RHCSA and RHCE on RHEL 10: Exam Details, What to Study and How to Choose Training

Key takeaways

• RHCSA is EX200, now based on RHEL 10. RHCE is EX294 and tests Ansible automation.
• Both exams are performance-based: you perform tasks on live systems.
• Commonly cited formats are 3 hours for RHCSA with a 210 of 300 pass mark, and 4 hours for RHCE; confirm on Red Hat's exam pages.
• RHEL 10 adds items such as image mode, post-quantum cryptography support and an AI command-line assistant, but exams test the objectives Red Hat publishes.
• Choose training by lab hours, RHEL 10 alignment, exam-style practice and clear written terms.

What are RHCSA and RHCE?

RHCSA (Red Hat Certified System Administrator, exam EX200) is Red Hat's entry-level professional certification. It checks that you can do everyday system administration on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The current exam is based on RHEL 10. RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer, exam EX294) builds on it and focuses on automating administration with Ansible. Above these, Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA) is earned by passing several advanced exams. The authoritative pages are on Red Hat Training and Certification.

What is the exam format?

Durations, scores, prices and prerequisites can change, so confirm them on Red Hat's official exam pages before you book. Red Hat certifications are generally valid for three years, so check the renewal rules on the same pages.

What does RHCSA test?

• Essential tools: command line, files, redirection, archives, text processing, help systems.
• Users, groups and permissions: accounts, sudo, file permissions and ACLs.
• Services and boot: systemd units, targets, scheduling, logs.
• Storage: partitions, file systems, LVM, swap and mounts.
• Networking: addressing with NetworkManager, hostnames, SSH, firewalld.
• Security: SELinux modes, contexts and booleans.
• Software: dnf and repositories.
• Containers: running and managing containers with Podman.
• Scripting: basic shell scripts.

Use Red Hat's published objectives as your checklist, since the list can change between versions.

What does RHCE test?

The RHCE exam centres on Ansible: writing playbooks, using inventories, variables, templates, handlers and roles, working with Ansible Vault and applying automation across many managed hosts. You are expected to be fast and accurate under time pressure. The Ansible documentation is the main reference to practise from.

What is new in RHEL 10 that learners should know?

RHEL 10 is a major release with features worth understanding as an administrator, though not everything appears in the exam objectives:

• Image mode (bootable container images) for deploying and updating systems as images.
• Post-quantum cryptography support as part of its crypto policies.
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Lightspeed, a command-line assistant that answers questions in natural language. AI assistance is useful for learning, but exam tasks must be done by you.
• Improved remote access and installation options, such as RDP-based graphical access.

Like RHEL 8 and 9, RHEL 10 has a ten-year lifecycle, five years of full support and five of maintenance, documented on Red Hat's life cycle page. Product documentation is at docs.redhat.com.

How should you prepare?

1. Build an RHEL 10 virtual machine, or an RHEL-compatible one such as Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux for general practice. CentOS Linux is end-of-life, so avoid it.
2. Take each objective and perform it from memory with only the man pages and the documentation allowed in the exam.
3. Practise breaking and fixing: bad fstab entries, a stopped service, SELinux denials, a full disk, a lost root password.
4. Time yourself on full mock tasks, since speed under pressure is half the exam.
5. Make every change persistent and test it after a reboot. Many failed attempts come from non-persistent changes.
6. Only then move to RHCE and Ansible.

How do you choose training?

• Is the course aligned to RHEL 10 and the current objectives?
• How many hours are hands-on labs, and do you keep lab access?
• Are there exam-style practice sessions with feedback?
• Are fees, vouchers and retakes explained in writing?
• Can you attend a demo class?

Common mistakes

• Studying from RHEL 8 or 9 material and missing changes.
• Not testing after reboot.
• Skipping SELinux, which affects many tasks.
• Relying on AI assistants or notes during practice and then failing without them.

Next steps

See our RHCSA EX200 course and RHCE EX294 course. For a longer guide, read the RHCSA RHEL 10 exam labs guide and how to pass RHCE EX294.

Related reading

• Online RHCSA EX200 v10 Training & Certification | Study Material & Exam Readiness for RHEL 10
• Linux Admin Course in Pune | Learn Linux Administration with Certification