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.
mahesh
Hai sir,
I am Mahesh from Hydrabad , I have knowledge on Rhel 6 and I am planing to do redhat certification right now they are conducting on 7th version, i don’t have knowledge on 7th version. What I have to do please suggest me.
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Mahesh,
I will suggest you to first understand RHEL 7 and check syllabus for it. You will have to study hard for RHEL 7 exam as now this exam is more lengthy. Study and practice hard and then only give exam on redhat 7.
Anjali
Hi,
I am currently studying redhat linux. I just want to know that does the exam questions include objective and questions like essay or only machine test are asking?
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Anjali,
You will have practical exam. Pre-installed Machine will be given to you and you have to perform the task.
Monika
Hi Pawan,
I am currently working as a “Associate Systems Engineer ” in MNC . I Joined recently. I am fresher and want to prepare for REDHAT Exam. So it will be beneficial for me or not ??
Pawan Bahuguna
If you are working in UNIX track then it will be good for you. What is your current role in project?
Sashank Jakkamreddy
Hi Sir,
I have been working as a windows system administrator form last 2.5 Years. Now I am planning to do certification on RHCSA and RHCE . I am just a beginner in linux platform. Can i get any advice’s from you. And Kindly suggest me any of the best institutes in Bangalore.
Thanks,
Sashank
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Sashank,
As a beginner, you can find many helpful tutorial online and can also refer Redhat books. I want to ask, why you want to switch to Linux as you are already working as a Windows Admin?
Sorry I have no idea about Bangalore institute. You will have to do your own research.
sahank Jakkamreddy
Hi sir,
I am 25 now..I am not satisfying with my windows admin job..I just wanted to do challenging stuff.and also Linux admins salaries very much higher than windows admin. Only these two reasons made me to do this.am I correct? If I am wrong please guide me.
Regards,
Sashank
Pawan Bahuguna
Windows platform too has challenging stuff and I doubt if you change to Linux all your previous experience will be zero. So take decision wisely. As far as salary is concerned, I think both should be have same salary or their will be small difference.
It’s up to you so decide wisely.
gourav
Hi
I want to give exam for rhcsa and rhce on rhel7. which books I can follow apart from the official books provided by red hat for rhel7, i am not finding books.
Pawan Bahuguna
Hello Gourav,
Redhat workbooks are good. If you like to refer another books please check our post on RHEL 7 books at http://www.pawanbahuguna.com/rhel-7-books-rhce-rhcsa/
Gourav
yeah i have checked that the book you mentioned the second is not available in the Market the official cert guide, any books that are currently available in the market?
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Gourav,
I have update the link with new books. 4th book by Asghar Ghori is available for purchase.
gourav
I want to setup a practice lab for rhcsa and rhce, can you tell me how can i do that.
Pawan Bahuguna
Please install VMware workstation and then install centos. CentOS is similar to redhat. Then you can easily practice for exam.
Shivam Nanda
Hi Pawan
I want to start preparation for RHCSA and RHCE examination and currently i am working with a SMB on Linux Servers and want to upgrade myself.
Can you please suggest about the institution from which i can start my preparations but it should be Delhi based and from where i can get examination dumps for preparations.
Regards
Shivam Nanda
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Shivam,
It sound very cool that you are going to prepare for RHCSA and RHCE exam while working. Though you haven’t mentioned any specific location in Delhi but I will suggest Network Nuts.
Or you can take education from any institute nearest to your home. It all depends upon your preparation. Good Luck/Let me know if you need any further help.
Raj
Hi Pawan,
First thing, Very informative website i would say..
I want to prepare for RHCSA as I am working as Linux admin now, not able to take time.. so decided to go for professional training for certification like a week dedicated training, which Institute would you recommend for Delhi NCR there are many like CMS, Koeing [V.Expensive], New Horizone, and Network-nuts South Delhi.
(I reside in Ghaziabad- but ready to travel for a good inst.)
As you suggest Network Nuts South Delhi campus i guess, the there also are many faculty’s : Alok Srivastava,Deepak Rajeev, Supriya srivastava etc.
Regards,
Raj
Pawan Bahuguna
Thanks Raj for such kind words.
Yes, if you are working in Linux environment you should go for RHCSA exam. There are many institute in Delhi-NCR and I am not sure about all. I have heard good feedback for Network-Nuts.
