The Ubuntu Certified Professional (UCP) is a training certification for system administrators who are required to deploy Ubuntu into the office environment This five day, hands-on course will provide participants with the skills they need to deploy and configure Ubuntu within the office. It introduces participants to the basic skills required of Ubuntu System Administrators. Scenario-based exercises guide participants on how to select appropriate solutions and tools for their organisation.

EXAMS & CERTIFICATION - Exams prior to October 2010
In order to become an Ubuntu Certified Professional, students must successfully complete the LPI101, 102 and Ubuntu 199 exams. These can be written in any order and students do not have to register for a course in order to sit any of the exams. A candidate already holding a valid LPI level 1 certification will only be required to pass the Ubuntu 199 exam.

The Ubuntu Certified Professional Certification exam, Ubuntu 199, (as well the pre-requisite LPI exams) are available at all Thomson Prometric and Pearson VUE testing centers worldwide: www.prometric.com or www.vue.com. Students will need to register and obtain an LPI ID before taking the Ubuntu or LPI exams for the first time.
Please take note of the following Ubuntu exam retake policy:

• Anyone taking the Ubuntu 199 exam for the first time must wait at least one week before re-taking.
• Anyone who takes the Ubuntu 199 exam a second (and subsequent) time must wait at least 90 days before re-taking.
• Anyone who passes the Ubuntu exam may not retake that exam for at least two years.

Days 1 - 2: General Linux & Ubuntu Introduction

Lesson 1: Ubuntu Background + Linux (1 hour)

• Describe the history of Linux and the Ubuntu distribution
• Explain the Ubuntu release cycle
• Describe the Ubuntu Community structure and governance board

Lesson 2: Ubuntu Desktop Tour (1 hour)

• Describe the key features of the Ubuntu desktop
• Customise the desktop settings
• Navigate to directories and files in Nautilus
• Install and remove applications
• Add new language settings

Lesson 3: Using the Command Line Interface (CLI) and sudo (3 hours)

• Essential CLI commands
  • cd, ls, grep, echo, uname, cat, less, more, rm, mkdir, touch, mv, nano
  • arguments
  • man command
  • sudo command

Lesson 4: Networking basics (2 hours)

• Current configuration of network interfaces
  • ip, ipconfig, /etc/resolv.conf, route
• Changing the network configuration
• Testing for a working network connection
  • ping, dig, host, nslookup
• Managing the network with Network Manager
  • adsl, wifi, ethernet
• Analyzing the network using Network Tools

Lesson 5: Filesystem and basic backups (3 hours)

• Storage device naming system
• The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS)
• Mounting and unmounting devices
  • mount, umount
• Configuring fstab
  • /etc/fstab
• Symbolic links
• Creating an ext4 file system
  • ext2, ext4, xfs, mkfs
• Managing file systems
  • fsck, debugfs, dump2fs, e2label

Lesson 6: Permissions - User Management (4 hours)

• Managing user accounts and groups 
  • adduser, deluser, addgourp, delgroup
• Different file system permissions
• Assigning permissions to different users and groups
  • chmod, chown, chgrp
• Creating default settings for new user accounts
  • /etc/adduser.conf
• Creating a default environment using /etc/profile

Lesson 7: Process Management (2 hours)

• Displaying and interpreting process statistics
  • top, ps
• Managing processes
  • kill, nice, renice
• Scheduling processes (pending upstart plans)
  • at, cron
• Finding out who's using files or devices
  • lsof

Days 3 - 5

Lesson 8: Ubuntu background/community & support (2 hours)

• The Ubuntu Community structure and governance board
  • Technical board, Linus, Linux, GNU, Debian
• Support resources from Canonical, partners, and the user community including:
  • Mailing lists
  • IRC channels
  • Launchpad and other sources for researching and reporting bugs
• Official Ubuntu documentation and community documentation
• Ubuntu release cycle
  • LTS, regular

Lesson 9: Service Management (6 hours)

• Upstart
• SystemV compatibility
• Starting and stopping system services
• Kernel Management and boot procedures (2 hours)
  • Explain the working and functionality of Grub2
    • update-grub[2]
  • Customize the Grub2 boot environment
    • /etc/default/grub
  • Explain the modular kernel
    • modinfo, /etc/modules, /lib/modules, /boot, /etc/initramfs, update-initramfs
  • Manage kernel modules
    • modprobe, rmmod, /etc/modprobe.d
  • Describe how udev  creates device interfaces for hardware
    • udev rules, udevadm, /etc/udev/rules.d
• Hardware Management and monitoring (2 hours)
  • Manage Partitions
    • fdisk, cfdisk, system->administration->disk utility, parted
  • Display hardware information
    • lsusb, lshw, lspci, dmesg, lscpu, lsscsi
  • Monitor a hard drive through the SMART interface
    • smartctl
  • Use the memtest facility
    • /boot/memtest86+.bin, grub

Lesson 10 - Package Management (3 hours)

• Explain how packages are used in Ubuntu
  • packages vs applications, dependencies, conflicts, recommendations
• Explain apt system, repositories and meta packages
  • apt-get, apt-cache, apt-key, repositories, meta packages
• Manage packages using the appropriate tools
  • tasksel, update-manager, Ubuntu Software Center

Lesson 11 - Providing Services (3 hours)

• Setup a basic LAMP environment
  • tasksel install lamp-server
  • /var/www/phpinfo.php
• Setup a basic Samba file server
  • apt-get install samba
  • /etc/samba.smb.conf
  • smbpasswd
• Setup SSH for remote access
• apt-get install ssh

Lesson 12 - Security (2 hours)

• Explain how AppArmor uses default profiles to secure your services
  • /etc/apparmor.d
• Display current profiles used by AppArmor
  • aa-status
• Explain how UFW works to protect your system
  • ufw
• Configure UFW
  • ufw enable|disable etc...

Lesson – 13 GNOME configuration (2 hours)

• Localize your GNOME environment
  • system -> administration -> language support
• Manage your GNOME configuration and restore a default state
  • gconf-editor, gconftool
• Customize the GNOME environment
  • gdmsetup, /etc/gdm/
• Connect to a network printer
  • system -> administration -> printing

Lesson 14 - Monitoring / Landscape (1 hour)

• Set up munin for monitoring
  • apt-get install munin munin-node, /etc/munin/
• Set up a landscape account
  • apt-get install landscape-client ; dpkg-reconfigure landscape-client
• Register a computer with landscape