RHCSA/RHCE Self-Study OS Question

I've been using Linux for about 6 years now mostly at home in an informal capacity, and I would like to get certified and sure up what skills I have for the professional world. I am planning to take the Linux+ then the RHCSA and RHCE exams. I figured that since the Red Hat exams are the standard, I would study for them and pick up Linux+ along the way. Since I don't have the money for the Red Hat classes, and I have taught myself everything I know about Linux already, I figured I'd go the self-study route. I have several books includng the Michael Jang ones, but when it comes to the hands-on practice a question arose, full system install or VM? I'm used to throwing myself into a given task, so my initial instinct was to install RHEL/CentOS on my primary machine. This is also my primary desktop that I use for everyday tasks, media(video and music ripping and playback), programming and some gaming(yes, in Linux). I know that RHEL and CentOS are geared towards a business environment, so many of the more recreational uses of the machine may prove troublesome. On the other hand, there's Fedora, which is similar, but will fare better as a desktop OS in which I could run a CentOS VM. For learning, which is the better option? Does it even make a difference? Your input would be greatly appreciated.

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Comments

lordy

Go for at least two CentOS VMs. The Red Hat exams are based on using RHEL as a server, not as Desktop so there is no point in running it as a Desktop system.

haziz

You can dual boot. I would make a bare metal install of 64 bit Centos (or SL or RHEL) with VMs running under KVM. Use the VMs for practice rather than the host machine. This also gives you practice on KVM which is part of the RHCSA curriculum, as opposed to other virtualization software.

ZombieNo7

I have Fedora installed now. Should I replace Fedora with CentOS/RHEL or just run the VMs in Fedora?

haziz

ZombieNo7 wrote: »

I have Fedora installed now. Should I replace Fedora with CentOS/RHEL or just run the VMs in Fedora?

You should be fine with Fedora as the host so long you use KVM as the virtualization software (will likely need to be 64 bit, at least that is true for RHEL) and use RHEL or its clones Scientific Linux or Centos as the VMs for practice for the RHCSA. Fedora is too modern and too different to use for the RHCSA. You should also have a VM with Debian or Ubuntu if you intend to take the Linux+/LPIC first. You will need both RHEL/Centos/SL and a Debian based distro for LPIC/Linux+.