This New year 2014 would have not have been better for me as on 2nd January 2014 I got a gift from Red hat and that in the form of Red hat certification results. I got an email from the Red hat team that I have earned mine EX200 & EX300 Certification and my certificates were also attached with the mail. I scored 90% marks in both the exams and cleared my RHCSA & RHCE exam in first attempt only.
I gave both my RHCSA & RHCE exam on 31st December 2013 on the gap 1 hour and being truthful, I have opted for a double attempt for safe side and single exam cost more. Don’t think that It ruined my New year party as my exam was on 31st December. After my exam I partied all night as from past 1 month I was busy studying for a Red hat exam on my extra time. 🙂
RHCSA & RHCE Exam Fees
In India I think Red hat exam fees are low as compared to other countries. I paid a total of Rs.22,500 with taxes. For RHCSA and RHCE exam fees are Rs.10,000 each and rest is tax.
You can check the latest fees detail of the Red hat exam at an Official Red hat site too.
My Preparation for RHCSA & RHCE Exam
I started taking a weekend class in April 2013 from one of the local institutes in our area and was able to complete my course around October. You must be thinking why it took 7 months to complete a 3-month course.
Recommended Post: RHEL 7 Books for RHCE & RHCSA
First of all, I was taking weekend classes so I was getting only 2 days a week to learn Linux, secondly due to some of my classmates, which have a habit of coming late into the classroom, make my 2-hour class only 1:30 her class, and last but not the least I have a very old habit of bunking classes from my Engineering days. 🙂
Now I am sure you know why it took too long to complete my course, so don’t ask again in your comments.
Apart from Red hat books and class notes, I also referred some other books for my preparation of Red hat exams EX200 and EX300 (Red hat Certified System Administrator and Red hat Certified Engineer) which are listed below.
Book 1 – Enterprise Linux® 6 Administration ( Real World Skills for Red Hat Administrators) by Sander van Vugt: This is one of the good books to read not only for your administration task but also for preparation of your Red hat certified system administrator & certified engineer exam.
This book also contains advanced Red Hat Enterprise Linux configuration and bash shell scripting apart from the basic configuration.
Book 2 – Hands-on Guide to the Red Hat® Exams by Damian Tommasino: This is one of the best books for RHCSA and RHCE preparation and I considered this book for my studies and most of the time I read this book only for my preparation.
I will advise you to consider this book for your study too, as this book is easy to understand and there are lots of questions after every chapter to give you a good understanding and also helps from an interview point of view.
Book 3- RHCSA/RHCE Red Hat Linux Cert guide by Michael Jang: This is also one of the best books available on the market, but I was able to read this book only a little bit. It has some of the best practice paper for your exam.
Update: Recommended Book
Tips for RHCSA & RHCE
1. Practice, Practice, Practice!!: I will request you to practice for all the topics given in the Red Hat official syllabus for RHCSA and RHCE. Even after doing lots of practice, I missed one command and was not able to score 100%. Practice more for LVM, HTTP, SCSI, kernel upgrade, etc. These are very good topics to learn from your career and organizational point of view.
2. Read every question properly and use the same naming convention as given on the exam.
3. Use either IP tables or TCP wrapper in exam. You can use either. Use whatever you are compatible with.
4. Reboot your system wherever necessary and manage time carefully.
5. Last but not the least, don’t panic and give your exam confidently.
Hope this help in your RHCSA & RHCE exam. Please don’t ask any questions in the comments which I have faced in the exam as I will not be able to give answers for them. I have signed Nondisclosure agreement (NDA) with Red Hat. You can ask about any topic of the syllabus if you are having any confusion, and I can help with that. Good luck for your Red hat exam.
Jatin sharma
Hi Pawan,
Could you please assist me which course I will do Visualization / Server Hardening / Storage or Clustering after the RHCE exam that will give me good benefit and make me unique person in market.
Do you have Pdf format for hands on experience guide by Damian Tommasino. Actually when i tried to download this file then it was not downloaded full book only 104 pages are downloaded.
If it is availiable then please share with on my email id if not then share with me another site where I can read this book online.
Pawan Bahuguna
I think visualization, storage and cluster has a good scope.
No, I don’t have any pdf document guide. You can buy book from any online book store.
binu jacob
Sir,
as a fresher,is there any chance to get a job ?
what are the designations a fresher can apply?
is there any job opportunely in abroad?
eg. gulf,uk etc…
Pawan Bahuguna
Every experience person is once fresher, so don’t worry. Keep searching and give off-campus interview.
