Customer Reviews

RHCE Linux Exam Cram, 2e (Exam: RH-302)

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I took the exam last Friday and I just got a confirmation that I'm a RHCE now, so I hope my info is pretty recent. First of all I enjoy Kara's language. It's really friendly and it's a kind of loving mom teaching her children style. It's not so common for technical books and I really like it. I agree with other reviewers that the book has some mistakes but usually they are not very significant for your test results. Probably the right way to say is "they were not" because this book covers 6.x version of RedHat and the current exam is based on 7.2. It makes a big difference. They really included many things specific to the latest software version. Some questions from the practice test in this book are still very similar to real ones, but that multiple choice test is just one task out of 3 and it's probably the easiest one. This book doesn't help you much to get prepared for troubleshouting or installation tasks. Installation, GRUB, X Windows, network security, service management - all those things have been changed significantly.

That's it about the book, but I'd like to tell a couple words about the test itself. The test is really not so hard. So it is definitly possible to pass it. I had a chance to take a look at the recent RedHat training materials (some people brought it to the test) and they're really good and cover everything you need to pass and most things you need in real life. So if you really need to get that certification and you don't worry much about price (which makes sense, because test and training cost a pretty comparable and if you got almost $800 for the test I'd probably find a couple grands for a class), the easiest way is to take a class. If you can't do it, you should just install RedHat on your computer and practice to configure FTP, HTTP, Sednmail, NFS, Samba, Named, Tcp_wrappers, etc using Linux documentation. I don't think there is any good tutorial now rather then RedHat training materials. It doesn't mean you have to take that class (I didn't take it myself) but any other way will definitly take you much longer. Be warned, that if you're a Solaris (HP-UX, AIX, ... ) guy and hope to pass just because it's another flavor of Unix you might fail. This test is really focused on Linux specific issues and just a general Unix experience probably wouldn't be enough to get an 80% passing score.

Another good thing I've heard is that a passing rate on the first try is pretty low but on the second try it's very high. Probably all tasks in their pool are similar, but it's just a guess. And it's surprising that you can solve many problems, especially security, in a lots of different ways and RedHat is totally cool about that. You can use tcp wrappers everywhere of ipchains and either way is right and acceptable. It's not very common. It makes your life much easier.

Good luck!

I have spent weeks at bookstore shelfs learning about UNIX/Linux and networking. Most books seem to include a great deal of unneeded material to bulk them up. Others give only screen shots to get you started, and you can throw these away after two hours. This outline of knowledge most needed to become a Linux system administrator, and that which Red Hat considers essential, is very helpful. It shows you the things every user of the Linux OS should know, without becoming the typical 1200-page encyclopedic tome. This together with a more detailed reference, like Sam's Red Hat Linux 6 Unleashed (with RHL6 on CDROM) should prepare most exam candidates. Even for those not seeking certification, this book cuts directly to the information you need to solve tough problems, and presents short simple explainations in one or two pages, not hundreds. At $30, it is overpriced. With Red Hat charging $749 per attempt to take the exam, you would think they could afford to give away a 50 cent copy of the Linux OS, but no, there is none with this book.

Exam Cram books tend to be well-written, and concise. They tend to not cover everything well, but give you a good understanding of the fundamentals. This book was no exception.

I found this book to be a good place to start for anyone who wants to become a RHCE. I have had a lot of experience with Linux. I've installed Linux on about 50 machines including pcs, macs, and alphas, but I had no idea what kinds of things would be on the test. This book does a good job of concisely explaining what kind of things the test will cover. Still, I'd like to see more information on studying for the lab sections of the test such as a list of ways to break a Linux machine, along with steps taken to fix them.

I love the way this book was written, and I am very happy with the series. Just consider it a place to start rather than your only source of information.

Well rounded book for beginners to Linux. Although this is a Cert book, It gives a basic idea of what to expect from the os. Use this before buying a big 1K+ page book.

The reader who wrote the "Utter waste" review failed to even read the cover of the book where it says "The perfect supplement to all certification study guides."

As such it does a very sound job of providing the basics. The author makes it clear that the book is not a complete preparation for the exam and suggests other sources of study material.

The book provides a decent overview I passed the RHCE however I've administered Unix systems for 5 years. I read the book over once the RH300 lab materials are far more important.

This book is announced as a supplement to a study guide.

But nearly half of the contents is introductional text on Red Hat Linux.

The text is full of errors of all sorts: many many typos, substantial errors, misspellings and incorrect wordings.

The book is simply not useful as reference material for linux administration or learning Red Hat Linux administration.

It provids some very useful links and book recommendations, but you could get links (which are usually outdated when the book is in print) and study material from the world wide web.

If you really believe that you need such an "Exam Cram", get the second edition, not the outdated first edition.

Just to give some proof for the errors:

"An IP address is made of up 32 bits. These bits are separated into four sections called octets. (Each octet contains 4 bytes of information and specifies either the network or the machine node.)"
(quote from page 63)

"DHCP (developed by Microsoft) is a descendant of the boot protocol"
(quote from page 71)

"Table 11.3 NIS results. Result SUCCESS: The error occurred and the wanted entry is returned"

This is just to point out the most obvious errors. For every second question the answer section contains garbage, so that the test questions are not of great use. I think that a certification guide should not contain that much errors. The time spent reading this book is essentially wasted.

This book is a complete waste. It is so littered with errors as to be worthless. The author is incompetent and that fact blazes through with every word she writes. As an RHCE (who scored perfectly on the exam, for however little that is worth), I can tell you that most of the material is irrelevent and poorly covered. She performs rote repetition of already available HOWTOs and material, failing to give you the _understanding_ you'll need to pass the test.