É uma certificação onde a Novell irá testar seus conhecimentos como administrador de sistemas Linux. Apesar de se basear na versão SuSE Linux, a certificação abrange qualquer sistema Linux. São alguns dos "skills" necessários para adquirir a certificação:

1. Instalação de servidores Linux em um ambiente de rede;
2. Administração de usuários e grupos;
3. Solução de problemas no sistema de arquivos do Suse Linux;
4. Solução de problemas com processos e serviços;
5. Compilação e manutenção do kernel.

Não é necessário cursar os treinamentos oferecidos pela Novell, bastando ao candidato passar no teste prático 050-689. O material distribuído em self study guides ou em treinamentos oficiais da Novell, aborda conceitos básicos do Linux, enquanto prepara o estudante a adentrar mais profundamente na administração e gerenciamento do sistema operacional do pinguim, capacitando na solução de problemas reais que ocorrem no dia-a-dia.

Abaixo vou listar os objetivos da prova 050-689 que recebi da Novell. Procurei não traduzir, pois existem jargões que se traduzidos acabam atrapalhando o entendimento:

Perform an installation of SLES 9 (from CD) that includes the following steps:

• Pre-installation considerations;
• Selecting Installation options;
• Selecting software components;
• Configuring hardware components and devices (including partitioning);
• Adding passwords and users;
• Simple installation troubleshooting.

Navigate in the KDE and GNOME desktop environments by doing the following:

• Log in and log out;
• Shutdown and reboot SLES 9 from the Desktop+;
• Shutdown and reboot SLES 9 from the command line (using halt, poweroff, reboot, shutdown, and init);
• Use the Konqueror or Nautilus file manager;
• Access file menus (especially the KDE menu), desktop icon, and panel icons;
• Start and use YaST from the command line and desktop.

Locate and use Help resources in the Linux system such as the following:

• man pages;
• info pages;
• GUI-based help.

Perform the following file management tasks in the SLES 9 system:

• Select an appropriate Linux file system;
• Configure Linux file system partitions (from the command line and from YaST);
• Configure a Linux file system with Logical Volume Management (LVM) from YaST;
• Mount and unmount a file system;
• Change directories and list directory contents;
• Create and view files;
• Find files and search file content;
• Manage file permissions and ownership;
• Set up and configure disk quotas;
• Monitor and check a file system (using df, du, lsof, fuser, fsck, e2fsck, and reiserfsck);
• Create a boot, rescue, or module disk.

Do the following from the Linux shell and command line:

• Log in as root and switch user accounts;
• Access the command line interface from the Desktop and from virtual servers (such as Ctrl+Alt+F1);
• Use command syntax and special characters;
• Use piping and redirection;
• Manage user accounts;
• Use the basic Linux mail command.

Use Linux text editors:

Use the vi command Line editor to edit files; Use a desktop editor (such as Kate) to edit files.

Locate, view, and use the following types and sources of SUSE LINUX system information:

• Boot log information (/var/log/boot.msg);
• Hardware information (using /proc/, hwinfo, hdparm, fdisk, iostat, lspci, and siga);
• Hardware driver information (hwinfo);
• System and process information (using top, uptime, ps. netstat, uname, KDE System Guard, and Xosview);
• Configure the syslog daemon (syslog.conf) to schedule logged events;
• View log files with YaST;
• Archive log files with logrotate.

Administer processes by doing the following:

• View processes from the GUI and the command line interface (using top, ps, and KDE System Guard);
• Manage foreground and background processes from the command line (using bg, &, fg, ps, pstree, nice, renice, and top);
• Stop processes from the command line (using kill and killall);
• Manage processes with KDE System Guard.

Manage runlevels by doing the following:

• Manage runlevels from the command line interface (by using init 0, init 1, and so on);
• Configure runlevels from YaST;
• Change the runlevel at boot.

Schedule jobs by doing the following:

• Schedule a job with cron;
• Run a job one time only with at.

Manage the kernel by doing the following:

• Locate and understand the purpose of files and directories related to the kernel (such as /boot/initrd);
• Manage modules from the command line (using lsmod, insmod, rmmod, modprobe, depmod, modinfo, and kmod);
• Modify kernel parameters with Powertweak.

Manage the GRUB boot loader by doing the following:

• Start the GRUB shell;
• Modify the GRUB configuration file (using /boot/grub/menu.lst);
• Configure GRUB with YaST.

Manage system and hardware settings by doing the following:

• View and change system settings (using /proc/sys/);
• Configure /etc/sysconfig/ files with YaST;
• Use SuSEPlugger to view parameters and access YaST modules;
• Modify hardware parameters with Powertweak;
• Monitor hard drive space (using df, du, Info Center, and Kdiskfree).

Manage the network configuration by doing the following:

• Configure a network card with YaST (both static IP address and DHCP);
• Configure a network card from the command line (using ifconfig and ip);
• Perform network connection management tasks from the command line (using ping, netstat, netcat, traceroute, iroute, ifup, and ifdown);
• Configure host and domain names manually (with /etc/HOSTNAME and /etc/resolv.conf);
• Configure a network connection manually (using files in /etc/sysconfig/network);
• Manage the routing table from the command line (using route and ip);
• Save routing settings to a configuration file (/etc/sysconfig/network/routes);
• Configure routing from YaST;
• Assign IP addresses from the command line (using add, del, and show);
• Analyze network traffic (using tcpdump and ethereal).