Jatin sharma
Hi Pawan,
I would like to know If I have cleared RHCE certification then Can I get easy Job in Red Hat / some wherelse where using these certification can help me to make my future bright.
As per the Red Hat policy If am not cleared the RHCSA then I can’t give RHCE Exam.So My total money will waste. So is it better First I clear RHCSA then RHCE.
Currently I have done MCA doing job as software testing.
Pawan Bahuguna
There is no such think like Easy Job. If you do Red hat certification then chances are better and recruiters are searching for people having certification.
Its correct that if you do not clear your RHCSA exam then RHCE certification does not count. But you can re give your RHCSA exam and can make your RHCE count.
Bharath
Hi,
I want to study Linux . I came to know RHEL 7 is released, what is exact diff bet RHEL 6 and RHEL 7. The books which you have mentioned are enough for RHCSA exam with RHEL 7? I am confused about RHEL 6 and 7. Please clarify. Some ppl who passed RHCSA said bcoz RHEL 7 is released they have to take RHCSA exam again.
Pawan Bahuguna
There are many difference in both and RHEL 7 is major release. Please check official Red hat website for all the major changes. You can take any exam. Each certification is valid for 3 years. So even after RHEL 7, your RHEL 6 certification is valid.
BHUVNESH KUMAR
(” i have a read all this comments regarding RHCE you have provide very valuable information “)
i am also interested to Crack RHCE certification
i am basically from punjab . i am finding a good institute from many days. one of online friend from delhi suggest my that RHEL 7 is new version and he also suggest me “CMS Institute of Pritampura ”
can you know about that institute or if can you give me any other which provide quality of perperation .( duration +fee+timing)
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Bhuvnesh,
Every institute is good, you just need practice and basic concept. Sorry buddy I can’t visit that institute and inquire about its reputation. Just Google it.
Coaching fees is as per Institute. But you must not pay more then Rs.13-14K. Exam fees for RHCSA+RCHCE [if you give both exam combo] will be around Rs.23K
Hope that helps you.
BHUVNESH KUMAR
Thanks brother for reply and information. Can i take certification exam on any date or exam date mentioned by the Red hat.
Pawan Bahuguna
After you apply for RHCSA exam, institute will provide you the date of exam according to Red hat examiner.
Prem Anand
hello sir, iam preparing for rhcsa exam, is there any video tutorials for this exam.
whether which one is better “self study or video tutorials”.
Pawan Bahuguna
You can search videos on YouTube topic wise. Both are good, just practice to get cleared in EXAM. Good luck.
harish desai
Hi Pawan,
I am writing RHCSA. As you said i can either use iptables ot tcp wrappers. But During exam if i leave this part and complete all other parts can i pass the RHCSA? I don’t want to touch the iptables or tcp rappers part as its very sensitive.
So can i pass exam if i leave this part and complete others?
And will SeLinux will be part of RHCSA, please help me to know these.
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Harish,
Sorry to say but if you don’t use any one of them, you are not going to pass the RHCSA exam. SeLinux is part of RHCSA syllabus.
Adam
HI,
Thanks for getting back to me.
in yum is there a specific flag to remove a package without removing its dependencies.??
Thanks again! you have helped me to understand better
Pawan Bahuguna
–nodeps is your friend Adam for removing package without dependencies.
Adam
Hello, i have a question and i hope you can help me to clarify it
Hi,if i would issue the following
`yum install httpd*` – does that mean that it will grab everything related to httpd*?
`yum remove httpd`* – does that remove the dependencies with httpd? or anything related to httpd? and its dependencies
Thanks
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Adam,
yum install httpd* : It will install all the packages which start with httpd like httpd-2.2.15-29.el6_4.x86_64 and httpd-tools-2.2.15-29.el6_4.x86_64 and their related dependencies.
Same is true Vice-Versa
Hope that helps.
Murali B
Hi I want to write RHCSA exam and I know only basic linux commands .
Can you guide me how to crack the
exam. WHAT EVR D SUGGTIONS U LL PROVIDE I’M READY TO FOLLOW BUT I HAVE TO COMPLETE CERTIFICATION ASAP .
Pawan Bahuguna
If you know only basic linux commands and want to appear for RHCE, then you will have to work very hard. Get syllabus from Red hat website and start preparing topic wise. You can take reference from books mentioned above.
tanmaya
sir i have a question for you that i am using debian for last 2 years.i have started with that. I want to prepare for certification. Is there any certification for debian user. If not should i switch to red hat based for rhce?? I have problem to buy rhel. Can i use cent os or fedora for that. Which will you refer?
