I am a new Linux learner - any advice for preparing for the Red Hat System Administration I course?

[AWP]

Hello all,

I'm a rookie in the linux world, trying to get my feet wet out of USA California. Going for my Red Hat System Administration I.  Any advise for someone just getting started?

[Jayadev]

@AWP 

Hello and Welcome to  Red Hat Learning Community.  You have taken the right step by enrolling into the community at the begining of your learning. You may post your questions here and get them answered from other community members. 

The best way to start learning linux is to take up RH124 course. This is a basic course that introduces you to Linux in general and RHEL in perticular. You may continue your learning by taking up RH134 which introduces to system adminisitration tasks. After the completion of these courses you will be ready to configure and build services on RHEL. You may take you RH254 which helps you perform these tasks.

Thanks,

Jayadev

[Tracy_Baker]

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@Jayadev wrote:

@AWP 

The best way to start learning linux is to take up RH124 course. This is a basic course that introduces you to Linux in general and RHEL in perticular. You may continue your learning by taking up RH134 which introduces to system adminisitration tasks. After the completion of these courses you will be ready to configure and build services on RHEL. You may take you RH254 which helps you perform these tasks.

This is slightly misleading. RH124 (RH system administration I) and RH134 (system administration II) are geared towards the RHCSA (EX200) exam.

RH254 does not "help you perform these tasks." RH254 is RH system administration III, which is geared towards the RHCE (EX300) exam.

While these are not complete absolutes, RH124 and RH134 are more client-side oriented and RH254 is server-side.

For example, RH134 tells you how to configure a client to use a NFS and Samba server (which is already configured). RH254 tells you how to configure the server.

Sometimes, RH254 extends what you've learned in RH124/RH134. For example, you learn about firewalld in RH254 on a basic level. In RH254 you learn more about it, such as rich rules. You learn about vim in RH124; in RH254 you learn more about vim - registers, command mode keystrokes, etc.

But... RH254 teaches many things not talked about in the other two classes: team bonding / bridging, null client email setup, iSCSI, Apache server set up, scripting,  caching DNS server, MariaDB, ...

What I did to study for the RHCSA was look at the published test objectives and create my own test questions which I then practiced on a virtual machine.

The RHCSA (EX200) objectives can be found here:

https://www.redhat.com/en/services/training/ex200-red-hat-certified-system-administrator-rhcsa-exam

[Theo]

And practice much, it is a practical exam and the more you practice the better your chances become.... Best to create your own VM's and use them to simulate the LABs in the courses. 

[varelov]

From my own experience, and I haven't taken any of the Red Hat courses  but passed RHCSA, you have to stick to the objectives and research on your own first. Later, you could get around third- party courses focusing on RHCSA and confirm/shatter biases you formed while researching on your own. Knowledge gained that way sticks with you for a long time. At least in my case. Be aware that studying this way will take time.

If you can't afford Red Hat classes on your own and are working for an employer unwilling to cover the cost of Red Hat education (that was my case when I passed RHCSA), courses offered by Linux Academy and video series by Sander Van Vught help a lot. They won't cover you completely but cover a lot of what is needed to pass the exam.

Even as a seasoned Linux user, without proper preparation, I could never have passed. There are several important exam objectives that are Linux-in-the-enterprise specific that regular Linux users that are transitioning into admins as a job role just don't get to use at all even after years of being with Linux. SELinux, ACLs, joining a domain, remote mounts, LVM, I can't remember having to even touch any of those while using Linux for anything from editing in InkScape to who's logged into our network to using PCs as routers...

[DavidOBrien]

If you're an absolute beginner you could start with the edX course:

https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:RedHat+RH066x+2T2017/course/

But what the other guys said is true, too. Practice, practice, practice. Maybe use an old laptop or a VM, install RHEL, play with it, try a few things, and get used to the environment.

[JG_Kootstra]

Hi AWP,

If you are a real newbie, get a "Linux for Dummies" booklet to get familiar with Linux commands.
Install a VirtualBox or VMware Player on a laptop/desktop or if you are really bold install CentOS on the laptop/desktop directly.

Regards,

Jan Gerrit