Free Live Online Course: Basic Linux System Administration

Broadcast on multiple streaming platforms

Starting September 11th 2025, I’m going to host a weekly livestream version of my course “Basic Linux System Administration (LINSYS-1)“. You are invited to participate free of charge, simply by joining my live lectures.

That being said, I recommend a community membership in The Server Room for lots of added value (see below).

Hello! I’m your instructor.

My name is Jochen Lillich. I started developing software in 1984, and have multiple decades of experience in Unix/Linux system administration.

In 2001, I began teaching as a SuSE Certified Linux Trainer. I continued sharing my knowledge working as an IT Manager at two of Germany’s leading internet service providers before I launched my own managed web hosting business in 2010.

In this course, I’m going to share with you both the knowledge and the experience I’ve gathered over many years of personal practice.

I’m looking forward to working with you!

Who This Course Is For

If you are a beginner or junior engineer, this course is ideal for you. It covers fundamental Linux administration skills you will need for your first system administration or DevOps role.

This course is also great for junior system administrators who want to reinforce their Linux skills and close knowledge gaps working with a veteran instructor.

What You Will Learn

This course covers all the important areas you need as a beginning Linux system administrator:

  • Linux Fundamentals & Installation
  • File Management
  • User & Group Administration
  • Process & Service Management
  • Package Management & Software Installation
  • Networking Fundamentals
  • System Monitoring & Performance
  • Basic Shell Scripting & Automation
  • Security Essentials
  • Backup & Recovery

With this job-focused curriculum, you’ll learn the skills employers expect from junior engineers in the DevOps and SRE space.

How It Works

I’ll cover all 10 modules of the course in weekly live lectures. They will be broadcast live on my streaming channels and take between 2 and 3 hours.

I’m aiming for a regular time every Thursday at 6pm Dublin Time (19:00 Berlin, 10am San Francisco, 1pm New York). If there are any schedule updates, I will send them to the course mailing list (see “Course Registration” below).

Each lecture will include assessment quizzes in which you can test your comprehension. If you have questions, you can submit them for the Q&A rounds in between sections.

The course interaction tool I use for Q&A and quizzes is integrated into the course materials on each module’s main page.

Members of The Server Room (see below) will additionally be able to ask follow-up questions during the week on our community forum, where I and other community members can help you. There, they will also have access to recordings of all live lectures.

Course registration

If you’re interested in taking part in the course, please take a minute to sign up for my newsletter in the form below. It’ll allow me to gauge interest and to keep you informed of schedule changes and other important updates.

Level Up Your Linux Game

To get all the updates on my free Linux course, simply subscribe to my newsletter:

I don’t spam and will never share your personal information. Read my privacy policy for more info.

Guidelines

For an effective course session, please follow these guidelines:

  • Ask questions on the Q&A board. In chat, they might scroll out of sight too quickly. The Q&A board is displayed on the course materials website on the main page of the current module.
  • Before posting a question, see if someone else asked an equivalent one already, and simply give the existing question a thumbs-up so that I can see its importance.
  • When you ask a question, please provide sufficient context. I might read it at a time when it’s not self-evident any more what triggered your question.
  • Participate in the assessment quiz at the end of each chapter. It’s a neat checkpoint to test your comprehension. And the more people add their answers, the more fun it is for everyone.
  • When you engage in chat, add value for your peers. Only helpful behaviour is welcome here.

Community membership benefits

Members of The Server Room get the following bonus perks at no additional cost:

  • Course materials: While the live lecture will cover the whole curriculum, I highly recommend that participants also get the extensive course materials for review and self-study.
  • Lecture recordings: I will post recordings of my live lectures on the community forum, where participants can watch them if they could not attend the live stream or want to re-watch a specific section to reinforce their learnings.
  • Community platform: On our community forum, course participants will be able to ask questions outside live lectures and get feedback from me and their peers.
  • Lab infrastructure: On Pubmox, our virtual community lab, you can spin up your own Linux VMs for practical experiments (GROW level and above).

Check out our community page to learn more and join us!