Red Hat Certified Engineer

Red Hat RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer)

The Red Hat RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer) is a mid to advanced level certification for IT professionals who are able to: install and configure Red Hat Linux, understand limitations of hardware, configure basic networking and file systems for a network, configure the X Window System, perform essential Red Hat Linux system administration, configure basic security for a network server, set up, and manage common enterprise networking (IP) services for the organization, carry out server diagnostics and troubleshooting.

The RHCE certification emerged in January 1999 and has become the premiere Linux certification. As well, they dropped the multiple choice portion of the exam and expanded the length of one the sections of the lab exam. There is no specific prerequisite for the RHCE, although a candidate can now take the Red Hat Certified Technician certification on the way to the RHCE. As well, a candidate should be ready from a technical point of view for professional responsibilities in setting up, configuring, and managing a Red Hat Linux server running common enterprise networking services and security.

Job roles of those pursuing this certification typically include: technician, system administrator, network administrator, system engineer, web engineer, and developer.

Here is what Red Hat says about how long a certification stays valid:

“The validity period for all RHCEs and RHCTs is now officially pegged to the release of the Enterprise product commercially available at the time certification was earned, and certification shall be current until after one (1) major release of the Enterprise product. Certificates earned on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 will be current until the release of Red Hat Enterprise 5. All RHCEs earned on Red Hat Linux 7.3 or prior will be considered current until the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4. All RHCEs and RHCTs earned on Red Hat Linux 8.0 and 9 will remain current until the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. Validity and current status of an RHCE certificate will continue to be verified at Certification Central.”

Certifications
++Red Hat Certified Technician++
The entry-level Red Hat Certified Technician (RHCT) certification focuses on single-system administration.

++Red Hat Certified Engineer ++
The Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) program expands the RHCT with a focus on services and security.

++Red Hat Certified Security Specialist++
The Red Hat Certified Security Specialist (RHCSS). This certification includes two endorsement exams from the RHCA plus a Security-Enhanced Linux exam. It has been offered since 2005-10-13.

++Red Hat Certified Datacenter Specialist++
The Red Hat Certified Datacenter Specialist (RHCDS) has three of the five RHCA endorsements and specializes in system deployment, virtualization, and clustering and includes a class on the Red Hat Directory Server.

++Red Hat Certified Architect++
The Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA) requires an additional five endorsements to the RHCE that adds an enterprise-level focus. From clustering to deploying systems, these five exams ensure the student can deploy systems at the Enterprise level. Red Hat offers a four-day class for each course that can include the exam on the fifth day.

Preparing for the Exam
Red Hat offers an entire suite of training courses, if instructor-led training suits your fancy. Certain partners, such as Global Knowledge, also offer the Red Hat curriculum through their own training programs. The most basic offering, available though both, is RH033, Introduction to Red Hat Linux, which targets users who have little or no experience with a UNIX type operating system such as Linux. If you are even somewhat familiar with any UNIX type operating system, or if you would prefer to spend $30 and a few hours on an introductory level book, you can easily skip over this foundation level course. A more advanced course is offered in RH133, Red Hat Linux System Administration, which is introductory systems administrator course aimed at Linux users or system administrators of other platforms wishing to transition to Linux. Red Hat further offers a class focused on network administration, RH253, for users familiar with basic Linux system administration that want to learn how to set up the various network services Linux offers. Probably the most popular class, though, is the RH300 Rapid Track course, which crams as much knowledge as possible into four days and concludes with the exam on the final day.

Though I had a primarily NT background, I felt I could teach myself the basics more cost efficiently and opted for the RH300 course. The RH300 course, designed to be an intensive prep course for experienced UNIX administrators, does serve as a good review for the test. If your goal is to learn as much about Linux administration as you can and not necessarily to prep for the RHCE exam, though, the RH300 might not be the best solution. One of my classmates, who had previously taken the RH253 course, Network and Security Admin, claimed that the topics had been covered in much greater detail. The biggest strength and weakness of the RH300 is that it covers such a wide spectrum of topics, sacrificing depth of material to do so. For instance, the Apache lab only included a basic installation and configuration, plus the creation of a virtual host. Samba configuration involved only a standard share, leaving the rest of the capabilities, such as domain controller emulation, untouched. Your best bet is to give some serious thought to the matter before you decide which course to take, if you choose take one at all.

'You might be able to fudge your way through the multiple-choice test, but if you sit the debugging exam without having experienced issues such as boot failure or corrupt disk partitions, you might as well pack up and go home.'

if you feel comfortable with most of the points on Red Hat’s RHCE exam prep guide, it might be more beneficial for you to brush up on what you don’t feel comfortable with and sign up for only the test. At $749 a pop though, you’ll want to make sure you don’t overestimate your knowledge. For experienced Linux/UNIX administrators wanting to get certified, the RH300 does serve as a good review, but don't expect it to make you a subject matter expert on the topics it covers.

When it comes to preparation for the RHCE exam, to put it frankly -- experience matters. The exam is designed to test practical skills that would only be learned with real, hands-on experience. You might be able to fudge your way through the multiple-choice test, but if you sit the debugging exam without having experienced issues such as boot failure or corrupt disk partitions, you might as well pack up and go home. If you’re starting almost from scratch, as I did, you’re going to have to do some homework before you can tackle something so complicated, though.