RHCSA/RHCE Red Hat Linux Certification Study Guide (Exams EX200 & EX300), 6th Edition [Paperback]

This is the sixth edition of Jang's Red Hat Linux Certification Study Guide, though it has in previous editions been known under slightly different titles due to the change in Red Hat's test titles. With the transition to Red Hat Enterprise 6 and the introduction of Red Hat's RHCSA (Certified System Administrator) test, this book has undergone a significant revision cycle.

First things first - the book comes with a CD that contains a total of four practice exams, two for the RHCSA exam and two for the RHCE exam. It also contains a full copy of the book, in PDF form, broken up in chapters. This is a huge benefit for those that travel with a laptop or for those that wish to study without toting the book along. This CD alone is worth the cost of the book.

Startling is the edition of coverage of the KVM early into the book (chapter 2). According to Jang, the exam now is conducted through virtualization and as such one must have some familiarity with the environment before taking the test. Being relatively new to virtual operating system environments, this is very helpful material and is applicable to things that happen in the workplace when looking for ways to make the most of the hardware available.

As in previous editions this books has a breakdown of what chapters cover each exam, and this table is covered early. For people studying for the RHCSA exam, this makes it a little easier to narrow down the scope of material. There are 17 chapters of study materials in this book, plus the practice exams: Preparing for the RH Hands-On Certification, Virtual Machines and Automates Installations, Fundamental Command Line Skills, RHCSA-Level Security Options, The Boot Process, Linux Filesystem Administration, Package Management, User Administration, RHCSA-Level System Administration Tasks, A Security Primer, System Services and SELinux, RHCE Administrative Tasks, Electronic Mail Servers, The Apache Web Server, The Samba File Server, More File-Sharing Services, and finally Administrative Services: DNS, FTP, and Logging. Each of these chapters dives deep into the topic matter and offers up self-quiz questions and exercises to help learn and/or master the material. With this coverage passing the exams are within reach.

This is not just an exam preparation manual, though. It is also a superb reference. It is not feasible to remember everything there is to know about Linux and Red Hat in particular, but this book keeps everything close by and accessible - and the PDF version is invaluable just for the searching capabilities alone.

I keep this book close by. Previous versions of this book have helped many people pass the RHCE and the RHCT (superceded by the new RHSCA) exams, and this books is suited for doing the same for many more people. Even if you're not prepping for certification, consider picking up this book as it will be a very valuable reference.

IMPORTANT NOTE: It should be noted that this book does NOT cover configuration of the X Window system. According to Red Hat's published exam objectives for RHEL 6 (as of summer 2011), X configuration is not required for passing the RHCSA or RHCE exams and as such this book does not include X coverage.

I'm a full time Linux Systems Engineer/Trainer who holds RHCE himself, I've been a big fan of the previous book which was my main tool of preparation (together with experience and other subject specific books) and was eagerly looking forward the updated version for RHEL 6.

Usually when a new product come out the associated book is more a copy/modify/paste of the previous version in this case Michael Jang has done a tremendous job of updating all the content from the previous version while adding new stuff that lot of people were looking for like how to build your own lab, basic configuration for the lab and lot of scenarios for practice.

In the past I've been writing my own scripts/labs and releasing them on my blog but when I took the book in my hand was surprised in a pleasant way! Jang made it again raising the bar of excellence for how a technical book should be written!

If you are preparing for RHCSA/RHCE don't wait anymore this is the one stop for your certification needs.

I purchased the previous edition (5th Edition) of Mr. Jangs book to help me with the RHCSA exam at the first of the year, and it was an excellent guide.
Upon seeing this newest edition released based upon RHEL6 I knew I had to have it :)
This new edition is even better than the 5th, and the author has done a tremendous job of organizing the content to make preparing for both the RHCSA and RHCE exams easy.
The first chapter helps you get several RHEL environments setup to be used for practice, and they go nicely with the lab exercises Mr. Jang offers in the book. Then, chapters 2-9 helps new folks prepare for the RHCSA exam. You then move into the last chapters 10 - 17 to prepare for the RHCE exam. This was excellent!
Mr. Jang presents the material in an easy to understand format, and also offers explanations for what you are learning. He also gives great snippets throughout the book of how to use the material in real world situations, which I found to be most helpful.
I highly recommend this book to anyone that is preparing for the RHCSA or RHCE exams. Read it, and then do the exercises and labs that he presents at the end of each chapter. This will prepare you for what to expect on the exam, and you wont be stunned by any unknowns when you take the exam.
The book also makes for a GREAT desk reference. I keep my older 5th edition at my workplace since we are primarily a RHEL5 shop (which that edition was based from), and I keep my new 6 edition of the book at home as my own personal desk reference.

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