702-100 BSD Specialist Exam Guide: Objectives, Preparation, and Scheduling Decisions
LPI exam 702-100 validates practical BSD administration across FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD. It is intended for system administrators and candidates who can work with BSD installation, software, storage, accounts, processes, networking, and Unix command-line tools. This guide helps you decide whether your current experience is sufficient, which objectives deserve the most lab time, how to study across three BSD variants, and when to register and schedule the exam.
What does 702-100 validate?
702-100 is the BSD Specialist exam in LPI’s Open Technology certification program. It tests the practical knowledge needed to administer BSD operating systems rather than focusing on one vendor’s product. The certification profile covers installation, configuration, hardware, kernel parameters, security, accounts, filesystems, software, networking, automation, and standard Unix tools.
The official certification overview identifies FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD as the environments covered. A candidate is expected to understand BSD architecture, manage users and groups, processes, filesystems, installed software, and client networking, and use standard BSD and Unix command-line tools.
Passing the BSD Specialist exam is the certification requirement. The listed exam version is 1.0 and the exam code is 702-100. LPI states that no prerequisite certification is required, although more than a year of BSD administration experience across different kinds of BSD systems is strongly recommended.
Is this exam suitable for your background?
702-100 is a reasonable target if you already administer BSD systems or can build and troubleshoot them in a hands-on lab. The strongest starting point is not familiarity with Linux commands alone; it is the ability to explain how the same administrative task differs between FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD.
Experienced BSD administrators should begin with a gap review rather than rereading every topic. Check whether you can install each operating system, configure a persistent network interface, manage packages, inspect logs, repair or mount filesystems, create accounts, control services, and troubleshoot a failed connection without relying on a graphical interface.
Linux administrators moving to BSD should treat this as a platform-transfer exam. Similar command names do not guarantee identical behavior, configuration files, service controls, package tools, boot procedures, or network conventions. The LPI objectives specifically caution that commands and files may differ between the three BSD systems, even when a name appears in a common list.
Candidates with little or no BSD administration experience should not use the absence of a formal prerequisite as a reason to skip practical work. The official recommendation for more than a year of BSD administration experience is a useful readiness signal, while a lab can help you identify whether you need a longer foundation period.
What is the exam format and delivery?
The exam lasts 90 minutes and contains 60 multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. That format makes precise command, file, option, and platform knowledge important, while the time limit makes it unwise to spend the entire preparation period on slow recognition-based study.
LPI lists English as the exam language at VUE test centers and through OnVUE online delivery. Confirm the current language and delivery information with LPI before paying for a booking, because scheduling choices and availability can change.
Pearson VUE delivers the exam at an in-person testing center or online through OnVUE. LPI also states that paper-based exams may be available at many open source conferences and events. These are official delivery routes, but the relevant local availability must be checked before you choose one.
To schedule through Pearson VUE, LPI’s getting-started process says to purchase an exam voucher, create a Pearson account separate from your lpi.org account, and schedule the exam. Before taking your first LPI exam, create an LPI account and obtain an LPI ID.
The exam overview lists a validity period of 5 years for the BSD Specialist certification. For current pricing, use LPI’s country selector rather than relying on a figure copied from a third-party page. The official pricing page directs candidates to select their country or territory.
Which objectives deserve the most study time?
Use the official objective weight as a prioritization signal, not as a prediction of an exact question distribution. LPI explains that higher-weight objectives are relatively more important and are covered by more exam questions. Study every objective, but make high-weight areas the first subjects you practise and the last subjects you review.
Installation and software management
Topic 711 combines installation, packages, startup, hardware, and kernel parameters. BSD software and package management objective 711.2 has weight 4, the highest listed objective weight. BSD operating system installation objective 711.1 and BSD system startup configuration objective 711.3 each have weight 3.
Practise the package workflow separately on each operating system. The objectives list FreeBSD tools such as pkg install, pkg delete, pkg info, and pkg upgrade; NetBSD tools such as pkg_admin and pkg_add; and OpenBSD tools such as pkg_add and pkg_info. The goal is to recognize the platform-specific tool and its administrative purpose, not to memorize an undifferentiated command list.
Installation practice should include identifying the operating system and version, following the installation path, and understanding what changes after the initial install. Startup practice should cover boot and rc concepts, /etc/rc.conf, /etc/rc.d, inetd, shutdown, and the platform-specific service controls listed in the objectives, including service or rcctl where applicable.
Hardware and kernel work includes interpreting dmesg, /boot/loader.conf, device discovery utilities, kernel modules, sysctl, /etc/sysctl.conf, and system security levels. Build a comparison sheet that records the FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD form of each task, then verify the sheet against the current objectives and local manual pages.
