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. 

[AndrewM]

Is there any support available for running the Remote Exam Bootable Live USB on Mac?  I have tried booting on a 2015 iMac, a 2013 MacBook Air and a 2015 MacBook Pro.  All fail to boot from the USB with the error 36 Rebuild USB Drive (see screenshot attached).  I haved rebuilt the USB drive 3 times. 

[vishals]

Hi @AndrewM ,

Apple devices are generally not a good match with the remote exam image (any linux image in fact).
In your case, a possible workaround is to use the older image - https://static.redhat.com/downloads/training-certification/rhrexboot-2020-08.iso

Personally, I have been able to fix this by tinkering with the bios. If you know your way around the bios settings, you may try to temporarily disable the SATA controller or change its mode in BIOS. (Note: Changing bios settings from their defaults can cause harm, only take this route if you are confident. Red Hat does not recommend altering the bios settings and this is only something which worked for me)
If this does not help, please use the older ISO or a different device.

You can also connect to a support agent by following the instructions in the exam confirmation email.

Best Regards,

[igmarkovic]

Hello,

I`ve tried to test USB with the newest image. I`ve tried it on the newer hp EliteBook and also on older hp desktop. 

The image is booting, I can see the settings and change it, then after closing the settings, there is a message poped up "the next screen is onboarding exam...", when I press OK, all I got is black screen with a cursor and nothing happends... 

I will try this older image, if this works, can I use it for the exam? Not importartant if it`s older..? 

Thanks,

Igor.

[vishals]

Hi @igmarkovic ,

There was a scheduled downtime of the server during the early EMEA hours yesterday and if you tried to boot into the image during that window, you would have seen this black screen issue. Please test again now and it should take you to a login page.

About the image, we plan to support the two latest versions (n and n-1 versions). I expect the next version to be available late next month.The August-2020 version (https://static.redhat.com/downloads/training-certification/rhrexboot-2020-08.iso) will be supported and can be used until then.

Best Regards,

[Gineesh]

But, could you please ensure the new version is a signed ISO ?
As we all know so many use their office laptops for exams (as personal
laptops might be macbook) and changing BIOS is not at all an option !

Thank you


*Gineesh*
linkedin.com/in/gineesh

[vishals]

HIi @Gineesh ,

Of course, The next release is intended to be a signed, stable version with certain additional functionalities to enable a simple plug-and-use system.

Regards,

[Gineesh]

Great ! Thank you Vishals.
So, how can we get notification on the same ?
(I can see the ISO path default and we will not know if there is change in
ISO we can try)

*Note: we have already attended exam with old ISO*

*Gineesh*
linkedin.com/in/gineesh

[igmarkovic]

hi, it seems that the recommendation was right, the firewall is preventing something, that causes not having login screen (instead black with a cursor). At my home everything working fine, I will try to solve the issue with firewall, since office is perfect place for me to take the exam.

[igmarkovic]

One more question, 

I have issues with clock and not able to reach "media servers". 

Time is set for my timezone, so does anybody knows why this is not passing? 

Also, the media servers, are these important for the exam...? 

Thanks.

[vishals]

Hi @igmarkovic ,

I could not replicate the reported time error at all. (I tried choosing my time zone, a different timezone, different time and date settings in BIOS). I suspect it could be because the local network blocks access to the RH NTP server or blocks the NTP port but I have not been able to test further. I shall report to the devs to take a look. In any case, this should not cause problems in your exam.

On the media check error, the connection to Media Servers is the connection for sharing the video and audio and its failure will deny the proctors to your video/audio feeds.
In your case, it looks like it failed because the web camera is not connected (Or is not detected by the remote exam image). Did this setup pass the camera/mic tests? Please test them again and let us know.

Best Regards,