RHCSA and RHCSE

Hey L1Linux.

This weekend I’m testing for the Linux Certified Systems Administration exam, I’ve been studying and practicing configuring for the last year. In December I have a seat for the Redhat Certified Systems Admin I, then II in February. Then I’m looking at seats for firehose training in the RHCSE after that.

My study habits have been using Ghori, and Linux Academy Labs. I have also picked up SSL/TLS configuration books. I read a lot, but practicing configuration puts you through the real situations you find on the test. I also have some knowledge in linux (C7,RHEL mainly systemd) configuration and system administration for about 1 year (I have a long way to go).

A couple of questions for the L1 community;

1.) Has anyone taken these and passed? What advice would you wish you would have known before sitting for the test?

2.) Do you have any resources you can recommend for further preparation?

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More solid understanding of input/output redirection and practice using virsh.

Not really a “resource” but work through the “Exam Objectives” until you know them without using anything but a man page.

Understand and use essential tools

    Access a shell prompt and issue commands with correct syntax
    Use input-output redirection (>, >>, |, 2>, etc.)
    Use grep and regular expressions to analyze text
    Access remote systems using ssh
    Log in and switch users in multiuser targets
    Archive, compress, unpack, and uncompress files using tar, star, gzip, and bzip2
    Create and edit text files
    Create, delete, copy, and move files and directories
    Create hard and soft links
    List, set, and change standard ugo/rwx permissions
    Locate, read, and use system documentation including man, info, and files in /usr/share/doc

Operate running systems

    Boot, reboot, and shut down a system normally
    Boot systems into different targets manually
    Interrupt the boot process in order to gain access to a system
    Identify CPU/memory intensive processes, adjust process priority with renice, and kill processes
    Locate and interpret system log files and journals
    Access a virtual machine's console
    Start and stop virtual machines
    Start, stop, and check the status of network services
    Securely transfer files between systems

Configure local storage

    List, create, delete partitions on MBR and GPT disks
    Create and remove physical volumes, assign physical volumes to volume groups, and create and delete logical volumes
    Configure systems to mount file systems at boot by Universally Unique ID (UUID) or label
    Add new partitions and logical volumes, and swap to a system non-destructively

Create and configure file systems

    Create, mount, unmount, and use vfat, ext4, and xfs file systems
    Mount and unmount CIFS and NFS network file systems
    Extend existing logical volumes
    Create and configure set-GID directories for collaboration
    Create and manage Access Control Lists (ACLs)
    Diagnose and correct file permission problems

Deploy, configure, and maintain systems

    Configure networking and hostname resolution statically or dynamically
    Schedule tasks using at and cron
    Start and stop services and configure services to start automatically at boot
    Configure systems to boot into a specific target automatically
    Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems as virtual guests
    Configure systems to launch virtual machines at boot
    Configure network services to start automatically at boot
    Configure a system to use time services
    Install and update software packages from Red Hat Network, a remote repository, or from the local file system
    Update the kernel package appropriately to ensure a bootable system
    Modify the system bootloader

Manage users and groups

    Create, delete, and modify local user accounts
    Change passwords and adjust password aging for local user accounts
    Create, delete, and modify local groups and group memberships
    Configure a system to use an existing authentication service for user and group information

Manage security

    Configure firewall settings using firewall-config, firewall-cmd, or iptables
    Configure key-based authentication for SSH
    Set enforcing and permissive modes for SELinux
    List and identify SELinux file and process context
    Restore default file contexts
    Use boolean settings to modify system SELinux settings
    Diagnose and address routine SELinux policy violations
5 Likes

So much this. I have been trying to get samples of exam questions since a lot of the training material offered from linux academy and books are a “code along” type of format. If you start with existential objectives it’s nice to be able to know what to do at any given time based on “configure x”. It’s part of the reason why I’ll never sit for an LPIC which asks you to memorize and spew out exact commands, that’s just not how things happen in the real world, we look that shit up when we need it.

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I had a RHEL 5 RHCE.

  1. SELinux. Know how chcon, setsebool, etc work, especially with relation to Apache.
  2. Know how automount works.
  3. Don’t be afraid to use GUIs. For things like printer setup and shrinking/growing partitions, they’ll make those tasks super fast and give you more time for the more complex tasks. (system-config-[tab][tab]). Your test machine has a gui, you might as well take advantage of it, and not look for geek cred.
  4. Before you leave REBOOT YOUR MACHINE AND DOUBLE CHECK YOUR WORK.
  5. Know how to edit your grub config at boot time and enable single user mode…in case you borked your box and can’t get back in.
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I used to be RHEL6 - RHCE & RHCSA. I am currently RHEL7 RHCSA… havent had time to take RHEL7 RHCE yet… hoping to in next 6-8 months.

Practice
practice
practice some more

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Time in the saddle my friend