I had a text from the Kichu letting me know that I passed the RHCA exam as well, so now I’m an RHCSA and an RHCE. That makes all the effort worthwhile and hopefully justifies the support that has been offered to me by my family and friends. Thank you to one and all.

I can now relax and enjoy myself!

After completing twelve days of study and a full day of exams I was more than ready to chill out and generally relax. I celebrated the end of study and passing one of the exams (I still don’t know the outcome of the other) with a few drinks in the bar, then it was time to do my packing. It was a all a bit complicated as I had to pack for the houseboat trip and leave my bike gear behind in storage. Continue reading →

Yesterday I did both exams, the Red Hat Certified Systems Administrator ( http://www.redhat.com/training/certifications/rhcsa/ ) in the morning and then the Red Hat Certified Engineer ( http://www.redhat.com/training/certifications/rhce/ ) in the afternoon. I felt that both exams went well. They are both practical exams: you are sat in front of a computer where you have to correct any faults with it and then make a series of requested configuration changes to it. So far I’ve only received the results from the first exam Continue reading →

I was exhausted last night and had an early night, but that didn’t stop me having a lie in this morning! I wanted to be in the training centre for about 10 am, but didn’t get up until after 9.  I’d agreed with Kichu that I’d make my own way in as I wasn’t sure when, or even if I was going to go in when he was taking me home yesterday. He said I could give him a call and he would collect me, but it’s only a Rs20 auto ride, so it would be unreasonable to drag him away from his family on his day off! Anyway I managed to get into the centre for just before 10 and then started practising some of the topics I’d been having a few problems with. Continue reading →

It’s been a while since I last updated the blog because I’ve been so busy. The exam approaches and we’ve all been preparing for it by doing mock exams. There are two ‘papers’ (though the questions are on a local web page rather than on paper!). I did OK on the mock exam for the first paper, but didn’t do well at all in the second. I felt quite demoralised afterwards.  Continue reading →

Today has been a little different. I was expecting it to be another day at the office learning about the Red Hat operating system, but on the way home last night Kichu told me that today would be a ‘hartal’ – that’s a political strike;  everywhere would be closed and there’d be no cars on the road! Continue reading →

Today was my day off, so I had a lie in and a late breakfast. Then it was nose to the grindstone again for a couple of hours reading through my notes and checking out a few things I wan’t sure of. That done I decided to hit the tourist trail . . .  Continue reading →

Although today is Saturday, it was just another day at the office as far as training was concerned, though we finished at 4 pm;  a little earlier than usual. Just before lunch we were asked if we would have our photographs taken for the company’s internal blog, the photographer also took a few pictures with my camera for me. The early finish gave me chance to do something I’ve been wanting to do for a couple of days: visit a doctor . . . Continue reading →

My days this week have been pretty full. I get collected at 08:30 from the hotel and start doing practice labs as soon as I get to the training centre. At about 10:00 our instructor Mohsin starts teaching us new concepts and technologies. Lunch is at one and we get chance to do more practice labs after 4:30 or so. I generally get back to the hotel around 19:00 and then have a meal and that’s my day pretty much done. Earlier in the week I’d asked Kichu to help me get an Indian SIM card for my ‘phone to help reduce my telephone bill. This turned out to be more of a mission than I thought it would be . . . .  Continue reading →

Not too much to say today as I spent most of the day training!

The second day of training stepped up a notch and we covered stuff that was new to me. I’d done some logical volume management before, but through the graphical interface, not via the command line. Today we did both. We also had ample opportunity to practice which made it more fun than just sitting listening and watching!  Continue reading →