Certified Linux Administrator for Red Hat Enterprise

Certified Linux Administrator for Red Hat Enterprise

Domain 1: Enterprise System Initialization and Subscription Management

• Objective: Validate the ability to bootstrap, configure, and maintain RHEL systems, ensuring they are properly registered, updated, and optimized for corporate workloads.
• Key Competencies:
  • Managing system registration, repositories, and entitlements using Red Hat Subscription Management (RHSM) and Red Hat Satellite fundamentals.
  • Administering system initialization, services, and boot targets using systemd.
  • Applying dynamic performance tuning profiles using the tuned daemon based on specific enterprise workloads (e.g., database, virtual guest).
  • Managing modular software repositories and application streams using dnf.

Domain 2: Scalable Storage Architecture and File Systems

• Objective: Evaluate proficiency in provisioning, expanding, and optimizing local and network storage to support growing enterprise data requirements.
• Key Competencies:
  • Provisioning and managing advanced Logical Volume Manager (LVM) features, including thin provisioning and LVM snapshots for backup operations.
  • Configuring and optimizing enterprise file systems (XFS, ext4) and implementing storage efficiency technologies like Stratis or Virtual Data Optimizer (VDO).
  • Automating the mounting of enterprise network storage (NFS, SMB/CIFS) using autofs to reduce resource overhead.

Domain 3: Network Security Baselines, Identity, and SELinux

• Objective: Assess the skills required to securely integrate RHEL servers into enterprise networks, enforce strict access controls, and maintain compliance.
• Key Competencies:
  • Designing secure network topologies using NetworkManager (nmcli), including NIC teaming, VLAN tagging, and static routing.
  • Enforcing server security baselines using firewalld (zones and rich rules) and securing SSH access (key-based, disabling root login).
  • Administering Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) strictly in enforcing mode, managing custom file contexts, port labeling, and booleans.
  • Executing system vulnerability scans and compliance checks using OpenSCAP.

Domain 4: Modern Workloads: Containers and Automation (System Roles)

• Objective: Test the capability to support modern application deployments via containerization and standardize configurations across fleets using automation.
• Key Competencies:
  • Building, running, and managing rootless containers and pods using podman and buildah.
  • Integrating containerized services with the OS by configuring them to start automatically and persistently via systemd (using Podman Quadlets or generators).
  • Utilizing RHEL Image Builder to create customized, standardized OS images for hybrid cloud deployments.
  • Applying RHEL System Roles (via Ansible) to automate standard enterprise configurations like time synchronization (Chrony), networking, and SELinux policies across multiple nodes.