Red Hat certification is a matrix, not a single exam: five specializations (Enterprise Linux, Ansible, OpenShift, cloud-native applications, and AI) each have their own required exams per level. Engineer credentials are awarded automatically when you hold the core and advanced credentials in the same specialization, and Architect when an Engineer also holds three specialist credentials in that same concentration. To choose your next exam, start from your current credential and the task in front of you, then read the exact objectives page for the exam that matches — and note that the EX280 page currently shows conflicting versions, so always check the objectives for your booked version.
Five specializations, one certification program
Red Hat organizes its certification program into Enterprise Linux, Ansible, OpenShift, cloud-native applications and AI. Available exams and credential levels differ by specialization. Use the current map to choose a track and then study its exact exam objectives.
There is no single 'Red Hat specialist exam.' The program's own overview groups credentials by technology specialization and by role level, and each specialization has its own list of required exams. The program guide's specialization table covers system administration on RHEL, infrastructure automation with Ansible, container workloads on OpenShift, distributed application development, and AI/ML workloads on Red Hat platforms.
That structure matters for your planning. Your entry point depends on which specialization matches your daily work, and each track's exams are separate products with their own versions, durations, and objectives. The sections below walk through the levels, the per-track requirements, the exam format, and a worked example of choosing between tracks.
Official sources: Explore Red Hat certifications to complete your learning journey. — Certification levels and per-track exam requirements; Red Hat Certification program guide | Red Hat Learning Subscription — Exam format, pricing, retakes, remote delivery, results, renewal
How the certification levels stack
Each specialization runs through levels: an optional Technologist entry credential, a core Administrator or Developer credential, an advanced credential, an automatically awarded Engineer, standalone Specialist credentials with no prerequisites, and an automatically awarded Architect.
The key detail many candidates miss is that Red Hat Certified Engineer and Red Hat Certified Architect are not separate exams. The program guide states that Engineer status is earned by completing the core and advanced credentials in the same specialization, with no separate exam required. Architect status is awarded automatically when you hold an Engineer credential plus three Specialist certifications in a single concentration.
Specialist is also easy to misread. It is a credential level awarded for deep proficiency in one well-defined technical domain, and unlike the administrator, developer, engineer, and architect designations it has no prerequisites. Passing any single listed specialist exam earns that specialist certification on its own.
| Level | What it recognizes | How you earn it |
|---|---|---|
| Technologist (Level 1) | Foundational installation and configuration skills for one product | Pass a technologist exam where offered, for example EX180 (OpenShift) or EX156 (OpenShift Virtualization) |
| Administrator / Developer (Level 2) | Core day-to-day operation of systems or applications | Pass the core exam, for example EX200, EX280, EX188, or EX267 |
| Advanced Administrator / Developer | Multi-system administration or distributed application work | Pass the advanced exam, for example EX342, EX294, EX380, or EX288 |
| Engineer (Level 3) | End-to-end capability across a specialization | Hold the core plus advanced credential in the same specialization; awarded automatically, no separate exam |
| Specialist (Level 4) | Deep skill in one technical domain | Pass any single listed specialist exam; no prerequisites |
| Architect (Level 5) | Breadth across a specialization | Hold Engineer plus three Specialist credentials in the same concentration; awarded automatically |
Official sources: Explore Red Hat certifications to complete your learning journey. — Certification levels and per-track exam requirements; Red Hat Certification program guide | Red Hat Learning Subscription — Exam format, pricing, retakes, remote delivery, results, renewal
Current requirements for each track
Every specialization has its own exam list. Enterprise Linux and Ansible both use EX200 as the core; OpenShift uses EX280; cloud-native applications use EX188; and AI currently lists only one credential, the Red Hat Certified Developer in AI via EX267.
The table below condenses the current certification pages. Where the track lists many specialist exams, only representative examples are shown; the official page lists all of them. Note that the AI specialization currently shows no technologist, engineer, specialist, or architect exams — EX267 is the only AI exam on the map, and the other AI levels state that no exams are available at this time.
