It is therefore very important for any IT expert who is keen on advancing their career in the Linux field to obtain the relevant certification. In this blog post, we will talk more about the best Linux certificates.

Top 5 Linux Certifications to Pursue

There are so many Linux certifications for the IT experts. However, all of them are not equal. Some credentials are in higher demand and are more valuable than others. It is because they are more relevant to the current revolution that the IT world is experiencing. If you want to be among the top-ranked IT specialists, then you should pursue those Linux credentials that are considered the best before the end of 2019.

Unfortunately, most of the candidates often find it hard to choose the right certification that will boost their careers. This is especially true for the beginners. The good news is that we have sorted out everything for you. Without much ado, here are the best 5 Linux certificate:

1. Oracle Linux OCA & OCP

Just like the name suggests, Oracle Linux OCA & OCP is all about attaining abilities and skills related to the Oracle technologies and products. In order to get this Linux certification, the professional must combine performance-based assignments, training, and exams depending on what level of certificate one is pursuing. There are 6 levels of the Oracle certifications – OJA (Oracle Certified Junior Associate), OCA (Oracle Certified Associate), OCP (Oracle Certified Professional), OCM (Oracle Certified Master), OCS (Oracle Certified Specialist), and OCE (Oracle Certified Expert).

The Oracle credentials comprise of the following exams that evaluate the candidate’s knowledge of Linux/GNU OS and Oracle. These certification tests are:

• OCP – 1Z0-105: Oracle Linux 6 Advanced System Administration, it has 97 questions and requires 61% to pass.
• OCA – 1Z0-100: Oracle Linux 5 and 6 System Administration, it has a total of 80 questions and needs 61% to pass.

2. CompTIA Linux+

The employers around the world have been using the CompTIA Linux+ certification for about two decades as their standard for employing the IT professionals. For this reason, achieving this credential has literally become a necessary thing to do for everyone who wants to enter the world of IT. This certificate basically validates the essential managerial and usage tasks that are common to every Linux distributor. You need to take the XK0-004 exam to attain this certification, because the previous version of two tests was retired on October 1, 2019. As for the skills, you will manage services & software; configure kernel modules, analyze system properties & processes; utilize the best practices for authentication, permissions, file management, and firewalls.

3. GCUX: GIAC Certified UNIX Security Administrator

This certification aims at training you in installing, monitoring, and configuring UNIX/Linux systems. It audits and secures these OS. The following are the requirements for achieving this credential:

• 1 proctored exam;
• 75 questions;
• Passing score – 68%;
• Time limit – 2 hours.

The certification exam evaluates the candidate’s knowledge of password security and physical security issues connected to the Linux and UNIX systems. It also measures your understanding of Chroot() – its environment, the configuration of Chroot() services, and everything else about it. Other areas include OS Patching and Installing, User Account, Physical, Boot Services, SUDO, AIDE, and Post-Exploitation. One of the main reasons why this certificate is recommended to all the Linux professionals this year is that it is part of SANS. It comprises of at least 35 security credentials across various categories.

4. RHCE – Red Hat Certified Engineer

This is a senior-level certification that you should have under your belt in 2019 as if you are looking to grab the attention of the potential employers and grow in your career. Obtaining this certificate is not an easy task. First, you have to obtain the Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) credential. The next step is to pass the relevant exam, which is performance-based and comprises of intense and demanding questions.

Earning RHCE makes you eligible for the Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA) certification, which includes:

• Application platform;
• Application development;
• Cloud;
• Datacenter;
• DevOps.

5. Linux Professional Institute (LPI) Certifications

These certificates have become very important in the Linux field and every specialist should go for them before the end of 2019. This certification program is available to the Linux professionals in 3 levels. Let’s explore them.

LPIC – 1: Linux Administrator. This is a junior Linux certification where the candidates are required to pass two exams. The tests cover basic Linux skills, including configuring and installing OS on the workstation, making LAN connections, and performing maintenance tasks, and so on.

