Red Hat (EX403, EX403K) Certified Specialist in Deployment and Systems Management Exam

Red Hat encourages all candidates for the Red Hat Certified Specialist in Deployment and Systems Management exam (EX403) to consider taking the Red Hat Satellite 6 Administration (RH403) course. Attendance in these classes is not required, and you can choose to take just an exam.

While attending Red Hat's classes can be an important part of your preparation, attending class does not guarantee success on the exam. Previous experience, practice, and native aptitude are also important determinants of success.

Many books and other resources on system administration for Red Hat's products are available. Red Hat does not endorse any as preparation guides for any exams. Nevertheless, you may find additional reading helpful to deepen your understanding.

Exam format

This exam is a performance-based evaluation of systems deployment and management skills and knowledge. Candidates perform a number of systems administration tasks focused on configuring Red Hat Satellite Server and then use that system to deploy client systems. Candidates are evaluated on whether they have met specific objective criteria. Performance-based testing means that candidates must perform tasks similar to what they perform on the job.

Scores and reporting

Official scores for exams come exclusively from Red Hat Certification Central. Red Hat does not authorize examiners or training partners to report results to candidates directly. Scores on the exam are usually reported within 3 U.S. business days.

Exam results are reported as total scores. Red Hat does not report performance on individual items, nor will it provide additional information upon request.

To help you prepare, the exam objectives highlight the task areas students can expect to see covered in the exam. Red Hat reserves the right to add, modify, and remove exam objectives. Such changes will be made public in advance.

• Install Red Hat Satellite Server from an ISO image
• Create and configure organizations and locations
• Create and configure Red Hat Satellite users and roles
• Create GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) keys to sign RPMs
• Create and configure development life cycles
• Create a Puppet product repository
• Configure Red Hat Satellite subscriptions, content, and content views
• Install a Red Hat Satellite capsule server using an ISO image
• Build a custom RPM from a source tarball
• Create a Red Hat Satellite activation key
• Create a Red Hat Satellite host group
• Define smart class parameters for a Puppet module
• Register an existing client to a Red Hat Satellite server
• Apply errata to client
• Configure bare-metal deployment on Red Hat Satellite
• Deploy clients using kick starts

As with all Red Hat performance-based exams, configurations must persist after reboot without intervention.

• Be a Red Hat Certified System Administrators (RHCSA^®) or have equivalent experience and skills; being a RHCE recommended.
• Have taken Red Hat Satellite 6 Administration (RH403) course or have equivalent experience.
• Review the Red Hat Certified Specialist in Deployment and Systems Management exam (EX403) objectives.

These audiences may be interested in becoming a Red Hat Certified Specialist in Deployment and Systems Management:

• System administrators responsible for managing large enterprise environments
• Red Hat Certified Engineers (RHCEs) interested in becoming Red Hat Certified Architects (RHCAs)