LFCA study plan

Navigate the filesystem confidently: move between directories, inspect paths, and locate files using absolute and relative references

Manipulate files and directories: create, copy, move, rename, and delete with correct flags and understand the consequences of each

Read and search text files using standard tools for viewing, paging, and pattern matching

Explain the Linux filesystem hierarchy and where configuration, logs, and binaries conventionally live

Manage file permissions and ownership: interpret symbolic and numeric modes and change them safely

Create and manage users and groups, and explain how account and group membership information is stored

Use package management to install, update, remove, and query software on at least one distribution family

Control running processes: inspect, signal, and terminate them, and explain foreground versus background execution

Start, stop, enable, and inspect services with the system service manager, and read service status output

Schedule recurring and one-time jobs and verify that they actually ran

Inspect disk usage, identify what is consuming space, and describe how to mount and unmount a filesystem

Read system logs and journal output to diagnose a failed service start

Configure basic networking on a host: inspect addresses, routes, and name resolution settings

Define cloud computing models and contrast the shared responsibility split across them

Map core cloud service categories to concrete use cases and pick the right category for a given scenario

Explain virtualization versus containerization and when each is appropriate

Describe elasticity, scaling, and pay-as-you-go billing with an example of each in practice

Compare at least two major cloud providers on compute, storage, and networking primitives

Explain identity and access management concepts: principals, roles, policies, and least privilege

Describe how data is protected at rest and in transit, and identify where encryption keys are managed

Interpret network security group or firewall rules and predict whether given traffic is allowed

Explain availability zones, regions, and basic resilience patterns at a conceptual level

Harden a Linux host: apply updates, restrict access, and explain the purpose of each change

Configure and verify key-based authentication for remote access and disable weaker access paths

Use system auditing and log inspection to spot suspicious activity such as repeated failed logins

Explain the CIA triad and apply it to classify risks in a concrete scenario

Describe common attack categories and the defensive control that mitigates each

Explain the DevOps principles of collaboration, automation, and continuous feedback with concrete examples

Describe a CI/CD pipeline stage by stage and state what artifact moves between stages

Use version control for branching, committing, and reviewing changes, and explain why each practice matters operationally

Explain infrastructure as code and configuration management, and contrast their scopes

Describe container image build and run fundamentals and the role of a container registry

Diagnose application failures by correlating application logs with system-level evidence

Explain how an application is exposed to users and what sits between the client and the process

Describe how developers consume platform services such as databases, storage, and secrets

Run a timed mixed-domain practice set and convert every wrong answer into a corrected note

Review the weakest domain from earlier weeks and close the specific gaps identified