The Certificate Program in Linux®/UNIX®

Available on campus or online

More than 300,000 UNIX® installations worldwide support over a million users. In comparison with other existing operating systems, UNIX offers more flexibility and a greater set of comprehensive services. Its powerful features permit many users to use one system, and the multitasking capacity allows users to perform several processes at the same time. Its support of open systems architecture, and its unique multitasking features, have made UNIX one of the most popular operating systems today.

The Certificate Program in Linux®/UNIX is designed for those currently in the computer industry who want to upgrade their skills, and for those with basic computer literacy who want to enter this fast-growing field. The program curriculum combines theory and practical applications. Students learn skills that are immediately applicable in the workplace as well as C Programming, the language in which most networking software is written.

Many of the courses in the Linux/UNIX certificate program may be used to satisfy requirements in the Information Technology and Data/Telecommunications Certificate Programs, as well as the A.S. or B.S. degrees in Information Technology.

Note: The Linux/UNIX Certificate is available in accelerated and online formats.

Required Courses: (4)

90.267 C Programming - Available Summer 2013!
90.311 Introduction to the Linux/UNIX® Operating System - Available Summer 2013!
90.312 Shell Scripting - Available Summer 2013!
90.360 Introduction to Data Structures

Electives - Choose 2:

90.268 C++ Programming - Available Summer 2013!
90.269 Advanced C++
90.313 Linux/UNIX Internals Overview
90.316 UNIX System Administration
90.318 Advanced UNIX Internals/Tuning
90.319 Introduction to Linux
90.321 Linux/UNIX System Administration - Available Summer 2013!

Certificate Requirements

Students enrolled in UMass Lowell certificate programs must complete all courses, generally consisting of both required courses and electives. Students may complete the certificate program at their own pace, enrolling in one or two courses each semester. Courses on-campus typically meet one night per week, three hours each night, during the Fall and Spring semesters. Online students generally log on to their course site one or more times per week to retrieve lectures and assignments or to participate in a chat session. For more information on online courses, visit our online program home page.

In addition to the Fall and Spring semesters, students may also have the opportunity to accelerate their programs of study during two concentrated six-week Summer sessions. Online courses are also offered during the Summer semester, but typically run from May through August unless otherwise noted. All students should anticipate at least two hours of preparation for every hour of classroom instruction. Students are required to maintain a grade point average of 2.0 or better to receive the certificate.

Application into the Program

Those who wish to enroll in the certificate program should submit a completed application form and arrange to have their official high school transcript or GED sent to Continuing Studies. Applications, transcripts, and other correspondence should be sent to: University of Massachusetts Lowell, Admissions/Online and Continuing Education, Dugan Hall, Room 110, 883 Broadway Street, Lowell, MA 01854-5104. Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis and there is no fee to apply. Upon acceptance, notification will be sent to students.

Registering for Courses

Continuing Studies offers courses during the Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer. Information about current course offerings, schedules, and registration procedures is published regularly on our website. If you would like to receive a printed Course Bulletin, please contact our Faculty and Student Support Center at (978) 934-2474.

You may take courses without being officially enrolled in a certificate or degree program, but you must meet the particular course prerequisites. Registrations are accepted on a first come, first served basis. Class size is limited. We recommend that you register early to reserve your place in class.

Transfer Policy

With the program coordinator's approval, one course may be transferred from another accredited institution to satisfy undergraduate certificate program requirements. The course should be equivalent to UMass Lowell instruction, applicable to the intended program, and the student must have received a grade equivalent to a C- (1.70 on a 4.00 scale) or better.

Academic Advising

Program Coordinators and Faculty and Student Support Specialists are available by appointment to help students determine appropriate course loads, discuss admission requirements, and review the transferability of courses. For online advising, email us at Continuing_Education@uml.edu. To schedule an appointment with a Program Coordinator or Faculty and Student Support Specialist, please call Online and Continuing Education at (978) 934-2474. General academic advising is also available at the Faculty and Student Support Center on a drop-in basis, located in Southwick Hall, Room 202 on UMass Lowell North. Call (978) 934-2474 or stop by the office Monday through Thursday between 8:30am-8:00pm and on Friday between 8:30am-5:00pm.

Awarding of Certificates

Upon successful completion of the certificate program, students must submit a completed Certificate Petition Form to Online and Continuing Education. Upon verification, students will be mailed their certificates. Receipt of the certificate will be noted formally on the student's transcript with an award date of October, February, or June.

Tuition

Please refer to our current course listings published online each semester for up-to-date pricing information or refer to the Online and Continuing Education Course Bulletin each semester.

For More Information

For additional information on any of our programs, call Online and Continuing Education at (978) 934-2474 or email Continuing_Education@uml.edu.

For information on Financial Aid, call the Financial Aid Office at (978) 934-4220.

Gainful Employment Disclosure Information

Completion rates, median loan debts and program costs are outlined for each certificate program.