I think Network-Nuts also have institute in Noida and that would be closure to Ghaziabad I guess. Let me know if you need any help. Good luck !
Rohit
Hi Pawan,
I have been working on Linux environment for about 1 year in an MNC(which is the overall exp I have in total). I am in a testing team. Not dealt much with isci mounting and all that.
Can you suggest should I go for RHCSA + RHCE or RHCSA only. I am planning to join an institute for preparation.
Still confused if I should go for both exams or 1 of them.
Please suggest, thanks in advance.
Regards:
Rohit
Pawan Bahuguna
As per my experience MNC Linux team don’t have to deal with ISCSI in most of the cases. Storage is directly assigned by storage team. If you are planning to do training institute then I will suggest to take both the exams.
SHAHZAD
Hello sir, I gave my reattempt of RHCE 7, my exam was good but i have problem in ISCSI Question mount is perfectly but when i reboot my server site my system was not restart and i score 56 marks and last time i score 178 but last time it work on iscsi only server site ..and my friend also face same problem. If u have any idea about this so please tell me.
Pawan Bahuguna
Sorry to hear that you were not able to clear RHCE 7 exam.
Can you tell what steps you have done for ISCSI, so that I can find were you have done wrong.
Pradeep Pandey
Don’t forget to enable and restart “iscsi and iscsid” service on client side.
Bharath
Hi Pradeep…How did you prepared for the exam, which materials have you used?
Pradeep Pandey
I had joined very good Institute “Network-Nuts” which is located in South Delhi. But make sure , your teacher would be either Sachin Sir or Deepak Sir.
Pradeep Pandey
RHCE and RHCSA on RHEL7 exam has been passed by me in 1st attempt only on 26 Feb.
Sir I want to know, When you got gift from RedHat.
Is there any company in India, who is currently working on RHEL7.
I have not got job yet.
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Pradeep,
They send gift after 1 quarter. There will be companies working in RHEL 7, I don’t have much Idea about it.
Companies slowly adapt new major change, so it may take time. Keep trying for jobs, there are many companies hiring Linux system admin.
Pradeep Pandey
I got jobs in two companies but both were offering me post of product support ..
salary was too small so i refused the offer …but no company is offering Linux Admin post to fresher…It is the scenario or i should wait for some good job..
Pawan Bahuguna
If you are a fresher then it will surely take time and for time being you can start job from small organization.
Pradeep Pandey
Ok Sir thanks ..
Pardeep
I was not able to clear RHCE in 1st chance. I reboot the client and server after ISCSI question, client was fine and it was mount correctly but server not come in running state. I use LVM partition for iscsi might be I use standard primary partition, please advice.
Do we need to set IPv4 statically?
Pawan Bahuguna
Sorry for your RHCE exam Pardeep. Did you gave your exam on RHEL 6 or 7? You can assign LVM and RAW disk as per your preference but I prefer raw disk and then formatting it at client. I would also like to know what entries you entered in your FSTAB file for permanent change.
SHAHZAD
Hello sir,
I am shahzad from Delhi, I gave the RHEL 7 Exam200, EX-300 but i cant clear 2nd exam its my 1st attempt sir please gives any kind of advice or any kind of practice book if available in market am very thankful to you .
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Shahzad,
Can you please let me know in RHCE exam where you face problem. You can also directly email me your query.
Ajinkya Murtey
Please guide me for red hat certification since I don’t know anything about red hat please tell me path that from where should I start each and everything regarding red hat and what kind of initial knowledge is required to go for red hat certification.
Pawan Bahuguna
If you do not have any Linux experience start with reading about basics first through different websites and redhat official website. Its good to have knowledge before taking Redhat certifications.
Ajinkya Murtey
Should I join red hat certification course at any institute to gain knowledge
Pawan Bahuguna
Now days, institute only teaching what comes in Exam. I will suggest to do some self study and then join institute.
chrisman
About how many questions are on the RHCSA exam?
Thanks in advance
Pawan Bahuguna
There are around 24-25 questions in RHCSA and some also have sub part. So manager time well. Good Luck for your exam.
chrisman
Thanks a lot for your answer. Can i ask something more because that’s is really confusing me.
At the exam do we have the ISO (mounted or not that’s of course not a problem). I mean if it’s locally at our disposal.
I am asking because i didn’t understand until now. Does the virtual machine that we will have is like in a mess and we have to do the tasks to recover it if i could say? or it’s like from scratch like we would make just an install.
