIC304SummaryVersion1To2|summary and detailed information]] on the changes from version 1.0 to 2.0 of the objectives.
  
 
The version [[LPIC-304 Objectives V1|1.x objectives]] can be found [[LPIC-304 Objectives V1|here]].
 
The version [[LPIC-304 Objectives V1|1.x objectives]] can be found [[LPIC-304 Objectives V1|here]].
Line 19: Line 22:
 
==Objectives==
 
==Objectives==
 
===''Topic 330: Virtualization''===
 
===''Topic 330: Virtualization''===
====<span style="color:navy">330.1 Virtualization Concepts and Theory (weight: 10)</span>====
+
====<span style="color:navy">330.1 Virtualization Concepts and Theory (weight: 8)</span>====
 
{|
 
{|
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 10
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 8
 
|-
 
|-
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should know and understand the general concepts, theory and terminology of Virtualization. This includes Xen and KVM terminology.
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should know and understand the general concepts, theory and terminology of Virtualization. This includes Xen, KVM and libvirt terminology.
 
|}
 
|}
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
Line 31: Line 34:
 
* Pros and Cons of Virtualization
 
* Pros and Cons of Virtualization
 
* Variations of Virtual Machine Monitors
 
* Variations of Virtual Machine Monitors
 +
* Migration of Physical to Virtual Machines
 +
* Migration of Virtual Machines between Host systems
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
* Hypervisor
 
* Hypervisor
* HVM(HardwareVirtualMachine)  
+
* Hardware Virtual Machine (HVM)
* PV(Paravirtualization)  
+
* Paravirtualization (PV)
* container virtualization
+
* Emulation and Simulation
* emulation and simulation
+
 
* CPU flags
 
* CPU flags
 +
* /proc/cpuinfo
 +
* Migration (P2V, V2V)
 
<br />
 
<br />
  
Line 46: Line 52:
 
|-
 
|-
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should be able to install, configure, maintain and troubleshoot Xen installations.  The focus is on Xen version 4.x.
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should be able to install, configure, maintain, migrate and troubleshoot Xen installations.  The focus is on Xen version 4.x.
 
|}
 
|}
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 +
* Xen architecture, networking and storage
 
* Xen configuration
 
* Xen configuration
 
* Xen utilities
 
* Xen utilities
 
* Troubleshooting Xen installations
 
* Troubleshooting Xen installations
 +
* Basic knowledge of XAPI
 +
* Awareness of XenStore
 +
* Awareness of Xen Boot Parameters
 
* Awareness of the xm utility
 
* Awareness of the xm utility
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
* Xen w/Intel VT
+
* Domain0 (Dom0), DomainU (DomU)
* Xen w/AMD-V
+
* PV-DomU, HVM-DomU
* Dom0 DomU GuestOS HostOS
+
* /etc/xen/
* /etc/xen
+
 
* xl
 
* xl
 
* xl.cfg
 
* xl.cfg
Line 71: Line 80:
 
|-
 
|-
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should be able to install, configure, maintain and troubleshoot KVM installations.
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should be able to install, configure, maintain, migrate and troubleshoot KVM installations.
 
|}
 
|}
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 +
* KVM architecture, networking and storage
 
* KVM configuration
 
* KVM configuration
 
* KVM utilities
 
* KVM utilities
 
* Troubleshooting KVM installations
 
* Troubleshooting KVM installations
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
* /proc/cpuinfo
+
* Kernel modules: kvm, kvm-intel and kvm-amd
* kernel modules: kvm kvm-intel kvm-amd
+
 
* /etc/kvm/  
 
* /etc/kvm/  
 
* /dev/kvm
 
* /dev/kvm
* kvm networking
+
* kvm
* kvm monitor
+
* KVM monitor
* kvm storage
+
* kvm-admin
+
 
* qemu
 
* qemu
 
* qemu-img
 
* qemu-img
Line 99: Line 106:
 
|}
 
|}
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 +
* Basic knowledge of OpenVZ and LXC
 
* Awareness of other virtualization technologies
 
* Awareness of other virtualization technologies
* Basic technical knowledge of other virtualization technologies
+
* Basic knowledge of virtualization provisioning tools
 +
 
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
* OpenVZ
 
* OpenVZ
 
* VirtualBox
 
* VirtualBox
 
* LXC
 
* LXC
 +
* docker
 +
* packer
 +
* vagrant
 
<br />
 
<br />
  
Line 116: Line 128:
 
|}
 
|}
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 +
* libvirt architecture, networking and storage
 
