Practitioner Level

Red Hat Certified System Administrator (EX200) - v8 Exam Challenge Lab

Pricing
3 hours
  • 4 Learning Objectives

About this Hands-on Lab

In this hands-on lab, we will prepare for the Red Hat EX200 v8 exam. We will encounter a number of exercises that cover all the sections of the course. Upon successful mastery of this lab, students will be ready to take the RHCSA v8 exam.

*This course is not approved or sponsored by Red Hat.*

Learning Objectives

Successfully complete this lab by achieving the following learning objectives:

Managing RHEL 8 Servers

Create Users/Groups and Configure Superuser Access on Both Servers

We’re going to lay the groundwork here and use these local accounts for all the subsequent tasks. You can write a script to do this, or do it by hand, from the data in the input file for the script. The file contents are:

manny:1010:dba_admin,dba_managers,dba_staff
moe:1011:dba_admin,dba_staff
jack:1012:dba_intern,dba_staff
marcia:1013:it_staff,it_managers
jan:1014:dba_admin,dba_staff
cindy:1015:dba_intern,dba_staff

Set all user passwords to dbapass. Also, change the users’ PRIMARY groups’ GID to match their UID. Don’t forget to check their home directories to make sure permisisons are correct!

Configure superuser access:

Enable the following command aliases:

  • SOFTWARE
  • SERVICES
  • PROCESSES

Add a new command alias named "MESSAGES":

/bin/tail -f /var/log/messages

Enable superuser privilages for the following local groups:

  • dba_managers: everything
  • dba_admin: Command aliases: SOFTWARE, SERVICES, PROCESSES
  • dba_intern: Command alias: MESSAGES

Configure yum Repositories on Both Servers and Install Packages/Modules

You’ll need to configure three repositories and install some software:

RHEL 8 BaseOS:

  • Repository ID: [rhel-8-baseos-rhui-rpms]
  • The mirrorlist is: https://rhui3.REGION.aws.ce.redhat.com/pulp/mirror/content/dist/rhel8/rhui/$releasever/$basearch/baseos/os
  • The GPG key is located at: /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-redhat-release
  • You will need to add SSL configuration:
    sslverify=1
sslclientkey=/etc/pki/rhui/content-rhel8.key
sslclientcert=/etc/pki/rhui/product/content-rhel8.crt
sslcacert=/etc/pki/rhui/cdn.redhat.com-chain.crt

RHEL 8 AppStream:

  • Repository ID: [rhel-8-appstream-rhui-rpms]
  • The mirrorlist is: https://rhui3.REGION.aws.ce.redhat.com/pulp/mirror/content/dist/rhel8/rhui/$releasever/$basearch/appstream/os
  • The GPG key is located at: /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-redhat-release
  • You will need to add SSL configuration:
    sslverify=1
sslclientkey=/etc/pki/rhui/content-rhel8.key
sslclientcert=/etc/pki/rhui/product/content-rhel8.crt
sslcacert=/etc/pki/rhui/cdn.redhat.com-chain.crt

EPEL:

  • Repository ID: [epel]
  • The baseurl is: https://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/$releasever/Everything/$basearch

Configure the repositories on the first server, then make an archive of the files, securely copy them to the second server, then unarchive the repository files on the second server.

Install software on both servers:

  • Install the default AppStream stream/profile for container-tools
  • Install the youtube-dl package (from EPEL)
  • Check for system updates, but don’t install them

Configure IP Addresses on the Second Network Interface on the First Server

On the first server, configure the second interface’s IPv4/IPv6 addresses using nmtui.

IP Addresses:

  • IPv4: 10.0.1.20/24
  • IPv6: 2002:0a00:0114::/64
  • Manual, not Automatic (DHCP) for both interfaces
  • Only IP addresses, no other fields
  • Configure only, do not activate

Configure Persistent Journals on Both Servers

By default, the systemd journal logs to memory in RHEL 8, in the location /run/log/journal. While this works fine, we’d like to make our journals persistent across reboots.

Configure the systemd journal logs to be persistent on both servers, logging to /var/log/journal.

Managing Tuned Profiles and Individual Processes

On the first server:

  • Set a merged tuned profile using the the powersave and virtual-guest profiles.
  • Start one stress process and adjust the niceness value to 19.
  • Adjust the niceness value of the stress process to 10.
  • Kill the stress process.

Manage Scheduled Tasks on the First Server

Create one at task and one cron job on the first server:

  • The at job will create a file containing the string "The at job ran" in the file named /web/html/at.html, two minutes from the time you schedule it.
  • The cron job will append to the /web/html/cron.html file every minute, echoing the date to the file.

