RHCSA/RHCE before LPIC possible?

loss4words

Hi guys,

I have never played around with Linux before but my job is offering free classes and one of them is a prep for RHCSA/RHCE certification. I began with the class this week and bought Michael Jang's book for RHEL 6. Although the class doesn't seem to be hard at all in the beginning I'm wondering if it's possible for me to take RHCE first and then focus on LPIC if I need it. Will I be ok with skipping LPIC altogether or is there too much information that is not covered in RHCSA/RHCE that I will miss out on?

Thank you!!!

brunski

I have not yet taken either exam yet (it something i am shooting for this later year tho), from my understanding LPIC is distribution neutral where as the RHCSA/RHCE are specific to Red Hat distributions (Red Hat, CentOS, Cloudlinux etc..). So will only miss out if you are not going to be doing another type of Linux distribution other then Red Hat (as far some commands and locations are different between the two).

Slowhand

The LPIC path is not a prerequisite for the Red Hat certs. A lot of people recommend taking Linux+/LPIC-1 first to get some experience with Linux in general, but there's nothing stopping you from going straight for the RHCSA/RHCE out of the gate. If you have some working knowledge of Linux in production, that'll help out a great deal. If not. . . be prepared to do a lot of extra reading and labbing as you go along, the material for these exams assumes you already know the basics and are prepared for prime-time.

UnixGuy

you don't "need" either certification. Pass the RHCSA and get a Linux job, build up experience, get your RHCE. That's all you need. Don't spend too much time on certification, get one or two to get your foot in the door, then build experience. There are many stuff that jobs ask for that are not covered in those exams, so use those exams/certs as a means to get your foot in the door

loss4words

Thanks a lot!! I'm definitely going for RHCSA first and hopefully that could help me getting my first linux job. I already have Michael Jang's book for RHEL 6. Are there any other study resources you guys would recommend?

Pupil

If you go for RHCSA first, then LPI-1 is useless. However, if you go for LPI-1 then it will give you a good foundation to prepare for RHCSA. But at the end of the day that's a lot of money (almost $800 for the 2 certs). RHCSA is hands-on exam while LPI-1 is multiple choice.

For someone without any prior Linux experience, I'd advise you go for the LPI-1/CompTIA Linux+ first. This will get you 3 certs. Then land a job and get your employer to pay for RHCSA.