* Basic technical knowledge of libvirt and virsh
 
* Basic technical knowledge of libvirt and virsh
 
* Awareness of oVirt
 
* Awareness of oVirt
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
* libvirt
+
* libvirtd
 +
* /etc/libvirt/
 
* virsh
 
* virsh
 
* oVirt
 
* oVirt
 
<br />
 
 
<br />
 
<br />
  
===''Topic 331: Load Balancing''===
+
====<span style="color:navy">330.6 Cloud Management Tools (weight: 2)</span>====
====<span style="color:navy">331.1 Linux Virtual Server (weight: 3)</span>====
+
 
{|
 
{|
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 3
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 2
 
|-
 
|-
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should know how to install, configure, maintain and troubleshoot LVS.  This includes the configuration and use of keepalived.
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should have basic feature knowledge of commonly available cloud management tools.
 
|}
 
|}
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
* IPVS
+
* Basic feature knowledge of OpenStack and CloudStack
* VRRP
+
* Awareness of Eucalyptus and OpenNebula
* keepalived configuration
+
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
* ipvsadm
+
* OpenStack
* syncd
+
* CloudStack
* LVS-NAT/Tun/DR/LocalNode
+
* Eucalyptus
* connection scheduling algorithms
+
* OpenNebula
* genhash
+
 
<br />
 
<br />
 
====<span style="color:navy">331.2 HAProxy (weight: 3)</span>====
 
{|
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
 
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 3
 
|-
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
 
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Exam candidates should be able to install, configure, maintain and troubleshoot HAProxy.
 
|}
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 
* HAProxy
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
* ACLs
 
* load balancing algorithms
 
 
<br />
 
<br />
<br />
+
===''Topic 334: High Availability Cluster Management''===
 
+
====<span style="color:navy">334.1 High Availability Concepts and Theory (weight: 5)</span>====
===''Topic 332: Cluster Management''===
+
====<span style="color:navy">332.1 Pacemaker (weight: 3)</span>====
+
 
{|
 
{|
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 3
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 5
 
|-
 
|-
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should have experience in the installation, configuration, maintenance and troubleshooting of the Pacemaker cluster management set of technologies.  This includes the use of heartbeat version 2.
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should understand the properties and design approaches of high availability clusters.
 
|}
 
|}
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
* Essential cluster configuration
+
* Understand the most important cluster architectures.
* resource agents
+
* Understand recovery and cluster reorganization mechanisms.
 +
* Design an appropriate cluster architecture for a given purpose.
 +
* Application aspects of high availability.
 +
* Operational considerations of high availability.
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
* crmd
+
* Active/Passive Cluster, Active/Active Cluster
* PEngine
+
* Failover Cluster, Load Balanced Cluster
* CIB ptest
+
* Shared-Nothing Cluster, Shared-Disk Cluster
* cibadmin
+
* Cluster resources
* crmadmin
+
* Cluster services
* crm_* resource agents (heartbeat v2, LSB, OCF)
+
* Quorum
* authkeys
+
* Fencing
* /usr/lib/heartbeat/ResourceManager
+
* Split brain
* /etc/ha.d/
+
* Redundancy
 +
* Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF)
 +
* Mean Time To Repair (MTTR)
 +
* Service Level Agreement (SLA)
 +
* Desaster Recovery
 +
* Replication
 +
* Session handling
 
<br />
 
<br />
  
====<span style="color:navy">332.2 Advanced Pacemaker (weight: 2)</span>====
+
====<span style="color:navy">334.2 Load Balanced Clusters (weight: 6)</span>====
 
{|
 
{|
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 2
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 6
 
|-
 
|-
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should have experience in advanced features of the Pacemaker cluster management set of technologies.  This includes the use of OpenAIS and corosync.
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should know how to install, configure, maintain and troubleshoot LVS.  This includes the configuration and use of keepalived and ldirectord. Candidates should further be able to install, configure, maintain and troubleshoot HAProxy.
 
