Linux Certification anyone?

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Thanks tripwire, think this one is going to be a lot tougher than the last. It covers some things I am not yet familiar with, SELInux, Apache and few other bits and pieces. I have another great book by Michael Jang on RHCE which I am studying for the exam.

Its a long one too. Purely practical again and 2 hours Troubleshooting and System Maintenance where you have to get 100% of the RHCT level problems solved and 2/5 of the RHCE level problems before you are allowed to go onto the 3 hour installation and configuration part of the exam which has a similar breakdown of items to complete.

 

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Hi,

I am looking to take the RHCE for RHEL5 early 2008... (Got some other stuff I need to finish first)

I am hoping that even if I do not pass the RHCE, I pass enough to gain RHCT... and then retake for RHCE..

I too have the latest Michael Jang book so would be interested to know how you get on...

Good Luck!

 

Thanks Jelly. Must admit I am cacking it a bit more with this one than the RHCT. Kinda walked that one but RHCE covers a lot of stuff I have never looked at. Hopefully the course beforehand will fill in the gaps.

It is damned expensive putting myself through this stuff. Tis working out about £2350 for the course followed by the exam.

Maybe I need a permy job for the next role, get them to send me on courses

 

Ummm..... Just a word of warning/advice, whatever you want to call it. I think expecting a course that covers a few days of intense instruction to cover a subject as large and as involved as the Apache web server well enough for you to be able to troubleshoot in during a test is a huge mistake.

I played with Apache some before I started working with it on a regular basis, have a couple of books on it that I'd read, and thought I knew something about it. LOL. What an idiot I was to think that. You'd think I should know better than that this far along into my learning process. There is a lot, and I mean a lot, to learn about Apache to get any good with it at all. There is way too much to learn to comprehend it all in a day or so, and the only way to really be able to troubleshoot Apache is to understand it well.

Knowing when, why, and where to invoke the hundreds of different configuration options available in Apache configuration files is not a simple thing to learn. As always, the knowledge required to be good at an open source product is far and away greater than that required to get by working with a MS product. Being able to point and click your way through an install of Apache is not nearly nearly enough knowledge to handle Apache on a professional basis.

I started administering an Apache installation used for a fairly complex web application a few months ago, and what I thought I knew how to do was so inconsequential to the knowledge actually required to administer a working Apache install that there is no comparison between the two. It's sort of like the difference between knowing how to drive a car, and knowing how to build one.

I would not advise you to rely on RedHat's training session alone to learn Apache. The choice is obviously yours to make, but my experience tells me you're looking for real trouble that way.

 

been looking at linux for a while, open source is picking up pace .

currently looking into comptia to see what the exams consist of.
duel platform certs sound like a logical idea. this can only help with getting that foot in the door.

like to see more linux info on (cf).

keep up the good work

jamman32

 

im glad this thread re-emerged because i have been doing a linux/unix module at uni and because of my prior learning with debian helped me alot. I guess i fell in love with linux again after this semester and i too am now considering a linux cert. I wonder if freddy can give me some advice on this? I think the last cert exam i took was in january - wow seems so long ago!

 

All I will say about certs and Linux is that knowledge is much more highly prized in the Linux world than certifications are. You know what you are doing, and can show it, no certification is needed. Linux isn't Windows..... Linux isn't Windows...... Linux isn't Windows..... Linux isn't Windows..... Don't forget that Linux isn't Windows.....

Skills mean far more than paper.

 

Perhaps you haven't been keeping track of the Microsoft world... but knowledge is more highly prized in the Windows world than certifications are as well.

There's a reason I sound like a broken record on these forums about getting experience ...

 

Nah. I haven't forgotten. Certifications are, however, valued much more highly in the Windows world than the Linux world. In the Linux world the vast majority of us are self-taught. We've had to be. Everything around us is Windows oriented. The schools require Windows software. Business uses Windows software. Everywhere you look you see Windows. So, when you run across someone with Linux skills they are far more often than not, self-taught. They have gone against the grain, moved away from what they've seen everywhere else, and been motivated solely by their own desire to learn. That should, and does, mean more than any piece of of paper.