Storage, filesystems, and permissions
Topic 712 covers partitioning, filesystem creation and integrity, mounting, permissions, links, file discovery, and BSD directory layout. File permissions and ownership objective 712.4 has weight 3; mounting and unmounting objective 712.3 and finding files and directory layout objective 712.6 each have weight 2.
Use a disposable virtual disk for storage exercises. Work through disk labels and partitioning, create a filesystem, check its integrity, mount and unmount it, inspect available space, and determine which filesystems are configured to mount at boot. The objectives include fdisk, disklabel, newfs, fsck, mount, umount, /etc/fstab, df, and ZFS-related utilities for relevant systems.
For permissions, deliberately create files and directories with different owners, groups, modes, and umask settings. Then test access as another account. This reveals the difference between being able to read a directory and being able to read a file, and it is more durable preparation than copying permission definitions into notes.
Include hard and symbolic links in the same lab. Record what happens when a target is moved or removed, and use ls and ln to inspect the result. For file discovery, compare find, locate, locate.updatedb, whereis, which, whatis, and hier(7), noting the task each utility is designed to support.
Basic system administration
Topic 713 covers accounts, scheduled jobs, time, logs, mail transfer agents, printing, and user sessions. User accounts and groups objective 713.1 has weight 3. Scheduling objective 713.2 and system logging objective 713.4 each have weight 2; time, mail, printing, and sessions are weight 1 objectives.
Create both ordinary and system accounts, change account properties, manage groups and membership, and inspect identity information with id, groups, whoami, su, and the platform-specific account tools. Include locked or non-login accounts and review the role of /usr/share/skel/.
For automation, distinguish periodic system scripts from user crontabs and the system crontab. Practise reading all crontab fields, checking the allow and deny files, and tracing whether a scheduled command ran. The objectives list platform-specific periodic configuration files and commands, so do not assume a Linux cron layout transfers unchanged.
For logging, locate relevant system logs, filter them with tail and grep, and understand newsyslog and its configuration files. Add time synchronization with date and ntpd, including the platform-specific configuration files and ntpq where listed. Lower-weight objectives still need a short practical pass: inspect sessions and login history, review print queues, and understand aliases and mail forwarding for the local MTA.
Network administration and troubleshooting
Topic 714 contains Internet protocols, interface configuration, troubleshooting, and client-side DNS. Basic network configuration objective 714.2 and basic network troubleshooting objective 714.3 each have weight 3. Fundamentals of Internet protocols objective 714.1 and client-side DNS objective 714.4 each have weight 2.
Build a network troubleshooting sequence instead of memorizing isolated commands. Start by checking the interface and address, then the route and hostname, then reachability, then name resolution, and finally the target TCP/IP service. Practise with ifconfig, route, hostname, ping, ping6, traceroute, netstat, sockstat, nc, and the other utilities named for the platforms.
The configuration files differ materially. The objectives mention /etc/hosts, dhclient configuration and leases, /etc/rc.conf, NetBSD interface and alias files, and OpenBSD files such as /etc/hostname.if, /etc/myname, and /etc/mygate. Create a three-column comparison: temporary state, persistent configuration, and verification command.
For DNS, test host-name resolution and read the relevant resolver configuration. The objectives list /etc/resolv.conf and platform-specific utilities including drill, dig, and nslookup. Make your notes answer three questions: Is the interface configured, is the route usable, and is the name-resolution problem local to the client or elsewhere?
Review IPv4 and IPv6 addressing, CIDR notation, interface identifiers, subnetting, DHCP lease renewal, and TCP/IP service verification. A common mistake is to stop after ping succeeds; a host can respond to ICMP while the required service remains unavailable.
Unix command-line and process skills
Topic 715 tests shell use, file management, process control, regular expressions, vi, and simple Bourne shell scripts. Basic file management objective 715.2 and process management objective 715.3 each have weight 3. Shell use, regular expressions, vi, and scripting each have weight 2.
Practise command-line composition with sh, csh, and tcsh, including redirection, pipelines, environment variables, globbing, command history, tee, file, less, and xargs. Explain each command in a pipeline and predict which stream is being redirected. This is especially useful for fill-in-the-blank questions where a familiar command with the wrong option is still wrong.
For file management, use cp, mkdir, mv, ls, rm, rmdir, touch, dd, tar, cpio, pax, and file in a disposable workspace. For process work, inspect load and process state with top, ps, pgrep, pstat, systat, uptime, vmstat, and related tools; then practise nice, renice, kill, pkill, and the platform-specific killall.
Include job control: start a process in the background, suspend it, use jobs, bg, and fg, and terminate it correctly. Learn to distinguish a shell job identifier from a process identifier. Also practise identifying processes that consume substantial resources before choosing whether to reprioritize or terminate them.