|}
 
|}
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
* fencing
+
* Understanding of LVS / IPVS.
* quorum
+
* Basic knowledge of VRRP.
* data integrity
+
* Configuration of keepalived.
* integration with file systems
+
* Configuration of ldirectord.
 +
* Backend server network configuration.
 +
* Understanding of HAProxy.
 +
* Configuration of HAProxy.
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
* STONITHd
+
* ipvsadm
* OCFS2
+
* syncd
* ldirectord
+
* LVS Forwarding (NAT, Direct Routing, Tunneling, Local Node)
* softdog
+
* connection scheduling algorithms
* OpenAIS and corosync
+
* keepalived configuration file
 +
* ldirectord configuration file
 +
* genhash
 +
* HAProxy configuration file
 +
* load balancing algorithms
 +
* ACLs
 
<br />
 
<br />
  
====<span style="color:navy">332.3 Red Hat Cluster Suite (weight: 3)</span>====
+
====<span style="color:navy">334.3 Failover Clusters (weight: 6)</span>====
 
{|
 
{|
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 3
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 6
 
|-
 
|-
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should have experience in the installation, configuration, maintenance and troubleshooting of the Red Hat Cluster Suite cluster management set of technologies.
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should have experience in the installation, configuration, maintenance and troubleshooting of a Pacemaker cluster. This includes the use of Corosync. The focus is on Pacemaker 1.1 for Corosync 2.x.
 
|}
 
|}
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
* Essential cluster configuration
+
* Pacemaker architecture and components (CIB, CRMd, PEngine, LRMd, DC, STONITHd).
* resource agents
+
* Pacemaker cluster configuration.
 +
* Resource classes (OCF, LSB, Systemd, Upstart, Service, STONITH, Nagios).
 +
* Resource rules and constraints (location, order, colocation).
 +
* Advanced resource features (templates, groups, clone resources, multi-state resources).
 +
* Pacemaker management using pcs.
 +
* Pacemaker management using crmsh.
 +
* Configuration and Management of corosync in conjunction with Pacemaker.
 +
* Awareness of other cluster engines (OpenAIS, Heartbeat, CMAN).
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
* ccs
+
* pcs
* OpenAIS
+
* crm
* rgmanager
+
* crm_mon
* /etc/ais/
+
* crm_verify
* /etc/corosync/
+
* crm_simulate
<br />
+
* crm_shadow
====<span style="color:navy">332.4 Advanced Red Hat Cluster Suite (weight: 2)</span>====
+
* crm_resource
{|
+
* crm_attribute
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
+
* crm_node
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 2
+
* crm_standby
|-
+
* cibadmin
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
+
* corosync.conf
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should have experience in advanced features of the Red Hat Cluster Suite cluster management set of technologies.  This includes the use and integration with LVS and GFS.
+
* authkey
|}
+
* corosync-cfgtool
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
+
* corosync-cmapctl
* fencing
+
* corosync-quorumtool
* quorum
+
* stonith_admin
* data integrity
+
* integration with file systems
+
* integration with LVS
+
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
+
* qdiskd
+
* /etc/lvs.cf
+
* Piranha
+
* GFS
+
* Conga
+
 
<br />
 
<br />
  
====<span style="color:navy">332.5 Cloud Management Tools (weight: 2)</span>====
+
====<span style="color:navy">334.4 High Availability in Enterprise Linux Distributions (weight: 1)</span>====
 
{|
 
{|
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 2
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 1
 
|-
 
|-
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should have basic feature knowledge of commonly available cloud management tools.
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should be aware of how enterprise Linux distributions integrate High Availability technologies.
 
|}
 
|}
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
* Basic feature knowledge of OpenStack and CloudStack
+
* Basic knowledge of Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability Add-On.
 +
* Basic knowledge of SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension.
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
* OpenStack
+
* Distribution specific configuration tools
* CloudStack
+
* Integration of cluster engines, load balancers, storage technology, cluster filesystems, etc.
 
+
<br />
+
 
<br />
 
<br />
  
===''Topic 333: Cluster Storage''===
+
===''Topic 335: High Availability Cluster Storage''===
====<span style="color:navy">333.1 DRBD (weight: 3)</span>====
+
====<span style="color:navy">335.1 DRBD / cLVM (weight: 3)</span>====
 
{|
 
{|
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
Line 272: Line 279:
 
|-
 
|-
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates are expected to have the experience and knowledge to install, configure, maintain and troubleshoot DRBD devices.  This includes integration with Pacemaker and heartbeat. Configuration of versions 8.3.x and 8.4.x are covered.
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates are expected to have the experience and knowledge to install, configure, maintain and troubleshoot DRBD devices.  This includes integration with Pacemaker. DRBD configuration of version 8.4.x is covered. Candidates are further expected to be able to manage LVM configuration within a shared storage cluster.
 
