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

First: This book AND Jang's separate Lab book were the only resources I used for preparation. I've read negative reviews in random places that claim various things are missing from this book....so far everything I've heard folks say is missing...is absolutely in this book. The Lab book doesn't add any knowledge value but the addition of labs and exams is very helpful.These are not difficult exams but I think folks tend to under-prepare and then blame their research materials.My approach was to skip the reading and go straight to the labs (using the labs answers as a guide). Once I completed all of the labs, then I read the book. Then I did the labs again. Then I read the book again. Then I did the labs again. I stopped the cycle of insanity once I reached a point where I could complete each lab without having to look anything up and could complete a given objective in under 2 minutes. Time can murder you on these tests. My approach was to be fast, super fast.For RHCSA, I completed all tasks in under 30 minutes. That left me 2 hours to go back through everything with a fine-tooth comb over and over again and come out with a 300 out of 300 score.For RHCE, I completed all tasks within the first hour leaving me an additional hour for reboots, and SE Linux relabeling....and then a fine-tooth comb back through all of the tasks to make sure all was well. Got a 260 out of 300.....really wish they broke down your score, it'd be great if I know what area I went wrong in.Anyway, the point of all that was this.... This book (and possibly the associated Lab Book) are ALL that you need. Don't listen to the negative reviews. I keep mentioning the Lab Book but there are a ton a labs that come with this book and they're good labs, the two RHCSA and two RHCE practice exams are great as well. The only problem is this (not actually something negative about this book) - practice makes perfect and after a while, you realize you're just doing the same labs over and over again - so the Lab Book is nice.DO NOT GOOGLE FOR LABS. There are plenty of resources out there that try to give you command-line examples of what you need to know or even possible lab ideas. I've found a lot of these to be overboard and way above and beyond what you actually need to know - so they will just have you freaking out and over studying topics that don't even apply. Stick to this book. Do the labs over and again. Read CAREFULLY. Practice outside of the labs. If the book mentions something and you don't recall doing a lab for it....just do it then, try it out.

I am a sysadmin at an ISP and I keep this book on my desk. I've been running RedHat linux off and on since the '90s, starting with the now-defunct Red Hat linux for the desktop and I still find this book to be a great resource on occasion.This book is excellent. This is not to say it is without its flaws; I find that some of the lab shell scripts are incorrect and/or poorly coded and I think that the author could explain encrypted partitions a little better (in the case of luks, the examples in the book are flawed, incomplete and misleading). I'd also like to see the selinux section expanded upon, since so few people understand what selinux even is, let alone how to properly configure it. The same goes for bind (dns)However: overall, the book is very good, aside from a few things I could spend a lot of time nitpicking on. This book will NOT take a novice up to RHCE level; you do need to have a solid understanding of basic Linux and general computing concepts to begin with, and having a solid understanding of filesystems and a basic understanding of networking won't hurt either. If you have the basics under your belt it will certainly take you up to the level you need to pass the exams, but your studying doesn't end with that exam; you'll need to keep reading and studying to become competent and comfortable on the job.This book is designed for one thing: to help you prepare for the RHCSA and RHCE exams, and assumes you have a solid understanding of the basic workings of Linux and/or UNIX. It is very well-written and unlike other Linux books I could mention, Jang doesn't waste ink telling jokes or telling the user to "bribe your admin with a pizza" or any nonsense you might find elsewhere.There are lots of holes that this book can't possibly fill, because Jang covers a lot of ground in 17 chapters. If you are serious about getting into system administration you'll be reading plenty of books and howto sites covering each of the specific topics. By the way, you can do all of the exercises in this book with one physical box, with three systems in VMs running on that one host.Oh, and major bonus: this book comes with an electronic copy on PDF. I keep a copy of it on my tablet.

So, I haven't used this for the RHCE yet, but I passed the RHCSA on the first try. Since I can't talk about the RHCSA, let me just talk about my experience with this book.I had very little prior Linux experience. I read the first 9 chapters (RHCE) sections of this book and got a job as a Jr. Linux Admin. I waited 1 year and then scheduled my exam. I re-read this book, did all the exercises + test questions + two practice exams. I was able to pass well over the required passing score. The practice exams really give you a feel for what type of questions/format to expect.So, I loved this book and as I study for my RHCE, let me tell you that it lines up well with the Red Hat objectives, just like the RHCSA section did. Mr Jang does a fabulous job of giving you a lot of background and knowledge on a subject, so even if you don't know how to do something, you have a base to build a solution on and know what to look for.I'd highly recommend this book for studying, and make sure you study for RHCSA objectives that Red Hat provides. If you can do all those fast and well, then you're fine. :)

This book covers all of the material for the Red Hat certified System Admin and Engineer tracks. Jang has done a good job, each section is covered in clear detail and doesn't waffle on too much and is well presented. Chapters start with the boot process and work their way up to system services the most admin/engineers will use and administer in their day to day work. The SA and CE tracks are clearly separated and provide examples that you can follow. As the the certification tests are fully practical it is well worth following these examples in a virtual machine to really get to know the environment. Enjoy working through this and good luck.

The book is good to practice for the exam and build a small lab, it is quite useful to get experience before the exam. The fact that the chapters are available as pdf is good because you can read things beforehand (bus, train) and then practice when you have time. The instructions sometimes are not quite detailed and can be a bit confusing to read sometimes. Perhaps it is target for beginners, I found the order of things too confusing sometimes. On the other hand, instructions weren't precise enough and, in this particular, actually targeting more experienced users. I haven't tried the last chapters for the RHCE.

Although Michael Jangs book is well known for being the book to buy when doing your RHCE, I found it went over and over and over the same statements like a stuck record.this book could be half its size (pages wise) if it just stuck to the subject matter and stopped going of on a mission.I passed my rhcsa and rhce, but I cant say this book helped much. The redhat course books were far more useful.

On the plus side, the book includes practice exams, and a brief summary of the key skills/tasks expected early on. However, it's very long, can be confusing, contains a lot of superfluous or anecdotal comments and is at times inaccurate (nothing dangerous, but I would advise against using this book as your only point of reference).If your looking for an introduction to Linux, which will get you through the RHCSA/RHCE qualifications, this is too short. If you are an experienced professional who just needs to fill a few gaps in your knowledge then it's far too long.I also didn't like the style. It's quite a chatty book, with section headings like "Wow, look at all that software", which some people might like, but I didn't. It's also interspersed with slightly pointless and annoying 'factoids' (LILO hasn't been supported by RedHat for years, for example), and little detail about how each section actually relates to the exam.The PDF copy is Ok, but it's just PDF - there isn't a HTML, ePub or mobi copy too.

Great book