Pawan Bahuguna
Sorry Tanmaya, I don’t have idea about Debian certification. If you want to prepare for RHEL certifications, you can download CentOS, it is free to download and can do practice. It is exactly equal to Red hat linux.
Chidambaram
Hi Pawan,
I have just started to enqiure about training institutes rhcsa/rhce. The training institute that I approached offers RHEL version 6 and told me that version 7 is due in October.
If I get trained in version 6, will I be able to do the certification in version 7 as well ?
Thank you in advance
Chidambaram
Pawan Bahuguna
Yes, there is no restriction, you can do certification in RHEL 6 and 7 too (when it comes).
Rohit K
Hello Pawan,
I have one question that I am beginner in linux means I know some commands and little about shell script. Now I want to do certification so please guide me how I prepare myself to achieve it. Means from where I start and how as I read above comments thers are practical queation in exams . So please let me know as your suggestion will be valuable to me..
Pawan Bahuguna
You can start with books mentioned above. Yes in RHCSA and RHCE exam you get Linux client machine to do practical. This is full practical exam not objective type. Good luck for your preparation.
Tarun
Hi Pawan,
I am from DB admin background , however I have a plan to appeared rhcsa and rhce exams in coming months. Can I disable both firewall and SElinux in exam machines? Then it will be easy to establish the connection between server and client ? OR is there any question where we need to enforce the SElinux and enable the firewall ?
Thanks.
with regards,
Tarun
Pawan Bahuguna
You can give your exam with firewall turned off. Why you want to disable SElinux ? There are option to configure it.
Tarun
Hi Pawan,
Thank you for coming back. I have another question. How many linux machines they will provide in exam ? Or I need to install Linux and then create VMs(KVM) ? Can you please clarify on this? Example ,if I need to configure NFS client , would the provide the login user/pass for NFS server also OR just they will provide the server detail like name , IP and shared directory etc ? Can you please help to provide the detail information of exam vms?
Thank you in advance for your time.
with regards,
Tarun
Pawan Bahuguna
Tarun you will get only one physical machine and you will get KVM installed i.e you have 1 virtual linux system in which you will work. Your machine will be client machine and you don’t have to do server side setup. You will get all the details don’t worry.
Prakash
Hi,
I studied Linux and worked on Linux but very short time as I got opportunity to work on different platform. Its been more than 5yrs I hardly logged in and run Linux commands. Now I want to learn my favorite OS Linux.
Confused whether I should directly join RHCSA course or should I do basic Linux course then prepare RHCSA & RHCE.
Pawan Bahuguna
If you haven’t worked on Linux environment for more than 5 years than first go for some basic tutorials in internet or join course. You will have to practice hard to get RHCSA and RHCE cleared.
harika
hai pavan bhayya this week im gng 2 take rhcsa n rhce xam can u pls suggest me some tips to crack this exam n i also have 1 doubt that i should reboot every time after completing each question????
Pawan Bahuguna
Just practice and practice. No you don’t have to reboot after every question just reboot where change is required permanent. Let me know if you have other doubts.
Karthikeyan
Hi, I had lot of confusions in choosing my career and finally decided to go with Linux system administration but even now i am confused whether to go with system admin or with networking.If it is system admin then I ll go for Linux only. Does freshers who clear rhcsa get job or we need experience?I am very much worried about my future and choosing a course.Please do help me.
Pawan Bahuguna
See in any field, you will need experience. Freshers has less chance of getting into the Linux Admin job in big MNC’s. I would suggest you to start with small firm, learn there and after getting good practical knowledge switch to MNC. This is just the advice. There are chances where fresher can also get the job.
Go to some fresher off campus drive.
Rijul
Thanks Pawan for your advice. But I have another question, is there any difference between rhel 6 & 7 ? as I am practicing in rhel 6 from my Red Hat Linux 7 book. And I am using vmware workstation 10 to run rhel 6. Is that fine ???
Pawan Bahuguna
Yes there are some major changes in the filesystem though I have not used it till now, I will recommend you to practice on same versions of Red hat.
Rijul
Hey,
I have the red hat linux 7 unleashed book. So is that fine for my preparation of rhce and rhcsa ?
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Rijul,
Sorry to say but I haven’t gone through that book. Though there are not much difference in Red hat 7, you can match syllabus content from Red hat website. You can also follow books mentioned in this post.
