Linux Essentials Course

Lesson 1 • Linux Use Cases and Ecosystem

Maps Linux to servers, desktops, embedded systems, and cloud platforms. Demonstrates the breadth of Linux deployment to motivate skill development.

Lesson 2 • Major Linux Distributions

Surveys Debian, Red Hat, Arch, and SUSE families, highlighting package management and release models. Helps students select the right distribution for their environment.

Lesson 3 • History and Origins of Linux

Covers Unix roots, Linus Torvalds' kernel creation, and the GNU project's role. Provides context for understanding Linux's design principles and community-driven development.

Lesson 1 • Package Management Basics

Introduces APT and DNF package managers for installing, updating, and removing software. Connects package management to maintaining a healthy, up-to-date system.

Lesson 2 • Performing the Installation

Walks through bootable media creation, installer steps, and partition formatting. Students complete a full installation using a guided or manual method.

Lesson 3 • Pre-Installation Planning

Covers hardware requirements, partitioning strategies, and dual-boot considerations. Ensures students make informed decisions before beginning installation.

Lesson 1 • Filesystem Navigation Commands

Teaches pwd, ls, cd, and tree for moving through the Linux directory hierarchy. Directly enables students to locate and access files in any environment.

Lesson 2 • Command-Line Productivity Techniques

Introduces history, tab completion, aliases, and keyboard shortcuts to accelerate terminal work. Reduces errors and increases speed for all future command-line tasks.

Lesson 3 • Viewing and Searching File Content

Demonstrates cat, less, head, tail, and grep for reading and searching text files. Enables students to inspect logs, configs, and data files efficiently.

Lesson 4 • Shell Basics and Terminal Emulators

Introduces the shell concept, Bash prompt anatomy, and terminal emulator options. Sets the stage for all subsequent command-line work in the course.

Lesson 1 • Linux Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

Maps the purpose of /bin, /etc, /home, /var, /tmp, and other top-level directories. Gives students a mental model for locating system and user files.

Lesson 2 • Creating and Managing Links

Explains hard link and symbolic link creation with ln, and their practical differences. Students use links to manage shared resources and flexible file references.

Lesson 3 • Archiving and Compression

Covers tar, gzip, bzip2, and xz for creating and extracting archives. Students back up and transfer files using standard Linux compression tools.

Lesson 4 • File Types and Attributes

Distinguishes regular files, directories, symlinks, block devices, and named pipes. Students interpret ls -l output and understand each file type's role.

Lesson 1 • Group Management

Explains groupadd, groupmod, groupdel, and the /etc/group file for organising users. Students assign group membership to control shared resource access.

Lesson 2 • Special Permission Bits

Covers setuid, setgid, and sticky bit and their security implications. Students apply special bits correctly to executables and shared directories.

Lesson 3 • Privilege Escalation with sudo

Explains sudo, the sudoers file, and su for controlled privilege escalation. Students grant and restrict elevated access without sharing the root password.

Lesson 4 • File Permissions and Ownership

Teaches read, write, and execute permissions for owner, group, and others using chmod and chown. Students set appropriate permissions to protect files and directories.

Lesson 1 • Understanding Linux Processes

Defines processes, PIDs, parent-child relationships, and process states. Provides the conceptual foundation for all process management tasks.

Lesson 2 • Viewing and Filtering Processes

Teaches ps, top, htop, and pgrep for listing and filtering running processes. Students identify resource-consuming or misbehaving processes quickly.

Lesson 3 • Job Control in the Shell

Explains fg, bg, jobs, and nohup for managing shell jobs and background tasks. Students run long tasks without blocking the terminal session.

Lesson 4 • System Resource Monitoring

Introduces free, vmstat, iostat, df, and du for monitoring memory, I/O, and disk usage. Students detect resource bottlenecks and report system health accurately.

Lesson 1 • Configuring Network Interfaces

Teaches ip addr, ip link, nmcli, and static vs. DHCP configuration. Students bring interfaces up, assign addresses, and persist network settings.

Lesson 2 • DNS Configuration and Resolution

Covers /etc/resolv.conf, /etc/hosts, and systemd-resolved for name resolution. Students configure DNS and verify hostname resolution on Linux systems.

Lesson 3 • Testing and Troubleshooting Connectivity

Uses ping, traceroute, ss, netstat, and curl to diagnose network issues. Students isolate connectivity problems at the interface, routing, and application layers.

Lesson 1 • Functions and Script Organisation

Explains function definition, arguments, return values, and script modularisation. Students write maintainable scripts by organising logic into reusable functions.

Lesson 2 • Loops and Iteration

Covers for, while, and until loops with practical file and list processing examples. Students automate repetitive operations across multiple files or values.

Lesson 3 • Bash Script Fundamentals

Covers shebang lines, script execution, variables, and quoting rules. Students write and run their first functional Bash scripts correctly.

Lesson 4 • Conditionals and Control Flow

Teaches if-then-else, case statements, and test expressions for decision-making. Students write scripts that respond differently based on conditions and input.