Questions about getting ready for your Red Hat remote exam?

[Deanna]

This thread is dedicated to connect you with Red Hat subject matter experts who can help answer your questions regarding Red Hat remote exams. Please see the following resources for Red Hat Remote Exams below:

• Remote Exams Announcement
• Technical Documentation for "Getting ready for your Red Hat remote exam"
• Remote Exams FAQ

For questions on scheduling or redeeming your exams,  please use the Red Hat Certification team comment form here. 

**Our subject matters experts in the Red Hat Learning Community will not be assisting with tasks related to scheduling exams. 

[JS_Learning]

Hi @KleberCabral 

Thanks for your feedback!

It seems other have had the same experience as you:

At the time, the suggestion was: "Using a different hardware altogether or connecting an external wired keyboard, mouse and monitor are the alternatives (provided you have the necessary port replicators). "

Source:

https://learn.redhat.com/t5/Certification-Resources/Getting-Ready-for-your-Red-Hat-Remote-Exam/bc-p/... 

@shefeeqyr Any update on MacBook Pro 2019?

Cheers,

[vincentlours]

Hi @JS_Learning, @shefeeqyr,

I'm facing the same issue as KleberCabral with my corporate Macbook Pro Serie 2019. The Keyboard and Trackpad are not responding in any mode (exam, test, recovery).

"After booting to the RE Image, were you able to click 'ok' or hit 'enter' at the "Welcome to Red Hat Remote Exams - Click OK to configure your keyboard layout" screen? "
From this screen, my pointer is in the bottom right corner and not responding.
I cannot use the keyboard (ESC, enter, arrows, ...) to validate the Welcome message.

And unfortunately, I don't have any spare USB ports available to plug an external keyboard or mouse. Last Macbook pro series comes with Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) adapters only. I have a USB-C network adapter to plug a network cable, and a USB-C adapter to plug the USB image.

In addition, I even tried to get into a single boot mode from the grub. But in fact, I cannot send the Ctrl+x signal to start from the modified grub. Ctrl+c is working using the Control+Command+c keys.

I used the RHEL-20200630 image to build my USB device. Is there any newer version?

Furthermore, please be aware that the last Mac series includes a T2 security chip to avoid external device boot. You may have to include a link to the Apple support article to explain how to modify the secure boot.

Booting on the Fedora USB image requires the following option to be selected:

- No security

- Allow booting from external media

In my case, I also had to select the right-hand EFI boot image from the device list to get to the menu, the left one was redirecting to the Macbook utility "Startup Manager"

Waiting to hear from you soon about a fix for Macbook Pro Series 2019.

Cheers,

[JS_Learning]

Hi @vincentlours, I haven't read your entire post, yet.

I saw you mentioned about using a corporate laptop, that's not the first time some users are trying that. 

There is nothing against it in theory. In practice, these are usually secured and restricted by other teams, and there are changes outside of most users control. For example if Secure Boot is enabled in the bios, it's usually not possible to boot to an USB device.

There are also some technical restrictions, when a corporate computer has to be compliant with specific security standards, that disable the use of any USB device.

I am a bit conflicted with that information, I will report that to the team writing the "Getting Ready" document, for further analysis!

Thanks for sharing your feedback!

[JS_Learning]

Hi again,

1) And unfortunately, I don't have any spare USB ports available to plug an external keyboard or mouse.

Candidates are responsible for "Getting Ready". Currently, it means that your laptop is not matching the requirements in terms of USB ports. (well, since there is a technical issue not allowing you to use keyboard + track pad).

You are allowed to use an USB Hub​ : ​One wired USB hub is allowed if a hub is needed to accommodate permitted peripheral devices as described below.

These devices are very cheap usually, or even borrow one, as a temporary workaround.

2) I used the RHEL-20200630 image to build my USB device. Is there any newer version?

The latest image is here:

https://static.redhat.com/downloads/training-certification/rhrexboot.iso 

 ​Currently, there is no versionning or method to verify the iso file integrity. That feedback was sent to the relevant teams and they are working on improving that.

3) You may have to include a link to the Apple support article to explain how to modify the secure boot.

Thanks for the information and the suggestion! Secure Boot is an example of security implementation, that can prevent users from booting their computer from a live usb device. There are actually many other implementations like that.

I think it's not practical to list explanations and configurations changes for every type of hardware. I also think that it would be nice to have some generic information about that in the "Getting Ready" document, for candidates who are less familiar with that topic. I have forwarded your feedback also, to the relevant team. For your information, various teams are reading the candidates feedback on learn.redhat.com and also the feedback sent using the comments form. It's possible they are are aware of similar feedback and working on improving the documentation.

4) I heard the technical team is looking at Macbook Pro Series 2019 compatibility issue(s). Since currently there is no versionning, I wonder how they will communicate about that. @shefeeqyr Could you kindly shed some light on that one?

Cheers,

[sbulav]

Hi,

Can someone clarify if all those rules apply to PE180?

[vishals]

Hi @sbulav ,

These instructions/requirements only apply to the Remote Certification exams. The Preliminary Exams(PE) do not require an external camera and run on a full-screen browser on your existing OS.

See more details on PE exams here. 

Best Regards,

[Tim_757]

Hi,

Can anyone clarify, is it possible to use wi-fi connection or wired connection required? I don't have physical possibility to use wired connection, only wi-fi.

[davman]

Possible it is, but red hat dont recommend it, there are more posibilities of connection error, but yes it is possible with wifi.

[AmberMehra]

Hello,

Today I was supposed to write my exam but I could not because of MIC is not recognised by fedora Live OS however it works fine with my normal windows OS.

Furthermore support reached out to my cellphone but couldn’t fix the issue at all .

Please let me know two thing here

1. How to fix this issue because I have other exams scheduled .

2. I couldn’t write exam because if your fedora software issue and exam cancelled.

[Gineesh]

Hi AmberMehra,

It is highly recommended to test your workstation/laptop 5-6 days before
the exam. You can do this test without even booking any exam, just need a
Red Hat account to login. The important thing is to complete the
compatibility test and make sure all items - keyboard, mouse, mic, speaker
- are working fine.

Please watch this video for details.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmiX1x-LYF0&t=473s

2. if you are not ready, then you can cancel/reschedule your exam from exam
booking portal (
https://rhtapps.redhat.com/individualexamscheduler/#/Dashboard) , at least
24 hours before the exam scheduled.

Hope this will help.


*Gineesh*
linkedin.com/in/gineesh