Red Hat Certification - RHCE - Preparation



Wow, there's lots of it in there. Some of it is about networking and a lot about individual services. I haven't actually planned to go get the exam soon, but I think just going through these objectives will make me better at Linux. Anyway, if I pass the RHCE, that extends the RHCSA expiration automagically.

This is going to take a while to do. I will update this post as I progress through the sections.

This is a copy of the objectives from https://www.redhat.com/certification/rhce/objectives/

System Configuration and Management

Routing / NAT

  • Route IP traffic and create static routes
  • Use iptables to implement packet filtering and configure network address translation (NAT)

For the two above I think I need to use another machine. Maybe the IBM T40 could be of some use again. Install SLC via USB maybe! /2011 12 18: update: Nope, T40 didn't like booting like that. So, booting via DVD instead. But, maybe I can boot via the small CD and then load the files off of an NFS-server instead. Turns out the CPU in my laptop does not have PAE and thus cannot install anything after RHEL5(possibly) with the default isos. There is a guide on scientificlinux.com that tells you how to do it via a fedora netinstall iso.

Other

  • Use /proc/sys and sysctl to modify and set kernel run-time parameters
  • Configure system to authenticate using Kerberos
  • Configure a system as an iSCSI 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

rsyslog

  • Configure a system to log to a remote system
  • Configure a system to accept logging from a remote system

Network Services

Network services are an important subset of the exam objectives. RHCE candidates should be capable of meeting the following objectives for each of the network services listed below:

  • Install the packages needed to provide the service
  • Configure SELinux to support the service
  • 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

RHCE candidates should also be capable of meeting the following objectives associated with specific services:

HTTP/HTTPS

  • Configure a virtual host
  • Configure private directories
  • Deploy a basic CGI application
  • Configure group-managed content

DNS

  • Configure a caching-only name server
  • Configure a caching-only name server to forward DNS queries
  • Note: Candidates are not expected to configure master or slave name servers

FTP

  • Configure anonymous-only download

NFS

  • Provide network shares to specific clients
  • Provide network shares suitable for group collaboration

SMB

  • Provide network shares to specific clients
  • Provide network shares suitable for group collaboration

SMTP

  • Configure a mail transfer agent (MTA) to accept inbound email from other systems
  • Configure an MTA to forward (relay) email through a smart host

SSH

  • Configure key-based authentication
  • Configure additional options described in documentation