Candidates should be able to measure hardware resource and network bandwidth, identify and troubleshoot resource problems.

• Measure CPU usage.
• Measure memory usage.
• Measure disk I/O.
• Measure network I/O.
• Measure firewalling and routing throughput.
• Map client bandwidth usage.
• Match / correlate system symptoms with likely problems.
• Estimate throughput and identify bottlenecks in a system including networking.

• iostat
• iotop
• vmstat
• netstat
• ss
• iptraf
• pstree, ps
• w
• lsof
• top
• htop
• uptime
• sar
• swap
• processes blocked on I/O
• blocks in
• blocks out

• ps
• lsof
• sysstat
• netstat / ss
• iotop
• iptraf

Candidates should be able to monitor resource usage to predict future resource needs.

• Use monitoring and measurement tools to monitor IT infrastructure usage.
• Predict capacity break point of a configuration.
• Observe growth rate of capacity usage.
• Graph the trend of capacity usage.
• Awareness of monitoring solutions such as Icinga2, Nagios, collectd, MRTG and Cacti

• diagnose
• predict growth
• resource exhaustion

• collectd

Candidates should be able to utilise kernel components that are necessary to specific hardware, hardware drivers, system resources and requirements. This objective includes implementing different types of kernel images, understanding stable and longterm kernels and patches, as well as using kernel modules.

• Kernel 2.6.x, 3.x and 4.x documentation

• /usr/src/linux
• /usr/src/linux/Documentation
• zImage
• bzImage
• xz compression

• zImage vs. bzImage

Candidates should be able to properly configure a kernel to include or disable specific features of the Linux kernel as necessary. This objective includes compiling and recompiling the Linux kernel as needed, updating and noting changes in a new kernel, creating an initrd image and installing new kernels.

• /usr/src/linux/
• Kernel Makefiles
• Kernel 2.6.x, 3.x and 4.x make targets
• Customize the current kernel configuration.
• Build a new kernel and appropriate kernel modules.
• Install a new kernel and any modules.
• Ensure that the boot manager can locate the new kernel and associated files.
• Module configuration files
• Use DKMS to compile kernel modules.
• Awareness of dracut

• mkinitrd
• mkinitramfs
• make
• make targets (all, config, xconfig, menuconfig, gconfig, oldconfig, mrproper, zImage, bzImage, modules, modules_install, rpm-pkg, binrpm-pkg, deb-pkg)
• gzip
• bzip2
• module tools
• /usr/src/linux/.config
• /lib/modules/kernel-version/*
• depmod
• dkms

• make
• kernel
• Kernel kompilieren
• dkms
• initrd

Candidates should be able to manage and/or query a 2.6.x, 3.x or 4.x kernel and its loadable modules. Candidates should be able to identify and correct common boot and run time issues. Candidates should understand device detection and management using udev. This objective includes troubleshooting udev rules.

• Use command-line utilities to get information about the currently running kernel and kernel modules.
• Manually load and unload kernel modules.
• Determine when modules can be unloaded.
• Determine what parameters a module accepts.
• Configure the system to load modules by names other than their file name.
• /proc filesystem
• Content of /, /boot , and /lib/modules
• Tools and utilities to analyse information about the available hardware
• udev rules

• /lib/modules/kernel-version/modules.dep
• module configuration files in /etc
• /proc/sys/kernel/
• /sbin/depmod
• /sbin/rmmod
• /sbin/modinfo
• /bin/dmesg
• /sbin/lspci
• /usr/bin/lsdev
• /sbin/lsmod
• /sbin/modprobe
• /sbin/insmod
• /bin/uname
• /usr/bin/lsusb
• /etc/sysctl.conf, /etc/sysctl.d/
• /sbin/sysctl
• udevmonitor
• udevadm monitor
• /etc/udev

• kernel
• udev

Candidates should be able to query and modify the behaviour of system services at various targets / run levels. A thorough understanding of the systemd, SysV Init and the Linux boot process is required. This objective includes interacting with systemd targets and SysV init run levels.