Regular expressions and wildcards are not interchangeable. Use grep, egrep, fgrep, re_format(7), and shell globbing in separate exercises. Finish with vi movement, insertion, deletion, saving, line numbering, and list display, followed by short Bourne shell scripts that use variables, tests, loops, conditions, and command exit status.
How should you build a three-BSD lab?
A useful 702-100 lab needs all three named BSD environments, even if one is your primary platform. The lab does not need to imitate a production estate; it needs to let you perform the objectives, compare platform differences, break configurations safely, and recover from mistakes without confusing a Linux-specific habit with BSD knowledge.
Use separate virtual machines or another isolated practice arrangement for FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD. Keep snapshots before storage, boot, package, and network changes. If you cannot run all three at once, rotate through them and maintain a task matrix showing where each objective was verified.
For each exercise, record four items: the administrative goal, the command or file used, the expected verification result, and the platform variation. For example, a service exercise should state how the service is enabled, how it is started or stopped, and how you confirm its state on each system.
Do not practise destructive disk operations on a host or valuable data. Use disposable disks and test accounts. Network troubleshooting should use an isolated interface or private network so that route, DHCP, DNS, and service experiments do not disrupt other systems.
Read the installed manual pages as part of the exercise. LPI recommends self-study and identifies man pages and FAQs as possible preparation resources; its preparation page also points candidates toward current published study resources, online training, books, and instructor-led courses.
What study sequence works best?
Study in dependency order: establish platform identity and command-line fluency first, then install and configure systems, then add storage and permissions, administration, networking, and troubleshooting. Finish with mixed scenarios that force you to choose the right platform-specific command rather than recall topics in isolation.
Phase 1: Baseline and objective mapping
Download or open the current official objectives and turn every objective into a checklist. Mark each item as can explain, can perform, can troubleshoot, or not yet studied. Do not begin with random practice questions; first identify whether the gap is conceptual, command syntax, platform variation, or recovery procedure.
Check the version carefully. The official materials identify version 1.0 and exam code 702-100, while the objectives page describes its objectives as a draft. Use the current LPI page as the authority before scheduling and revisit it if your preparation extends over a long period.
Phase 2: Installation, packages, and boot
Install or refresh FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD in the lab. Identify each system and version, practise package installation and removal, inspect installed software, and apply the listed update concepts. Then configure startup services, investigate hardware output, and view or set kernel parameters.
At the end of this phase, you should be able to explain not only what a command does but why its FreeBSD, NetBSD, or OpenBSD form is appropriate. If your notes contain one universal command for a task that the objectives list separately by platform, treat that as an unresolved gap.
Phase 3: Storage and core administration
Work through partitions and disk labels, filesystem creation and checks, mounts, boot-time filesystem configuration, ownership, permissions, links, and file discovery. Continue with accounts, groups, scheduled jobs, logs, time, sessions, mail basics, and printing.
Use failure drills rather than only successful demonstrations. Examples include an incorrect mode, a missing mount entry, a full filesystem, an account with the wrong shell, a scheduled job that cannot find its command, and a log rotation configuration that does not match the log file.
Phase 4: Networking and Unix skills
Configure static and DHCP networking, hostname data, routes, DNS resolution, and IPv4 and IPv6 basics. Create controlled failures by removing a route, using an incorrect resolver, stopping a service, or applying an invalid interface setting, then restore the system using your diagnostic sequence.
Rehearse shell pipelines, file operations, job control, process inspection, regular expressions, vi, and Bourne shell scripting. These skills should become fast enough that you can spend your exam time interpreting the situation instead of reconstructing basic syntax.
Phase 5: Review and readiness decision
Run a final objective-by-objective review without consulting notes first. For every item, explain the purpose, identify the relevant command or file, name the platform variation, and state how you would verify success. Schedule only after the remaining gaps are narrow and specific.
A useful readiness result is a short list such as “OpenBSD service control,” “NetBSD package update workflow,” or “IPv6 troubleshooting,” not a vague feeling that the material is familiar. Return to the lab for those items, then repeat the review after a break.
Which preparation methods are worth using?
Choose resources based on the kind of gap you have. Official objectives define scope; lab work builds operational recall; manuals clarify platform behavior; books and courses can supply structure. LPI explicitly supports self-study, books, online or computer-based training, and instructor-led classes, so the best method depends on your experience and available lab time.
Use the official objectives as the controlling checklist even when a book or course uses a different topic order. LPI advises candidates seeking current preparation resources to consult published study resources first. Check that the material addresses FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD and matches the current exam version rather than assuming a general Unix course is sufficient.
