The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, today announced its newest massive open online course (MOOC) is available for registration. The course is an Introduction to Cloud Infrastructure Technologies and is offered through edX, the nonprofit online learning platform launched in 2012 by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The course is free and will begin this June.

Registration is now available for this free cloud training course.

This is the second edX MOOC offered by The Linux Foundation. Its first course, Intro to Linux, has reached more than 500,000 students globally and continues to grow in registrations.

"The response to our first edX course was powerful, demonstrating the understanding among students and early career professionals all over the world that open source is the pathway to a lucrative career in technology," said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. "With Introduction to Cloud Infrastructure Technologies anyone can begin learning the fundamentals of building and managing some of today's most pervasive software, giving professionals a strong position in the IT talent market."

Understanding cloud technologies tops the list of most important skills for any developer, sysadmin or emerging DevOps professional. LFS151, an Introduction to Cloud Infrastructure Technologies, will provide a primer on cloud computing and the use of open source software to maximize development and operations. It will cover next-generation cloud technologies like Docker, CoreOS, Kubernetes and OpenStack; it will provide an overview of software-defined storage and networking solutions; and a review of DevOps and continuous integration best practices.

Because The Linux Foundation hosts some of the world's leading open source cloud projects and provides the training and networking opportunities to educate a talent pool to support those projects, it's the perfect place for anyone to get started in learning about how to build and manage cloud infrastructure.

The course instructors are Chip Childers and Neependra Khare. Chip Childers is the vice president of technology at the Cloud Foundry Foundation. A proven DevOps visionary and leader, Chip spent more than 15 years in engineering leadership positions within the service provider industry, including work with CumuLogic, SunGard Availability Services and Qwest Solutions. He has also served on the board of directors for the Distributed Management Task Force and is a member of The Apache Software Foundation. Neependra Khare offers training and consulting services around container technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, and CoreOS. With more than a decade of experience in the IT industry, he has worked as a system administrator, support engineer, file system developer, and performance engineer. He is the author of Docker Cookbook, and has been running the Docker meetup group in Bangalore, India for more than 2 years.

"The Linux Foundation's Intro to Linux is among our most popular courses of all time. It's clear Linux and open source software are key to a fruitful future in tech," said edX CEO and MIT Professor Anant Agarwal. "As we see with edX itself, cloud technologies have become a part of daily life. We're excited to see learners from around the world take advantage of this unique educational opportunity."

The course includes twelve chapters, each with a short quiz at the end. A final exam is also required in order to complete the course. Students may take the complete course at no cost, or add a verified certificate of completion for $99.

For more information The Linux Foundation's training and certification program, please visit: http://training.linuxfoundation.org.