Red Hat Linux (RHCSA + RHCE) Combo Training & Certification Live Online in Reykjavik

Part 1 is Red Hat System Administration I (RH124), which Red Hat bases on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10. The opening chapter explains what open source, Linux, a Linux distribution and Red Hat Enterprise Linux are.

• What open source software is and how Linux came out of it
• What a Linux distribution is
• Where Red Hat Enterprise Linux fits and what it is used for

You log in to a Linux system and run simple commands in the shell.

• Log in at a text console and in the graphical desktop
• Open a shell prompt and run commands with the correct syntax
• Log in and switch users in multiuser targets

This chapter shows how to solve problems with the help systems and documentation installed on the machine.

• Read manual pages with man and search them by keyword
• Use command help options and the documentation under /usr/share/doc
• Find the right page quickly, which matters because the exam gives no internet access

You register a system to your Red Hat account so that it is entitled to support and software.

• Register a system with a Red Hat account
• Check the registration and what the system is entitled to
• See how registration gives access to Red Hat software repositories

RHEL Lightspeed gives AI-driven guidance for managing a system. This chapter covers how to use it.

• Ask RHEL Lightspeed for help with an administration task
• Read the guidance it returns and check it before you run anything
• Use it alongside the local documentation from chapter 3

Linux organises files in a single tree. You learn how that tree is laid out and how to point to a file inside it.

• The main directories of the Linux file system and what each one holds
• Absolute and relative paths
• Move around with cd, pwd and ls

You copy, move, create, delete and organise files from the Bash shell.

• Create, copy, move and delete files and directories
• Create hard and soft links
• Match groups of files with shell expansions and patterns

Configuration on Linux lives in text files. Here you create, view and edit them in the terminal.

• View text files from the command line
• Create and edit files with a terminal text editor such as vim
• Save, quit and recover from common editing mistakes

You redirect where a command reads its input from and where it sends its output in Bash.

• Redirect output and errors with >, >> and 2>
• Chain commands with pipes
• Send command output to a file and to the screen at once

This chapter covers superuser access, local accounts and groups, and password policy.

• Gain superuser access with su and sudo, and configure privileged access
• Create, modify and delete local user accounts
• Create and manage local groups and group memberships
• Change passwords and adjust password ageing

You set permissions on files and work out what a given set of permissions allows.

• List and read user, group and other permissions (rwx)
• Change permissions and ownership with chmod and chown
• Set default permissions with umask
• Diagnose and correct file permission problems

You download, install, update and manage software packages from Red Hat and from DNF repositories.

• Inspect installed packages and package files with rpm
• Install, update and remove packages with dnf
• Configure access to RPM repositories
• Install from the Red Hat Content Delivery Network, a remote repository or the local file system

Flatpak is a second way to install software. You use it to install desktop applications from the Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog.

• Configure access to Flatpak repositories
• Install and remove Flatpak applications
• Run and update an application installed as a Flatpak

You reach the file systems on removable media by mounting them.

• Identify block devices and the file systems on them
• Mount and unmount a file system by hand
• Check what is mounted and how much space is in use

You investigate, control and end the processes running on a system.

• List processes and read their state
• Find processes that are using a lot of CPU or memory, and kill them
• Run and manage jobs in the background
• Monitor system load

Services on RHEL are run by systemd. You control and monitor them here.

• Start, stop, restart and check services with systemctl
• Set services to start automatically at boot
• List the units systemd is managing and read their status

This chapter explains the basic ideas of TCP/IP networking and shows how to check a server's network configuration.

• IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, routes and name resolution
• Inspect interfaces and addresses with the ip command
• Test connectivity to another host

You configure network interfaces and settings on a server.

• Configure IPv4 and IPv6 addresses
• Edit connections with nmcli
• Configure the hostname and hostname resolution
• Make network settings persist across a reboot

You manage SSH host keys and set up key-based authentication.

• Access remote systems with ssh
• How host keys work and where they are stored
• Configure key-based authentication for SSH
• Copy files securely between systems

The last RH124 chapter is review labs in which you practise the skills taught in the course.

• Review labs on files, users, groups and permissions
• Review labs on processes, services, networking and SSH

Part 2 is Red Hat System Administration II (RH134), also based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10. It starts with writing and running simple shell scripts and using shell features to run commands more efficiently.

• Write and run a simple Bash script
• Use conditions (if, test, [ ]) and loops in scripts
• Process script arguments ($1, $2 and so on) and the output of commands

Regular expressions let you match text precisely. You apply them to administration tasks.

• Write regular expressions that match the text you want
• Search files and command output with grep
• Apply regular expressions to log files and configuration files

You schedule programs to run later as a regular user, once or on a recurring basis.

• Schedule a one-off job with at
• Schedule recurring jobs with a user crontab
• List and remove scheduled jobs

Some jobs belong to the system and support daemons and the operating system itself. You schedule those here.

• Schedule recurring system jobs with cron
• Schedule tasks with systemd timer units
• See which scheduled jobs the system already runs

You find and read system logs when troubleshooting, and keep event timestamps accurate.

