With all the changes coming with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7 and the training around it, I’ve heard Red Hat admins ask, “But what about their certifications?” The reality is that not much has changed around Red Hat certifications at the basic levels. But if you’ve got your sights set higher for the RHCA and some of the specialty areas, things have changed a bit!
At the lower levels — Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) and Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) — nothing has really changed. You still need to take the same courses and exams (EX200 for the RHCSA and EX300 for the RHCE), and you’ll need both of these certifications to get your Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA) certification.
What has changed at the higher levels? Well, a lot.
Red Hat has retired two mid-tier certifications: Red Hat Certified Security Specialist (RHCSS) and Red Hat Certified Datacenter Specialist (RHCDS).
For the RHCA, you have some additional flexibility. To move from RHCE to RHCA — the pinnacle of Red Hat certifications, you must earn five higher-level specialty certifications. The choices have expanded beyond the Red Hat Certificates of Expertise to include Openstack and even JBoss application server certifications, for a total of 13 choices! If you earn more than five higher-level certifications, Red Hat recognizes that by designating you a higher-level RHCA. For example, earning seven of the below certifications would make you an RHCA Level II.
You can become an RHCA by earning RHCE plus any five of the following:
- Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Hybrid Cloud Administration
- Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Hybrid Cloud Storage
- Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Platform-as-a-Service
- Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Deployment and Systems Management
- Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Server Hardening
- Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Clustering and Storage Management
- Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Performance Tuning
- Red Hat Certified Virtualization Administrator
- Red Hat Certified System Administrator in Red Hat OpenStack
- Red Hat Certified JBoss Administrator
- Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Security: Networking Services
- Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Directory Services and Authentication
- Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in SELinux Policy Administration
Starting October 1, 2014, Red Hat Certificates of Expertise will have a lifespan of three years. Also, three Certificates of Expertise have been retired (though, if you already have one, it can still count toward your RHCA). See the list of expired certs below.
Recently Retired Red Hat Certifications
- Red Hat Certified Security Specialist (RHCSS)
- Red Hat Certified Datacenter Specialist (RHCDS)
- Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Security: Networking Services
- Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Directory Services and Authentication
- Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in SELinux Policy Administration
Yes, Red Hat system administrators and fans, that’s a lot to digest! The big takeaways are:
- You have more options to earn your RHCA.
- Red Hat Certificates of Expertise now have a three-year lifespan and will be designated current or non-current on your certification record.
- Several Red Hat certifications have been retired.
Phew! That’s a lot of change, but as an IT professional I’m sure you’re up for the challenge. After all, technology always moves forward, and so must your Red Hat knowledge and expertise!
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