Road to RHCE

Verities

I've decided to keep up the momentum and pursue the coveted RHCE. I have a lot of work to do, but I think the goal is achievable with a lot of studying.

My study resources are: Sander Van Gut's RHCE Complete Video Course and his Red Hat RHCSA/RHCE 7 Cert Guide: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (EX200 and EX300) book.

Exam objectives: http://www.redhat.com/en/services/training/ex300-red-hat-certified-engineer-rhce-exam

**Updated post with exam objectives for RHCE on RHEL 7**

HailHogwash

Best of luck..looking forward to reading your post updates as I will hopefully be looking to pursue this after RHCSA.

asummers

Good luck ... in some ways RHCE is easier than the RHCSA because you need to know fewer areas but better.

Maybe post on this forum with updates

Verities

asummers wrote: »

Good luck ... in some ways RHCE is easier than the RHCSA because you need to know fewer areas but better. Maybe post on this forum with updates

Great idea and thanks for the support. Today I'm working on the following Database services:

Install and configure MariaDB

Backup and restore a database

Create a simple database schema

Perform simple SQL queries against a database


I have previous SQL experience so this section was relatively easy to cover in a few hours along with labbing. The only topic I need to continue labbing is backing up a physical database since there are so many steps involved

Expect

Good luck.

I totally agree with what was said above, RHCE is, awkwardly easier than RHCSA.

use online RHCSA/RHCE blogs, you will often very useful '**** sheets' there.

Undy

Figured I would chime in and wish you luck. I just passed the RHCSA a few weeks ago and I am starting on the RHCE right away, same as you. Good luck! Funny how a few have said it was easier. That makes me feel better about continuing on since I did think the RHCSA was that difficult.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of forums that have many conversations about the RHCSA/RHCE so it is good to see a few people here talking about it.

Cheers.

digitalix

yeah RHCE is easier than RHCSA but you do have one hour or half hour less time so you still gotta zing though it

Verities

I'm going to be adding key points, in order to help break down the topics. Today I'm studying DNS:

Configure a caching-only name server

Troubleshoot DNS client issues


Key points: Have a solid understanding of different resource records, how DNS actually works, using dig for troubleshooting, along with how to configure a cache-only name server.

Tonight we are heading out to San Francisco for a few days, so I'll be taking a break from studies until Monday.

varelg

I have seen few testimonials here from RHCEs' that you need to be quote: "prepared to your teeth on this one". I am guessing there will be a lot of config files and redacting them according to syntax required.
Funny how Verities plans coincide, I just finished configuring a DNS tiny little domain on my own. Watch out for config files, both for named and for zones, a lot of pedantry there- miss one dot and you are in the world of pain. Apart from syntax, watch for file ownership there, zone files especially. They need to be owned by the group "named" otherwise same world of pain awaits you.

digitalix

if using vim just use
:filetype plugin on
:syntax on
and whatever else you need to make your life easier, i have a plugin where it marks all the white spaces for yaml files etc.

keep in mind you don't have to be an expert to pass the RHCE exam, you do have the man files to help you along the way, just keep eyes on time

Verities

varelg wrote: »

I have seen few testimonials here from RHCEs' that you need to be quote: "prepared to your teeth on this one". I am guessing there will be a lot of config files and redacting them according to syntax required.
Funny how Verities plans coincide, I just finished configuring a DNS tiny little domain on my own. Watch out for config files, both for named and for zones, a lot of pedantry there- miss one dot and you are in the world of pain. Apart from syntax, watch for file ownership there, zone files especially. They need to be owned by the group "named" otherwise same world of pain awaits you.

What I noticed with the RHCSA exam is that you don't need to touch any config files anymore. RedHat has incorporated binaries that do it for you, but you have to make sure you use proper flags, i.e. --permanent, so I don't think RHCE is going to be any different. Also, you just need to know those 2 parts of DNS for the exam using Unbound. However, its probably better to know how to completely configure an Unbound server, even though the majority of companies install DNS on Windows Server.

Expect

varelg wrote: »

I have seen few testimonials here from RHCEs' that you need to be quote: "prepared to your teeth on this one". I am guessing there will be a lot of config files and redacting them according to syntax required.
Funny how Verities plans coincide, I just finished configuring a DNS tiny little domain on my own. Watch out for config files, both for named and for zones, a lot of pedantry there- miss one dot and you are in the world of pain. Apart from syntax, watch for file ownership there, zone files especially. They need to be owned by the group "named" otherwise same world of pain awaits you.