JT
I failed in RHCE. I don’t know what mistake I did. I thought I would score 100% because I got all the output. I did struggle in samba, but after trial and error I got it. I am very disappointed. I have to get through in my 2nd attempt. Most of the questions are common for rhce. if I could get the exact commands u used for the exam, it wuold be of great help
Pawan Bahuguna
We all give our 100% but little mistake or negligence in this exam can cost. Did you used IPTABLES and firewall ?
John
want to take rhcsa but not sure which one to go for rhel 6 or rhel 7???
Pawan Bahuguna
Currently Red hat is offering certification on Red hat 6, so you can take that or wait for RHCE 7 certification to appear.
someone
Hi,
Congrats. first of all.
I just don’t understand why you don’t share the questions? I think people needs to latest real questions to work on it.. not to your books you studied..
Pawan Bahuguna
Cannot share question as I have signed NDA agreement with Red hat. If any one share there questions and they came to know they can cancel his/her certification.
bipin
Hi,
Right now I am undergoing coaching in ccna,mcsa and rhce. And would like to obtain rhce certificate. But some are saying the exams of rhce is very diffiult. I would like to know which certificate is better mcsa or rhce?
Thanks
Pawan Bahuguna
I would rather suggest you to take exam one by one. For RHCE you also need RHCSA certification. RHCE certificate is not difficult but need practice and study.
Rainer Deer
I was following the step-by-step instructions on the Lab exercises (Chapter 2) of Hands-on Guide to the Red Hat® Exams by Damian Tommasino but never progressed beyond Lab1.
As a newbie in Linux, I wanted to follow a book to the letter but Damian’s instructions do not appear on my panels.
I guess the problem in appearance might be the versions of both the Virtualbox and RHEL. I’m using VirtualBox-4.3.12-93733-Win with Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.3.12-93733 and of course RHEL 6.3.
Pawan, I know you have mastered the book of Damian, so could you help me know the correct versions used in the book so I could reinstall my Labs and continue following the instructions in the book to the letter?
I wish the rest of the Linux Gurus in this blog could also help me on this problem.
Thanks in advance to everyone!
(By the way, I’m from the Philippines).
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Rainer,
I am using VMware workstation and you can gets its trial version from their official website. I am running Linux kernel version 2.6.32.. el6 and able to perform all the chapters. Chapter 2 is just for letting you know Linux process and few commands, you should not have any problem.
Try running your RHEL 6.3 using VMware. Let me know if you still face any problem.
Rainer Deer
Hi Pawan,
Thanks for taking the time to help me in this self-study project. I have downloaded RHEL 6.0 lately and would try to use this for the meantime as RHEL 6.3 seemed to falter a bit. I am still using Virtualbox but would try VMWare next as you suggested. Hopefully, I could get through the succeeding stages smoothly.
Could I look forward to your help again?
Kind regards!
Rainer
Pawan Bahuguna
Welcome Rainer, let me know what else help you need.
Gursharan Rai
Hi Pawan,
Do you have this book in pdf format “Hands-on Guide to the Red Hat Exams: RHCSA and RHCE Cert Guide and Lab Manual”
Pawan Bahuguna
No Gursharan,
I don’t have the PDF version of this book.
akshay
Can you plz give me the syllabus for both rhcsa and rhce
Pawan Bahuguna
RHCSA and RHCE syllabus is given in Redhat website and links are provided above.
rohit
Hello,
I took RHCE exam after preparing for 6 months and failed with score zero, yes zero. I did my exam very well and I just missed only one question and I’m very sure that other than one question , I got the right o/p for rest of the question, as I tested each and every o/p from VM and physical machine. One big thing I missed to check was by rebooting the vm. I did not had time to check by rebooting the VM. And I believe something got screwed because of that system did not come up after reboot.
After getting the result I tried with all the questions I remember from rhce exam at home lab and for none of the questions/scenario , system start-up was not screwed up. Not able to recreate the same scenario.
I will be re-taking the exam in next available slot and definitely this time I will be practicing each and every config by rebooting and not sure If I will be able to recreate the same scenario during my practice like screwing up system-start-up.
I may not be able to discuss any specific questions and answers here. What I’m loking for is which services or commands could have screwed up the start-up of my exam vm. I’m looking for answers like – fdisk /dd / mount /fdisk/iscsi/iptables/selinux.
Is there any other non-technical reason this would have happen ?
Do you think the non RHCE questions , like the questions which we fill before the exam starts ?
I was working till the moment 00:00 Mins left , Can this be a problem ?
Thanks in Advance.
Thanks,
rhce-user
Pawan Bahuguna
You have done a big mistake by not rebooting your VM machine. On questions which requires permanent change in configuration, you should always reboot your VM after each question.