• Systemd
• SysV init
• Linux Standard Base Specification (LSB)

• /usr/lib/systemd/
• /etc/systemd/
• /run/systemd/
• systemctl
• systemd-delta
• /etc/inittab
• /etc/init.d/
• /etc/rc.d/
• chkconfig
• update-rc.d
• init and telinit

• SysV-init
• systemd

Candidates should be able to properly manipulate a Linux system during both the boot process and during recovery mode. This objective includes using both the init utility and init-related kernel options. Candidates should be able to determine the cause of errors in loading and usage of bootloaders. GRUB version 2 and GRUB Legacy are the bootloaders of interest. Both BIOS and UEFI systems are covered.

• BIOS and UEFI
• NVMe booting
• GRUB version 2 and Legacy
• grub shell
• boot loader start and hand off to kernel
• kernel loading
• hardware initialisation and setup
• daemon/service initialisation and setup
• Know the different boot loader install locations on a hard disk or removable device
• Overwriting standard boot loader options and using boot loader shells
• Use systemd rescue and emergency modes.

• mount
• fsck
• inittab, telinit and init with SysV init
• The contents of /boot/, /boot/grub/ and /boot/efi/
• EFI System Partition (ESP)
• GRUB
• grub-install
• efibootmgr
• UEFI shell
• initrd, initramfs
• Master boot record
• systemctl

• initrd
• bootloader
• Kernel Cmdline Parameters
• efibootmgr
• UEFI shell

Candidates should be aware of other bootloaders and their major features.

• SYSLINUX, ISOLINUX, PXELINUX
• Understanding of PXE for both BIOS and UEFI
• Awareness of systemd-boot and U-Boot

• syslinux
• extlinux
• isolinux.bin
• isolinux.cfg
• isohdpfx.bin
• efiboot.img
• pxelinux.0
• pxelinux.cfg/*
• uefi/shim.efi
• uefi/grubx64.efi

• pxe-bootserver
• shim.efi

Candidates should be able to properly configure and navigate the standard Linux filesystem. This objective includes configuring and mounting various filesystem types.

• The concept of the fstab configuration
• Tools and utilities for handling SWAP partitions and files
• Use of UUIDs for identifying and mounting file systems
• Understanding of systemd mount units

• /etc/fstab
• /etc/mtab
• /proc/mounts
• mount and umount
• blkid
• sync
• swapon
• swapoff

• mount und fstab
• swap

Candidates should be able to properly maintain a Linux filesystem using system utilities. This objective includes manipulating standard filesystems and monitoring SMART devices.

• Tools and utilities to manipulate and ext2, ext3 and ext4
• Tools and utilities to perform basic Btrfs operations, including subvolumes and snapshots
• Tools and utilities to manipulate XFS
• Awareness of ZFS

• mkfs (mkfs.*)
• mkswap
• fsck (fsck.*)
• tune2fs, dumpe2fs and debugfs
• btrfs, btrfs-convert
• xfs_info, xfs_check, xfs_repair, xfsdump and xfsrestore
• smartd, smartctl

• xfs
• ext
• debugfs
• dumpe2fs
• smart
• btrfs

Candidates should be able to configure automount filesystems using AutoFS. This objective includes configuring automount for network and device filesystems. Also included is creating filesystems for devices such as CD-ROMs and a basic feature knowledge of encrypted filesystems.

• autofs configuration files
• Understanding of automount units
• UDF and ISO9660 tools and utilities
• awareness of CD-ROM filesystems (HFS)
• awareness of CD-ROM filesystem extensions (Joliet, Rock Ridge, El Torito)
• Basic feature knowledge of data encryption (dm-crypt / LUKS)

• /etc/auto.master
• /etc/auto.[dir]
• mkisofs
• cryptsetup

• autofs
• systemd-automount
• mkisofs
• ecryptfs
• cryptsetup-luks

Candidates should be able to configure and implement software RAID. This objective includes using and configuring RAID 0, 1 and 5.