The question is about the yum repository. For example if the rpms are on an ftp server then obviously the ftp client must be pre-installed. Could anyone help?
Pawan Bahuguna
You can ask examiner to reset your virtual machine back to original state.
There are many methods to configure YUM and FTP is not the only solution. Try to learn other methods.You can be asked to configure YUM from any method. Hope that helps.
sreerag
Hi Pawan,
Actually I completed the RHCE course in rhel6 and I am going for the global certification exam in rhel7 but I preparing for the exam in rhel6. Can I pass that exam. Whats your experience, I think you attended the exam in rhel7.
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Sreerag,
No, I have not attended RHEL 7 exam, I am certified on RHEL6. If you are giving exam on RHEL7, then I will request you to prepare accordingly. There are many changes in RHEL 7 syllabus, so get trained on RHEL7, though RHEL 6 training will help you in better understanding RHEL7.
Let me know if you still have doubts.
Kumar
Hi Pawan,
I don’t have much experience on Linux. But I’m interested to take RHCSE/RHCE exams to advance my skills. Will I be able to clear the exams through self study??
Pawan Bahuguna
That totally depend upon your interest and your practice. If you are determine that you have to pass RHCSA and RHCE on first attempt, then I am sure you will be able to clear it.
Let me know if you need any help.
pranab
Hi Pawan I want to give RHCSA exam in February 2015, however I am confused about the real test environment. According to RedHat you will be given a physical machine with RHEL already installed and have to install RHEL in VM on that physical machine. Dose RedHat provide RHEL DVD during the exam? if not then how can we install RHEL in VM? Again on the base machine does we have to create yum repository and ftp server? Access to RHN and internet will not be there in the exam and also if RHEL DVD is not provided then how can we create yum repository/server, ftp server and install RHEL VM. I am totally confused. Please Advice.
Pawan Bahuguna
Yes,you get physical machine for your Exam but KVM is already installed and you have to give your exam on KVM machine. See RHEL exam is of short duration so you don’t get to install the OS.
The examiner has the server machine to which you connect for RPM and other things. There are many methods to create YUM repo and you should use one of them. Good luck for your exam.
I will suggest you to practice practice and practice !!
siddhesh
Hi all,
I am planing to do RHCE certification but I dont know to how to start learning it. Can I join any classes for preparing it or to self study for it.
I am using ubuntu from 1 year so how can I start study for red hat using centos. Thanks for such good blog on RHCE.
Pawan Bahuguna
First of all install CentOS as it is similar to Redhat and then get some good books for your reference and check Redhat syllabus for RHCE and RHCSA. Do every topic and I am sure you can clear the exam. Let me know if you face any issue in any topic.
siddhesh
Thanks you admin, such good info are you providing us for better preparation of red hat exam. We take opportunity learn something new from self practices, so thank you ones again.
issbaj
What book do you study from ? can you answer that plz ?
Pawan Bahuguna
I used all the 3 books mentioned above but mainly I used RHCSA/RHCE Red Hat Linux Cert guide by Michael Jang and Enterprise Linux® 6 Administration by Sander van Vugt
KALYAN
Hi pawan, i am a fresher i want to know what is the basic knowledge one should have to join RHCE training and earn RHCE. I mean what concepts, i want u to be more clear because i am new to this.
I am hoping u will explain in full detail.
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Kalyan,
You can start with zero knowledge about Linux. I really mean it. If you are taking RHCE training then they will tell you whole thing. You can yourself do some basic learning from internet if yo are interested.
Laycon
Thanks Pawan for amazing info you are sharing. I just started learning RHEL6 with no background in Linux. Though I have someone putting me through the basics but my goal is to take exams RHCSA and RHCE before I start working to boost my chance. Please from your experience, how many weeks of study do you think will be enough before taking the exam. and how many hours per day would you recommend?
Thanks and Best wishes in your endeavors!
Pawan Bahuguna
I would recommend you to take exam after 3 months of study and 2-3 hours would be sufficient. Thanks for your wishes.
karthick
hi,
This is karthick from TN and i have planned to do RHCE course in linux 7. so, please tell me after completing RHCE what are those companies i can apply as a fresher. please list out the companies names.
also i am looking for job..is RHCE is a good choice or not?
