Those IT professionals who can describe themselves as fans of open source operating systems and wish to enhance their skills by learning technologies other than Microsoft, will find that exploring the Linux world may be quite of interest to them. Linux operating systems have their growing market share, there's no doubt about that; at least that is what the tendency in the past decade has been. The popularity of the Linux server operating systems has experienced a considerable growth. A Linux certification may seem unfeasible, because there are many variants of Linux. However, the Linux+ certification offered by CompTIA is feasible and vendor neutral.

Experience with Linux+ and a Linux certification can provide better IT positions for professionals, as well as building their knowledge within a framework that is vendor neutral. A Linux certification can also serve as basis for further certifications, such as Fedora and LPI. Linux also lies at the core of numerous Novell products, which makes a Linux certification all the more valuable for those who are interested in such technologies.

In recent years, Linux+ has experienced some changes and improvements over the years, just like any other technology product, and therefore, a new set of objectives has been developed in 2004, which is the one that Linux+ is currently under. In order to be eligible for the Linux certification, candidates must have Linux support experience of at least six months. Holding a Linux certification demonstrates that the IT professional has knowledge in installation, configuration, troubleshooting, file permissions, open source licensing, network protocols, and local storage devices. The latest update, which is also the current exam for the Linux certification, emphasizes security and documentation, as additional requirements to the previous set of objectives.

The importance of systems security in the IT world is no secret to anyone, and the demand for ability in configuring and supporting systems security is overwhelming. The documentation of support activity and its understanding can have a major influence on the level of effectiveness that an IT support department has. These are the reasons why the new set of objectives for the Linux+ exam focus on documentation and security, along with the topics mentioned above.

The exam for Linux+ consists of six domains, installation, configuration, management, security, documentation and hardware. Most of the exam questions are concerned with management of Linux server and client systems, about twenty-five percent, whereas documentation represents the topic for the smallest number of exam questions, about six percent.

Successful completion of the exam and earning the Linux certification are more likely to happen should the candidate register for a Linux training program, which can prove extremely helpful. Linux training is concerned with providing access to high quality materials, so that candidates to a Linux certification can receive all the benefits available. Free materials for Linux training are available online, and these can be accessed by both students and commercials providers.

As the demand for skilled professionals who can work to the advantage of their organization by exploiting this powerful platform is increasing, the benefits of Linux training and certification are obvious.

For more information on Linux training please visit www.unitek.com/training/linux/