The LPI learning-materials URL supplied for this catalogue points to Topic 702: Application Container, including container orchestration and image building. That content does not match the BSD Specialist objective set. Do not use it as your primary 702-100 study source; use the BSD objectives and BSD Specialist materials instead.
Practice questions can help with recall and pacing, but they should not replace the objective list or a working lab. Avoid dumps, leaked questions, and memorization-based promises. They cannot establish that you can administer three BSD variants, and relying on them risks learning outdated or incorrect platform behavior.
What mistakes reduce preparation quality?
Most 702-100 preparation failures come from studying BSD as if it were one uniform operating system. The remedy is to attach every command, configuration file, and recovery step to a named platform, then verify it in a lab instead of trusting a Linux-derived assumption.
Treating FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD as interchangeable is the central risk. Package management, service control, network persistence, hardware tools, kernel modules, and account utilities can vary. Build comparison notes while performing the task, not afterward from memory.
Studying only high-weight objectives is another mistake. Weight 4 software and package management deserves priority, but weight 1 objectives remain in scope. Give smaller objectives shorter review sessions and combine them with related administration scenarios rather than omitting them.
Reading command lists without performing the task creates recognition without control. For every important command, change something, inspect the result, and undo it. A candidate who can define mount but cannot determine whether a filesystem is mounted at boot has an important practical gap.
Ignoring fill-in-the-blank questions leads to imprecise revision. Practise exact utility names, file paths, option meanings, and platform labels. Do not assume that a semantically similar command will be accepted when the objective points to a specific BSD tool.
Booking too early can turn a manageable gap into a scheduling problem. First compare your objective checklist with lab evidence, then check the current official delivery, language, voucher, and pricing information before selecting a date or delivery route.
Using stale material is especially risky because the official objectives page identifies a version and includes future-change considerations. Recheck the official source before final review rather than treating an old practice set or forum summary as authoritative.
What should you do before scheduling?
Before scheduling, confirm four things: the exam version, your LPI ID, the delivery route and language available to you, and the country-specific price. Then choose a date that leaves enough time to close identified lab gaps rather than using the booking itself as a study deadline.
Review the current BSD Specialist overview and objectives pages. Confirm that the page still identifies exam code 702-100, version 1.0, the 90-minute duration, and 60-question format. If any of those details change, update your plan from LPI’s source rather than from this article.
Create the LPI ID required for your first exam. For Pearson VUE scheduling, remember that the Pearson account is separate from the lpi.org account. Purchase the voucher only after checking the applicable country or territory pricing and the current terms on LPI’s official pages.
Choose an in-person VUE center if you prefer a dedicated testing location, or investigate OnVUE if online delivery suits your equipment, environment, and scheduling needs. If an open source event offers a paper-based exam, verify that event’s current registration details directly.
The official overview lists English for both VUE test centers and OnVUE. If language availability is decisive for you, confirm it during the booking process. Do not infer availability from LPI’s broader statement that it delivers exams in multiple languages, because the BSD Specialist listing specifically identifies English.
What happens after the exam?
Pearson VUE provides a score report immediately following the exam according to LPI’s getting-started information. LPI states that it receives exam results within 24 hours and issues the certification if all requirements are met. Keep your LPI account details current so you can access certification records and the downloadable certificate.
The certification is awarded after passing this exam and is listed as valid for 5 years. LPI also provides options for extending beyond 5 years; review the current certification-maintenance information when planning beyond the initial validity period.
A pass should be treated as evidence of the defined BSD administration objectives, not as a substitute for continued practice. Keep your three-platform lab notes, update them when system versions or tools change, and use the official objectives as a reference when deciding what to refresh.
Your practical next actions
Start with the official 702-100 objectives, not a question bank. Build a three-platform checklist, identify your weakest high-weight objectives, and schedule lab sessions that produce observable results. Once you can perform and explain the tasks across FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD, confirm the official booking details and schedule through the route that fits your circumstances.
First, verify the current exam page and objective version. Next, establish or refresh the three-BSD lab. Then practise package management, startup, storage, permissions, accounts, processes, networking, and command-line work in that order. Finally, perform a closed-book readiness review and resolve specific gaps before purchasing a voucher.
This sequence keeps the certification decision tied to demonstrated administration ability rather than familiarity with exam terminology. It also gives you a defensible reason to delay scheduling when a platform difference, troubleshooting procedure, or core command-line task still depends on guesswork.
Conclusion
702-100 is best approached as a three-platform administration assessment. Use the official objectives to define scope, use weights to prioritize without ignoring lower-weight topics, and use an isolated lab to turn commands and configuration files into verified operating skills. Before scheduling, confirm the current LPI version, language, delivery route, pricing, and registration steps. That preparation process gives you a clearer decision than memorizing answer patterns and leaves you with practical BSD knowledge beyond the exam.