|}
 
|}
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
* DRBD
+
* Understanding of DRBD resources, states and replication modes.
 +
* Configuration of DRBD resources, networking, disks and devices.
 +
* Configuration of DRBD automatic recovery and error handling.
 +
* Management of DRBD using drbdadm.
 +
* Basic knowledge of drbdsetup and drbdmeta.
 +
* Integration of DRBD with Pacemaker.
 +
* cLVM
 +
* Integration of cLVM with Pacemaker.
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
* w/Pacemaker
+
* Protocol A, B and C
* w/heartbeat
+
* Primary, Secondary
 +
* Three-way replication
 +
* drbd kernel module
 +
* drbdadm
 +
* drbdsetup
 +
* drbdmeta
 +
* /etc/drbd.conf
 +
* /proc/drbd
 +
* LVM2
 +
* clvmd
 +
* vgchange, vgs
 
<br />
 
<br />
  
====<span style="color:navy">333.2 Global File System and OCFS2 (weight: 2)</span>====
+
====<span style="color:navy">335.2 Clustered File Systems (weight: 3)</span>====
 
{|
 
{|
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
 
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 2
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 3
 
|-
 
|-
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
 
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should know how to install, maintain and troubleshoot installations using GFS and OCFS2.
+
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should know how to install, maintain and troubleshoot installations using GFS2 and OCFS2. This includes integration with Pacemaker as well as awareness of other clustered filesystems available in a Linux environment.
 
|}
 
|}
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
 
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
* GFS2
+
* Understand the principles of cluster file systems.
* OCFS2
+
* Create, maintain and troubleshoot GFS2 file systems in a cluster.
 +
* Create, maintain and troubleshoot OCFS2 file systems in a cluster.
 +
* Integration of GFS2 and OCFS2 with Pacemaker.
 +
* Awareness of the O2CB cluster stack.
 +
* Awareness of other commonly used clustered file systems.
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
* Distributed Lock Manager
+
* Distributed Lock Manager (DLM)
<br />
+
* mkfs.gfs2
 
+
* mount.gfs2
====<span style="color:navy">333.3 Other Clustered File Systems (weight: 1)</span>====
+
* fsck.gfs2
{|
+
* gfs2_grow
| style="background:#dadada" | '''Weight'''
+
* gfs2_edit
| style="background:#eaeaea" | 1
+
* gfs2_jadd
|-
+
* mkfs.ocfs2
| style="background:#dadada; padding-right:1em" | '''Description'''
+
* mount.ocfs2
| style="background:#eaeaea" | Candidates should have an awareness of other clustered filesystems available in a Linux environment.
+
* fsck.ocfs2
|}
+
* tunefs.ocfs2
'''Key Knowledge Areas:'''
+
* mounted.ocfs2
* Coda
+
* o2info
 +
* o2image
 +
* CephFS
 +
* GlusterFS
 
* AFS
 
* AFS
'''The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:'''
 
* GlusterFS
 
 
<br />
 
<br />
 
  
 
===''Reference Material''===
 
===''Reference Material''===
Line 335: Line 363:
 
* GFS: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/csgfs/
 
* GFS: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/csgfs/
 
* OCFS2: http://oss.oracle.com/projects/ocfs2/documentation/
 
* OCFS2: http://oss.oracle.com/projects/ocfs2/documentation/
 +
 +
 +
==Future Change Considerations==
 +
 +
Future changes to the objective will/may include:
 +
 +
* Add Bonding / network high availability
 +
 +
* Cloning Linux, i.e. handling uniqueue properties such as host keys and machine ID

Latest revision as of 05:00, 3 May 2019

Introduction

The description of the entire LPIC-3 program is listed here.

Version Information

These objectives are version 2.0.0.

There is also a summary and detailed information on the changes from version 1.0 to 2.0 of the objectives.

The version 1.x objectives can be found here.


Translations of Objectives

The following translations of the objectives are available on this wiki:


Objectives

Topic 330: Virtualization

330.1 Virtualization Concepts and Theory (weight: 8)

Weight 8
Description Candidates should know and understand the general concepts, theory and terminology of Virtualization. This includes Xen, KVM and libvirt terminology.