These files will be available via the web server on the first server after the "Troubleshoot SELinux issues" objective is completed.

Configure Time Service Clients for Both Servers

Time sync is not working on either of our servers. We need to fix that.

Configure chrony to use the following server:

server 169.254.169.123 iburst

Make sure your work is persistent and check your work!

Managing the System Bootloader

On server1, make the following changes:

  • Increase the timeout using GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
  • Add the following line: GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden
  • Add quiet to the end of the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX line

Validate the changes in /boot/grub2/grub.cfg. Do not reboot the server.

Managing Storage on RHEL 8

Configure Persistent Storage with LVM on Top of VDO

On the second server:

Create a VDO device with the first unused 5GB device.

  • Name: web_storage
  • Logical Size: 10GB

Use the VDO device as an LVM physical volume. Create the following:

  • Volume Group: web_vg
    • Three 2G Logical Volumes with xfs file systems:
    • web_storage_dev
    • web_storage_qa
    • web_storage_prod

Mount these persistently at /mnt/web_storage_{dev,qa,prod}.

Add Swap Space Persistently and Nondisruptive

We need to increase the swap on the second server. We’re going to use half of our first unused 2G disk for this additional swap space. Configure the swap space non-destructively and persistently.

Configure Stratis Storage Persistently

On the second server, using the second 2G disk, create the following:

  • Stratis pool: appteam
  • Stratis file system: appfs1
    • Mount this persistently at /mnt/app_storage

Configure autofs for Home Directories

Configure autofs on the first server to mount the user home directories on the second server at /export/home.

  • On the second server, configure a NFS server with the following export:

    /home   <first_server_private_IP>(rw,sync,no_root_squash)

  • On the first server, configure autofs to mount the exported /home directory on the second server at /export/home. Change the home directories for our six users (manny|moe|jack|marcia|jan|cindy) to be /export/home/<user> and test.

Configure a Shared Directory for Collaboration

On the second server:

Create a directory at /home/dba_docs with:

  • Group ownership: dba_staff
  • Permissions: 770
  • Set-GID set
  • Sticky bit set

Create a link in each shared user’s home directory to this directory, for easy access.

Set the following ACLs:

  • Read-only for jack and cindy
  • Full permissions for marcia
Managing Containers Using Podman

Create a Persistent systemd Container Using Podman

As the cloud_user user on the first server, create a persistent systemd container with the following:

  • Image: registry.access.redhat.com/rhscl/httpd-24-rhel7
  • Port mappings: 8080 on the container to 8000 on the host
  • Persistent storage at ~/web_data, mounted at /var/www/html in the container
  • Container name: web_server
Managing Security on RHEL 8

Troubleshoot SELinux Issues

The Apache web server on the first server won’t start! Investigate this issue, and correct any other SELinux issues related to httpd that you may find.

Configure the Firewall on Both Servers

Make sure the firewall is installed, enabled and started on both servers. Configure the following services/ports:

Server 1:

  • ssh
  • http
  • Port 85 (tcp)
  • Port 8000 (tcp)

Server 2:

  • ssh
  • nfs
  • nfs3
  • rpc-bind
  • mountd
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Additional Resources

You have been provided with two RHEL 8 servers, server1 and server2. You will be presented with a number of objectives, each with one or more tasks to complete. Some of the tasks will be performed on one server only, some on both. Most tasks will be performed as the root user, but not all. Pay close attention to what needs to be done, where, and as which user!

The objectives will cover the following:

  • Understanding and Using Essential Tools on RHEL 8
  • Creating Simple Shell Scripts
  • Operating Running Systems on RHEL 8
  • Configuring Local Storage on RHEL 8
  • Creating and Configuring File Systems on RHEL 8
  • Deploying, Configuring, and Maintaining RHEL 8 Systems
  • Managing Basic Networking on RHEL 8
  • Managing Users and Groups on RHEL 8
  • Managing Security on RHEL 8
  • Managing Containers on RHEL 8

To connect to the servers, use:

ssh cloud_user@<public_IP_address>

The cloud_user passwords have been provided along with the IP address information.

If you need assistance, there's a lab guide available, but you need to be able to complete all the objectives unassisted to be prepared for the exam.

Good luck, and enjoy!

What are Hands-on Labs

Hands-on Labs are real environments created by industry experts to help you learn. These environments help you gain knowledge and experience, practice without compromising your system, test without risk, destroy without fear, and let you learn from your mistakes. Hands-on Labs: practice your skills before delivering in the real world.

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