Written by Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA)
The Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) is a professional certification that validates essential Linux system administration skills in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) environments.
To earn the RHCSA certification, candidates must pass the Red Hat Certified System Administrator exam (EX200). The exam is performance-based and requires candidates to complete practical system administration tasks in a real Red Hat Enterprise Linux environment.
RHCSA covers fundamental skills required for Linux system administration, including working with the command line, managing files and permissions, configuring storage and file systems, managing users and groups, installing and managing software, configuring networking and services, and implementing basic security with technologies such as firewalld and SELinux.
The RHCSA certification provides a strong foundation for professionals working with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and also serves as an important step toward more advanced Red Hat certifications.
Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE)
The Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) is an advanced Red Hat certification designed for Linux system administrators who want to demonstrate their skills in automating system administration tasks using Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.
RHCE builds on the system administration skills covered by the Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) certification and focuses heavily on automation. Candidates are expected to understand standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux administration as well as how to automate the configuration and management of multiple systems using Ansible.
The certification covers skills such as working with Ansible inventories, variables, facts, modules, plays and playbooks, roles, Ansible Content Collections, templates, Ansible Vault, privilege escalation, and automating common system administration tasks.
The associated EX294 exam is performance-based. Candidates must create and use Ansible playbooks to configure systems and perform practical administration tasks in an environment similar to real-world Linux infrastructure.
RHCE is particularly valuable for Linux system administrators, infrastructure engineers, DevOps engineers, and other IT professionals who need to manage and automate Red Hat Enterprise Linux environments at scale.