Confusing difference between my two RHCSA/RHCE books

techinthewoods

I just received the two books I ordered to study for RHCSA. They are:

Michael Jang's RHCSA/RHCE Red Hat Linux Certification Study Guide 6th Edition

-and-

Damian Tommasino's Hands-on Guide to the Red Hat Exams: RHCSA and RHCE Cert Guide and Lab Manual

There seems to be a major difference in the emphasis on KVM virtualization in these two books. Both books are laid out so that the first portion of the books focuses on RHCSA while the second portion of the books applies to RHCE. However, Jang's book starts right off with KVM and has the lab set up using KVM virtualization and the book lists these skills as imperative for the RHCSA.

Tommasino's book does not deal with KVM until the very last chapter of the book which I would think indicates it is more for the RHCE.

I'm trying to understand why in one book KVM is HEAVILY emphasied and seems to be a core issue and required skill for both exams, while in the other book KVM seems to be almost an after thought and the author acknowledges that the KVM chapter can't be performed on the lab as set up in his book because it is all run on virtualbox virtual machines already.

Both books look great, by the way, I'm just trying to understand why there is such a difference between the two on this issue of KVM and lab setup.

I'm debating which lab to set up, Jang's or Tommasino's. I'm also wondering which book can prepare me for the RHCSA faster, even though I will be doing both books multiple times eventually I'm sure.

Tommasino's book is around 500 pages and Jang's is around 1000 by the way.

AceRimmer

Use both.
KVM skills are not directly required, but you _will_ be working on a KVM host/guest setup during the exam.
I recommend You use KVM for home lab setup as described in Jang's book. Tomassino's book fell in between RHEL5 / RHEL6 releases and some objectives aren't covered "the RHEL6 way".

As for the page count, only (first) half of the Jang's book is covering RHCSA .

techinthewoods

AceRimmer wrote: »

As for the page count, only (first) half of the Jang's book is covering RHCSA .

Only first half of Tommasino's book is covering RHCSA too, as I understand it.

Thank you for the information. I think I will do as you suggest and proceed with the KVM setup. As I understand it, I'll set up RHEL6 as an OS on my physical computer, then build the other lab machines in KVM within the RHEL6 setup on my physical computer. The physical computer is a windows 7 machine by the way, so I guess I'll configure it to dual boot.

onesaint

I can't speak to the exam contents, but KVM is the default VM solution for RHEL6. So it may be worthwhile to get comfortable with it. I would check to make sure your CPU supports KVM (intel needs vtd/AMD needs svm) before making it a dual boot system.

If dual booting becomes an issue you might try running VMware with RHEL & KVM, although I'm not sure it's supported.

I went as far as grabbing a demo of RHEL 6 just to make sure I knew the environment the test would be set in. most of my experience is in RHEL/Centos 5.

As a side note, are there a lot of labs in Tommasino's book? I'd be tempted to pick it up just for some more labs to work on.

AceRimmer

onesaint wrote: »

If dual booting becomes an issue you might try running VMware with RHEL & KVM, although I'm not sure it's supported.

kvm kernel modules need access to real hardware (VT-x or AMD-V extensions).

Bodanel

onesaint wrote: »

As a side note, are there a lot of labs in Tommasino's book? I'd be tempted to pick it up just for some more labs to work on.

Yes, there are a few labs at each chapter. Not as many as in Jang's book but they are helpfull.

techinthewoods

There are lots of labs in Tommasino's book and I'm looking very forward to doing them all.

I do believe I have to run at least one RHEL6 install directly on the hardware and not in a virtual environment in order to lab correctly, because of KVM.

I'm going through VTC RHCSA training videos and I'm hoping to complete them tonight. I have not made it to the KVM section yet, but so far I have done it all on a RHEL6 install within a virtualbox vm. I'm assuming when I get to the KVM section I'll be screwed lol.

As soon as I get the VTC vids done I'm delving into building the Jang lab.

onesaint

Thanks Bodanel & tech. I'll have to pick up the book to get some more labbing in.

techinthewoods wrote: »

I do believe I have to run at least one RHEL6 install directly on the hardware and not in a virtual environment in order to lab correctly, because of KVM.

I'm going through VTC RHCSA training videos and I'm hoping to complete them tonight. I have not made it to the KVM section yet, but so far I have done it all on a RHEL6 install within a virtualbox vm. I'm assuming when I get to the KVM section I'll be screwed lol.

I think most of the labs can be done with your present setup. Jang mentions folks using other hypervisors in his book.

Found this while browsing around:

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AceRimmer wrote: »

kvm kernel modules need access to real hardware (VT-x or AMD-V extensions).

I noted that as well.

would check to make sure your CPU supports KVM (intel needs vtd/AMD needs svm) before making it a dual boot system.

Actually, VMWare ESXi 5.0, Workstation 8, and Fusion 4 all support virtual hardware-assisted virtualization and thus support KVM. The document from the VMWare community states that the performance isn't great though.

VMware Communities: Running Nested VMs