And did you used TCP wrappers or IP tables ?
And the starting information should also be correct but if you have received you result in your email, then I hope the information is correct.
rohit
Yes I agree about my mistake and overconfidence. I configured everything with IPtables.
I just want to know the clue before retaking RHCE. I need some sort of clue which conf. could have screwed up the vm.
Pawan Bahuguna
Rohit, I would suggest you to go with TCP wrappers and turn-off your IP tables. IP tables are very sensitive in exams, it’s better not use them.
Sujeet
Can we turn off firewall and NM controller???? Please suggest I am giving exam in this week only
Pawan Bahuguna
Why you want to turn-off NM controller ? Firewall can be turned off.
projectfack
Hi , I just wanted to know if the training is mandatory to take the exam ,as here in Australia it says it is $715(which is Rs40k ,i know it sounds crazy and it is just for RHCSA Exam ,RHCE not included) including training (1/2 day official red hat training at red hat headquarters ) which has to be taken along with the certification.Is training mandatory in India,because if it is not i would rather take it in India(I am from Bangalore currently studying in Australia).
If the training is mandatory how many days training is the minimum.
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Buddy,
In India training is not mandatory and you can take RHCSA and RHCE exam in 25k including taxes.
projectfack
Ah ok thats great Thanks for the reply
kamal
i am trying to take Rhcsa and Rhce certifications , i have already took coaching at local institute. i have purchased 3 books of michael chang and do have coaching material. my question is, how do i prepare for the exam on a single system
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Kamal,
If you have already taken training from local institute then they must have already given preparation for exam. You need to practice some sample papers and mock test for qualifying exam of RHCSA and RHCE.
srini
how many no. of questions ask in RHCE and RHCSA exam…
Pawan Bahuguna
Can’t tell you exact number of question asked in RHCE and RHCSA but the time which they give is sufficient to complete the exam.
Chandan Pawar
RHCE 6 there is only 20 question . that u need to creak all the 20 question.
RHCE 7 there is only 30 questions for passing.
Chandan Pawar
Hi,
Hello sir
Can i eligible for government exam like as railway exam after the clear this exam.
can you send me your hand on practice note book for clear RHCE exam.
Pawan Bahuguna
You are eligible for any government exam based on your qualification and not Linux certification. Though there may be cases when they require Linux certification.
Please refer above mentioned books. I don’t have any PDF’s.
SATYABRATA PANI
Please suggests some book name that will help me for clear the RHCSA & RHCE exam.
my mail id is
[email protected]
Pawan Bahuguna
Books are referred above and all of them are very good. Please check them.
Psicopunk
Hello.
I am in the final phase of preparation.
I didn’t found too many samples questions to train.
I don’t want braindumps. I just want sample exam’s to discover what I need to learn better and to be able to time my exam speed.
Did you find sample exams ?
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi buddy,
You can do sample questions which are in lab practice books. I don’t have any sample exams, I just prepared from my coaching and above books.
Tajuddin
please send me the link ,,, what to study for RHCE&RHCSA exam from redhat official website.
Pawan Bahuguna
Pawan Bahuguna
Study reference material is given in links. You can check RHCE and RHCSA syllabus at their official website at below links.
http://www.redhat.com/training/certifications/rhce/
http://www.redhat.com/training/certifications/rhcsa/
Mahtab
I want to do a Linux certification exam and I am thinking about Redhat.
Can I take only one exam RHCSA or RHCE.
I don`t want to take any training .
I want to prepare myself and give the exam.
And one more thing ,does exam consists of multiple choice questions.
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Mahtab,
It’s good decision that you want to do Redhat certification. First of all you can’t take RHCE exam until you have passed RHCSA exam. So if you are planning for single certification at one time go for RHCSA.
Giving single exam is quite a expensive process. Single exam may cost you around Rs.12,500 with taxes. Please check the books which I have referred for self training. They are good for Redhat exams. This Exam is a live performance based exam, so no multiple choice questions.
If you practice hard you would definitely clear the Redhat certifications. Good Luck.
LaPist0la
Hello;
From what I understand you can TAKE the RHCE exam, but you will not obtain your RHCE certification. You need to take your RHCSA exam first, then after you pass and obtain your RHCSA, if you sit your RHCE exam, you will obtain the RHCE only if you pass.
Pawan Bahuguna
You are correct, in order to get RHCE you should be RHCSA. Though you can give both exam on same day but you will only get RHCE certification once you complete your RHCSA.
Narender Sharma
Congrats Bhai 🙂
Pawan Bahuguna
Thanks Narender.