General Information

Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) exam study notes.

• RHCE Objectives Link
• Linux Academy (Interactive Training)
• RHCE RHEL 7 Quiz

Taking an individual exam means you will sit at a kiosk style computer and be monitored via a camera at an exam center.

• Buy an exam voucher from Red Hat (good for 1 year): https://www.redhat.com/en/services/certification/individual-exams
  • Click on Red Hat Certified Engineer (EX300)
  • Under “How will you train/test?”, select “Individual Exam” and then click “Enroll”.
  • Purchase the exam voucher.
• Schedule an exam using the voucher.
  • Sign up at Innovative Exams (create an account or sign in): https://www.examslocal.com/ScheduleExam/Home
  • Schedule a date/time/location to take the exam with Innovative Exams using the exam voucher purchased from Red Hat.

You will need:

• Photo ID card (Drivers License)
• Confirmation code
• Innovative Exams login and password (to actually login and take the test at the kiosk)

Expect:

• Individual Exam: A kiosk style computer and being monitored remotely via web cam
• Tasks, not questions: You will be given tasks to complete on a live system.
• Exam Results e-mailed to you within 3 business days, but many report getting results back within a few hours.

Objectives are listed below in each of their sections.

For a lab setup, using something like VirtualBox works great.
In order to practice the objectives below, setup a virtual machine lab:

• server1.example.com
  • Description: Client VM to perform anything local only and anything from a “client” perspective (ie NFS client)
  • CPU/Memory: 1 CPU/1024 MB memory
  • IP: 192.168.1.150 (bridged adapter)
• server2.example.com
  • Description: Secondary VM to function as a source for “server1” to perform tests (ie NFS server)
  • CPU/Memory: 1 CPU/1024 MB memory
  • IP: 192.168.1.151 (bridged adapter)
• ipa.example.com
  • Description: FreeIPA LDAP server to install for client authentication practice. FreeIPA also integrates a Kerberos KDC server. (Key Distribution Center)
  • CPU/Memory: 1 CPU/1024 MB memory
  • IP: 192.168.1.152 (bridged adapter)
  • Install FreeIPA

Install CentOS 7 on all VMs (Basic Server). Do not expect to have a access to a GUI on the exam.

• Use network teaming or bonding to configure aggregated network links between two Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems
• Configure IPv6 addresses and perform basic IPv6 troubleshooting
• Route IP traffic and create static routes
• Use firewalld and associated mechanisms such as rich rules, zones and custom rules, to implement packet filtering and configure network address translation (NAT)
• Use /proc/sys and sysctl to Modify and Set Kernel Runtime Parameters
  • NOT a RHCE objective: As of 2016-08-10, this objective does not appear on Red Hat's Objective list, but is probably a good thing to learn anyway.
• Configure a system to authenticate using Kerberos
• Configure a system as either an iSCSI target or initiator that persistently mounts an iSCSI target
• Produce and deliver reports on system utilization (processor, memory, disk, and network)
• Use shell scripting to automate system maintenance tasks

Be able to perform all of the following actions for each of the network services listed below.

See each service section which will cover the objectives for:

• Install the packages needed to provide the service
• Configure SELinux to support the service
• Use SELinux port labeling to allow services to use non-standard ports
• Configure the service to start when the system is booted
• Configure the service for basic operation
• Configure host-based and user-based security for the service

• Network Services Overview: Apache Web Server
• Apache Configuration File Walk Through
  • NOT a RHCE objective: Gives extra information on understanding the Apache Configuration files
• Configure a virtual host
• Configure access restrictions on directories
• Deploy a basic CGI application
• Configure group-managed content
• Configure TLS security

• Network Services Overview DNS (covered in Configure section)
• Configure a caching-only name server
• Troubleshoot DNS client issues

• Network Services Overview: NFS
• Provide network shares to specific clients
• Provide network shares suitable for group collaboration
• Use Kerberos to control access to NFS network shares

• Network Services Overview: SMB
• SMB Provide network shares to specific clients
• SMB Provide network shares suitable for group collaboration

• Network Services Overview: SMTP
• Configure a system to forward all email to a central mail server

• Network Services Overview: SSH
• Configure key-based authentication
• Configure additional options described in documentation

• Network Services Overview: NTP
• Synchronize time using other NTP peers

• Network Services Overview: Database Services
• Install and configure MariaDB
• Backup and restore a database
• Create a simple database schema
• Perform simple SQL queries against a database