In March 2019, Red Hat announced that the Red Hat Learning Subscription (RHLS) free trial is live.
TL;DR: this article is aimed at anyone studying for RHCA but without the capacity of buying a RHLS.
RHLS Free Trial Conditions
The free trial provides you with instant, self-service access to the entire Red Hat training portfolio. Visibility into the RHLS is available to anyone who activates the RHLS Free Trial.
Here is the list of things that (at the time of writing) are included with the RHLS Free Trial:
- 7 days access
- 1st chapter of 50+ courses
- Self-service activation
- 1 hour hands-on lab access
- 1st video of each Video Classroom course
- 1st chapter of each Early Access course
- User consumption reports
Just 1 hour of hands-on lab access you might ask? I know, this part is a bit of a joke, because half of that time is consumed to provision and start the lab. Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to talk about today. Read on.
So What’s the Big Deal?
The free trial of RHLS is good news for everyone who’s studing towards RHCA, but who cannot afford to buy RHLS.
If you read this blog, you probably know that I’m a self-taught RHCE. From my exprience, there are so many RHCSA/RHCE study resources available to choose from that it all comes down to your personal preference. Whether you want it free, paid, online, on-site, 1-to-1 instructor-led, video, it’s your choice.
This isn’t the case for Red Hat’s Certificate of Expertise (CoE) exams. When I was looking for the RHCA level study guides three years ago, I didn’t find much. In fact, I was unable find any non Red Hat training course that would comprehensivelly cover all exam objectives.
I’d like to point out that the situation is actually getting better, Sander van Vugt has several RHCA courses, there are other providers available as well.
The biggest benefit for candidates aiming at RHCA but without a RHLS is the fact that you can now see the table of contents for all Red Hat training courses. It’s not a secret that Red Hat training is designed with the exam in mind. If something’s not on training, then it should not be expected on the exam.
Three years ago I had to rely on the official exam objectives to come up with a study plan. Now I can tailor my studies based the table of contents for the course, and that’s available thanks to the free trial of RHLS.
If you cannot afford to use the official training material offered by Red Hat, then at least you can create your personal study plan to match it, and use product documentation.
Take Ansible for example. Its online documentation can be overwhelming. If you look at the study points for the EX407 exam, you’ll see that there is a lot material that needs to be covered. If you’re new to the technology, where do you start? You start with the table of contents:
You will know that what you studied is the core of the exam. Good luck!
This is a great idea! I have my EX407 booked for May 6th and just signed up for the free trial of the RHLS. Looking over the table of contents for the course turns out to be a nice way to be sure that you’re studying the right topics. Think I’ll go through and take note of the table of contents for any other courses that look interesting before my free trial is finished.
My point exactly. Take screenshots of any courses that you intend taking in the future. I’m sure it will come in handy later!
Hello! In my opinion, official RH course is not enough to pass their official exams!
I used RHLS course for ex180 & ex280. Ex180 is quite easy exam, I have same duties on my job, so I didn’t think I would have problems. I followed recommendations of DO180 course – use “modern” form of CMD, ENTRYPOINT. In official course only one lab for writing Dockerfile. And it wouldn’t be enough to pass. Moreover, recommendations to use modern form for CMD prevent me to complete the exam task.
Also, things which written in their courses very shortly “in one word” – u may suppose that it’s less meaning things, but on exam they may play key role
After that i bought the course in Internet from one indian person. He didn’t think about variants, used old forms of instructions, did it as simple as possible, etc and he could do the task but I don’t. After his course (unofficial and very short) I came to ex180 again and could pass it.
Ex280. I complete DO280, read half of DO288 and couldn’t pass exam. Again, in DO280 one thing was written in theoretical part with one word as less-meaning thing, but on exam it affected on some tasks in a global way.
I don’t know, maybe I should read also DO380, but RedHat recommend in the exam prerequisites only DO280.
So, my opinion – official course is not enough to pass, don’t rely on it, save your money, guys, use documentation and other unofficial sources. Official courses might betray you write on exam
Hi, would say that you’re right. RHLS on its own, while being brilliant as a study resource, is sometimes not enough to pass exams. You need relevant work experience.