RHCSA (EX200) - 6-Week Practice Plan¶

This plan assumes 1-2 hours of theory + 1-2 hours of hands-on lab per day. Adjust if you need more time.

The most important thing about RHCSA prep is lab time. Reading is necessary but insufficient.

Lab setup (do this in week 1, day 1)¶

• Activate a free Red Hat Developer subscription at developers.redhat.com
• Download RHEL 9 ISO
• Create two RHEL 9 VMs in VirtualBox / VMware / KVM (4 GB RAM, 20 GB disk each)
• One is your "system under test", the other is your "remote server" for NFS / SSH / firewall tasks
• Take a clean snapshot you can roll back to before each major lab

Week 1 - Essentials and Boot¶

Reading¶

• README.md full read
• fact-sheet.md skim
• notes/01-system-config.md

Hands-on¶

• Reset root password using rd.break enforcing=0 recovery
• Boot to rescue, emergency, and multi-user targets
• Change default target between graphical and multi-user
• Configure NTP via chronyd; verify with chronyc sources
• Set timezone to UTC then back

Self-check¶

• Can I reset the root password without notes?
• Can I switch boot targets at GRUB?
• Do I know the order: firmware → GRUB → kernel → initramfs → systemd?

Week 2 - Storage, LVM, Filesystems¶

Reading¶

• notes/02-storage-filesystems.md
• RHEL 9 docs: Managing Storage Devices

Hands-on¶

• Add a new virtual disk to your VM
• Create partition with fdisk, format ext4 + xfs, mount, add to fstab with UUID
• Build an LVM stack: pvcreate → vgcreate → lvcreate → mkfs.xfs → mount
• Extend LV by 2 GB and grow XFS online
• Configure swap on a partition AND on a swap file
• Mount an NFS share from your second VM
• Set ACLs on a file (setfacl -m u:bob:rw- file)

Self-check¶

• Can I build a full LVM stack in under 5 minutes?
• Do I know that XFS can extend but NOT shrink?
• Can I diagnose a fstab error without rebooting (use mount -a)?

Week 3 - Users, Groups, Permissions¶

Reading¶

• notes/03-users-groups-permissions.md

Hands-on¶

• Create users with specific UIDs, primary groups, secondary groups
• Configure password aging with chage
• Lock and unlock accounts
• Add users to wheel group and confirm sudo works
• Configure passwordless sudo for a specific group
• Allow user to run only specific commands as root
• Build a group-collaborative directory with SGID
• Set ACLs to give a non-group user read access

Self-check¶

• Do I always use usermod -aG (with -a) to add to secondary groups?
• Can I read /etc/sudoers syntax fluently?
• Do I know SGID dirs make new files inherit the dir's group?

Week 4 - systemd, Logs, Processes¶

Reading¶

• notes/04-services-systemd.md

Hands-on¶

• Create a custom systemd service unit (write the .service file)
• Override an existing unit with systemctl edit
• Create a systemd timer that runs daily
• Convert the same job to a cron entry
• Use journalctl to find errors from a specific service over the last hour
• Make journal logs persistent
• Manage processes: nice, renice, kill, killall, pgrep

Self-check¶

• Can I write a basic .service file from memory?
• Do I always run systemctl daemon-reload after editing units?
• Can I read journalctl -u nginx -b and find what failed?

Week 5 - Networking, Firewalld, SELinux, SSH¶

Reading¶

• notes/05-networking-security-selinux.md

Hands-on¶

• Configure static IP, gateway, DNS with nmcli
• Set hostname with hostnamectl
• Configure firewalld: open HTTP, HTTPS, custom port, rich rule
• Configure SSH key auth between your two VMs
• Disable root SSH login and password auth
• Set SELinux to permissive, observe AVC denials, then back to enforcing
• Use chcon and semanage fcontext to fix a context for a non-default web root
• Use setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

Self-check¶

• Can I configure static networking with nmcli from memory?
• Do I know SELinux booleans need -P to persist?
• Can I diagnose an SELinux denial with ausearch -m avc -ts recent?

Week 6 - Containers, Mock Exams, Weak Areas¶

Reading¶

• notes/06-containers-podman.md
• Re-read fact-sheet.md end to end
• Work through scenarios.md

Hands-on¶

• Pull image, run container, map port, mount volume with :Z
• Build a custom image from a Containerfile
• Generate a systemd unit with podman generate systemd --new
• Make a rootless container survive reboot via loginctl enable-linger
• Try Quadlet (drop a .container file in ~/.config/containers/systemd/)

Mock exams¶

• Sander van Vugt's RHCSA practice exam (free chapter excerpts available)
• Asghar Ghori's practice exams
• Build your own: pick 8 tasks from scenarios.md and time yourself for 90 minutes
• Score 80%+ on a clean lab before scheduling

Final review¶

• All six notes files re-read
• Every command in fact-sheet.md typed at least once
• Reboot test at the end of every practice session

Schedule the exam¶

• Book through redhat.com
• Choose Individual Exam (online) or testing center
• Confirm 3-hour slot
• Plan exam-day logistics (ID, quiet space if online)

Daily routine (suggested)¶

Stop signals (when you're ready)¶

• You can do all 15 scenarios in scenarios.md end-to-end without notes, with reboot test, in under 90 minutes total
• You can reset the root password without looking it up
• You can build a full LVM stack from disk addition to mounted XFS in < 5 minutes
• You can write a systemd .service file from memory
• You can troubleshoot an SELinux denial with ausearch / sealert
• You've rebooted and everything you set up still works

When all six are true, schedule the exam.