You can see it againUnder pressure people bring back shapes and positions long after the wording has gone.
Picture superiority · Shepard 1967, Standing 1973
LINUX PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTELPI LPIC-3 High Availability and Storage Clusters
The LPI LPIC-3 High Availability and Storage Clusters certification validates your ability to design, implement, and manage enterprise-grade Linux systems with a focus on high availability and resilient storage. It is for senior Linux engineers who architect and operate clusters that keep critical services running. Earning it proves you can build and maintain the infrastructure that underpins modern, always-on IT environments.
Exam formatMultiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions
Duration90 minutes
DeliveryPearson VUE
Free questions343
Content last reviewed 30 July 2026 · Up to date
The certification
What LPIC-3-HIGH-AVAILABILITY proves, and what it asks of you
What this certification covers, who it is written for, and what the exam itself looks like on the day.
4domains
12objectives
115concepts
What it is
What this certification is
What it validates, who it is written for, and the experience it assumes.
About this certification
The LPI LPIC-3 High Availability and Storage Clusters certification is the highest-level credential in the Linux Professional Institute's Linux Professional track, focusing on the administration of Linux systems enterprise-wide with an emphasis on high availability systems and storage. This certification validates the advanced skills required to design and manage clustered services, ensuring business continuity and data integrity in mission-critical environments.
Candidates who earn this certification demonstrate a deep understanding of high availability concepts, including load-balanced and failover clusters, as well as the configuration of distributed storage solutions like GlusterFS and Ceph. The curriculum covers everything from cluster management with Pacemaker and Corosync to advanced storage technologies such as DRBD, clustered file systems, and single-node high availability techniques. This certification is the definitive proof of expertise for professionals responsible for the resilience of enterprise Linux infrastructure.
Who it’s for
This certification is designed for senior Linux system administrators, storage engineers, and enterprise architects who are responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining high-availability and storage cluster solutions. It is ideal for professionals who need to ensure the continuous operation of critical services and data in large-scale, mission-critical environments. Candidates should have a strong background in Linux administration and a deep understanding of networking, storage, and system architecture. They are expected to be comfortable with command-line tools and configuration files, and to have practical experience in managing complex, multi-node systems.
Recommended experience
While not mandatory, LPI recommends that candidates have a solid understanding of Linux system administration and networking, typically gained through several years of experience in enterprise environments. Several years of hands-on experience administering Linux systems in a professional environment; A strong understanding of core Linux networking concepts, including TCP/IP, routing, and network interfaces; Familiarity with storage technologies, including RAID, LVM, and file systems; Experience with system monitoring, troubleshooting, and performance tuning
The syllabus
What you’ll learn
Every domain and objective Linux Professional Institute measures, with the weight they carry on the exam.
The official Linux Professional Institute exam outline · checked 30 July 2026 · See the source
Topic 361: High Availability Cluster Management
- 361.1 High Availability Concepts and Theory (weight: 6)
- 361.2 Load Balanced Clusters (weight: 8)
- 361.3 Failover Clusters (weight: 8)
Topic 362: High Availability Cluster Storage
- 362.1 DRBD (weight: 6)
- 362.2 Cluster Storage Access (weight: 3)
- 362.3 Clustered File Systems (weight: 4)
Topic 363: High Availability Distributed Storage
- 363.1 GlusterFS Storage Clusters (weight: 5)
- 363.2 Ceph Storage Clusters (weight: 8)
Topic 364: Single Node High Availability
- 364.1 Hardware and Resource High Availability (weight: 2)
- 364.2 Advanced RAID (weight: 2)
- 364.3 Advanced LVM (weight: 3)
- 364.4 Network High Availability (weight: 5)
On the day
The exam itself
Everything Linux Professional Institute publishes about sitting it, and nothing we inferred.
Prerequisites
An active LPIC-2 certification is required.
Exam codeLPIC-3-HIGH-AVAILABILITY
CertificationLPI LPIC-3 High Availability and Storage Clusters
Exam formatMultiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions
Duration90 minutes
Questions60 questions
DeliveryPearson VUE
LanguagesEnglish, Japanese
After you pass
Where this credential goes next
The path Linux Professional Institute lays out, how the credential is kept, and where to book.
Step-by-step path to LPI LPIC-3 High Availability and Storage Clusters
PrerequisiteAn active LPIC-2 certification is required.
Credential earnedLPI LPIC-3 High Availability and Storage Clusters Certification Renewal and maintenance
LPIC-3 certifications are valid for 5 years. To maintain the certification, you must retake the exam or achieve a higher-level certification before the expiration date. Stay current with the latest technologies and maintain your certification.
Learn more about renewal requirements Lifecycle status
This certification is currently active and available. Linux Professional Institute maintains this certification to validate current skills and industry relevance.
Exam status: ActiveMaintained by Linux Professional Institute
Exam registration
Register for the exam through Pearson VUE, Linux Professional Institute’s authorized testing partner.
Schedule your examVisit the official Linux Professional Institute certification page for exam policies and requirements.
View the official pageYour coach
And when you are serious, your coach Pip takes over
Your coach in the app reads what you have answered with the book closed and tells you one thing to do tonight. It will not count an answer you gave with the page open, and it will tell you when you are not ready.
See how the coach worksBefore you book
Questions people ask
How does this exam relate to the retired LPIC-3 304 exam?
The 306 exam was created from a split of the version 2.0 of the 304 exam. The 304 exam covered mixed environments, while the 306 exam focuses specifically on high availability and storage clusters.