Key Knowledge Areas:

  • Terminology
  • Pros and Cons of Virtualization
  • Variations of Virtual Machine Monitors
  • Migration of Physical to Virtual Machines
  • Migration of Virtual Machines between Host systems

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

  • Hypervisor
  • Hardware Virtual Machine (HVM)
  • Paravirtualization (PV)
  • Emulation and Simulation
  • CPU flags
  • /proc/cpuinfo
  • Migration (P2V, V2V)


330.2 Xen (weight: 9)

Weight 9
Description Candidates should be able to install, configure, maintain, migrate and troubleshoot Xen installations. The focus is on Xen version 4.x.

Key Knowledge Areas:

  • Xen architecture, networking and storage
  • Xen configuration
  • Xen utilities
  • Troubleshooting Xen installations
  • Basic knowledge of XAPI
  • Awareness of XenStore
  • Awareness of Xen Boot Parameters
  • Awareness of the xm utility

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

  • Domain0 (Dom0), DomainU (DomU)
  • PV-DomU, HVM-DomU
  • /etc/xen/
  • xl
  • xl.cfg
  • xl.conf
  • xe
  • xentop


330.3 KVM (weight: 9)

Weight 9
Description Candidates should be able to install, configure, maintain, migrate and troubleshoot KVM installations.

Key Knowledge Areas:

  • KVM architecture, networking and storage
  • KVM configuration
  • KVM utilities
  • Troubleshooting KVM installations

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

  • Kernel modules: kvm, kvm-intel and kvm-amd
  • /etc/kvm/
  • /dev/kvm
  • kvm
  • KVM monitor
  • qemu
  • qemu-img


330.4 Other Virtualization Solutions (weight: 3)

Weight 3
Description Candidates should have some basic knowledge and experience with alternatives to Xen and KVM.

Key Knowledge Areas:

  • Basic knowledge of OpenVZ and LXC
  • Awareness of other virtualization technologies
  • Basic knowledge of virtualization provisioning tools

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

  • OpenVZ
  • VirtualBox
  • LXC
  • docker
  • packer
  • vagrant


330.5 Libvirt and Related Tools (weight: 5)

Weight 5
Description Candidates should have basic knowledge and experience with the libvirt library and commonly available tools.

Key Knowledge Areas:

  • libvirt architecture, networking and storage
  • Basic technical knowledge of libvirt and virsh
  • Awareness of oVirt

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

  • libvirtd
  • /etc/libvirt/
  • virsh
  • oVirt


330.6 Cloud Management Tools (weight: 2)

Weight 2
Description Candidates should have basic feature knowledge of commonly available cloud management tools.

Key Knowledge Areas:

  • Basic feature knowledge of OpenStack and CloudStack
  • Awareness of Eucalyptus and OpenNebula

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

  • OpenStack
  • CloudStack
  • Eucalyptus
  • OpenNebula



Topic 334: High Availability Cluster Management

334.1 High Availability Concepts and Theory (weight: 5)

Weight 5
Description Candidates should understand the properties and design approaches of high availability clusters.

Key Knowledge Areas:

  • Understand the most important cluster architectures.
  • Understand recovery and cluster reorganization mechanisms.
  • Design an appropriate cluster architecture for a given purpose.
  • Application aspects of high availability.
  • Operational considerations of high availability.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

  • Active/Passive Cluster, Active/Active Cluster
  • Failover Cluster, Load Balanced Cluster
  • Shared-Nothing Cluster, Shared-Disk Cluster
  • Cluster resources
  • Cluster services
  • Quorum
  • Fencing
  • Split brain
  • Redundancy
  • Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF)
  • Mean Time To Repair (MTTR)
  • Service Level Agreement (SLA)
  • Desaster Recovery
  • Replication
  • Session handling


334.2 Load Balanced Clusters (weight: 6)

Weight 6
Description Candidates should know how to install, configure, maintain and troubleshoot LVS. This includes the configuration and use of keepalived and ldirectord. Candidates should further be able to install, configure, maintain and troubleshoot HAProxy.

