CompTIA Linux+ XK0-006 (V8) — the full course

Every lesson and every lab is free to read, mapped one-to-one to CompTIA’s published exam objectives. The paid tier adds the 508-question exam simulator; nothing is taken away from the free course to make room for it.

Prefer a book? The 508-question practice-test book is on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle, and as an ebook on Google Play.

Prefer timed practice exams on Udemy? The 508 questions from this course’s bank are there as timed practice tests: see the Udemy course (launch price until 16 Nov 2026).

5 labs, one per exam domain, also run on a real Linux machine in your browser that checks each step for you, and the Linux sandbox gives you that machine with no task at all. 38 lessons end with a short “try it” on the same machine.

48written lessons
82hands-on labs
50hours of lab work
48audio episodes
508practice questions
Start with lesson 1 — The boot process and the filesystem layout Exam simulator Linux sandbox

Jump to a domain: 1. System Management · 2. Services and User Management · 3. Security · 4. Automation, Orchestration, and Scripting · 5. Troubleshooting

What the exam weighs

Domain Share of the exam Lessons here
1. System Management 23% 13
2. Services and User Management 20% 10
3. Security 18% 11
4. Automation, Orchestration, and Scripting 17% 7
5. Troubleshooting 22% 5

The curriculum

1. System Management 23% of the exam

  1. 01 The boot process and the filesystem layout objective 1.1 part 1 of 2 audio episode try it
  2. 02 Distributions, architectures and licensing objective 1.1 part 2 of 2 audio episode try it
  3. 03 The shell environment and redirection objective 1.5 part 1 of 2 audio episode try it
  4. 04 Essential shell utilities objective 1.5 part 2 of 2 audio episode try it
  5. 05 Devices and kernel modules objective 1.2 part single audio episode try it
  6. 06 Logical Volume Manager objective 1.3 part 1 of 3 audio episode try it
  7. 07 Partitions and filesystems objective 1.3 part 2 of 3 audio episode try it
  8. 08 RAID and mounted storage objective 1.3 part 3 of 3 audio episode try it
  9. 09 Network configuration objective 1.4 part 1 of 2 audio episode try it
  10. 10 Network command-line tools objective 1.4 part 2 of 2 audio episode try it
  11. 11 Backup and restore objective 1.6 part single audio episode try it
  12. 12 Hypervisors and virtual machines objective 1.7 part 1 of 2 audio episode
  13. 13 VM images, snapshots and networking objective 1.7 part 2 of 2 audio episode

2. Services and User Management 20% of the exam

  1. 01 Files, directories and links objective 2.1 part single audio episode try it
  2. 02 Creating and modifying user accounts objective 2.2 part 1 of 2 audio episode try it
  3. 03 Account files and attributes objective 2.2 part 2 of 2 audio episode try it
  4. 04 Inspecting processes objective 2.3 part 1 of 2 audio episode try it
  5. 05 Jobs, signals and scheduling objective 2.3 part 2 of 2 audio episode try it
  6. 06 Package management objective 2.4 part 1 of 2 audio episode try it
  7. 07 Building software from source objective 2.4 part 2 of 2 audio episode try it
  8. 08 systemd and services objective 2.5 part single audio episode try it
  9. 09 Container images and runtimes objective 2.6 part 1 of 2 audio episode
  10. 10 Container volumes and networks objective 2.6 part 2 of 2 audio episode

3. Security 18% of the exam

  1. 01 File permissions, ownership and ACLs objective 3.3 part 1 of 5 audio episode try it
  2. 02 Firewalls objective 3.2 part single audio episode try it
  3. 03 Authentication, authorization and accounting objective 3.1 part single audio episode try it
  4. 04 Privilege escalation with sudo and su objective 3.3 part 2 of 5 audio episode try it
  5. 05 Securing SSH and remote access objective 3.3 part 3 of 5 audio episode try it
  6. 06 Hardening a Linux system objective 3.3 part 4 of 5 audio episode try it
  7. 07 SELinux and mandatory access control objective 3.3 part 5 of 5 audio episode
  8. 08 Account hardening objective 3.4 part single audio episode try it
  9. 09 Cryptography on Linux objective 3.5 part single audio episode try it
  10. 10 Vulnerability scanning and benchmarks objective 3.6 part 1 of 2 audio episode try it
  11. 11 File integrity and secure destruction objective 3.6 part 2 of 2 audio episode try it

4. Automation, Orchestration, and Scripting 17% of the exam

  1. 01 Bash scripting fundamentals objective 4.2 part 1 of 2 audio episode try it
  2. 02 Bash tests, operators and variables objective 4.2 part 2 of 2 audio episode try it
  3. 03 Python for system administration objective 4.3 part single audio episode try it
  4. 04 Version control with Git objective 4.4 part single audio episode try it
  5. 05 Infrastructure as code with Ansible and Puppet objective 4.1 part 1 of 2 audio episode
  6. 06 CI/CD and container orchestration objective 4.1 part 2 of 2 audio episode
  7. 07 Responsible use of AI in Linux administration objective 4.5 part single audio episode

5. Troubleshooting 22% of the exam

  1. 01 Monitoring and logging objective 5.1 part single audio episode try it
  2. 02 Troubleshooting hardware and storage objective 5.2 part single audio episode try it
  3. 03 Troubleshooting networking objective 5.3 part single audio episode try it
  4. 04 Troubleshooting security objective 5.4 part single audio episode try it
  5. 05 Troubleshooting performance objective 5.5 part single audio episode try it

Supplementary not examined — background reading

  1. 01 Installing Linux part single audio episode
  2. 02 The troubleshooting methodology part single audio episode

The exam simulator

508 questions, every one mapped to an objective and to the lesson that teaches it. Timed full-length papers drawn to the real domain split, retakes weighted to your weak areas, and a readiness report from your own results.

Open the simulator See the paid tier

Every lesson has an audio episode, and it plays in the lesson itself — there is nothing extra to sign up for.

The episodes are also a podcast: listen on Spotify.

This is an independent study companion for CompTIA Linux+ XK0-006 and is not produced by or endorsed by CompTIA.