Linux+ or RHCT.

AlexMR

i understand RHCT is a broader certification. The question here is, is it more desirable by employers? and, Can I go after the RHCT without any previous Linux experience or would it be a mmore reasonable approach to get the linux+ first and then proceed with the red hat certs?

WOW. There are like 5 questions there.

Thanks in advance.

sambuca69

I've never sat for the Linux+ personally, but from what I've heard, it's 85% RedHat oriented.

I think the general consensus is Linux+, then RedHat.

kimanyd

Go big or go home; go for the RHCE.

You should have a solid Linux foundation before going after that. I don't think it's important whether you first obtain the Linux+ or if you just focus on general Linux studies.

The RHCT is basically a subset of the RHCE and is very desktop-oriented. IMHO, I don't see it as very valuable. Check out the Jang book for your RHCE studies.

L0gicB0mb508

You really need to have a nice grasp on Linux before taking an exam like the RHCE. RHCE and RHCT are both hands on. Linux+ is a multiple guess test. It's a very big difference. If you do decide to go RHCE, I would suggest getting CentOS and setting up a few VMs (or physical machines) to play with. You will need a lot of hands on experience, so practice practice practice. RHCE is about the highest level of certification in the Linux world to be honest, while Linux+ is a very entry level type exam.

impelse

I bealive that if you got through linux+ you will set a good foundation to RHCE (or RHCT). Remember before running you need to walk (the basic). Sure they are different but you need to know the concepts and how this work to begin to practice.

My 2 cents

L0gicB0mb508

impelse wrote: »

I bealive that if you got through linux+ you will set a good foundation to RHCE (or RHCT). Remember before running you need to walk (the basic). Sure they are different but you need to know the concepts and how this work to begin to practice.

My 2 cents

Yeah exactly right. You may not HAVE to do it that way, but I think you should probably do the Linux+ stuff first to build up your overall view of Linux. I would stick with Linux+ or LPIC1 for a good entry, and then move on up. Good luck to you.

Solaris_UNIX

AlexMR wrote: »

i understand RHCT is a broader certification. The question here is, is it more desirable by employers? and, Can I go after the RHCT without any previous Linux experience or would it be a mmore reasonable approach to get the linux+ first and then proceed with the red hat certs?

My 2 cents- I've never seen any employers look for a Linux+ certification in job write-ups, but it could just be the nature of the job market in the part of the world that I live in, maybe other parts of the world are different.

The job write-ups I've seen always ask for either an RHCE or RHCT plus experience. Use job search engines like monster and career builder to look for jobs in your area. Do any of them ask specifically for a "Linux+" certification? How many job write-ups specifically mention "Red Hat" or "CentOS" or ask for an RHCE or RHCT? Look at what the employers in your area are looking for and then try to navigate and shape your career and your studies so that your experience, certifications, and qualifications match what your local employers are looking for.

I have nothing but good things to say about the RHCE / RHCT, as I do know several people who got Linux related jobs because they had RHCT's, so my advice is to get Jang's book and build your home lab and study up for the RHCT. You can also build your own server running CentOS 5.3 (or whatever the latest version is now) and co-locate it in a data center for around $85 to $100 a month and run your own Apache web server on it plus your own BIND/DNS and your own postfix or exim mail server.

Make sure when you build your own Red Hat / CentOS server to colocate in a data center that you use the worst quality hardware you can find (I recommend looking in dumpsters, garbage ****, and places that recycle electronics, but Fry's might work too ). If you can, try to put some bad RAM in your server for a little bit to see what happens, and make sure that you use some bad, old, dying hard drives that are known to have problems as well. Running a server with some bad RAM in it will teach you what the symptoms of bad RAM are like and you will learn how to use tools such as memtest86 and edac-util:

edac-util(1): EDAC error reporting utility - Linux man page

to troubleshoot and find out which stick of RAM is the "bad RAM" that is causing the problems. Using old hard drives that are going bad will teach you how to use smartctl / smartmon tools:

smartctl( - Linux man page

to detect when a hard disk drive is going bad and how to back up / restore the data before the failure happens.

Running a "practice server" that has known bad hard drives in it will also be good for you as you will really start to become really familiar with the "fsck" command:

fsck(: check/repair file system - Linux man page

as your dying hard disk drive silently corrupts the data on it resulting in orphaned inodes, etc. Make sure that you have separate partitions for /boot, /usr, /var, etc. so that if the /var partition is totally hosed, you can still boot up into the kernel in the /boot partition and run fsck to try to fix it.

All the stuff I said about bad hardware and dying hard disk drives has nothing to do with the RHCE / RHCT or any other certifications. AFAIK, they give you only good, 100% working hardware to use for the RHCE lab exam. But knowing how to detect SMART errors and impending failures on hard disk drives will save your job in real life, so it's something that's good to know if Linux is the career that you are interested in pursuing.

The RHCT and RHCE are to Red Hat Enterprise Linux what the CCNA and CCNP are to Cisco networking, but having a Linux+ certification and the studying and preparation that goes into getting the certification won't exactly hurt you either.

AlexMR

WOW. Thanks guys!! Thanks Solaris Unix for the big comment. It has been very useful.

I have never used Linux or unix before. I have VirtualBox and will try to run a few VMs to start practicing. Since I started this thread I learned about LPI certifications. I think I will start there, only because there seems to be better study sources for that one, and I checked the O'Reilly book that has scuh great reviews.

The general consensus is that RHCT is not for beginers. Even michael jang says it in his book. He says his book is not intended for total beginners. The LPI level 1 certification is for such candidates.

I am sticking to LPI's exclusively because there seems to be better study sources, and, as some of you commented, most employers are not asking for low level linux certifications, which allows me to focus mostly on getting the expertised required to start and get the RHCT/E which is highly valuable.

Thanks again for your answers.