Pawan Bahuguna
That is good that you are planning to do RHCE on RHEL 7. Depends upon company to company. generally company want experience Linux Admins. Sorry O don’t have company names.
Harinder
Hello sir, firstly congratulations for your success sir I want to ask technical question I have a dual boot system with win7 and Linux 6th. I was doing topic of Linux how to recover main grub configuration file. In grub config i set the default value 1 but it should have been 0 and now my system starts with win7 it doesn’t start with linux and tell me how I can fix bootloader in this situation because I want that my system should start with Linux plz help me thanks
Pawan Bahuguna
Thanks Harinder. First of all, I think you should have used some virtual operating system for your testing, as Redhat takes test now on KVM and it is always safe to do that.
Your system should give you option to choose your operating system. Though I have not faced such issue. I will suggest to you to press ‘Esc’ at start of BIOS, and then F9. It should show you boot options.
Tobin
I have already passed RHCSA in redhat 6 .Now i want to take RHCE certification which one will you prefer redhat6 or redhat 7 is better .How much is this exam fee for it .I already trained rhce in redhat 6 is any difference in questions or syllabus of redhat7 & redhat6.
Pawan Bahuguna
I will prefer Redhat 6 only as you have already passed RHCSA in 6. Its upto you and depend upon your choice you can take any exam. You can check syllabus at Redhat official website and compare it.
Senbagaraman
Hello Mr.Pawan,
I’m in second year of BE-CSE course in Hosur(Tamilnadu).I have some experience in Linux Operating System for the past 2 years(Linux Mint-14 and Linux mint-17).I came across Red hat certification and decided to take RHCSA.I enquired some of the training centres ,they said that I need to get training from authorised training centres to take an exam.Is it true?
and Many people said that CentOs is an alternative to RedHat Os.IS it true?shall i use CentOs for studying.
CentOs or RedHatOs I have enough space in my laptop,shall I install in partition or to use in Virtual Machine .because my laptop does not support virtualization.(Intel B960 Processor)
and last but not least congrats for Certification and whats your future plan?
with regard
Senbagaraman Manoharan
[email protected]
Pawan Bahuguna
CentOS is exact replica of Redhat linux, so you can practice in it. if your laptop don’t support virtualization then you can install Linux in base machine itself. And thanks for your best wishes.
HARIRAM
pawan i too completed rhce 7 few weeks back. Am a fresher of 2014 batch. help me out to in order to search jobs. what should i do now?
Pawan Bahuguna
Freshers has always difficulty in finding the Job. I will suggest to seat on campus placements and crack them. Or you can also join some small companies to start.
Shashikant S Jain
Hello Pawan,
Happy to meet you and know your success. Please reply to my personal mail, now busy in exam prep for RHCSA and RHCE may be the last quarter for RHEL6. Like to share with you about my experience after exam. Be Healthy and have Happy time, good luck for future career.
Warm Regards
Shashikant S. Jain
+91-9422793321
sachin
Hello Pawan.
First of all thanks for helping the people with the queries they have. My question is to you is I have got trained for rhel 2 way back in 2004, and have the experience of 10 years working in Linux senior system admin and now I am the team lead handling,mentoring my team of 10.
Do I really need to go for the Rhce certification?
Pawan Bahuguna
Thanks Sachin for appreciating me. If you are already working in Linux for 10 years and handling team, then getting RCHE certification will be very easy for you as you already know LINUX very well.
If your job demand certification then you should really go for RCHE certification else after 10 years no need. If you really want to do certification then you go for some other technologies like Cluster, Virtualization etc.
RABBANI
i am a second year I.T student (B.E) can i too prepare for this certification as i have never worked on a linux system and get the certification after preparing and training..will it help me in the placement process???
Pawan Bahuguna
Any one can prepare for Redhat certification. The trainer will give you lab to practice and you can setup lab at your place too. Certifications are added advantage so it’s up to you to do it or not.
Harshitha
Hi,
I am a 6 month experienced working as sys admin, i want to finish rhcsa. I want to do self study.
Can you suggest me which s better self study with the above books you have mentioned or a institute training ? and which one should i opt rhel 6 or 7 and in case if m going for rhel 7 will i be able to get the study materials? as it is just released?
Pawan Bahuguna
All books are good. You can refer any one. My favorite is Hands-on Guide to the Red Hat® Exams by Damian Tommasino.
