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.
11 of 20 scenarios match · Clear filters
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.