Key Knowledge Areas:

  • Understanding of LVS / IPVS.
  • Basic knowledge of VRRP.
  • Configuration of keepalived.
  • Configuration of ldirectord.
  • Backend server network configuration.
  • Understanding of HAProxy.
  • Configuration of HAProxy.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

  • ipvsadm
  • syncd
  • LVS Forwarding (NAT, Direct Routing, Tunneling, Local Node)
  • connection scheduling algorithms
  • keepalived configuration file
  • ldirectord configuration file
  • genhash
  • HAProxy configuration file
  • load balancing algorithms
  • ACLs


334.3 Failover Clusters (weight: 6)

Weight 6
Description Candidates should have experience in the installation, configuration, maintenance and troubleshooting of a Pacemaker cluster. This includes the use of Corosync. The focus is on Pacemaker 1.1 for Corosync 2.x.

Key Knowledge Areas:

  • Pacemaker architecture and components (CIB, CRMd, PEngine, LRMd, DC, STONITHd).
  • Pacemaker cluster configuration.
  • Resource classes (OCF, LSB, Systemd, Upstart, Service, STONITH, Nagios).
  • Resource rules and constraints (location, order, colocation).
  • Advanced resource features (templates, groups, clone resources, multi-state resources).
  • Pacemaker management using pcs.
  • Pacemaker management using crmsh.
  • Configuration and Management of corosync in conjunction with Pacemaker.
  • Awareness of other cluster engines (OpenAIS, Heartbeat, CMAN).

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

  • pcs
  • crm
  • crm_mon
  • crm_verify
  • crm_simulate
  • crm_shadow
  • crm_resource
  • crm_attribute
  • crm_node
  • crm_standby
  • cibadmin
  • corosync.conf
  • authkey
  • corosync-cfgtool
  • corosync-cmapctl
  • corosync-quorumtool
  • stonith_admin


334.4 High Availability in Enterprise Linux Distributions (weight: 1)

Weight 1
Description Candidates should be aware of how enterprise Linux distributions integrate High Availability technologies.

Key Knowledge Areas:

  • Basic knowledge of Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability Add-On.
  • Basic knowledge of SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

  • Distribution specific configuration tools
  • Integration of cluster engines, load balancers, storage technology, cluster filesystems, etc.


Topic 335: High Availability Cluster Storage

335.1 DRBD / cLVM (weight: 3)

Weight 3
Description Candidates are expected to have the experience and knowledge to install, configure, maintain and troubleshoot DRBD devices. This includes integration with Pacemaker. DRBD configuration of version 8.4.x is covered. Candidates are further expected to be able to manage LVM configuration within a shared storage cluster.

Key Knowledge Areas:

  • Understanding of DRBD resources, states and replication modes.
  • Configuration of DRBD resources, networking, disks and devices.
  • Configuration of DRBD automatic recovery and error handling.
  • Management of DRBD using drbdadm.
  • Basic knowledge of drbdsetup and drbdmeta.
  • Integration of DRBD with Pacemaker.
  • cLVM
  • Integration of cLVM with Pacemaker.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

  • Protocol A, B and C
  • Primary, Secondary
  • Three-way replication
  • drbd kernel module
  • drbdadm
  • drbdsetup
  • drbdmeta
  • /etc/drbd.conf
  • /proc/drbd
  • LVM2
  • clvmd
  • vgchange, vgs


335.2 Clustered File Systems (weight: 3)

Weight 3
Description Candidates should know how to install, maintain and troubleshoot installations using GFS2 and OCFS2. This includes integration with Pacemaker as well as awareness of other clustered filesystems available in a Linux environment.

Key Knowledge Areas:

  • Understand the principles of cluster file systems.
  • Create, maintain and troubleshoot GFS2 file systems in a cluster.
  • Create, maintain and troubleshoot OCFS2 file systems in a cluster.
  • Integration of GFS2 and OCFS2 with Pacemaker.
  • Awareness of the O2CB cluster stack.
  • Awareness of other commonly used clustered file systems.

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

  • Distributed Lock Manager (DLM)
  • mkfs.gfs2
  • mount.gfs2
  • fsck.gfs2
  • gfs2_grow
  • gfs2_edit
  • gfs2_jadd
  • mkfs.ocfs2
  • mount.ocfs2
  • fsck.ocfs2
  • tunefs.ocfs2
  • mounted.ocfs2
  • o2info
  • o2image
  • CephFS
  • GlusterFS
  • AFS


Reference Material

Virtualization Theory and Concepts:


Load Balancing:


Cluster Management:


Cluster Storage:


Future Change Considerations

Future changes to the objective will/may include:

  • Add Bonding / network high availability
  • Cloning Linux, i.e. handling uniqueue properties such as host keys and machine ID