Red Hat Certification Program

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Red Hat offers several courses that can help you prepare for the RHCE. Most of these courses are four or five days long. In some cases, you can take parts of an individual course on an electronic basis. Table 1 illustrates the available hands-on, instructor-led courses that can also help you prepare for the RHCE exam.

Should You Take a RHCE Course?

This book is intended as a substitute for the Red Hat 'crash course' (RH300/301). It covers the material described in the RHCE Rapid Track Course Outline, available at www.redhat.com. However, RH300 is an excellent course. The Red Hat instructors who teach this course are highly skilled. If you feel the need for classroom instruction, read this book, and then take the course.

Table 1: Red Hat Courses

Course	Description
RH033	Introduction to Linux: basic pre-system administration skills
RH131	Basic system administration skills for installation and configuration (RH133 without the RHCT exam)
RH133	Basic system administration skills for installation and configuration; includes the RHCT exam
RH202	The RHCT exam
RH253	Basic network and security administration; requires a basic knowledge of LANs/WANs and TCP/IP
RH300	The crash course plus the RHCE exam
RH301	The crash course without the RHCE exam
RH302	The RHCE exam

If you're not sure if you're ready for this course or book, read Chapter 1. It is a rapid overview of the prerequisites for the Red Hat certification courses. If you find the material in Chapter 1 to be overwhelming, consider one of the books noted near the start of the chapter, or one of the other RHCE courses. However, if you are just less familiar with a few of the topics covered in Chapter 1, you're probably okay. Even experienced Linux administrators aren't familiar with everything. Just use the references noted at the beginning of Chapter 1 to fill in any gaps in your knowledge.

Alternatively, you may already be familiar with the material in this book. You may have the breadth and depth of knowledge required to pass the RHCE exam. In that case, use this book as a refresher to help you focus on the skills and techniques you need to pass the RHCE exam.

Signing Up for the RHCE Course and/or Exam

Red Hat provides convenient Web-based registration systems for the courses and test. To sign up for any of the Red Hat courses or the RHCE exam itself, navigate to www.redhat.com, click the link for Training and the RHCE/RHCT Program, and select the desired course or exam. Alternatively, contact Red Hat Enrollment Central at [phone].

Final Preparations

The RHCE exam is grueling. Once you have the skills, the most important thing that you can take to the exam is a clear head. If you're tired or frantic, you may miss the easy solutions that are often available. Get the sleep you need the night before the exam. Eat a good breakfast. Bring snacks with you that can keep your mind in top condition.

Remember, the RHCE exam is five and a half hours long. That is twice the length of a world-class marathon!

As I describe in Chapter 1, this is an advanced book. It is not designed for beginners to Unix or Linux. As Red Hat does not cover prerequisite skills in its prep course for the RHCE exam (RH300), I've only covered the tools associated with these skills briefly-mostly in Chapter 1. If you need more information on these prerequisite skills, please read the reference books I've cited in that chapter.

The RHCE exam requires that you master RHCT and RHCE skills, and assumes that you already have the prerequisite skills. I've cited them separately, as is done in the current version of the Red Hat Exam Prep guide. Watch for updates at www.redhat.com/training/rhce/examprep.html and www.redhat.com/training/rhce/courses/rhexam.html.

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