The BSDA (BSD "Associate") Certification Requirements Document, also known as the BSDA Exam Objectives, contains the seven study domains for the BSDA certification as well as detailed objectives for each domain. In addition, it describes the BSDA candidate, the operating system versions covered by the exam, and the recertification requirements for the exam.

This document is not only of interest to those considering taking the BSDA certification, but it also provides a framework that can be used to construct course curricula as well as study guides.

The BSDA Certification Requirements Document, published by the BSD Certification Group in October 2005, is based on the BSD Certification Group's Job Task Analysis. The survey results were used by a psychometrician to ensure that the certification is an accurate, up-to-date and valid measurement of the skills needed by BSD system administrators.

Information about the BSD Certification Group is available via
<http://www.bsdcertification.org>.

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## Changes ##

The following is a record of the changes to the BSDA Exam Objectives since the October 2005 document.
Note that some of these changes have already been updated in the BSD Certification Group's document
and some are reflected in the BSDA Exam Questions.
We had probably around 20 minor clarifications, objective moves or changes between October 2005 and March 2007. (TODO: list them all here.)
The BSD Certification Group plans to publish the updated version in July 2007.
The following also lists some TODO suggestions.

[[Recognize_which_commands_are_available_for_upgrading_the_operating_system]]

- TODO: make and build target requirements sorted by BSD flavour

[[Monitor_disk_input--output]]

- TODO: add gstat(8) to more info

[[Query_a_DNS_server]]

- TODO: ping and telnet references removed -- but probably should be kept: "note that ping or telnet can be used 
to show hostname lookups as the systems sees."

[[View_and_modify_ACLs]]

- remove "modify" from concept (yes wikipage URL still says "modify")

[[Determine_which_filesystems_are_currently_mounted_and_which_will_be_mounted_at_system_boot]]

- change du to df in more information

[[Chapter_Basic_Unix_Skills]]

- TODO: for this domain make it clear that this doesn't cover all commonly-used Unix utilities. Here is my suggestion:

 *"The BSDA candidate should be proficient in the most commonly-used
  Unix command line utilities. Nevertheless, the BSDA Examination
  doesn't test the variety of Unix utilities other than those specifically covered
  in this BSDA Requirements Document."*

[[Configure_system_logging]]

- added: Recognize the syslog configuration and be able to add or change a logging entry.
- split into [[Configure_log_rotations]]
- TODO: add logger(1) to more info (practical)

[[Configure_log_rotations]]

- This is a new objective title, split out from [[Configure_system_logging]].
- Added new objective with: Understand that the system automatically maintains many different logs.
- And: Be able to configure log rotation by either time or size.

[[Configure_a_system_to_use_NTP]]

- add another man page for more info: ntp.conf(5)

[[Locate_files_and_binaries_on_a_system]]

- TODO: locate.conf(5) on NetBSD
- TODO: locate.rc for OpenBSD?

[[View_and_configure_system_hardware]]

- Update objective title and concept: The focus is on "recognize" utilities on BSDs.
- Add pcictl(8) to more info.

[[Recognize_methods_for_verifying_the_validity_of_binaries]]

- Add mtree(8) to more info.
- TODO: remove "some of" from concept.

[[Configure_a_service_to_start_at_boot_time]]

- TODO: rc.conf(8) on OpenBSD (not man section 5)
- TODO: move "inetd" to its own objective

[[Recognize_the_BSD_methods_for_restraining_a_service]]
and
[[Recognize_alternate_authorization_schemes]]

- TODO: systrace not in NetBSD -- verify this
- TODO: maybe change subject from "authorization"?

[[Determine_who_is_currently_on_the_system_or_the_last_time_a_user_was_on_the_system]]

- TODO: add "ac(8)" to practical
- TODO: change concept: s/determining login information/determining current and past login information/

[[Enable_accounting_and_view_system_usage_statistics]]

- TODO: remove "ac(8)" from practical
- TODO: remove last(1) from practical
- TODO: improve concept because only one utility to enable it and it is not really statistics: "Concept: The BSDA candidate should be aware of when it is appropriate to enable system process accounting, recognize which utility is available to do so, and know how to view and analyze the resulting accounting details."

[[Recognize_methods_for_verifying_the_validity_of_binaries]]

- changed title from binaries to files
