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

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

[PraveenMishra]

Hi,

Everything was understood and clear until I read these lines: https://learn.redhat.com/t5/Certification-Resources/Getting-Ready-for-your-Red-Hat-Remote-Exam/bc-p/....

I am confused because, If one external webcam is medatory, why my compatibility check passed even though there was no external webcam connected(only laptop inbuilt was being used). I think the compatibility tester should look for two cameras(one inbuild and one external) on a laptop and one camera on a desktop (the external one). Let me know if I got this right.

Thank you for clarification.

[Matt7]

It did check for two cameras on the laptops i tested with, so not sure why its not for you. Although you need to be able to move the camera around the room, so it has to be external for that reason.

[shefeeqyr]

@PraveenMishra @Matt7 

I can add some clarity to the discussion at https://learn.redhat.com/t5/Certification-Resources/Getting-Ready-for-your-Red-Hat-Remote-Exam/bc-p/...

The updated compatibility tester looks for the presence of one webcam now. However, the test that is run on the full-screen browser cannot differentiate between an external and internal camera unfortunately. What this means is, if you have one webcam - even if it is just the integrated webcam, the 'Hardware' section of the compatibility test detecting a working camera will pass. This test is denoted by a statement "You must have the correct number of Camera(s) and Microphone(s)" You will still need an external camera nevertheless.

In the next page (Streaming - Video quality is acceptable), you will be able to see feeds from both cameras if the external webcam is detected. If that test passes, it's an indicator that the external webcam works fine with the image and it's safe to proceed.

Soon we will add a checklist in the compatibility test that allows candidates to confirm the presence of certain hardware elements and behaviors during the test. This is aimed at complementing the compatibility test to increase it's accuracy.

Best Regards,

Shefeeq

[PraveenMishra]

Hi,

I thought this could be the case. Anyways, two cameras for a laptop makes sense. like @Matt7 pointed out. Thank you for the clarification and your help.

[Matt7]

For me when i was testing on the laptop, it detected two cameras when I had the external, but it only showed one camera (the little video). It also said I needed to 2 cameras when I was using the laptop.

The desktop did not require two cameras and said I was good to go with just 1 camera.

I now have 2 external cameras though and i tested that on my desktop and it was only showing one camera video and when I retested it again, it picked up the second camera. So, it's just super flaky and sometimes its ok, sometimes it is not.

[KleberCabral]

On my laptop MacBook Pro 2019:

Did not recognize internal devices:

- sound

- microphone

- trackpad

- keyboard

- wireless network

[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,