RHCSA 9 (EX200)

Progress Summary

Phase	Description	Status	Notes
0: Lab Setup	Rocky 9 VMs, KVM environment, practice infrastructure	■■■■■□□□□□ 5/10	Lab Setup
1: Installation	RHEL installation methods, kickstart, verification	■■■■■□□□□□ 5/10	2026-02-27 study session
2: Essential Tools	man, info, vim, I/O redirection, shell variables, history	■■■■■□□□□□ 5/10	2026-02-27 study session
3: File Management	cp, mv, rm, tar, compression, links	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
4: Text Files	grep, regex, vim editing, awk, head/tail	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
5: Connecting to RHEL	SSH, console access, key-based auth	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
6: User & Group Management	useradd, passwd, groups, sudo	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
7: Permissions	chmod, chown, ACLs, umask, sticky bit, SGID	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
8: Networking	nmcli, ip, hostnamectl	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
9: Software Management	dnf, yum, rpm, repos	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
10: systemd	systemctl, units, targets, enable/mask	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
11: Storage	lsblk, fdisk, mkfs, partitions	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
12: LVM	pvcreate, vgcreate, lvcreate, resize	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
13: Layered Storage	Stratis, VDO	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
14: Kernel Management	Modules, tuned, bootloader	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
15: Scheduling Tasks	cron, at, systemd timers	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
16: Logging	journalctl, rsyslog	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
17: SELinux	semanage, restorecon, setsebool — CRITICAL	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	Most common failure point
18: Automounting	autofs, NFS	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
19: Time Services	chronyd, timedatectl	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
20: Containers	Podman, buildah	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—
21: Practice Exams	Full 3-hour timed simulation	□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10	—

Phase

Description

Status

Notes

0: Lab Setup

Rocky 9 VMs, KVM environment, practice infrastructure

■■■■■□□□□□ 5/10

Lab Setup

1: Installation

RHEL installation methods, kickstart, verification

■■■■■□□□□□ 5/10

2026-02-27 study session

2: Essential Tools

man, info, vim, I/O redirection, shell variables, history

■■■■■□□□□□ 5/10

2026-02-27 study session

3: File Management

cp, mv, rm, tar, compression, links

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

4: Text Files

grep, regex, vim editing, awk, head/tail

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

5: Connecting to RHEL

SSH, console access, key-based auth

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

6: User & Group Management

useradd, passwd, groups, sudo

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

7: Permissions

chmod, chown, ACLs, umask, sticky bit, SGID

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

8: Networking

nmcli, ip, hostnamectl

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

9: Software Management

dnf, yum, rpm, repos

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

10: systemd

systemctl, units, targets, enable/mask

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

11: Storage

lsblk, fdisk, mkfs, partitions

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

12: LVM

pvcreate, vgcreate, lvcreate, resize

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

13: Layered Storage

Stratis, VDO

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

14: Kernel Management

Modules, tuned, bootloader

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

15: Scheduling Tasks

cron, at, systemd timers

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

16: Logging

journalctl, rsyslog

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

17: SELinux

semanage, restorecon, setsebool — CRITICAL

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

Most common failure point

18: Automounting

autofs, NFS

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

19: Time Services

chronyd, timedatectl

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

20: Containers

Podman, buildah

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

21: Practice Exams

Full 3-hour timed simulation

□□□□□□□□□□ 0/10

—

Overall: 2 / 22 phases (9%)

Target: 2026-06-01

Study Schedule:

Week	Chapters	Focus
1	1-4	Installation, Tools, Files
2	5-8	Users, Permissions, Network, Software
3	9-12	Processes, Tasks, systemd, Logging
4	13-16	Storage, File Systems, Boot
5	17-21	SELinux, SSH, Firewall, Containers
6	22 + Review	Practice Exams

Assessment

Lab Readiness Checklist

Before starting any phase, verify:

KVM/libvirt installed and running (systemctl status libvirtd)
User in libvirt/kvm groups (groups | grep -E '(libvirt|kvm)')
Rocky 9 ISO downloaded (ls ~/isos/Rocky-9-latest-x86_64-minimal.iso)
server1 VM created and accessible via SSH
server2 VM created (needed for NFS/clustering — chapters 15, 18)
Base snapshot taken (virsh snapshot-list rhcsa-server1)
Extra 5GB disks attached for storage labs (chapters 11-14)
SSH key copied to VMs (ssh admin@server1 'hostname')

See Phase 0: Lab Setup for full setup guide.

Prior Knowledge

Domain	Confidence	Evidence
File operations (cp, mv, rm, find)	PASS — Strong	Daily CLI mastery drills, Terminal Mastery track complete
Text processing (grep, sed, awk)	PASS — Strong	Codex pages, reMarkable workbooks, daily practice
Vim editing	PASS — Strong	Primary editor, Vim Mastery track in progress
Networking (ip, ss, nmcli)	PASS — Strong	CCNP background, domus infrastructure
SSH and remote access	PASS — Strong	802.1X EAP-TLS project, daily use
systemd	⚠️ Moderate	Use daily, need deeper unit file authoring
Storage / LVM	⚠️ Moderate	Arch uses btrfs; LVM resize needs practice
SELinux	❌ Weak	Arch doesn’t use SELinux; need dedicated lab time
Podman / containers	⚠️ Moderate	Docker experience, Podman syntax differences
Kickstart / automated install	❌ Weak	Never authored a kickstart file
NFS / autofs	❌ Weak	Limited exposure