LPIC – 2: Linux Engineer. It is a second-level Linux certificate with two exams. The first test covers mainly devices and file system, network configuration, capacity planning, storage administration, and system maintenance, while the second one evaluates skills in using domain name services, system security, as well as troubleshooting and network client management. The prerequisite for this credential is LPIC–1.

LPIC – 3: Linux Enterprise Professional. This is a proficient certification that requires passing any exam in the 300 category along with the previous level as a prerequisite. The tests include: 300: Mixed Environment; 304: Virtualization and High Availability; 303: Security.

Final Thoughts

Any IT professional looking for a higher position, better payout, and career potential in the world of Information Technology should go for the discussed above Linux certifications before the end of 2019. As a certified expert in Linux, you will discover a lot of opportunities.

Today we’ll talk about another credential called Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Seam. As you have probably guessed, it is no longer available.

If you have already earned the Red Hat^® Certificate of Expertise in Seam, you can undoubtedly show the skills, abilities and knowledge necessary to use Seam to tie together components when developing applications. You are proficient in:

• Rapid application development
• Creating an industry-standard user interface
• Integrating the Java^™ Persistence API (JPA)
• Implementing end-to-end application security
• Using integrated tooling with Red Hat JBoss^® Developer Studio

It’s so fortunate you have got this valuable certificate! If you haven’t, never mind. Because except Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Seam, there is a variety of other certification exams that Red Hat offers IT professionals.

For more information about retired exams see the link below.

https://www.redhat.com/en/services/all-certifications-exams

We are going to make an overview of the retired Red Hat certification to clarify the advantages of being a certified expert in Hybrid Cloud Management.

An IT specialist who has earned the Red Hat certificate usually demonstrates a high level of fundamental knowledge and skills to perform a number of tasks using Red Hat CloudForms. Owing to the fact that the certification has been earned, your knowledge and experience in Red Hat CloudForms are validated and confirmed.

When the Red Hat certification exam was available, a special training course – Red Hat CloudForms Hybrid Cloud Management (CL220) – was recommended to the candidates to prepare for the test. Today, if you choose another exam to achieve a certification, another course will be advisable to take.

Red Hat creates new exams and certifications, getting rid of the older ones. Not having sat a qualification exam, you can always choose another one and get certified, whether or no. Test your skills and knowledge with Red Hat and keep the track of events!

For more retired exams, see https://www.redhat.com/en/services/all-certifications-exams

This fall, RHCA becomes more accessible as Red Hat is now switching to a less prescriptive with regards to what exams should be taken to be eligible for this certification. The company provides a wider selection of RHCE exams, so you have better chances of achieving certification through exams relevant to your field.

According to Red Hat, the current requirements were set years ago. Now that the company has been expanding its services and certifications portfolio, it’s natural to expand the list of RHCA-eligible exams.

So, now RHCA can be acquired by earning RHCE plus any five of the following Red Hat Certificates of Expertise or certifications:

• Red Hat Certified System Administrator in Red Hat OpenStack
• Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Hybrid Cloud Storage
• Red Hat Certified JBoss Administrator
• Red Hat Certified Virtualization Administrator
• Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Security: Network Services
• Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Deployment and Systems Management
• Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Directory Services and Authentication
• Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in SElinux Policy Administration
• Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Clustering and Storage Management
• Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Performance Tuning
• Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Server Hardening
• Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Platform-as-a-Service
• Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in Data Virtualization

Are you planning for the RHCA credential any time soon? What are your preferred exams?

Are you a Red Hat certification holder, or plan to become one? Then don’t miss the news below as Red Hat is about to roll out a number of changes to its certification program effective October 1.

The changes cover 3 main aspects: 2 Red Hat credentials are being discontinued; from now on Red Hat Certificates of Expertise will be designated as current and non-current; there will also be more options for earning the RHCA credential. Keep reading to know more.

