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Linux institute offering systems certification testing - Linux Professional Institute - Company Business and Marketing

Supporters are hoping the first of three new Linux system administration certification exams will add respectability to the open source operating system and make it more attractive for the enterprise.

However, those acing the exams won't be able to call themselves engineers, as do people who pass tests approved by arch enemy Microsoft Corp. for its Windows platform.

"We thought about all sorts of fancy names," said Evan Leibovitch, executive director of the Linux Professional Institute and a member of Starnix Ltd., a Brampton, Ont.-based Linux integrator. "We rejected the idea of having a certification using the term engineer because some jurisdictions don't like the idea of a software certification using the term."

When it was pointed out Microsoft gets away with it, Leibovitch replied: "They're bigger than we are ... so if a professional engineering society had a bone to pick, they might not be able to do it with Microsoft as easily as with us."

Instead, holders will have the designation LPI-C (Linux Professional Institute Certification) 1, 2 or 3.

"We want it to become respected as the certification program in the Linux community," said Leibovitch during the Sept. 18 opening of a Linux Centre in Toronto, run by the Canadian Linux Users' Exchange (CLUE).

But, he added, "we've always held the position that a certification program is no substitute for experience or a good interview ... certification is only one tool to be used when gauging a person's skills.

"It should not be the only one."

The institute has an advisory board, including representatives from IBM, Red Hat Software and Caldera Systems, which are overseeing the exams' content. A testing organization, which will administer the two-hour, closed-book exams in North America, will be appointed soon.

The Level 1 exam, which at press time was to have been available this week, will cover basic Linux issues and installation. It will be tailored for several Linux distributions, including Red Hat, Caldera, SuSe, Debian and Slackware.

The centre, near Toronto's downtown, will be CLUE's head office and will house meeting, training and demonstration rooms for those who want to learn about Linux.

The space was donated by the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, which collects old computers. CLUE will recycle them by installing Linux and other software through a program it calls Learnux, and sell them to students and low-income families for $25.

More experienced users can research projects like clustering at the centre, said Leibovitch, without worrying about destroying a server.

While Red Hat is helping develop the institute's exams, it's still offering its own certification program.

"When we have our exams ready, we're going to see what kind of a mesh we can do," said Leibovitch.

The two organizations have different approaches, he said.

Red Hat's tests are more "hands on," whereas the LPI's will be an exam delivered on a computer.