• Locate and interpret system log files and journal entries
• Preserve the system journal across reboots
• Configure a time service client so that timestamps are correct

SELinux is a second layer of access control on RHEL. You use it to protect a system and to manage its security settings.

• Set enforcing and permissive modes
• List and identify SELinux file and process contexts
• Restore default file contexts
• Change SELinux settings with booleans

You create compressed archives for backup and for moving files between systems.

• Create and extract archives with tar
• Compress archives with gzip and bzip2
• List what an archive contains before you unpack it

You move files from one system to another over a secure connection.

• Transfer files securely between systems over SSH
• Synchronise directories between two hosts
• Check that the copy arrived complete

You apply tuning profiles and change the scheduling priority of processes.

• Select and apply a tuning profile
• Adjust process scheduling priority with nice and renice
• Check the effect on a running system

You create partitions, file systems and swap space from the command line.

• List, create and delete partitions on GPT disks
• Create, mount and use VFAT, ext4 and XFS file systems
• Mount file systems at boot by UUID or label
• Add swap space without destroying existing data

Logical Volume Manager (LVM) lets you manage logical volumes that hold file systems and swap space.

• Create and remove physical volumes
• Assign physical volumes to volume groups
• Create and delete logical volumes
• Extend an existing logical volume and its file system

You control how a system boots and which services start, and you fix problems that appear at boot time.

• Boot, reboot and shut down a system normally
• Boot into a different systemd target and set the default target
• Modify the system bootloader
• Repair boot-time problems such as a broken file system entry

When the root password is unknown or the account is locked, you still need a way in. This chapter covers regaining administrative access.

• Interrupt the boot process to gain access to a system
• Reset a lost root password
• Return the system to normal operation afterwards

You control which network connections reach your services, using the system firewall and SELinux port settings.

• Configure firewall settings with firewall-cmd and firewalld
• Restrict network access to services
• Manage SELinux port labels

You reach NFS shares on another server, either by mounting them yourself or through the automounter.

• Mount and unmount network file systems with NFS
• Make an NFS mount persistent
• Configure autofs to mount shares on demand

You install Red Hat Enterprise Linux in package mode, interactively and with Kickstart.

• Install RHEL interactively
• Automate an installation with a Kickstart file
• Check the system after installation

You manage containers and container images with Podman. The course teaches containers even though Red Hat's EX200 objectives for RHEL 10 no longer list them.

• Find and pull container images
• Run, stop and remove containers
• Manage the images stored on a host

RHEL can also be delivered as an image. You create, use, install and upgrade image-based containers and servers.

• Create an image-based RHEL system
• Install a server from an image
• Upgrade an image-based system

RH134 ends with review labs in which you practise the skills taught in the course.

• Review labs on scripting, scheduling, logs and SELinux
• Review labs on storage, boot troubleshooting, network security and containers

Part 3 is Red Hat Enterprise Linux Automation with Ansible (RH294), which Red Hat now lists as AU294 and bases on RHEL 10 and Ansible Core 2.16. This opening chapter explains what Ansible is and how it is used, then gets your working environment ready.

• Describe the core parts of Ansible: inventories, modules, variables, facts, plays, playbooks, configuration files and roles.
• Install and configure the Ansible development tools in VS Code.
• Configure Ansible settings in ansible.cfg and ansible-navigator.yml.
• Look up module details in the documentation that ships with the product.

You build an inventory, write playbooks of growing size, run them, and learn what to check when a playbook or a host fails.

• Create a static inventory and define host groups.
• Prepare managed nodes: create and distribute SSH keys and set up privilege escalation.
• Write simple and complex playbooks and run them with ansible-navigator and ansible-playbook.
• Troubleshoot playbook errors and host failures.

Variables make a playbook easier to manage. This chapter covers defining them, protecting the sensitive ones, and reading information about managed hosts.

• Use variables to simplify how a playbook is managed.
• Protect sensitive data in variables with Ansible Vault.
• Use facts and magic variables to refer to information about managed hosts.
• Capture the result of a command in a registered variable.

Task control decides how often a task runs and whether it runs at all.

• Use loops to run a task once for each item in a list.
• Use conditionals so that a task runs only when a condition is met.
• Configure error handling in a play, which is one of the EX294 exam objectives.

This chapter is about putting files on managed hosts and changing them in place.

• Deploy files to hosts managed by Ansible.
• Adjust the content and attributes of files that are already on a host.
• Create Jinja2 templates that produce customised configuration files.

Large playbooks need structure. You split work across files and target exactly the hosts you mean to change.

• Import or include other playbooks and task files to organise a complex playbook.
• Use advanced host patterns to select specific hosts from an inventory.
• Write playbooks that still read clearly as the number of plays and hosts grows.

Roles and Ansible Content Collections let you write playbooks faster and reuse code you already have.

• Create roles and work with them in playbooks.
• Install roles and use them in playbooks.
• Install Content Collections and use their modules and roles.
• Combine roles, modules and other collection content in one playbook.

The last chapter applies Ansible to the routine Linux administration work covered at RHCSA level.

• Manage software packages, repositories and services.
• Configure firewall rules, storage devices and file systems.
• Manage users and groups, file content and archives.
• Schedule tasks and apply security settings.