What is This All About?

Red Hat has decided to seriously revamp its certification program this year. Basically, the company reduces the number of certification titles, making it easier for employers to understand the qualifications and titles they see on the candidate profiles. Needless to say, this is also a good change for certification candidates, since it will be easier for them to come up with their certification strategy and build their career in the long run.

2 Red Hat certifications, Red Hat Certified Security Specialist (RHCSS) and Red Hat Certified Datacenter Specialist (RHCDS) are being phased out. All RHCSS-related exams have already been discontinued. Instead, Red Hat is expanding more widely-known Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA) program and introduces new ways to earn this title.

RH Enterprise Linux 5 Bygone

60 days after the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, all RHCE certifications on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 will become non-current, and as a result, they will no longer meet existing RHCSS or RHCDS program requirements. Candidates who have earned RHCSS or RHCDS won’t be able to recertify those credentials. As an alternative, they are welcome to apply their certificates of expertise towards RHCA if they recertify under Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 or 7.

Holders of the RHCE credential on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 who have also earned RHCSS or RHCDS will continue to hold these credentials until 3 years after the date the last required Red Hat Certificate of Expertise was earned. It will not be possible to recertify as RHCSS or RHCDS, but the relevant Certificates of Expertise can be applied towards RHCA.

RHCEs earned on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and later will not be eligible to earn RHCSS or RHCDS.

RED HAT CERTIFICATES OF EXPERTISE

Starting October 1, Red Hat begins designating Certificates of Expertise as current and non-current. As a result, Red Hat Certificates of Expertise earned on or after October 1, 2014 will be considered current for three (3) years from the date they are earned.

Meanwhile, Red Hat Certificates of Expertise earned before October 1, 2014 will be considered current until October 1, 2017, giving the professionals plenty of time to decide on their future certification options.

Stay tuned for our next post which will include the overview of the new paths to become Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA).

This course helps candidates to gain the skills necessary to install, configure, and manage Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform. This self-paced online course is an equivalent to 4 days of classroom content and hands-on labs, and can be taken at any pace over 90 days.

Why OpenStack®?

OpenStack® is quickly becoming the cloud infrastructure technology choice for organizations. According to Red Hat, a recent IDG survey found that 84% of companies plan to use OpenStack in the near future. But 55% of those companies also reported they had trouble finding IT professionals capable and qualified to work with this technology.

What do these stats mean for you? While OpenStack® is a great technology which businesses choose to use, half of them experience the lack of OpenStack® professionals. Obtaining the Red Hat Certified System Administrator credential is a great way to boost the potential of your IT career, especially if you are interested in the latest cloud computing trends and technologies.

A Red Hat® Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) credential validates your skills in performing the following tasks:

• Understand and use essential tools for handling files, directories, command-line environments, and documentation
• Operate running systems, including booting into different run levels, identifying processes, starting and stopping virtual machines, and controlling services
• Configure local storage using partitions and logical volumes
• Create and configure file systems and file system attributes, such as permissions, encryption, access control lists, and network file systems
• Deploy, configure, and maintain systems, including software installation, update, and core services
• Manage users and groups, including use of a centralized directory for authentication
• Manage security, including basic firewall and SELinux configuration

Red Hat Limited Offer: Certification program requirements:

• The RHCSA Certification Exam consists of 1 section lasting up to 2.5 hours.
• The exam is performance-based, meaning that candidates must perform tasks on a live system rather than answer questions about how someone might perform those tasks.
• Real-world experience is valuable preparation for this hands-on exam.

Interested? Hurry up to Red Hat’s website to redeem this offer.

As Red Hat released its latest Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 earlier this month, the company now updates its training and certification materials relevant to the new RHEL7. So, if you were about to get your Linux Enterprise credential, prepare for surprises. Yet, before we proceed, let’s take a closer look at the main features of RHEL7.

