Summary of LPI Certifications

Linux Professional Institute (LPI) is committed to the development of a global standard in Linux and Open Source certification. We believe that such a certification program must meet the requirements of both IT professionals and the organizations that would employ them. To achieve this goal we have adopted an open, rigorous, and consultative development process, which uses both volunteer and hired resources. Our development process is widely recognized and endorsed and has met the strict requirements of independent certification authorities.

Essentials

The Essentials certificates were created for candidates who are starting a career in open source or who wish to demonstrate their abilities.

Linux Professional Institute Linux Essentials exam tests the candidate’s ability to use a basic command-line editor and demonstrate an understanding of processes, programs and components of the Linux operating system.

  • Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this certificate.
  • Requirements: Passing the Linux Essentials 010 exam. The Linux Essentials exam contains 40 questions and must be completed within 60-minutes.
  • Languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish
  • Validity period: Lifetime

IT security is absolutely crucial for individuals and organizations in today’s digital world. The Security Essentials exam covers preliminary knowledge in all important fields of IT security.

  • Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this certification.
  • Requirements: Passing the Security Essentials 020 exam. The Security Essentials exam contains 40 questions and must be completed within 60-minutes.
  • Languages: English, Japanese
  • Validity period: Lifetime

Modern software applications are commonly developed for the Web. The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) Web Development Essentials program supports your first steps in software development.

  • Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this certification.
  • Requirements: Passing the Web Development Essentials 030 exam. The Web Development Essentials exam contains 40 questions and must be completed within 60-minutes.
  • Languages: English, Japanese
  • Validity period: Lifetime

The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) Open Source Essentials program covers the common knowledge that anyone who is professionally involved with open source should have.

  • Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this certification.
  • Requirements: Passing the Web Development Essentials 050 exam. The Open Source Essentials exam contains 40 questions and must be completed within 60-minutes.
  • Languages: English
  • Validity period: Lifetime

Linux Professional

Linux Professional Institute‘s Linux Professional Track is designed to evaluate the knowledge and skills of Linux systems administrators. To keep pace with evolving technology, the exam objectives are updated on average every three years and Linux Professional Institute certifications are valid for five years before you must recertify or certify at a higher level.

Although the exams may be taken in any order, lower level certifications must be achieved before higher-level certifications can be awarded.

Linux Professional Institute LPIC-1 tests ability to perform maintenance tasks with the command line, install and configure a computer running Linux and be able to configure basic networking.

  • Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this certification.
  • Requirements: Passing the 101 and 102 exams. Each 90-minute exam is 60 multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions.
  • Languages: English, German, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Spanish (Modern)
  • Validity period: 5 years unless retaken or higher level is achieved.

Linux Professional Institute LPIC-2 tests ability to administer small to medium–sized mixed networks.

  • Prerequisites: An active LPIC-1 certification.
  • Requirements: Passing exams 201 and 202. Each 90-minute exam is 60 multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions.
  • Languages: English, German, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazilian)
  • Validity period: 5​ years unless retaken or higher level is achieved.

Linux Professional Institute LPIC-3 Mixed Environments tests ability to integrate Linux services in an enterprise-wide mixed environment.

  • Prerequisites: An active LPIC-2 certification.
  • Requirements: Passing the 300 exam. The 90-minute exam is 60 multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions.
  • Languages: English, Japanese
  • Validity period: 5 years

Linux Professional Institute LPIC-3 Security tests ability to secure and harden Linux-based servers, services and networks enterprise-wide.

  • Prerequisites: An active LPIC-2 certification.
  • Requirements: Passing the 303 exam. The 90-minute exam is 60 multiple-choice and fill in the blank questions.
  • Languages: English, Japanese
  • Validity period: 5 years

Linux Professional Institute LPIC-3 Virtualization and Containerization covers the administration of Linux systems enterprise-wide with an emphasis on Virtualization & Containerization.

  • Prerequisites: An active LPIC-2 certification.
  • Requirements: Passing the 305 exam. The 90-minute exam is 60 multiple-choice and fill in the blank questions.
  • Languages: English, Japanese
  • Validity period: 5 years

Linux Professional Institute LPIC-3 High Availability and Storage Clusters covers the administration of Linux systems enterprise-wide with an emphasis on high availability systems and storage.

  • Prerequisites: An active LPIC-2 certification.
  • Requirements: Passing the 306 exam. The 90-minute exam is 60 multiple-choice and fill in the blank questions.
  • Languages: English, Japanese
  • Validity period: 5 years

Open Technology

The Open Technology professional certifications are designed to evaluate the knowledge and skills of open technology tools, such as DevOps tools and BSD Specialist. To keep pace with evolving technologies, open technology track exam objectives are updated on average every three years and certifications are valid for five years before you must recertify or certify at a higher level.

For Open Technology certifications, single exam is awarded with certification, and there are no prerequisites for the exams.

Certified DevOps Tools Engineer should have a working knowledge of DevOps-related domains such as Software Engineering and Architecture, Container and Machine Deployment, Configuration Management and Monitoring.

  • Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this certification. However, an additional certification in the candidate’s primary area of expertise, such as LPIC-1 or a developer certification, is strongly recommended.
  • Requirements: Passing the 701 exam. The 90 minute exam is 60 multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions.
  • Languages: English, Japanese
  • Validity period: 5 years

The BSD Specialist certificate requires passing a single exam. This exam tests skills in administering FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD systems. Covering the three major BSD systems ensures that the certification holder is comfortable working in BSD-based environments of any kind.

  • Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this certification. However, it is strongly recommended that a candidate has more than a year of experience in administering BSD systems of various kinds.
  • Requirements: Passing the 702 exam. The 90 minute exam is 60 multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions.
  • Language: English
  • Validity period: 5 years

Linux Professional Institute is a non profit organization.

Linux Professional Institute (LPI) is the global certification standard and career support organization for open source professionals. With more than 250,000 certification holders, it’s the world’s first and largest vendor-neutral Linux and open source certification body. LPI has certified professionals in over 180 countries, delivers exams in multiple languages, and has hundreds of training partners.

Our mission is to promote the use of open source by supporting the people who work with it.

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