RHCE is focused on configuring forward and cache only DNS servers.

any issues with your config file will result in an inability of the named daemon to start itself, though it will point to you where the syntax error is.

Verities

Labbing today:

Configure a system as either an iSCSI target or initiator that persistently mounts an iSCSI target


Key points: If you don't have familiarity with storage devices or concepts, I highly recommend reading up on iSCSI and how it works before attempting this objective. Targetcli is used to configure the iSCSI target and iscsiadm is used to configure the iSCSI initiator. This objective is tougher than the previous objectives I've covered thus far.

asummers

It is not as bad as it first looks.

Remember you only need to know the client stuff - so essentially the following

1. Discovery targets
2. Log into a target

The server-side stuff you need to do to set up your lab but is not a requirement of the exam (AFAIK)

devops035

I don't want to seem rude but this is entirely wrong.

The RHCE 7 curriculum explicitly specifies: Configure a system as either an iSCSI target or Initiator that persistently mounts iSCSI target.

Joe_Wulf

I passed my RHCSA for RHEL7 back in May. The instructor was very clear that starting in the 2nd quarter of 2015 (i.e. after April), the RHCE exam had fundamentally changed from previous editions and was now 4.0 hours long and quite the ball-buster.

*Correction Edit... exam is 4 hours.

Verities

devops035 wrote: »

I don't want to seem rude but this is entirely wrong.

The RHCE 7 curriculum explicitly specifies: Configure a system as either an iSCSI target or Initiator that persistently mounts iSCSI target.

Well..they may have the test taker complete both items or they may only have the test taker complete one item, but you don't know which one will be on the exam. For these reasons its best to study how to configure both target and initiator.

BlackBeret

asummers wrote: »

The server-side stuff you need to do to set up your lab but is not a requirement of the exam (AFAIK)

And here I thought the RHCE was setting up a server and configuring the various services properly...

kenrin

I honestly can not see how the RHCE would be easier than the RHCSA. Can anyone elaborate more about this? You don't even have to touch the config files in RHCSA ! and since it is all GUI nowadays firewall | lvm | kvm is simple and easy.

Keep in mind I don't have the RHCSA yet but I've gone through the content for RHEL 5 and RHEL 6 for both RHCSA|RHCE. Seems like it gets easier with every new exam, just more information.

Verities

kenrin wrote: »

I honestly can not see how the RHCE would be easier than the RHCSA. Can anyone elaborate more about this? You don't even have to touch the config files in RHCSA ! and since it is all GUI nowadays firewall | lvm | kvm is simple and easy.

Keep in mind I don't have the RHCSA yet but I've gone through the content for RHEL 5 and RHEL 6 for both RHCSA|RHCE. Seems like it gets easier with every new exam, just more information.

I think what Digitalix and Expect were referring to was the amount of content each exam covers. The RHCSA has many more test objective that you need to study and be able to apply to a live system, whether you do that in the GUI or via CLI it doesn't matter, however it is a timed test so the GUI is the preferred method.

The RHCE covers less topics but it goes deeper in configurations and becomes more complex, resulting in a much longer test than the RHCSA. Its true you don't really need to touch config files that much any more but there are applications that have to be configured strictly by commands. I can't speak to the exams getting easier with each release, but if they were I would expect to see more RHCSAs or RHCEs out there.

kly630

kenrin wrote: »

I honestly can not see how the RHCE would be easier than the RHCSA. Can anyone elaborate more about this? You don't even have to touch the config files in RHCSA ! and since it is all GUI nowadays firewall | lvm | kvm is simple and easy.

Keep in mind I don't have the RHCSA yet but I've gone through the content for RHEL 5 and RHEL 6 for both RHCSA|RHCE. Seems like it gets easier with every new exam, just more information.

I've been studying for the RHCE on rhel6 this year and find it to be a curious statement as well. My guess is the core "stuff" you need to know to work with the redhat linux OS is contained in the RHCSA and the biggest hurdle for most people. Most of the RHCE topics are for services, which is easier to work with once you get over that hump of how to work the core OS.

There's still a bit of core OS stuff on the RHCE like pam, isci initiators, kernel-runtime parameters, making rpms, but after that there's a lot more on important services like ssh, postfix, sendmail, apache, samba, bind, etc. And a lot of it seems to be along the lines of can you get the service up and running as we specify.

This is the way it feels for me anyway. After taking and passing the RHCSA I can honestly say I feel like I have a well-rounded linux skillset and the RHCE is just enhancing that a bit.

Verities

I'm a little disappointed with myself having taken so much time off from my RHCE studies but I just got burned out. Now its back to studying for RHCE...since I don't really have any need for the certification I'll be going at a leisurely pace. Anyways today I'll be focusing on...

