Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) EX200 Online Training & Certification Prep
Master the hands-on Linux administration skills tested on the Red Hat EX200 performance exam. Live Labs on real RHEL 9 servers mean you practice exactly what the exam requires — configuring, managing, and troubleshooting a live Red Hat Enterprise Linux system under time pressure.
Course Overview
The Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) is the entry credential in Red Hat’s performance-based certification track. The EX200 exam gives candidates a live RHEL system and a set of tasks to complete — no multiple-choice, no partial credit for knowing the theory without executing correctly. This course is designed around that standard: every topic is taught through configuration and verification on real Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers.
The course begins with essential command-line and shell skills — file operations, text processing with grep/sed/awk, I/O redirection, pipelines, and basic shell scripting for task automation. You will work with the GNOME desktop environment and the virtual console to manage processes, schedule jobs with cron and systemd timers, and prioritize workloads with nice values.
User and group administration covers local account management, password aging policies, sudo configuration, and file permission models including setuid, setgid, and sticky bit. The storage section is comprehensive: partitioning disks with parted and fdisk, creating and extending physical volumes, volume groups, and logical volumes with LVM, formatting filesystems with XFS and ext4, and configuring persistent mounts via /etc/fstab. Swap management and LUKS-encrypted volumes are also covered.
Network administration covers static and dynamic IP configuration using NetworkManager (nmcli and nmtui), hostname management, and firewall configuration with firewalld zones and services. The SELinux section — a common exam challenge — explains the type enforcement model clearly: setting file contexts, troubleshooting AVC denials with audit2allow, and managing SELinux booleans.
The course closes with service management via systemd (units, targets, dependencies, masking), container management with Podman, and NFS/SMB network storage. Boost Live Labs place you on dedicated RHEL 9 servers where your changes persist between steps — mirroring exactly the exam environment. Three learning modalities and our Pass Guarantee support every preparation style.
What You'll Learn
- Navigate and manage the RHEL file system using the command line with confidence and speed
- Create, manage, and secure local user and group accounts with password policies and sudo access
- Configure file permissions including standard mode bits, ACLs, setuid, setgid, and sticky bit
- Partition disks, create LVM logical volumes, and extend storage without data loss
- Format and mount XFS and ext4 filesystems persistently, including LUKS-encrypted volumes
- Configure network interfaces, hostnames, and routes using NetworkManager CLI and TUI tools
- Manage firewall rules with firewalld to allow and block services and ports
- Administer and troubleshoot SELinux enforcing mode: contexts, booleans, and AVC denial analysis
- Control system services using systemctl, manage targets, and create custom systemd units
- Schedule recurring and one-time jobs using cron, at, and systemd timers
- Deploy and manage rootless containers using Podman with systemd integration
- Mount NFS exports and Samba shares persistently and configure autofs
Who This Course Is For
- Junior Linux administrators seeking their first Red Hat credential
- Windows administrators transitioning to a Linux-based infrastructure role
- Developers needing deeper Linux system knowledge for production deployments
- IT students preparing for enterprise Linux administration careers
- Systems engineers required to hold RHCSA as a prerequisite for RHCE or other Red Hat tracks
Course Outline
- Shell navigation: absolute and relative paths, tab completion, history
- File operations: cp, mv, rm, mkdir, ln (hard and symbolic)
- Text processing: grep, sed, awk, cut, sort, uniq, wc
- I/O redirection, pipes, and here documents
- Archiving and compression: tar, gzip, bzip2, xz
- Lab: complete a timed file management and text processing scenario on a live RHEL 9 host
- Creating and managing users: useradd, usermod, userdel, /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow
- Group management: groupadd, groupmod, gpasswd, /etc/group
- Password aging and account locking policies with chage
- Configuring sudo access: /etc/sudoers and /etc/sudoers.d drop-ins
- Lab: create a user with specific UID/GID requirements, configure sudo, and verify expiry policy
- Standard mode bits: read, write, execute for owner/group/other