• Software RAID configuration files and utilities

• mdadm.conf
• mdadm
• /proc/mdstat
• partition type 0xFD

• raid

Candidates should be able to configure kernel options to support various drives. This objective includes software tools to view & modify hard disk settings including iSCSI devices.

• Tools and utilities to configure DMA for IDE devices including ATAPI and SATA
• Tools and utilities to configure Solid State Drives including AHCI and NVMe
• Tools and utilities to manipulate or analyse system resources (e.g. interrupts)
• Awareness of sdparm command and its uses
• Tools and utilities for iSCSI
• Awareness of SAN, including relevant protocols (AoE, FCoE)

• hdparm, sdparm
• nvme
• tune2fs
• fstrim
• sysctl
• /dev/hd*, /dev/sd*, /dev/nvme*
• iscsiadm, scsi_id, iscsid and iscsid.conf
• WWID, WWN, LUN numbers

• hdparm
• SSD
• iscsi
• nvme
• WWID
• storage-kernel-options

Candidates should be able to create and remove logical volumes, volume groups, and physical volumes. This objective includes snapshots and resizing logical volumes.

• Tools in the LVM suite
• Resizing, renaming, creating, and removing logical volumes, volume groups, and physical volumes
• Creating and maintaining snapshots
• Activating volume groups

• /sbin/pv*
• /sbin/lv*
• /sbin/vg*
• mount
• /dev/mapper/
• lvm.conf

• lvm

Candidates should be able to configure a network device to be able to connect to a local, wired or wireless, and a wide-area network. This objective includes being able to communicate between various subnets within a single network including both IPv4 and IPv6 networks.

• Utilities to configure and manipulate ethernet network interfaces
• Configuring basic access to wireless networks with iw, iwconfig and iwlist

• ip
• ifconfig
• route
• arp
• iw
• iwconfig
• iwlist

• netzwerk
• ipv6
• three-subnets
• wlan
• routing

Candidates should be able to configure a network device to implement various network authentication schemes. This objective includes configuring a multi-homed network device and resolving communication problems.

• Utilities to manipulate routing tables
• Utilities to configure and manipulate ethernet network interfaces
• Utilities to analyse the status of the network devices
• Utilities to monitor and analyse the TCP/IP traffic

• ip
• ifconfig
• route
• arp
• ss
• netstat
• lsof
• ping, ping6
• nc
• tcpdump
• nmap

• tcpdump
• netstat / ss

Candidates should be able to identify and correct common network setup issues, to include knowledge of locations for basic configuration files and commands.

• Location and content of access restriction files
• Utilities to configure and manipulate ethernet network interfaces
• Utilities to manage routing tables
• Utilities to list network states.
• Utilities to gain information about the network configuration
• Methods of information about the recognised and used hardware devices
• System initialisation files and their contents (Systemd and SysV init)
• Awareness of NetworkManager and its impact on network configuration

• ip
• ifconfig
• route
• ss
• netstat
• /etc/network/, /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/
• ping, ping6
• traceroute, traceroute6
• mtr
• hostname
• System log files such as /var/log/syslog, /var/log/messages and the systemd journal
• dmesg
• /etc/resolv.conf
• /etc/hosts
• /etc/hostname, /etc/HOSTNAME
• /etc/hosts.allow, /etc/hosts.deny

• tcpwrapper
• netstat
• udev
• netzwerk
• dns

Candidates should be able to build and install an executable program from source. This objective includes being able to unpack a file of sources.

• Unpack source code using common compression and archive utilities.
• Understand basics of invoking make to compile programs.
• Apply parameters to a configure script.
• Know where sources are stored by default.

• /usr/src/
• gunzip
• gzip
• bzip2
• xz
• tar
• configure
• make
• uname
• install
• patch

• Quellpakete
• make
• patch
• install

Candidates should be able to use system tools to back up important system data.

• Knowledge about directories that have to be included in backups
• Awareness of network backup solutions such as Amanda, Bacula, Bareos and BackupPC
• Knowledge of the benefits and drawbacks of tapes, CDR, disk or other backup media
• Perform partial and manual backups.
• Verify the integrity of backup files.
• Partially or fully restore backups.

