Red Hat certification exams are well known for their hands-on performance testing. Candidates who wish to earn any of Red Hat's system administration certifications take exams by completing typical system administration tasks on a live system instead of answering multiple choice questions such as those for Oracle's Solaris system administration certification.
During late 2010, Red Hat announced that they would be making major changes to the RHCT (Red Hat Certified Technician) and the RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer) certification.
In the past, the RHCT and RHCE were combined in a single exam. The RHCT was designed for beginning and intermediate system administrators while the latter was designed for senior system administrators. Those who were able to pass part of the test could earn the RHCT certification. Those who were able to pass the entire exam would earn the RHCE certification. The new certification policy makes numerous changes which include the separation of these two exams.
RHCT Replaced by the RHCSA
Red Hat decided that the system administration certification test needed a substantial overhaul due to the numerous changes that were needed. For example, LVM was a concept that used to be covered in the RHCE portion of the certification exam. However, LVM is now a default installation option for the operating system so all system administrators need to know it. Because of that, the entry level RHCT exam needed to cover some formerly RHCE-only topics such as LVM.
Because there were so many changes, Red Hat decided to introduce the RHCSA (Red Hat Certified System Administrator) exam instead. Another reason Red Hat changed the name of the exam is that most holders of the old RHCT certification have the title of "system administrator" instead of "technician."
These changes also affects those seeking the RHCE certification as well.
Earning the RHCE in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Requires Passing the RHCSA Exam
In order to earn the RHCE in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (RHEL 6) or later, a candidate needs to pass the RHCSA exam as well. It is not necessary to complete the RHCSA prior to taking the RHCE, but the passage of the RHCSA is needed in order to earn the RHCE certification.
Previous holders of the RHCT on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 were awarded a RHCSA certificate automatically via email. Keep in mind that the RHCSA for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 is not considered to be equivalent to a RHCSA for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 due to substantial changes in the test content as mentioned above. Because of that, RHCT candidates must pass the new RHCSA exam for Red Hat Linux 6 in order to be eligible for the RHCE.
Current RHCE holders from version 5 or earlier who wish to complete re-certify to Red Hat Linux Enterprise 6 will need to pass the RHCSA exam as well as the new RHCE exam. There is no provision for early RHCE holders to skip the RHCSA. This is not very different from the old policy of taking the old combined RHCT and RHCE exam.
Expiration Policies of Old and New Red Hat Enterprise Linux Certifications
Finally, all Red Hat certifications from this point forward have a new three year expiration date policy unless updated with a more advanced exam. As far as previous certifications are concerned, they retain their original expiration policy. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 certifications will expire 60 days from the general release of Red Hat Linux 6, which was released on November 10, 2010. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 certifications will expire 60 days from the general release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Currently, there is no expected date for the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.
In short, all candidates who wish to gain RHCE certification in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 will need to pass both the RHCSA exam as well as the RHCE exam. The RHCSA is now the mandatory entry point for Red Hat's system administration certification exams.