Manage user and group accounts by doing the following:

• Create, modify, and delete users and groups from YaST;
• Create and delete users and groups from the command line;
• Set defaults for new user accounts from YaST;
• Configure user authentication with PAM;
• Monitor login activity (using who, w, finger, last, lastlog, and faillog).

Manage and configure network printers by doing the following:

• Configure and modify a SLES 9 network printer with YaST and from the command line (using lpoptions and lpadmin);
• Modify printer settings using kprinter;
• Manage CUPS printing from the command line using Berkely and System V commands (such as lp, lpr, lpq, lpstat, lprm, and cancel);
• Manage printing from the command line with SLES 9 printer commands (such as enable, disable, accept, and reject);
• Access the CUPS web administration tools;

Manage and configure network file systems by doing the following:

• Configure an NFS (Network File System) server and client with YaST;
• Configure an NFS server manually;
• Configure and mount NFS directories;
• Monitor the NFS system from the command line (using rpcinfo and showmount);
• Configure a Samba server and client with YaST;
• Monitor and test Samba from the command line (using testparm, nmblookup, smbclient, smbstatus, and rcsmb);

Manage resources on the network by doing the following:

• Configure an NIS (Network Information Service) master server, slave server, client, and users with YaST;
• Configure Maps manually (using ypdomainname and make);
• Manage NIS from the command line (using ypdomainname, ypwhich, ypcat, ypmatch, yppasswd, and yppoll);

Manage software packages by doing the following:

• Install and manage RPM software packages from the command line with the rpm command;
• Install RPM software packages from YaST;
• Compile software from source (using make and make install);
• Verify and update software library access (using ldd, /etc/ld.so.conf, and /etc/ld.so.cache);
• Update your SLES 9 installation from a YaST Online Update (YOU) server;

Enable Internet services by doing the following:

• Synchronize time with netdate and hwclock;
• Synchronize time with NTP (using ntpdate, ntp.conf, ntptrace, and YaST);
• Configure an HTTP Apache Web server with YaST;
• Configure an Apache Web server from the configuration files (such as httpd.conf and default-server.conf);
• Manage the Apache Web server from the command line (using apache2 and apache2ctl);
• Configure a virtual Host for the Apache Web server;
• Limit access to the Apache Web server (using allow, deny, and htpasswd2);
• Configure an SSL encryption with an Apache Web server (using RSA key pairs and configuration files);
• Configure the Extended Internet Daemon (xinetd) from YaST and the command line (using xinetd and xinetd.conf);
• Configure the TCP wrapper;
• Install, configure, and run PureFTPd server;

Configure and use a DNS server by doing the following:

• Install and configure the BIND server software (bind and bind-utils packages);
• Configure a caching-only DNS server;
• Configure a master server and one or more slave servers for your domain;
• Configure a client computer with YaST to use the DNS server;
• Query the DNS server from the command line (using host and dig);

Deploy and use OpenLDAP on a SLES 9 server by doing the following:

• Install and set up an OpenLDAP server (using the slapd.conf and ldap.conf files);
• Add entries to the LDAP server by creating and using an LDIF file (and the commands recode and ldapadd);
• Query information from the LDAP server at the command line (using ldapsearch);
• Delete and modify entries of the LDAP server at the command line (using ldapmodify and ldapdelete);
• Use the GQ graphical applications to access data in the LDAP server;

Manage backup and recovery on a SLES 9 server by doing the following:

• Archive, compress, and uncompress files (using tar, gzip, bzip2, and zcat);
• Work with magnetic tapes with the mt command;
• Copy data with the dd command;
• Mirror directories with the rsync command;
• Automate data backups with the cron service;
• Boot a corrupted system directly into a shell;
• Boot a corrupted system with the Installation media;
• Start and use the SLES 9 rescue system;

Create basic shell scripts by doing the following:

• Use basic script elements (such as variables, command substitutions, and arithmetic operations);
• Use variable substitution operators (such as ${variable-value}, ${variable=value}, and ${variable+value});
• Use control structures (such as if and until commands, case statements, and loop processing);
• Use advanced scripting techniques (such as shell functions and getopts);

Manage remote access by doing the following:

• Configure an OpenSSH server and client (by editing sshd_config and ssh_config files);
• Use SSH client commands (such as scp, ssh, ssh-add, ssh-agent, ssh-keygen, and ssh-keyscan);
• Enable Remote Administration with YaST;
• Configure and access an Installation Server with YaST;

Secure a SLES 9 server by doing the following:

• Secure the BIOS with a password;
• Secure the GRUB boot loader with a password;
• Configure directory ACLs from the command line (using getfacl and setfacl);
• Configure Security Settings with YaST;

Find performance bottlenecks by doing the following:

• Analyze processes and processor utilization (using top, uptime, mpstat, and KDE System Guard);
• Analyze memory utilization and performance (using free, vmstat, and KDE System Guard);
• Analyze storage performance (using vmstat and iostat);
• Analyze network utilization and performance (using KDE System Guard, Traffic-vis, and ip);

In addition, the following topics are covered in SUSE LINUX Advanced Administration (Course 3038) and might be referred to in the exam:

• How device drivers work;
• The sysfs file system;
• How the SLES 9 hotplug system works;
• Adding new hardware to a SLES 9 system;