RHCE Red Hat Certified Engineer Linux Study Guide (Exam RH302)

Michael Jang has consistently produced high quality books and this is one of his best. The book is strongly slanted toward passing the exam, which is okay since that is exactly what it purports to be. Throughout the book there are short comments marked off from the rest of the test which points to tips for real world items (called "on the job") and tips for the exam (called "exam watch"). Each chapter ends with a short summary, a "two-minute drill", self-test questions, and lab questions. The "two-minute drill" is great for exam preparation the day of the exam since it is pretty much the type of thing that you would put on note cards for a quick review anyway.

This is real-life advice and is full or tips and troubleshooting problems. In the installation section it covers disk partitioning, swap space, bios limits, multiple controllers, and RAID. Some good solid advice and information about things like problems with a computer with both a SCSI drive controller and IDE drive controller in the same system. The installation troubleshooting section includes boot loaders, RAID, logical volumes, kickstart automated installation and pretty much everything you might run across. It even includes how to boot up into single user mode, a very important ability for some administrative tasks and gaining root level access (full access to everything) to the system. For some reason, although this is used in real-life for a lot of reasons, it seems to be left out of most books. They will tell you to switch to single user mode to fix a problem or gain root access, but don't tell you how to do it. This book tells you everything you need to know. It includes not only the graphical and utility methods to do things but also includes the information for how it changes the configuration. The information is so detailed that you can hand add the lines and/or configuration files and do it all by hand if you would prefer. This way you understand exactly what each item does and it is much easier to troubleshoot problems.

The authors have included everything you need to know to install, troubleshoot, and administer a real-world server - shell configuration, kernel information, automation, X Windows installation and configuration, GNOME and KDE desktops, Apache server including security and virtual hosts, Squid proxy server configuration, secure FTP server, mail services including SMTP, sendmail, postfix, POP, and IMAP, Samba installation and configuration, printing services, DNS, BIND, DHCP, LDAP client configuration, firewall policies, network address translation, and the Linux rescue environment are examples of the breadth of coverage.

It even includes how to work with the automounter, another item that is left out of most other books. The only error I found was on page 11, Table 1-2, where it has "First IDE drive = /dev/had" when it should be "/dev/hda". For that to be the only problem I found in a book of this size shows the care with which it was edited.

This is simply the best book I have seen if you want to become a general Linux "guru". Not only does it have everything you need to pass the exam, it has everything you need to install and administer a Linux network. There are better books available on specific areas of Linux, for example a single chapter on Apache obviously cannot compete with a 600 page book on Apache server. Then again, this the best book around if you want an understanding of Linux that is general enough to provide a complete overview of how Linux works in the real world and is also detailed enough to provide everything you need to get everything you want up and running. "Red Hat Certified Engineer Linux Study Guide, 4th Edition" gets the highest recommendation I can give.


Very well done, comprehensive prep book.   August 1, 2007
James Rankin
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

I read Edition 5 of this book right before taking the RH300 prep course, and it helped a great deal. The book alone may or may not be enough to pass the exam, unless you already fully understand things like SELinux.
Jang provides many useful lab exercises in the book, so you should download VMware Server and CentOS 5!! Going through these labs is what makes the book a good learning tool.
But in conjunction with the RH300 class, this book is outstanding. Highly recommended.


More than just a study guide.   June 24, 2004
John Matlock (Winnemucca, NV)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

The rise of Red Hat has been marvelous to watch. Starting with a 'free' operating system, they have produced an integrated software system that rivals the big kid on the block. With this kind of success, comes more success. Now you see job ads for people who know Red Hat. And with this comes certifications. How do you prove that you've even typed 'ls' into your system.

This book is at once a study guide and a detailed overview of the Enterprise version of Linux. Yes, it will tell you what is going to be on the test, and the title and cover copy emphasises this. But the book is more than that, it also explains the why and wherefores of the operating system. It has real world exercises and instructions that cover what the serious user needs to know. The book could easily have been rewritten slightly and called something like "Everything you Need to know." It is not a beginners book.


Indeed the best book on the market   October 6, 2004
ALM (FRAUENFELD Switzerland)
12 out of 14 found this review helpful

I already attend the RHCE exam and...failed. Well I "only" pass RHCT, hence I know what to expect. At the time of my first exam, there were no good,actual preparation book. As I am announced again this year, I looked around and found this one (with the help of the other review). I already read about half of it and I can confirm. This is indeed _the_ book to prepare for RHCE. Some repetitions are annyoing (e.g. work as root during exam,...) but the core of the book is all what you need. And more; there is a chapter about kernel rebuilding which is not really required during RHCE but knowing more is not a disadvantage. _Together_ with the RH300 training (no I am not a Redhat employee ;-) ) this should enable the reader to pass the exam.


Excellent prep guide and reference book   August 23, 2004
Cenk Ersoy (Merrimack, NH United States)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

This is by far the best RHCE book on the market. I work as a senior system administrator with experience in other Unix versions. After taking the training class and reading this book, I passed the test on my first try. Make sure that you read it throughly and perform all the labs in the book. The labs are very close to the actual exam scenarios. The book is very clearly written and comprehensive. Remember that hands-on experience is vital to pass the test and labs are crucial if you need to practice your skills before the test.