This is the home of the monthly "Linux Upskill Challenge".
Do I really need a cloud-based server?
Yes, if you’re in the target audience (see below) you definitely should. The fact that such a server is very remote, and open to attack from the whole Internet, “makes it real”. Learning how to setup such a VPS is also a handy skill for any sysadmin.
Instructions for setting up a suitable server with a couple of providers are in the "Day 0" posts. By all means use a different provider, but ensure you use Ubuntu LTS (preferably 20.04), and either use public key authentication or a long strong unique password.
Of course, you’re perfectly entitled to use a local VM, an old laptop in the corner or a Raspberry Pi instead – and all of these will work fine for the course material.
The notes assume Ubuntu Server LTS 20.04 and it would be messy to include instructions/variations for every other distro. If you use Debian or CentOS (also good server choices), you yourself will need to understand and cope with any differences (e.g. apt vs yum).
This course is squarely aimed at two groups: (1) Linux users who aspire to get Linux-related jobs in industry - junior Linux sysadmin, devops-related work and similar, and (2) Windows server admins who want to expand their knowledge to be able to work with Linux servers.
However, many others have happily used the course simply to improve their Linux command line skills – and that’s just fine too.
One of the key elements of the course is that the material is delivered in 20 bite-sized lessons, one each workday into this subreddit. At any one time, just the last four lessons are available (we remove the older ones) – this gives you a bit of an incentive to “keep up”.
The first few days are pretty basic, but there's generally some "Extension" items for the more experienced.
Expect to spend 1-2 hours going through each. Some find it handy to read the notes through quickly in the day, then do the practical stuff in the evening – but do whatever suits you.
Feel free to post questions or comments here in the subreddit – or chat using the Discord server (https://discordapp.com/invite/wd4Zqyk) run by u/cobaltrune.