Do I need to earn a lower-level LPI certification before taking the 306 exam?
Yes, you must hold an active LPIC-2 certification to be awarded the LPIC-3 High Availability and Storage Clusters certification after passing the 306 exam.
Is there a hands-on or lab component to the 306 exam?
No, the 306 exam consists of 60 multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. There is no separate hands-on lab component.
What is the retake policy if I fail the 306 exam?
LPI does not publish a specific retake policy for individual exams. Please refer to the LPI website or contact LPI directly for the most current retake policy.
What job roles does the LPIC-3 High Availability and Storage Clusters certification map to?
This certification is designed for senior Linux system administrators, storage engineers, and enterprise architects who are responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining high-availability and storage cluster solutions.
Can I recertify by passing a different, higher-level LPI exam?
Yes, achieving a higher-level certification will renew your LPIC-3 certification. For example, earning another LPIC-3 specialization would renew this credential.
Information freshness · Content last reviewed on 2026-07-30 Up to date
Practice free questions 343 questions, free, no account needed.
The curriculum
The whole exam, mapped and written
Every domain, every objective, and every concept Linux Professional Institute measures — each one written out.
4domains
12objectives
115concepts
74free pages
The domains, and what sits inside them
Every objective below is a page you can open and practise now, without an account.
The official Linux Professional Institute exam outline · checked 30 July 2026 · See the source
1Topic 361: High Availability Cluster Management101 questions
2Topic 362: High Availability Cluster Storage89 questions
3Topic 363: High Availability Distributed Storage60 questions
4Topic 364: Single Node High Availability93 questions
Not a table of contents
Every line on this map already opens
In front of every objective the practice pages are already there, free and without an account. This is one objective, opened.
361.1 High Availability Concepts and Theory (weight: 6)6 pagesOpen →
Free in front of it
27 questions on this objective, five to a page. Every range above is a real page, open now, with no account.
Reading the map is not the same as knowing the ground
The curriculum tells you what is on the exam. Proving you know it is a different job — and it is the one the closed-book run does.
Free questions
343 questions. No account, no card.
The whole bank is open. 5 questions to a page, every answer explained, and a discussion thread on each one.
343questions
74pages
12objectives
Freealways
Browse by domain
Every objective, and every page range, is a link — so you can pick up exactly where you left off.
1Topic 361: High Availability Cluster Management101 questions
2Topic 362: High Availability Cluster Storage89 questions
3Topic 363: High Availability Distributed Storage60 questions
4Topic 364: Single Node High Availability93 questions
What a practice page gives you
1Five to a page
Short enough to finish, long enough to matter.
2Every answer explained
Not only which one is right — why the others are wrong.
3A discussion on each
Ask, answer, and vote. Every question has its own thread.
A question, and the idea behind it
Every question comes from a concept
These are not trivia. Each one is written against a concept in the book, so when you get one wrong there is somewhere to go and find out why.
The visual book
See it once. Carry it into the exam.
The pages shown here come from our AI-900 book — an example of how each concept is written in plain language and, where the idea needs one, drawn as a full page you can take in at a glance.
115concepts
343free questions
Why a picture, and not another paragraph
Three reasons, and each one is a real finding rather than a slogan.
You can see it againThe whole idea at onceWhere it starts, what happens in the middle, what comes out, and the mistake to avoid.
Multimedia principle · MayerThe look-alikes sit togetherThe pairs the exam tests are drawn side by side, so the difference is seen, not told.
Dual coding · PaivioWhat one page is made of
You are never asked to read a poster here — only to see how one is built. After that, every other page is legible at a glance.
1A numbered strip on top
The idea as a sequence, followed with a finger before a word is read.
2Panels for the parts
What it is, how the machine learns it, when it is the right tool.
3The trap, framed
The distinction the exam tests, given its own box instead of buried in prose.
4One line at the bottom
The sentence to carry into the exam room.
Open book, on purpose
Answer it with the picture beside you
This is the part that teaches. The illustration and the written explanation stay where they are while you work, so a scenario stops being a memory test and becomes something you can simply look at.
It teaches · it does not count
A smartphone uses AI to unlock when the owner looks at the camera. Which AI capability is being used?
AImage classification
BFacial recognition
COptical character recognition
DObject detection
Look at the five steps. Detect finds a face, align straightens it, encode turns it into numbers, search compares it with a stored face, and decide answers one question: is this the same person? Classification would only say “a face”. Detection would only draw a box. Neither decides whose.
Then the page shuts, and it starts counting
The same questions come back with the book closed — that run is the one that counts. After it, your coach picks one thing for tonight, sized to the time you have, and brings pages back before you lose them.
Testing effect · Roediger & Karpicke 2006 · spacing effect · Cepeda et al. 2006
Official resources
Straight from Linux Professional Institute
Where the exam is defined, scheduled and scored.
2official links
115concepts mapped
The source
Linux Professional Institute’s own pages
We link to them rather than repeat them, so nothing here goes stale behind them.
Checked against the source
Every objective on the official Linux Professional Institute outline already has questions here
We build from the official skills outline, not from a summary of it — 12 objectives, 115 concepts written under them, and free questions against every one. When Linux Professional Institute changes the outline, this page changes with it.
12objectives on the outline→115concepts written→343free questions
An official page tells you what will be asked. It cannot tell you what you will get right.
That is the only question worth answering the night before, and no link answers it. You answer it by taking the questions with the book closed, and seeing what comes back.