Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator: exam-style tasks on a fresh Linux virtual machine on your own Mac, built and graded by the GoldenKube CLI. Each card shows the domain, the environment it needs, the recommended time and its points; the scenario page has the full task text. Scenarios run on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, one fresh virtual machine per task; the Linux Foundation does not name the distribution of the exam.
The Linux Foundation describes LFCS as "an online, proctored, performance-based test" that "requires solving multiple issues from a command line running Linux", and the candidate instructions say "The exams consist of 17-20 performance-based tasks", each on a designated host where sudo -i gives root. The allowed resources are man pages and the documentation installed by the distribution, with no web documentation. The exam is distribution independent, so GoldenKube picked Ubuntu 24.04 LTS for the labs: every scenario starts from a fresh Ubuntu virtual machine on your Mac, with no Kubernetes on it.
The tasks follow the five official domains: kernel parameters, a crash-looping service, systemd timers and cron, a local package repository, a container run as a service and a registered virtual machine (operations deployment); bonding and bridging, static routes, chrony, OpenSSH hardening, nftables filtering and NAT, and an nginx reverse proxy and load balancer (networking); LVM, growing a volume online, NFS, swap and tmpfs, and repairing a damaged filesystem mounted by autofs (storage); Git, TLS certificates, disk space and a service limited by its file descriptors (essential commands); and users, password ageing, resource limits, ACLs and LDAP accounts through SSSD (users and groups). Disks are loop devices, and the SELinux competency is practised as configuration on an AppArmor host.
| Questions | 17-20 performance-based tasks source |
|---|---|
| Duration (minutes) | 120 source |
| Passing score | 67% source |
| Price (USD) | 445 source |
| Validity (years) | 2 source |
| Delivery | Online, proctored, performance-based source |
| Prerequisites | None source |
| Retake policy | One retake per exam purchase if a passing score is not achieved source |
| Curriculum version | not published by the Linux Foundation |
Published scenarios per official LFCS domain, next to the domain's exam weight (checked 2026-10-28 on the official page). 20 published scenarios today.
| Domain | Exam weight | Published scenarios |
|---|---|---|
| Operations Deployment | 25% | 5 |
| Networking | 25% | 5 |
| Storage | 20% | 4 |
| Essential Commands | 20% | 4 |
| Users and Groups | 10% | 2 |
goldenkube exam lfcs draws a curriculum-weighted set: 17 tasks in 120 minutes, pass at 67%. Solutions and hints are hidden in exam mode.
20 published scenarios
Clone a shared repository as another user, commit a configuration change on a new branch with a given identity, and push the branch and an annotated tag.
Single Linux VM · ~5 min · 8 points
goldenkube start lfcs-cmd-001
Create a private key and a self-signed certificate with subject alternative names, serve HTTPS with it, and read the serial number of an existing certificate.
Single Linux VM · ~7 min · 8 points
goldenkube start lfcs-cmd-002
Delete large old files selectively, release space held by a deleted but still open log without restarting its service, and find the service burning a CPU.
Single Linux VM · ~6 min · 7 points
goldenkube start lfcs-cmd-003
A service refuses to start because of its open-file limit and running as root; fix it with a systemd drop-in, a dedicated system user and a memory cap.
Single Linux VM · ~7 min · 8 points
goldenkube start lfcs-cmd-004
Build an active-backup bond and a bridge from dummy interfaces, address the bridge with IPv4 and IPv6, add a static route and a hosts entry, all persistent.
Single Linux VM · ~9 min · 9 points
goldenkube start lfcs-net-001
Point chrony at two internal time servers only, allow a client network to query it, enable it, and set the system time zone.
Single Linux VM · ~4 min · 6 points
goldenkube start lfcs-net-002
Make sshd listen on two ports with key-only logins limited to one group, then give a user a key pair and a host alias that works without prompts.
Single Linux VM · ~7 min · 8 points
goldenkube start lfcs-net-003
Write a persistent nftables ruleset with a default-drop input chain, a port redirect and source NAT, and track down an unexpected listener.
Single Linux VM · ~8 min · 9 points
goldenkube start lfcs-net-004
Publish two local backends behind one nginx virtual host with round-robin balancing, the original Host header and a status path answered by nginx itself.
Single Linux VM · ~6 min · 7 points
goldenkube start lfcs-net-005
Persist two sysctl values against a conflicting drop-in, set one runtime-only, confine a binary with AppArmor and prepare an SELinux policy rule.
Single Linux VM · ~9 min · 10 points
goldenkube start lfcs-ops-001
A systemd service crash-loops because of its unit file; fix it, enable it, and lower the priority of a running batch process without restarting it.
Single Linux VM · ~7 min · 8 points
goldenkube start lfcs-ops-002
Run a backup script every day at 02:30 through a systemd timer that catches up missed runs, and add a weekday cron job for another user.
Single Linux VM · ~5 min · 7 points
goldenkube start lfcs-ops-003
Configure a local package repository, install and hold an exact package version, then find and restore a file that was modified after installation.
Single Linux VM · ~7 min · 8 points
goldenkube start lfcs-ops-004
Run nginx in a rootful podman container managed by systemd with a read-only bind mount, configure the registry search list, and define an autostarted libvirt domain.
Single Linux VM · ~8 min · 9 points
goldenkube start lfcs-ops-005
Turn two block devices into a volume group, carve an ext4 and an XFS logical volume, and mount both persistently, one of them by UUID.
Single Linux VM · ~6 min · 8 points
goldenkube start lfcs-sto-001
Extend a mounted logical volume and its filesystem without unmounting it, then export a directory read-only over NFS and mount the export persistently.
Single Linux VM · ~7 min · 8 points
goldenkube start lfcs-sto-002
Add a persistent swap file and a size-limited tmpfs, then find the block device under constant write load and stop the service causing it.
Single Linux VM · ~6 min · 8 points
goldenkube start lfcs-sto-003
Recover an ext4 filesystem whose primary superblock is destroyed, then make autofs mount it read-only on first access.
Single Linux VM · ~7 min · 8 points
goldenkube start lfcs-sto-004
Create a group, a user with fixed IDs, expiry and ageing, a system account, a system-wide and a personal environment variable, and per-group limits.
Single Linux VM · ~6 min · 9 points
goldenkube start lfcs-usr-001
Set up a setgid project directory with access and default ACLs, then make the host resolve users and groups from a local LDAP server through SSSD.
Single Linux VM · ~8 min · 9 points
goldenkube start lfcs-usr-002
goldenkube doctor.goldenkube login (free account).goldenkube submit; the result appears on your dashboard.Grading happens on your machine and is practice feedback, not an official score. Tasks are public; hints, reference solutions and grader internals are not.
Not yet. The LFCS scenarios are published and readable here, but the first signed build of the CLI is not on the Homebrew tap, so the catalog is a preview. Running a scenario needs that release and a free account.
The Linux Foundation does not name one: the LFCS page says the exam "is independent of distribution-specific tasks". GoldenKube runs the labs on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and words the tasks with tools that behave the same across distributions where it can, such as systemd, nftables, LVM and OpenSSH.
No. LFCS is a Linux administration exam, so each scenario gets one plain Ubuntu virtual machine, built by the same CLI that runs the Kubernetes labs. Extra disks for the storage tasks are loop devices on that machine.