Domain

Confidence

Evidence

File operations (cp, mv, rm, find)

PASS — Strong

Daily CLI mastery drills, Terminal Mastery track complete

Text processing (grep, sed, awk)

PASS — Strong

Codex pages, reMarkable workbooks, daily practice

Vim editing

PASS — Strong

Primary editor, Vim Mastery track in progress

Networking (ip, ss, nmcli)

PASS — Strong

CCNP background, domus infrastructure

SSH and remote access

PASS — Strong

802.1X EAP-TLS project, daily use

systemd

⚠️ Moderate

Use daily, need deeper unit file authoring

Storage / LVM

⚠️ Moderate

Arch uses btrfs; LVM resize needs practice

SELinux

❌ Weak

Arch doesn’t use SELinux; need dedicated lab time

Podman / containers

⚠️ Moderate

Docker experience, Podman syntax differences

Kickstart / automated install

❌ Weak

Never authored a kickstart file

NFS / autofs

❌ Weak

Limited exposure

Risk Areas

SELinux — #1 exam failure topic. Zero daily exposure on Arch. Requires dedicated Rocky 9 VM practice with deliberate SELinux troubleshooting scenarios.
LVM resize under pressure — Extend/reduce without data loss under 3-hour time constraint.
nmcli memorization — Know the concepts, need command muscle memory for RHEL-specific syntax.
Exam is no-internet — Must know man page navigation cold. Cannot rely on web docs.

Study Strategy

The exam is 100% practical. You must TYPE commands from memory. Reading alone is insufficient.

Read — Review chapter concepts
Type — Execute every command (no copy-paste for learning)
Document — Capture what works, what breaks in phase partials
Diagram — Visualize with D2 diagrams
Break it — Use Rocky 9 VM, break things, fix them
Time — Practice under exam time pressure (3 hours)

Chapter Dependencies

Chapters	Requires	Why
1-5	None	Foundation chapters — installation, tools, files, text, SSH
6-7	Ch 2 (vim, shell)	User/permission editing requires shell competence
8	None	Networking is standalone (your CCNP strength)
9	Ch 1 (installation)	Package management builds on repo config from install
10	Ch 2 (shell basics)	systemd commands require shell fluency
11-14	Ch 1 (LVM from install)	Storage/LVM builds on partitioning concepts
15	Ch 10 (systemd)	systemd timers require systemd knowledge
16	Ch 10 (journalctl)	Logging depends on systemd journal concepts
17	Ch 7 (permissions)	SELinux contexts extend the permission model — hardest chapter
18	Ch 8 (networking)	NFS/autofs requires network config working first
19	Ch 10 (systemd)	chronyd is a systemd-managed service
20	None	Podman is standalone — containers are self-contained
21	ALL	Practice exam covers every domain

Chapters

Requires

Why

1-5

None

Foundation chapters — installation, tools, files, text, SSH

6-7

Ch 2 (vim, shell)

User/permission editing requires shell competence

None

Networking is standalone (your CCNP strength)

Ch 1 (installation)

Package management builds on repo config from install

Ch 2 (shell basics)

systemd commands require shell fluency

11-14

Ch 1 (LVM from install)

Storage/LVM builds on partitioning concepts

Ch 10 (systemd)

systemd timers require systemd knowledge

Ch 10 (journalctl)

Logging depends on systemd journal concepts

Ch 7 (permissions)

SELinux contexts extend the permission model — hardest chapter

Ch 8 (networking)

NFS/autofs requires network config working first

Ch 10 (systemd)

chronyd is a systemd-managed service

None

Podman is standalone — containers are self-contained

ALL

Practice exam covers every domain

Advantage: Network Engineer Background

You hold CCNP-level networking knowledge. This means: - Chapters 5 (SSH), 8 (Networking), 19 (Firewall) are mostly review - Translate Cisco mental models to Linux equivalents - See Network Engineer’s Guide to Linux

Metadata

Field Value

Field	Value
EDU ID	EDU-2026-02-rhcsa
Author	Evan Rosado
Created	2026-02-27
Last Updated	2026-04-05
Status	Active
Category	Certification
Priority	P0
Target Completion	2026-06-01
Primary Resource	Red Hat RHCSA 9 Cert Guide — Sander van Vugt (Pearson)
Exam Code	EX200
Duration	3 hours
Format	Performance-based (hands-on tasks)
Passing Score	210 / 300 (70%)
Practice Environment	Rocky 9 VMs on kvm-01, Arch Linux (modestus-razer)
Certification Body	Red Hat
Related Tracker	`partials/trackers/education/rhcsa.adoc`

EDU ID

EDU-2026-02-rhcsa

Author

Evan Rosado

Created

2026-02-27

Last Updated

2026-04-05

Status

Active

This Project

Lab Setup — KVM/Rocky 9 practice environment
For Network Engineers — Cisco-to-Linux translation

Prerequisite Skills

Terminal Mastery (DONE) — CLI foundation for all RHCSA chapters
Vim Mastery (In Progress) — required for exam text editing
Local Documentation System — man/info pages for exam-style reference

Follow-On Certifications

RHCE (EX294) — Ansible automation, next Red Hat cert
LPIC-1 — complementary Linux cert (Debian/Ubuntu coverage)
CISSP — broader security context for enterprise Linux