- chmod (symbolic and octal), chown, chgrp
- setuid, setgid, and sticky bit: behavior and security implications
- POSIX ACLs: getfacl, setfacl, and default ACL inheritance
- Lab: configure a shared group directory with appropriate ACLs and set-GID bit
- Disk and partition concepts: MBR vs GPT
- Partitioning with parted and fdisk
- LVM architecture: physical volumes, volume groups, logical volumes
- Creating, extending, and reducing logical volumes online
- XFS and ext4 filesystem creation, tuning, and checking
- Configuring /etc/fstab with UUID and label-based entries
- Swap partition and swap file creation and activation
- LUKS encryption: formatting and unlocking at boot via /etc/crypttab
- Lab: partition a new disk, create an LVM volume group, provision and extend a logical volume, and configure LUKS encryption
- NetworkManager architecture: connections, devices, profiles
- nmcli: creating, modifying, and activating connections
- nmtui for interactive configuration
- Hostname management with hostnamectl
- Firewalld: zones, services, ports, and rich rules
- Verifying connectivity with ip, ss, and ping
- Lab: configure a static IP, add a DNS server, and open a custom port in firewalld
- SELinux modes: enforcing, permissive, disabled; getenforce, setenforce
- Type enforcement: labels on files, processes, and ports
- Viewing and changing file contexts: ls -Z, chcon, restorecon, semanage fcontext
- SELinux booleans: getsebool, setsebool, semanage boolean
- Diagnosing AVC denials with audit2allow and sealert
- Lab: troubleshoot two SELinux-blocked services by analyzing denials and applying the correct fcontext or boolean fix
- systemd units: service, socket, timer, target, mount
- systemctl: start, stop, enable, disable, mask, status
- Creating custom service units and drop-in override files
- systemd targets and recovery: rescue and emergency targets
- Resetting a forgotten root password via boot interrupt
- Cron syntax and crontab management per user and system
- at for one-time job scheduling
- Lab: create a systemd service unit, configure a timer unit as a cron replacement, and recover a locked root account
- Podman vs Docker: daemonless architecture and rootless containers
- Pulling images, running and inspecting containers with Podman
- Persistent storage for containers: volume mounts
- Generating systemd unit files from containers with podman generate systemd
- NFS client configuration: showmount, mount, /etc/fstab persistence
- Samba/CIFS mounts with credentials
- Autofs: direct and indirect maps for on-demand mounting
- Exam strategy: time management across tasks, partial vs complete scoring
About the Certification Exam
- Exam code
- EX200
- Length
- 3 hours
- Questions
- Performance-based tasks on a live RHEL system u2014 no multiple choice
- Passing score
- 210 out of 300 points
- Exam cost
- ~$500 USD
- Where
- Red Hat authorized testing centers; remote proctored option varies by region
The certification exam fee is paid separately to the testing provider and is not included in the course price unless stated otherwise.
Live Labs Included
Hands-on practice on real environments
This course includes Live Labs — direct access to real hardware and cloud environments so you build the skills the exam actually tests.
- LVM storage expansion lab: add a new virtual disk to a live RHEL 9 server, create a physical volume and volume group, provision a logical volume, format it as XFS, and extend it online by 2 GB without unmounting
- SELinux troubleshooting lab: three pre-broken services are blocked by SELinux — candidates must read audit logs, identify the required fcontext changes and boolean settings, apply them, and verify each service starts in enforcing mode
- User administration lab: create users and groups matching specific UID/GID requirements, configure password expiry policies, set up sudo access with a custom command restriction, and verify access controls from a second terminal
- LUKS encrypted volume lab: partition a disk, apply LUKS encryption, add the key to /etc/crypttab and /etc/fstab, reboot the server, and verify the filesystem mounts automatically with the stored key
- Systemd and scheduling lab: write a custom systemd service unit for a shell script, configure a systemd timer to replace an existing cron job, verify the timer fires correctly, and mask a conflicting legacy service
- Podman rootless container lab: pull a container image as a non-root user, run it with a bind-mounted configuration volume, generate a systemd unit file with podman generate systemd, enable it with --user, and verify it survives logout
Pass Guarantee Included
Complete this course and if you don't pass the certification exam on your first attempt, we'll refund your course fee or give you a free retake — your choice.