The same cannot be said for Windows people. They have just gone with the flow. They have just learned what they have seen around them every day. They just learned the common, the point-and-click easy way to do things. What is in that to separate them from herd? It doesn't. Therefore the certification.

An example: I can, and have, administered IIS with nothing more than a mouse click and didn't have a real clue as why I did what I did. I cannot do that with Apache. I have to learn the syntax for the configuration files, I have to learn when, where, and why to use that syntax. I have to learn what modules to load under what circumstances, and just as importantly, what not to load. I have to understand what makes Apache tick to work with it. I have to understand it to secure it, to tune it, to make it do a myriad of different tasks.

There are tools now where a person can administer Apache by point-and-click, but if you go to an interview you'll get laughed out the place if you can't do the task manually, and have to rely on a point-and-click tool. Why? Because it doesn't represent the understanding, the knowledge, of what it really takes to understand Apache.

So, if I can show I've successfully administered Apache, and can set it up to do complex tasks securely, then I've demonstrated far more knowledge than someone needs to set up IIS. So how then does the experienced IIS guy separate himself from the crowd? certifications. How does the experienced Apache guy separate himself? demonstration of his superior skills.

That's why certs just aren't important in the Linux world, and are in the Windows world.

 

I think ffreeloader raises an interesting point re: certification vs experience in the unix world and much of what he says
I agree with. Certification can demonstrate a breadth and depth of theoretical knowledge, which is desirable, but, of
course, if it's not put into practice through real-world systems' management tasks ie. installing, configuring, maintaining,
optimising, troubleshooting of the: OS; apps; network; security etc etc the theory can quickly fade and be forgotten.

I know the RHCE accreditation is well regarded due to its difficulty - they've made it quite a thorough test. Perhaps,
in response to the poor regard some IT exams, given the knowledge of their holders, are viewed.

ffreeloader raises another interesting point with the character of the typical unix techie. Yes, you do have to be
self-motivated, as early on the unix environment can be a little tough and unforgiving (ie. type: rmdir -rf * at a
command prompt, go off and make a coffee then return to find the entire OS gone). Many of the unix engineers I've
met and worked with were independently minded (stubborn too!), mischievous and clever.

Unfortunately, there is a snobbery also. Unix is considered by some practitioners - ok, many - as a real OS -
A MAN'S OS - even (yes, macho chest-beating - shocking I know)!! Where windows just meets with contempt.
This is a shame, I've worked with some very sharp windows guys in my time who really loved the work, weren't
intimidated by CLIs and who could make top-notch unix engineers.

Another good point is the level of abstraction windows presents, where in windows you can just sleep-walk through
a an install/config of some app or other and have no idea of the underlying workings - the what you're doing or
why you're doing it.

Yes there are GUIs in unix, of course, but it's almost a given, a badge of honour, to at least know how to install
and configure things manually from the command line, until you get bored after so many installs that you either
go for a menu-driven interface, or windows, or if you can, write a script to complete the config tasks.

The point is, with unix, you get to go under the bonnet of the OS, and see and work with the nuts and bolts of
the system. Windows tries to keep you out, whereas unix lets you in - it's an open door that lets you into the
very heart of the system. Which again, is why it can be so dangerous in the hands of novices.

There isn't anything mysterious about unix and it shouldn't be shunned as some strange dark art. If you're
interested in computing - and not just a job in IT for the money alone - get a look at unix. Buy a Mac, or
partition your windows HDD and install ubuntu or Solaris etc. Unix will reveal the bare bones of computing
without the flesh of windows to obscure the view. It certainly won't do your CV any harm.

Plus, any windows engineer who says s/he's got a dual (or triple etc) boot system with at least one unix
partition always shoots up in the estimation of an onlooking unix engineer. It's automatic. Can't be helped.
They'll love you for it. For in their eyes, you will have joined the great tribe of unix, which is shorthand for being
a proper techie, and soon you'll be growing a big beard (or wearing a false one or something) and wearing
thick hill-walking socks with sandals (and probably wear t-shirts with things like: cd /pub more beer)!

In short, you'll be a nerd...

 

You say that as if theres something wrong with it!!

LOL

 

Nah, I love it!