Red Hat · 2026 Edition
A complete preparation guide written by Red Hat-certified engineers. Covers the exam format,all 8 blueprint domains, a week-by-week study plan, and proven tips for passing first time.
3–5 months
Prep time
Advanced
Difficulty
Hands-on lab
Format
Exam code
EX294
Full name
Red Hat Certified Engineer
Vendor
Red Hat
Duration
240 minutes
Exam format
Performance-based lab (no multiple-choice)
Domains covered
8 blueprint domains
Recommended experience
Active RHCSA certification required; Linux administration and basic scripting experience
Typical prep time
3–5 months
RHCE is Red Hat's professional-level certification and one of the most respected hands-on Linux credentials in the industry. The current RHCE (EX294) focuses entirely on Ansible automation — validating the ability to automate RHEL administration at scale.
Job roles this opens
Domain percentage weights are not currently available for this exam. The checklist below is still useful for planning your study.
Performance-based exam
The real RHCE (EX294) exam is entirely performance-based — you automate Linux administration tasks using Ansible playbooks and roles in a live Red Hat Enterprise Linux environment. There are no multiple-choice questions. Courseiva practice questions reinforce Ansible concepts, but hands-on lab practice writing and running playbooks is still required.
Weeks 1–3
Ansible Fundamentals: inventory, playbooks, modules, variables, facts
Tip: RHCE EX294 is entirely about Ansible automation on RHEL. Know the Ansible playbook structure: plays have hosts and tasks; tasks use modules. Know the most used modules: ansible.builtin.copy, file, template, user, group, service, yum/dnf, command, shell, lineinfile, and blockinfile. Know when to use command vs shell (shell supports pipes/redirects; command does not).
Weeks 4–5
Variables, Facts, Vault, and Jinja2 Templates
Tip: Ansible variable precedence matters for EX294 scenarios. Order from lowest to highest: role defaults → inventory group_vars → inventory host_vars → playbook vars → task vars → extra-vars (-e). Know that higher precedence overrides lower, and that extra_vars cannot be overridden.
Weeks 6–7
Conditionals, Loops, Handlers, and Error Handling
Tip: Handlers in Ansible are triggered by notify directives and run only if the task that notified them reported a change. Know that handlers run at the end of a play (not immediately), that multiple notifications for the same handler result in a single run, and that handlers can be forced to run immediately with meta: flush_handlers.
Weeks 8–10
Roles: role structure, creating roles, Ansible Galaxy, role dependencies
Tip: An Ansible role has a defined directory structure: tasks/main.yml, handlers/main.yml, templates/, files/, vars/main.yml, defaults/main.yml, meta/main.yml. Know the purpose of each directory. The exam requires you to create and use roles — practise converting a flat playbook into a role structure.
Weeks 11–14
Ansible Execution Environments, Collections, and Automation Platform concepts
Tip: Ansible content collections are distribution packages for modules, plugins, roles, and playbooks. Know how to use a collection in a playbook (FQCN: ansible.builtin.copy vs just copy), install collections from Ansible Galaxy (ansible-galaxy collection install namespace.collection), and specify required collections in requirements.yml.
EX294 is a 4-hour live exam in a multi-machine RHEL environment. You must configure Ansible control nodes and managed nodes to complete tasks. Know how to set up a basic Ansible environment from scratch: install ansible-core, configure /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg (or project-level ansible.cfg), create inventory files.
ansible-lint is not part of the exam, but running your playbooks with --check (dry run) and --diff (show file changes) before applying is good practice during the exam. Always test your playbook before running it against all hosts.
Privilege escalation in Ansible: become: yes in a task or play uses sudo to run as root by default. Know how to configure become in ansible.cfg, in a play, and in a task. Know that become_user lets you escalate to a non-root user.
RHCE requires an active RHCSA certification. After passing RHCE, the certification is tied to the RHEL version. Red Hat recommends recertifying with each major RHEL release to stay current in the job market.
Ansible Vault encrypts sensitive data (passwords, API keys) in playbook variables. Know how to: create an encrypted file (ansible-vault create file.yml), encrypt an existing file (ansible-vault encrypt), decrypt (ansible-vault decrypt), rekey (ansible-vault rekey), and run a playbook with a vault password (--ask-vault-pass or --vault-password-file).
Apply everything in this guide with adaptive practice questions, detailed answer explanations, and domain analytics.
Deep-dive explanations of the key topics tested on EX294 — with exam key points and common misconceptions.