Undergraduate Certificate Gainful Employment Disclosure Information

Course Descriptions

90.267 C Programming

Introduces students to the techniques of programming in C. The language syntax, semantics, its applications, and the portable library are covered. This course is not an introductory course in programming. However, it will teach some of the basics in the first few weeks. Students should have a working knowledge of at least one high-level programming language. 3 credits. Prerequisite: Previous programming experience Special Notes: Students may not receive credit for both the 90.211/90.212 sequence and 90.267
This course qualifies for free MSDNA software!

90.268 C++ Programming

This course will cover the C++ language and show the student how to use the language. We will cover class construction, operator overloading, virtual functions, templates, and introduce the student to the IO streams. Inheritance and its use in creating extendible libraries will be presented. Object-oriented concepts will be presented in the context of the C++ language and its support for object-oriented programming. 3 credits. Prerequisite: 90.267 or 90.212 Special Notes:
This course qualifies for free MSDNA software!

90.269 Advanced C++

Serves as a continuation of 90.268, with emphasis on Object Oriented Programming with C++. Design issues and programming guidelines will be discussed. Inheritance, dynamic binding, overloaded operators, abstract classes, and class hierarchies will be covered in more detail, with course projects concentrating on these areas. 3 credits. Prerequisite: 90.268, experience with Data Structures. Special Notes:
This course qualifies for free MSDNA software!

90.311 Introduction to the Linux/UNIX® Operating System

Addresses manipulating and maintaining files within the UNIX file system; creating and editing text files using the vi and ed editors; using pipes, redirection, and filters; using advanced text processing utilities; using electronic mail; writing and debugging shell scripts; submitting and executing processes. 3 credits.

90.312 Shell Scripting

Teaches the students the techniques of programming in the high-level programming language of the Bourne, Korn, and BASH Shells. The course covers the building blocks necessary to create protable shell scripts that can be used as new utilitis for computers running either UNIX, Linux, or the Cygwin environment on Windows. 3 credits. Prerequisite: 90.311, and 90.267 or 90.212

90.313 Linux/UNIX Internals Overview

Focuses on the fundamentals of UNIX kernel architectures. Topics covered in this course are: the file system, process creation, signals, process scheduling, context switching, memory management, virtual memory device driver basics and the I/O subsystem, system boot, the init process. 3 credits. Prerequisite: 90.312.

90.316 UNIX System Administration

Addresses the fundamentals necessary to set up/adjust a UNIX system to produce an efficient and secure operating system environment. System starting and shutdown, file system partitioning and maintenance, user and group administration, backup and recovery, setting up terminals, printers and communications devices are topics which will be discussed. 3 credits. Prerequisite: 90.312

90.318 Advanced UNIX Internals/Tuning

This course provides an overview of performance and tuning principles and tools in the UNIX operating system. The course covers principles of performance analysis and usage of performance measurement tools, such as sar, vmstat, iostat, and nfsstat. Coverage is given on how to identify memory, I/O, and CPU bottlenecks, and it gives recommended solutions. Since knowledge of several of the major OS kernel subsystems is required to understand the information provided by the performance monitoring tools, the course provides an in-depth view of the operating system's major kernel subsystems. These include virtual memory system, process lifetime cycles and scheduling and the UNIX file system. The course will describe the kernel subsystems of a typical UNIX operating system and as needed, add the differences between the different flavors of UNIX, such as BSD and SYSTEM V. The course will also include some simple rules of thumb to guide the tuning process. 3 credits. Prerequisite: 90.313.

90.319 Introduction to Linux

Course addresses management of the Linux file system and utilities; file editing; file permissions; pipes, redirection, and filters; text handling utilities; mail facility; BASH shell, variables, and basic scripts; process management; and shell programming basics. Course content mirrors 90.311 but focuses on usage of Linux as an alternative UNIX-based operating system. Students will be exposed to Linux principles through hands-on labwork utilizing a Linux server. 3 credits.

90.321 Linux/UNIX System Administration

The course will start by exploring the booting and setting up stand-alone system. Students will learn how to set up and manage user accounts, how to manage other resources such as disk space, CPU usage and user access to shared resources with maximization of security in mind. Since virtually all systems are networked today we will proceed to learn about e-mail (POP and SMTP protocols), Web servers and networking services. The course will present the following Internet services: DNS, FTP, telnet, HTTP (Apache Web Server), SSH. The intranet topics will be discussed including Network File System (NFS), Network Information Services (NIS) and interoperability with Windows system via Samba. At the conclusion of the course students will explore topics in networking: network configuration, security and interoperability. 3 credits. Prerequisite: P: Shell Scripting experience

90.360 Introduction to Data Structures

This course presents the basic concepts of data. It covers stacks, queues, linear, and linked lists using C. Trees, graphs, search, and sorting techniques also will be covered. 3 credits. Prerequisite: 90.267, or 90.212 and 90.364 Special Notes:
This course qualifies for free MSDNA software!