The company claims that the new version of Linux provides users with better reliability, scalability and performance. The system offers a number of new features that equip architects, system administrators, and developers with the resources necessary to innovate and manage more efficiently. Read more about Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 on the vendor’s website.

In line with the RHEL7 news, Redhat has just updated a number of courses (see below) and 2 related exams: Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) Exam (EX200) and Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) Exam (EX300).

In line with the new RHEL7 rollout, Redhat has updated the following courses:

• Red Hat System Administration I (RH124)
• Red Hat System Administration II (RH134)
• RHCSA Rapid Track Course (RH199)
• Red Hat System Administration III (RH254)
• RHCE Certification Lab (RH299)

The courses continue to feature a hands-on, lab-based environment to provide IT professionals with the skill-sets they need to implement and maintain Linux deployments. The new curriculum places greater emphasis on enterprise administration skills including command line administration, shell scripting, diagnostics and troubleshooting. The courses will be available via traditional classrooms, live virtual training, online, or on-site at customers locations for private team training.

Stay tuned for exam details as official updates come in.

In case you’re still unclear about what Red Hat OpenStack is about, the credential of Red Hat Certified System Administrator in Red Hat OpenStack means that the professional processes the skills, knowledge, and abilities needed to create, configure, and manage private clouds using Red Hat Enterprise Linux® OpenStack® Platform., and is also able to perform the following processes:

• Install and configure Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform.
• Manage users, projects, flavors, and rules.
• Configure and manage images.
• Add compute nodes.
• Manage storage using Swift and Cinder.

And although we avoid posting purely marketing materials here, this video from Red Hat is a good example of a proper marketing done to a truly industry leading certification program. So, if you consider building your career around Linux, we highly recommend that you watch the video below:

These numbers show that Linux knowledge is highly beneficial to those willing to boost their career in the sphere of servers and large scale enterprise solutions. These certifications are also beneficial to many IT professionals who run into some Linux operating systems alongside Windows. If you are just mapping out your IT career (oh exciting stage!), don’t underestimate Linux – you might need it in the very near future.

There is a number of options for Linux certifications, which can be combined either with each other, or with credentials that cover related fields (server certifications, for example), ensuring that you maximize your career potential. We have picked Linux certification programs from the following vendors:

• CompTIA
• LPI (Linux Professional Institute)
• Red Hat
• Oracle Corporation

CompTIA Linux+

Needless to say that CompTIA has an excellent track record with solid vendor-neutral certifications, often created in partnerships with relevant industry leaders. Linux+ is no exception as it is run in partnership with LPI (Linux Professional Institute).

CompTIA Linux+ is an associate-level certification, which validates the candidate’s skills and knowledge required of junior Linux administrators. This credential is also a great stepping stone to more advanced Linux certifications.

To get Linux+ certified, candidates need to pass 2 exams: Two exams are necessary to be certified: LX0-101 and LX0-102.

 LX0-101 covers system architecture; Linux Installation and package management; GNU and Unix commands; devices, Linux filesystems, and filesystem hierarchy standard.

LX0-102 covers shells, scripting and data management; user interfaces and desktops; administrative tasks; essential system services; networking fundamentals; security.

As CompTIA Linux+ certification is conducted in partnership with LPI, candidates may choose to have their CompTIA results to be forwarded to the Linux Professional Institute. Certification in CompTIA Linux+ Powered by LPI, enables candidates to become certified in LPIC-1 as well, enabling further participation in the LPI program if the candidate chooses to take this step.

CompTIA Linux+ candidate job roles include junior Linux administrator, junior network administrator, systems administrator, Linux database administrator and web administrator. This credential is required by many industry leaders, including companies like Dell, HP, IBM, Lenovo and Xerox.

Linux Professional Institute (LPI)

Linux Professional Institute (LPI) is a recognized leader in the Linux operating system.  It offers comprehensive certifications on Linux topics and technologies.