If you can do self study then no need to join any institute. But if you are not able to give time at home prefer going to institute. If Red hat has started taking exam for 7, then there must be study material too.
HARIRAM
harshitha as of my view you can go with rhel 7 because every comments you can get in double pressing the tab key itself. commands are vastly changed comparing rhel 6 to 7. The RHCSA syllabus same for 7. While in RHCE If your well practiced in samba, apache, ISCSI and new terminology about the basic queries also there in rhel 7 i.e. mariadb. so no worries you go with rhce 7. if you are working with ldap in exam dont forget to isolate the graphical to graphical.target. because the package authconfig itself changed to graphical. to know more just put me a rply i just completed my rhce 7 in my first attempt itself.. few weeks back… so no probes. all d best hope good happen for yu 🙂
irfan shaikh
hii. Sir
if my rhca certificate expires after 3 yrs.it is neccessery to do certification again for continue my job???
Pawan Bahuguna
Does your job require RHCSA certification ?
lem
sir, does the exam require knowledge about kvm? and do you configure kvm? like bridging?
Pawan Bahuguna
You just need to know how to work on KVM. because you will have to give exam on KVM only.
SP
Hey Pawan
This is not a question on red hat certifications.It is a general career advice and I hope you will help me with this.
I am a fresher who has done b.tech and just got a job as a technical support in AT&T process.Company requirements for this job were unix and sql,so my interview went well. After working there I found no unix n sql usage much, in this thing we just deal with tickets.I just want to know that, is this job has a good future scope for me? Does this experience counts when I will want to switch to another company?
Thanks in advance.
Regards
SP
Pawan Bahuguna
Its up to you how you can cash that experience. Try to work on UNIX operating system in your company. If you are not able to work, you can switch the company if you really have interest on LINUX.
Jatin sh
Hi Pawan,
I went one of institute in pune regards to coaching for RHCSA and RHCE. they given me broucher and explain everything. they advised me first I join D2CA(diploma in data center administrator) in this training first I shall get basic + administrator+shell scripting training .after these training I will work on oracle fundamental and system monitoring project.(completion of this training I shall get 6 months project experience certificate) using this certificate I can apply to organization then no need to give red hat exam
as per my understanding all above course(D2CA) are covering in RHCSA.
Could you please assist me whether I can go either for D2CA or RHCSA/RHCSE directly.
I have the basic knowledge on Linux.
Pawan Bahuguna
It depends on you. If they are covering all the syllabus of RHCSA and RHCE in that course, then you can do the course and then also can give the exam if you want.
What fee they are asking for this course ?
Jatin sharma
For RHCSA and RHCE + SHELL Scripting they asking INR 21000.
D2CA +RHCE+SHELL SCRIPTING = INR 30000
Pawan Bahuguna
Fees seems high there. SHELL Scripting is part of RHCE exam itself. In Delhi fees varies from 11k to 14k excluding exam certification fees.
jatin sharma
Pawan,
Ok thanks for your feedback i will check with some another institute.
one more thing ……
I am from programmer analyst background now i am turning my career towards to rhce is it really helpful for me in future for growth and financially wise
kamalk
hi Pawan Bahuguna,
First of all i appreciate u for giving valuable suggestions to all!!!
iam going to take exam in couple of days pls help me in below issues
1.we need to disable NetworkManager in RHCSA 6?? ????????
#service NetworkManager stop
#chkconfig NetworkManager off
2.CAN WE DISABLE FIREWALL???? in both RHCSA & RHCE????
3.is it necessry to use iptables commands in RHCSA.
Pawan Bahuguna
Thanks for the appreciation and good luck for your RHCSA exam.
1. Why you want to disable network manager ? Its required for proper functioning of network devices.
2. Yes you can.
3. You can use either IPtables or TCP wrappers. So iptables are not necessary.
BHUVNESH KUMAR
Hello bro , how are you
i have contact to one center in Delhi CMS Infosystem in Pitampura. they have take 14k+tax for RHCE training (RHEL 7) . It is fine.
Now i want to join but i cannot find any good Pg facility in this area. Can you refer me any one I am from Punjab. You are basically from Delhi.(“don’t be mind my question is odd”)
Pawan Bahuguna
Hi Bhuvnesh,
14k seems fine, you can also negotiate.
I have no idea about PG facility of that area, please try to take help of Google or local sites or property dealers to get a PG.