Hi @coaje
Thank you for reaching out about the remote exam ISO. You can reuse the ISO image for multiple exams.
However, when a newer version of the ISO is released, all exam takers must use the latest version. It is mandatory to always use the most up-to-date version.
For downloading the ISO image, you can access the following link: https://red.ht/rhrex. This is the official source for the ISO image.
For more details, please refer to the documentation provided on the site.
https://learn.redhat.com/t5/Certification-Resources/Getting-Ready-for-your-Red-Hat-Remote-Exam/ba-p/...
I tested downloading the file, and my downloader estimated about 26 minutes to complete the download.
Please note that the download time may vary significantly depending on your network conditions.
Hello Coaje
Thanks for pointing this out. Let's take a look from several perspectives:
1. Red Hat requires you to prepare several days in advance (PDF e-book, fage1)
2. You can pass the Compatibility test with a speed of 1.5 Mbps (Up and down)
3. Recommended speed for good exam experience is about 10Mbps (Up and down)
Considering you started the download several days in advance and your network speed is limited to 1.5 Mbps, the download of a 2.4 GB file would take between 4 and 5 hours.
In case your network speed is 10 Mbps, the download would take about 45 minutes
I tried to download both the exam ISO and some Microsoft ISO at the same time and you can see the results. The RH Exam ISO was downloaded in about 30 minutes at the speed of 15 Mbps. (1.5 MBps) Microsoft download was 10 times faster. You can see the picture.
So to answer your question:
A 5-hour download is still acceptable, but it shows the network may be slow. This may not be your case as you say you are on a very fast network. I and other readers confirmed here they were able to download the ISO in about half an hour, which is still a speed good enough to run the exam well. When you look at the download source, you find the ISO is stored at Amazon
https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.redhat.com-training-certification/rhrexboot-2023-06.iso.
So I believe there was just some maintenance being carried out at the moment of your download. As somebody said here, you do not need to download the ISO anytime. You can see my other article to know if a new ISO was released
https://learn.redhat.com/t5/General/New-Remote-Exam-ISO-just-released/m-p/35302
I see your remark as valid, even though it is not a roadblock for those who prepare in time. I think we can all download the ISO in the background, even for several hours. But as we (Red Hat) want you to have a better experience, and as I compared it with the download from Microsoft (which sometimes also runs horribly slow, btw), I will question managers and will advocate placing the ISO of a faster line. We appreciate you sharing your feedback with us.
Regards
