Red Hat Certified Datacenter Specialist

An RHCDS has the skills and knowledge necessary to build reliable, available, scalable, and manageable solutions in mission-critical datacenter environments using fully-supported open source technologies from Red Hat.

Current RHCEs will obtain RHCDS certification upon successfully passing all three Expertise Exams:

  • EX401 Deployment, Virtualization, and Systems Management
  • EX423 Directory Services and Authentication
  • EX436 Clustering and Storage Management

These courses build on system administration skills covered in the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) program, which is a prerequisite.

All upper-level courses are all peer level, meaning each can be taken by someone with RHCE or equivalent skills. Any order is fine.

Curriculum and Expertise Exams

  • Only current RHCEs are eligible to be certified as a Red Hat Certified Datacenter Specialist (RHCDS), while anyone can attend the courses in this track. Verify your RHCE.
  • Current RHCEs will obtain RHCDS certification upon successfully passing all three Expertise Exams.
  • The courses are not required as the tests can be taken separately but they are strongly recommended.
RHCDS Courses
(Recommended)		 Expertise Exams
(Required: Must pass all 3 for RHCDS)
RH401Deployment, Virtualization, and Systems Management EX401 Deployment, Virtualization, and Systems Management Exam
RH423 Directory Services and Authentication EX423 Directory Services and Authentication Exam
RH436 Clustering and Storage Management EX436 Clustering and Storage Management Exam

Each course in Red Hat's Datacenter curriculum is followed by an Expertise Exam on the fifth day. Expertise Exams may be taken immediately following the corresponding course or at any other time. The exams are performance-based and test skills of the job role competencies covered in the prior four days of hands-on training. Passing an Expertise Exam earns the candidate a Certificate of Expertise to his or her RHCE credential for a specific security skillset. Expertise Exams vary in length from 4 to 8 hours depending on the course.

Official notification of PASS or DID NOT PASS is sent via email within 10 US business days of the Expertise Exam.

Beyond RHCDS: Security Curriculum

Beyond the core RHCDS courses, Red Hat also offers a security curriculum that teaches advanced skills in using Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SELinux, and Red Hat Directory Server to meet the security requirements of today's enterprise environment.