Looming large: The Red Hat revolution

Network administration today requires a mix of both Microsoft and Linux know-how and with proprietary software licensing costs eating away company bottom lines, you can bet that in 2003, employers will continue to expand their Linux solutions in the enterprise.

Linux has already established itself as the quick-to-implement, stable and cheap alternative to proprietary operating systems. It puts the control of the business network back in the hands of the company, reducing external IT support costs and making way for more manageable and secure IT environments.

While there are many training institutions locally that offer Linux training and certifications, the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) qualification, available only from Obsidian Training, is the one certification that is globally accepted as the de facto training for running Linux in a business environment.

"The primary goal of RHCE certification is to meet the demand of individuals and employers for a useful metric of individual skills and knowledge, particularly with Red Hat Linux, the largest-selling distribution of Linux," explains Warren Bell, lead trainer, at Obsidian Training.

An independent survey done by Fairfield Research on behalf of Certification Magazine with more than 4 000 IT professionals worldwide, showed that RHCE ranks the highest for its quality training and certification, and value for money.

IT professionals were asked to rate their training and certification experiences in terms of quality of learning materials, instructors, comprehensiveness of programs and related tests, overall educational quality, perceived price and value, quality per dollar, and overall quality.

On a scale of one to five, with five being excellent and one being poor, Red Hat scored highest and captured first place in the following: Top 10 Certifications for Overall Educational Quality (given a 4.13 score out of 5.0), Top 10 Certifications for Quality of Tests/Exams (given a 4.42 score out of 5.0).

In the Overall Quality category, on a scale of zero to 30, combining the rankings of individual elements such as quality of instructors and exams, Red Hat was again rated number one in the top 10 list, with a 24.4 score.

The 2002 rankings for quality are just the latest in a series of independent reviews and surveys released by Computer Reseller News, CertCities, Certification Magazine, and TechRepublic, all of whom rank RHCE as one of the 10 top IT certifications for quality, value, salary increase, and/or level of interest among IT professionals.

While RHCE is hardly brain surgery, it`s the real-world practicality and performance-based evaluation of the Red Hat exam that it so hard to crack.

"The RHCE certificate is a meaningful, serious certificate, proof of actual competency, unimpeachably better as a measure of actual skill than other OS certifications," says Bell.

"Many training programs teach students how to pass tests instead of how to perform on actual systems in the real world. It is not possible to cram for a live system performance-based test, unless the 'cramming` means getting real- world experience and flight time. If you pass this course, you`ll will be comfortable in any Linux business environment," he says.

The RHCE certification indicates that the person has passed a realistic performance-based lab exam that tests his/her ability to install and configure Red Hat Linux, understand limitations of hardware, configure networking and file systems, configure the X Window System, configure security, set up common network (IP) services, carry out diagnostics and troubleshooting, and perform essential Red Hat Linux system administration.

"Linux users and professionals want to get a certificate they can respect and which they know is challenging. Employers need to feel confident when they hire an RHCE that the person has demonstrated the skills and competencies required to administer Red Hat Linux systems for critical roles," says Bell.

"Consulting companies, VARs, and resellers with RHCEs on staff are able to make a better business case to their customers, and RHCEs themselves report greater confidence, greater success with their Linux implementations for customers or their employers," he says.

Obsidian Training offers complete RHCE tutoring for novices and industry professionals to prove their worth in the open source environment.

The courses available range from rapid track to essential knowledge and skills, to practical methods for developing Linux-based applications.

The RHCE Rapid Track course is aimed at those who already possess significant systems administration experience and knowledge in a Unix or Linux environment, and who desire to become certified as an RHCE.

The Standard Track consists of three courses. RH033 is designed for beginners, and covers all the necessary skills to become a productive user, including installation and command line essentials. RH133 is designed for those wanting to prepare for professional responsibilities as a Linux systems administrator.

You`ll learn all the skills required to manage a Linux workstation and attach to a corporate network, including configuration of client-side network services. Prerequisites include networking fundamentals and internetworking with TCP/IP, also available from Obsidian Training. RH253 is designed for those who desire to build skills at configuring and administering a Red Hat Linux server running key enterprise network services and security.

Obsidian Training`s technical focus is on the skills and competencies required to manage Linux servers for mission-critical commercial and business roles, including Internet server, Web server, Mail server, ISP, DNS server, file and print server, departmental server, and development platforms. The RHCE course also teaches a methodology to all things Linux and open source and provides a foundation for users to run a business network be it on Red Hat, SuSE, Mandrake or other flavours such as Unix and Solaris.

If you know the Linux fundamentals, you`ll find your way out of any computer and network problem using the Linux approach, through help files, community mailing lists and the open source community portals.

Learning the Linux environment is the first part of your journey, says Bell. Getting used to the lifestyle and mindset of open source is the biggest part of it, an environment very different to today`s business world - one of collaboration, co-operation, sharing and peer review.

"Becoming a successful systems administrator requires years of experience in heterogeneous, networked computing environments, coping with day-to-day issues, and developing best practices," says Bell.

"This kind of experience does not result from taking one course or exam, but it can be measured during training and in a certification exam, especially if these are administered using hands-on exercises in a lab. That`s why the RHCE exam is a lab-based, performance-based practical exam, that provides a solid foundation for future Linux professionals," he concludes.