Syllabus

This is the proposed outline / syllabus for this Study Guide.

1. RHCSA (EX200)

   1. Understand and use essential tools

      1. Access a shell prompt and issue commands with correct syntax.
      2. Use input-output redirection (>, >>, |, 2>, etc.).
      3. Use grep and regular expressions to analyze text.
      4. Access remote systems using ssh and VNC.
      5. Log in and switch users in multiuser runlevels.
      6. Archive, compress, unpack, and uncompress files using tar, star, gzip, and bzip2.
      7. Create and edit text files.
      8. Create, delete, copy, and move files and directories.
      9. Create hard and soft links.
      10. List, set, and change standard ugo/rwx permissions.
      11. Locate, read, and use system documentation including man, info, and files in /usr/share/doc.

   2. Operate running systems

      1. Boot, reboot, and shut down a system normally.
      2. Boot systems into different runlevels manually.
      3. Use single-user mode to gain access to a system.
      4. Identify CPU/memory intensive processes, adjust process priority with renice, and kill processes.
      5. Locate and interpret system log files.
      6. Access a virtual machine's console.
      7. Start and stop virtual machines.
      8. Start, stop, and check the status of network services.

   3. Configure local storage

      1. List, create, delete, and set partition type for primary, extended, and logical partitions.
      2. Create and remove physical volumes, assign physical volumes to volume groups, and create and delete logical volumes.
      3. Create and configure LUKS-encrypted partitions and logical volumes to prompt for password and mount a decrypted file system at boot.
      4. Configure systems to mount file systems at boot by Universally Unique ID (UUID) or label.
      5. Add new partitions and logical volumes, and swap to a system non-destructively.

   4. Create and configure file systems

      1. Create, mount, unmount, and use ext2, ext3, and ext4 file systems.
      2. Mount, unmount, and use LUKS-encrypted file systems.
      3. Mount and unmount CIFS and NFS network file systems.
      4. Configure systems to mount ext4, LUKS-encrypted, and network file systems automatically.
      5. Extend existing unencrypted ext4-formatted logical volumes.
      6. Create and configure set-GID directories for collaboration.
      7. Create and manage Access Control Lists (ACLs).
      8. Diagnose and correct file permission problems.

   5. Deploy, configure, and maintain systems

      1. Configure networking and hostname resolution statically or dynamically.
      2. Schedule tasks using cron.
      3. Configure systems to boot into a specific runlevel automatically.
      4. Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux automatically using Kickstart.
      5. Configure a physical machine to host virtual guests.
      6. Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems as virtual guests.
      7. Configure systems to launch virtual machines at boot.
      8. Configure network services to start automatically at boot.
      9. Configure a system to run a default configuration HTTP server.
      10. Configure a system to run a default configuration FTP server.
      11. Install and update software packages from Red Hat Network, a remote repository, or from the local file system.
      12. Update the kernel package appropriately to ensure a bootable system.
      13. Modify the system bootloader.

   6. Manage users and groups

      1. Create, delete, and modify local user accounts.
      2. Change passwords and adjust password aging for local user accounts.
      3. Create, delete, and modify local groups and group memberships.
      4. Configure a system to use an existing LDAP directory service for user and group information.

   7. Manage security

      1. Configure firewall settings using system-config-firewall or iptables.
      2. Set enforcing and permissive modes for SELinux.
      3. List and identify SELinux file and process context.
      4. Restore default file contexts.
      5. Use boolean settings to modify system SELinux settings.
      6. Diagnose and address routine SELinux policy violations.

2. RHCE (EX300)

   1. System configuration and management

      1. Route IP traffic and create static routes.
      2. Use iptables to implement packet filtering and configure network address translation (NAT).
      3. Use /proc/sys and sysctl to modify and set kernel runtime parameters.
      4. Configure a system to authenticate using Kerberos.
      5. Build a simple RPM that packages a single file.
      6. Configure a system as an iSCSI initiator that persistently mounts an iSCSI target.
      7. Produce and deliver reports on system utilization (processor, memory, disk, and network).
      8. Use shell scripting to automate system maintenance tasks.
      9. Configure a system to log to a remote system.
      10. Configure a system to accept logging from a remote system.

   2. 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:

      1. Install the packages needed to provide the service.
      2. Configure SELinux to support the service.
      3. Configure the service to start when the system is booted.
      4. Configure the service for basic operation.
      5. Configure host-based and user-based security for the service.

      1. HTTP/HTTPS

         1. Configure a virtual host.
         2. Configure private directories.
         3. Deploy a basic CGI application.
         4. Configure group-managed content.

      2. DNS

         1. Configure a caching-only name server.
         2. Configure a caching-only name server to forward DNS queries.

         Note: Candidates are not expected to configure master or slave name servers.

      3. FTP

         1. Configure anonymous-only download.

      4. NFS

         1. Provide network shares to specific clients.
         2. Provide network shares suitable for group collaboration.

      5. SMB

         1. Provide network shares to specific clients.
         2. Provide network shares suitable for group collaboration.

      6. SMTP

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

      7. SSH

         1. Configure key-based authentication.
         2. Configure additional options described in documentation.

      8. NTP

         1. Synchronize time using other NTP peers.

This list was compiled from the information given on RedHat's Exam Objectives pages at:

• http://www.redhat.com/training/courses/ex200/examobjective
• http://www.redhat.com/training/courses/ex300/examobjective

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Miscellaneous Footnotes:
The info on how to number this nested list was obtained from this W3C documentation:
http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-CSS2-19980512/generate.html#scope