• /bin/sh
• dd
• tar
• /dev/st* and /dev/nst*
• mt
• rsync

• tar
• rsync

Candidates should be able to notify the users about current issues related to the system.

• Automate communication with users through logon messages.
• Inform active users of system maintenance

• /etc/issue
• /etc/issue.net
• /etc/motd
• wall
• /sbin/shutdown
• systemctl

Candidates should be able to configure BIND to function as an authoritative and as a recursive, caching-only DNS server. This objective includes the ability to manage a running server and configuring logging.

• BIND 9.x configuration files, terms and utilities
• Defining the location of the BIND zone files in BIND configuration files
• Reloading modified configuration and zone files
• Awareness of dnsmasq, djbdns and PowerDNS as alternate name servers

• /etc/named.conf
• /var/named/
• /usr/sbin/rndc
• kill
• host
• dig

• dig
• bind als caching only Nameserver

Candidates should be able to create a zone file for a forward or reverse zone and hints for root level servers. This objective includes setting appropriate values for records, adding hosts in zones and adding zones to the DNS. A candidate should also be able to delegate zones to another DNS server.

• BIND 9 configuration files, terms and utilities
• Utilities to request information from the DNS server
• Layout, content and file location of the BIND zone files
• Various methods to add a new host in the zone files, including reverse zones

• /var/named/
• zone file syntax
• resource record formats
• dig
• nslookup
• host

• Zonendatei
• Nameserver bind

Candidates should be able to configure a DNS server to run as a non-root user and run in a chroot jail. This objective includes secure exchange of data between DNS servers.

• BIND 9 configuration files
• Configuring BIND to run in a chroot jail
• Split configuration of BIND using the forwarders statement
• Configuring and using transaction signatures (TSIG)
• Awareness of DNSSEC and basic tools
• Awareness of DANE and related records

• /etc/named.conf
• /etc/passwd
• DNSSEC
• dnssec-keygen
• dnssec-signzone

• bind absichern
• bind-TSIG
• bind-dnssec

Candidates should be able to install and configure a web server. This objective includes monitoring the server's load and performance, restricting client user access, configuring support for scripting languages as modules and setting up client user authentication. Also included is configuring server options to restrict usage of resources. Candidates should be able to configure a web server to use virtual hosts and customise file access.

• Apache 2.4 configuration files, terms and utilities
• Apache log files configuration and content
• Access restriction methods and files
• mod_perl and PHP configuration
• Client user authentication files and utilities
• Configuration of maximum requests, minimum and maximum servers and clients
• Apache 2.4 virtual host implementation (with and without dedicated IP addresses)
• Using redirect statements in Apache's configuration files to customise file access

• access logs and error logs
• .htaccess
• httpd.conf
• mod_auth_basic, mod_authz_host and mod_access_compat
• htpasswd
• AuthUserFile, AuthGroupFile
• apachectl, apache2ctl
• httpd, apache2

• apache
• Apache Zugriffskontrolle
• mod_access_compat
• Apache Aufbau Konfigurationsdatei
• apache-virtual-hosts
• apache-redirect
• Apache Module
• apache-php

• https://wiki.debian.org/Apache/Hardening

Candidates should be able to configure a web server to provide HTTPS.

• SSL configuration files, tools and utilities
• Generate a server private key and CSR for a commercial CA
• Generate a self-signed Certificate from private CA
• Install the key and Certificate, including intermediate CAs
• Awareness of the issues with Virtual Hosting and use of SSL
• Security issues in SSL use, disable insecure protocols and ciphers

• Apache2 configuration files
• /etc/ssl/, /etc/pki/
• openssl, CA.pl
• SSLEngine, SSLCertificateKeyFile, SSLCertificateFile
• SSLCACertificateFile, SSLCACertificatePath
• SSLProtocol, SSLCipherSuite, ServerTokens, ServerSignature, TraceEnable

• ssl
• apache-ssl
• dehydrated

Candidates should be able to install and configure a proxy server, including access policies, authentication and resource usage.