The LPI Certification program (often abbreviated as LPIC) includes 3 levels:

• LPIC-1 (Junior Level Linux Certification): covers basic Linux skills, including working at the command line, performing basic maintenance tasks, installing and configuring a workstation (including X Windows), making LAN or Internet connections. Overlaps with, and replaced by CompTIA Linux+ Powered by LPI, has no prerequisites, 2 written exams.

• LPIC-2 (Advanced Level Linux Certification):  Prerequisites include wither LPIC-1 or Linux+. This certification also includes 2 exams which cover significant Linux skills and topics, including the kernel, system startup, file system and devices, advanced storage administration, network configuration, system maintenance, and DNS as well as web services, file sharing, network client management, e-mail services, system security and troubleshooting.

• LPIC-3 (Senior Level Linux Certification): Prerequisite: LPIC-2, where any single exam in the 300 series qualifies a person for Level 3 certification. To obtain this advanced Linux credential, candidates need to pass 3 exams.

LPI certification program is perfect for IT professionals need in-depth yet vendor neutral Linux certification. LPIC levels ensure vendor- and distribution-neutral coverage of Linux topics, tools and technologies, and are highly valued by employers.

Red Hat

Red Hat Linux certifications are a top choice for candidates interested in a platform-focused approach to Linux. These Linux certifications are a natural choice to those who already hold other Red Hat credentials –or are confident of their career with companies using Red Hat technologies. Red Hat Linux Certification Path also includes 3 levels.

• Red Hat Certified Systems Administrator (RHCSA) validates essential skills in handling files, working at the command line, and using system documentation, along with managing systems (boot-up, identifying processes, start/stop virtual machines, controlling systems), configuring storage partitions and logical volumes, and more.

• Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE): validates the skills and knowledge necessary to work as a senior level Linux system administrator. Topics covered include advanced IP routing and services, managing runtime kernel behavior, working with iSCSI, automating maintenance tasks with shell scripts, and working with networking services for Web, FTP, NFS, SMB, SMTP, SSH and more. Holding a valid RHSCA is a prerequisite for the RHCE.

• Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA): advanced level Red Hat certification which validates the architect-level skills in Red Hat Linux solutions.

Oracle

Although Oracle Corporation has a long history with UNIX (since acquiring Sun Microsystems), today the vendor focuses its certifications on Linux, leaving the UNIX roots behind. Oracle Linux credential would be most appealing to IT professionals already working with Oracle solutions. There are 2 credentials: OCA (Oracle Certified Associate), Oracle Linux 5 and 6 System Administration and OCP (Oracle Certified Professional), Oracle Linux 6 Advanced System Administrator. The credentials require one exam each.

 So, your choice of Linux certification path and approach depends on your career goals and needs. If you’re a beginner, we recommend that you start with CompTIA Linux+ certification for an introduction to the system and immediate CV boost, enough until you figure out where you want to do next.

From now until May 31, 2014, you or your team can save 15% on any two Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® courses or course-plus-exam bundles. One student can take both courses, or two students can take one course each.

Here’s how you do it:

Register for two courses for yourself or one course each for you and a friend. Choose from courses and course-plus-exam bundles. Use code CERT15YEARS at checkout.

Only the following courses and courses-plus-exams bundles qualify for this offer:
RH124, RH124VT, RH124R, RH135, RH134, RH134VT, RH134R, RH190, RH190VT, RH199, RH199VT, RH200, RH254, RH254R, RH255, RH299, RH300, RH290, RH290VT, RH242, RH242VT, RH299, RH299VT, RH401, RH401VT, RH402, RH413, RH414, RH413, RH413VT, RH413R, RH423, RH436, RH437, RH442, RH442VT, RH443, RHD355, RHD251

Keep in mind that to receive the discount you have to use the promotional code (Cert15Years) during your online registration – no way you can do it afterwards. You also need to take your exams before May 31 – not just register for them.

Click here for full Terms and Conditions of this Red Hat Incentive.