SMTP

• Configure a system to forward all email to a central mail server

asummers

Verities wrote: »

I'm a little disappointed with myself having taken so much time off from my RHCE studies but I just got burned out. Now its back to studying for RHCE...since I don't really have any need for the certification I'll be going at a leisurely pace. Anyways today I'll be focusing on...

SMTP

• Configure a system to forward all email to a central mail server

I found smtp (postfix) to be a difficult topic to learn. Good luck

Verities

asummers wrote: »

I found smtp (postfix) to be a difficult topic to learn. Good luck

Thanks! I'm fortunate enough to have been exposed to configuration and troubleshooting of Sendmail so I have a good grasp on it. From my labbing experiences thus far, I can say the most important part of setting up mail is having a proper DNS configurations because without it everything fails.

The most impressive thing about Postfix is how much versatility and security you can get out of it. Fortunately for the exam, you just have to be able to setup a null client and a mail relay.

Verities

I'm back in the mix after taking some time off to spend with family. Today I'm working on...

System configuration and management

• Configure a system to authenticate using Kerberos

To work with Kerberos tickets you need identity management setup and it looks like Free IPA is the way to go. Right off the bat, make sure you have your hostname set or else IdM won't work.

asummers

Yes, install ipa-server and ipa-client. I am pretty sure RH comes with the relevant ipa packages or use freeipa - near identical.

Verities

asummers wrote: »

Yes, install ipa-server and ipa-client. I am pretty sure RH comes with the relevant ipa packages or use freeipa - near identical.

Correct, Red Hat's Identity Management is directly based off Free IPA.

Highl1

Don't want to hijack the thread, just have a question, since I got mixed answers from different places on the web. Is GUI available for the new RHCSA/RHCE 7 exams or not?
I passed RHCSA 6 with GUI (not that it was that needed), but just curious for the next one?

Verities

Highl1 wrote: »

Don't want to hijack the thread, just have a question, since I got mixed answers from different places on the web. Is GUI available for the new RHCSA/RHCE 7 exams or not?
I passed RHCSA 6 with GUI (not that it was that needed), but just curious for the next one?

Yes, the gui is available.

Verities

Update:

So far I've gone through almost all of Linux Academy material for the RHCE course and have enjoyed the simplistic way they teach the items. I only see 2 things that kind of bum me out about that course:

1. the course material isn't finished and the labs aren't available.
2. it only scratches the surface of the exam objectives.

I highly recommend when going over their material you study each config file for the application services so you understand what's possible within them and also use an alternate method of study like Sander Van Gut's materials. I'm almost finished reviewing the "Network Services" portion of the exam objectives as I only have have Apache and SELinux to go over. I'm very confident with SMTP, NTP, SSH, DNS, NFS, and MariaDB. However, SMB has a lot of steps so I currently see that being the biggest challenge for me in that section.

For "System Configuration and Management", the iSCSI portion is where I'm weakest as it also has quite a few steps to configure. Everything else in that section has been relatively easy for me to absorb and practice using, except for the firewall portion (specifically rich rules, packet filtering, and NAT). I haven't covered those facets yet as I'd like to save that for last.

Its been hectic lately so my exam date will be pushed back, but I think in the next 2-3 months I see myself taking the exam. The plus side is I'm actually working in an environment now where I can implement all of these services and features so I'm not just labbing with them but also able to implement them into a production environment.

Happy studies.

wolfinsheepsclothing

^Keep it up! As for iSCSI (on the target server), I recommend using the targetcli interactive shell (takes a few standard commands like: cd,ls,pwd) to configure the target/acl/lun/portal. Quick example (assuming you're feeding out a block device and not a file):

targetcli

>cd backstores
backstores> block/ create nameOfYourChoosing /dev/yourBlockDevice
backstores> cd /iscsi
iscsi> create iqn.2016-05.com.example:serverName
iscsi> cd iqn.2016-05.com.example:serverName/tpg1 (<----you should be able to tab complete this)
iscsi/iqn.2016-05.com.example:serverName/tpg1> acls/ create iqn.2016-05.com.example:yourClient
iscsi/iqn.2016-05.com.example:serverName/tpg1> luns/ create /backstores/block/nameOfYourChoosing (<---same name as earlier; just tab complete it)
iscsi/iqn.2016-05.com.example:serverName/tpg1> portals/ create yourServerIP


With regard to the rich rules, if you don't recall specifics:

man firewalld.richlanguage (there are examples at the bottom)