• Squid 3.x configuration files, terms and utilities
• Access restriction methods
• Client user authentication methods
• Layout and content of ACL in the Squid configuration files

• squid.conf
• acl
• http_access

• squid

Candidates should be able to install and configure a reverse proxy server, Nginx. Basic configuration of Nginx as a HTTP server is included.

• Nginx
• Reverse Proxy
• Basic Web Server

• /etc/nginx/
• nginx

• nginx

Candidates should be able to set up a SAMBA server for various clients. This objective includes setting up Samba as a standalone server as well as integrating Samba as a member in an Active Directory. Furthermore, the configuration of simple CIFS and printer shares is covered. Also covered is a configuring a Linux client to use a Samba server. Troubleshooting installations is also tested.

• Samba 4 documentation
• Samba 4 configuration files
• Samba 4 tools and utilities
• Mounting CIFS shares on Linux
• Mapping Windows user names to Linux user names
• User-Level and Share-Level security and AD security

• smbd, nmbd, winbindd
• smbcontrol, smbstatus, testparm, smbpasswd, nmblookup
• samba-tool
• net
• smbclient
• mount.cifs
• /etc/samba/
• /var/log/samba/

• samba
• samba-permissions
• samba-pdc
• samba-cups
• samba-ad
• samba-ad-member
• samba-ad-member-server

Candidates should be able to export filesystems using NFS. This objective includes access restrictions, mounting an NFS filesystem on a client and securing NFS.

• NFS version 3 configuration files
• NFS tools and utilities
• Access restrictions to certain hosts and/or subnets
• Mount options on server and client
• TCP Wrappers
• Awareness of NFSv4

• /etc/exports
• exportfs
• showmount
• nfsstat
• /proc/mounts
• /etc/fstab
• rpcinfo
• mountd
• portmapper

• tcpwrapper
• NFS v3 Server
• NFS v4 Server

Candidates should be able to configure a DHCP server. This objective includes setting default and per client options, adding static hosts and BOOTP hosts. Also included is configuring a DHCP relay agent and maintaining the DHCP server.

• DHCP configuration files, terms and utilities
• Subnet and dynamically-allocated range setup
• Awareness of DHCPv6 and IPv6 Router Advertisements

• dhcpd.conf
• dhcpd.leases
• DHCP Log messages in syslog or systemd journal
• arp
• dhcpd
• radvd
• radvd.conf

• dhcp
• dhcp-relay
• radvd
• dhcp6

The candidate should be able to configure PAM to support authentication using various available methods. This includes basic SSSD functionality.

• PAM configuration files, terms and utilities
• passwd and shadow passwords
• Use sssd for LDAP authentication

• /etc/pam.d/
• pam.conf
• nsswitch.conf
• pam_unix, pam_cracklib, pam_limits, pam_listfile, pam_sss
• sssd.conf

• pam

Candidates should be able to perform queries and updates to an LDAP server. Also included is importing and adding items, as well as adding and managing users.

• LDAP utilities for data management and queries
• Change user passwords
• Querying the LDAP directory

• ldapsearch
• ldappasswd
• ldapadd
• ldapdelete

• ldap-client

Candidates should be able to configure a basic OpenLDAP server including knowledge of LDIF format and essential access controls.

• OpenLDAP
• Directory based access
• Access Control
• Distinguished Names
• Changetype Operations
• Schemas and Whitepages
• Directories
• Object IDs, Attributes and Classes

• slapd
• slapd.conf
• LDIF
• slapadd
• slapcat
• slapindex
• /var/lib/ldap/
• loglevel

• OpenLDAP Grundinstallation
• ldap-config
• OpenLDAP als Benutzerdatenbank für Linux
• nss-ldap
• pam-ldap
• ldap-ssl
• sssd-ldap
• sssd-ldap2

Candidates should be able to manage an e-mail server, including the configuration of e-mail aliases, e-mail quotas and virtual e-mail domains. This objective includes configuring internal e-mail relays and monitoring e-mail servers.

• Configuration files for postfix
• Basic TLS configuration for postfix
• Basic knowledge of the SMTP protocol
• Awareness of sendmail and exim

• Configuration files and commands for postfix
• /etc/postfix/
• /var/spool/postfix
• sendmail emulation layer commands
• /etc/aliases
• mail-related logs in /var/log/

• mail
• postfix
• Todo: einfaches Beispiel für das die Änderung der master.cf nötig ist (z.B. Submission Port 587 )
• postfix-faq
• postfix-dns
• postfix-virtual-domains
• postfix-tls

Candidates should be able to implement client e-mail management software to filter, sort and monitor incoming user e-mail.

• Understanding of Sieve functionality, syntax and operators
• Use Sieve to filter and sort mail with respect to sender, recipient(s), headers and size
• Awareness of procmail

• Conditions and comparison operators
• keep, fileinto, redirect, reject, discard, stop
• Dovecot vacation extension

• Syntax Sieve Filtersprache
• dovecot-sieve
• procmail

Candidates should be able to install and configure POP and IMAP daemons.

• Dovecot IMAP and POP3 configuration and administration
• Basic TLS configuration for Dovecot
• Awareness of Courier

• /etc/dovecot/
• dovecot.conf
• doveconf
• doveadm

• dovecot
• Dovecot Config File Syntax
• dovecot-imapd
• dovecot-ssl
• dovecot-virtual-domains
• postfix-dovecot-imapd
• courier-imapd

Candidates should be able to configure a system to perform network address translation (NAT, IP masquerading) and state its significance in protecting a network. This objective includes configuring port redirection, managing filter rules and averting attacks.

• iptables and ip6tables configuration files, tools and utilities
• Tools, commands and utilities to manage routing tables.
• Private address ranges (IPv4) and Unique Local Addresses as well as Link Local Addresses (IPv6)
• Port redirection and IP forwarding
• List and write filtering and rules that accept or block datagrams based on source or destination protocol, port and address
• Save and reload filtering configurations

• /proc/sys/net/ipv4
• /proc/sys/net/ipv6/
• /etc/services
• iptables
• ip6tables

• iptables
• ip6tables

Candidates should be able to configure an FTP server for anonymous downloads and uploads. This objective includes precautions to be taken if anonymous uploads are permitted and configuring user access.

• Configuration files, tools and utilities for Pure-FTPd and vsftpd
• Awareness of ProFTPd
• Understanding of passive vs. active FTP connections

• vsftpd.conf
• important Pure-FTPd command line options

• File Transfer Protocol
• FTP

Candidates should be able to configure and secure an SSH daemon. This objective includes managing keys and configuring SSH for users. Candidates should also be able to forward an application protocol over SSH and manage the SSH login.

• OpenSSH configuration files, tools and utilities
• Login restrictions for the superuser and the normal users
• Managing and using server and client keys to login with and without password
• Usage of multiple connections from multiple hosts to guard against loss of connection to remote host following configuration changes

• ssh
• sshd
• /etc/ssh/sshd_config
• /etc/ssh/
• Private and public key files
• PermitRootLogin, PubKeyAuthentication, AllowUsers, PasswordAuthentication, Protocol

• ssh

Candidates should be able to receive security alerts from various sources, install, configure and run intrusion detection systems and apply security patches and bugfixes.

• Tools and utilities to scan and test ports on a server
• Locations and organisations that report security alerts as Bugtraq, CERT or other sources
• Tools and utilities to implement an intrusion detection system (IDS)
• Awareness of OpenVAS and Snort

• telnet
• nmap
• fail2ban
• nc
• iptables

• fail2ban
• Bugtraq
• CERT
• CIAC (veraltet)

Candidates should be able to configure a VPN (Virtual Private Network) and create secure point-to-point or site-to-site connections.

• OpenVPN

• /etc/openvpn/*
• openvpn

• openvpn

• Seiten aus Schulung netzwerkdienste hier einarbeiten
• Syntax-Regeln der verschiedenen Config-Dateien genauer erklären.
• /proc/pressure einarbeiten