RHCSA (EX200) appears as the core exam for both the Enterprise Linux and Ansible tracks, but that does not make it a formal prerequisite for every other track. For EX280, Red Hat says RHCSA is strongly recommended but not required. Recommended-versus-required wording matters when you plan your sequence.
| Specialization | Core credential and exam | Engineer requirement | Representative specialist exams |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Linux | RHCSA — EX200 | EX200 + EX342 (Advanced System Administrator in Enterprise Linux) | EX415 (Security: Linux), EX436 (High Availability Clustering), EX442 (Performance Tuning), and others |
| Ansible | RHCSA — EX200 | EX200 + EX294 (Advanced System Administrator in Ansible) | EX374 (Developing Automation), EX467 (Managing Automation), EX417 (Windows Automation), EX457 (Network Automation) |
| OpenShift | EX280 (Certified System Administrator in OpenShift) | EX280 + EX380 (Certified Advanced System Administrator in OpenShift) | EX282 (Networking), EX316 (Virtualization), EX370 (Data Foundation), EX229 (ROSA), and others |
| Cloud-native applications | Red Hat Certified Developer — EX188 | EX188 + EX288 (Advanced Developer) | EX378 (Cloud-native Development), EX328 (Resilient Microservices), EX183 (Enterprise Application Development), and others |
| AI | Red Hat Certified Developer in AI — EX267 | No engineer-level exam listed at this time | None listed at this time |
Official sources: Explore Red Hat certifications to complete your learning journey. — Certification levels and per-track exam requirements; Red Hat Certified System Administrator in OpenShift exam | EX280 — Version conflict (4.22 vs 4.18), three-hour limit, objectives
What the hands-on exams are like
Red Hat exams assess practical work on live systems. Each exam page describes the tasks, evaluation and persistence requirements for its technology.
During the exam you work in a live environment against a list of tasks, usually described as a specific end state to achieve. Internet access is not provided, and you may not bring notes, books, or electronic documentation. For most exams, the documentation that ships with the product is available in the exam environment.
Practice verifying the requested result and retaining the configuration through the relevant system or platform lifecycle. EX200 and EX294 state a reboot-persistence requirement; EX280 describes services remaining functional through the normal platform lifecycle. Follow the instructions for your specific exam instead of assuming a universal task-level scoring rule.
Results arrive by email as a pass or fail status plus a score breakdown by objective area. Individual exam pages say scores are usually reported within three U.S. business days; the program guide allows up to five business days. Red Hat does not report performance on individual tasks or explain specific configuration errors.
Official sources: Red Hat Certification program guide | Red Hat Learning Subscription — Exam format, pricing, retakes, remote delivery, results, renewal; Red Hat Certified System Administrator exam | EX200 — Version (RHEL 10), audience, prerequisites, objectives; Red Hat Certified Advanced System Administrator in Ansible Exam | EX294 — Objectives, exam format, scoring; Red Hat Certified System Administrator in OpenShift exam | EX280 — Version conflict (4.22 vs 4.18), three-hour limit, objectives
Versions, durations, and objective areas per exam
Each exam page states its own product version, and they differ. The EX280 page currently conflicts internally, listing OpenShift Container Platform 4.22 in the description and 4.18 in the delivery section, so confirm the objectives for the version you book.
Because each specialization moves on its own release schedule, never assume one version applies across your whole plan. EX200 is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, while EX342 is based on RHEL 8.4. EX188 spans RHEL 10, Podman v5, and OpenShift 4.22, and EX267 is based on Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.3 on OpenShift Container Platform 4.20. The EX294 page says its objectives follow the most recent product version available.
Published durations also vary where stated: EX342 runs four hours, EX280 three hours, and EX188 two and a half hours. The EX200 and EX294 pages retrieved for this guide list no time limit, so check the current exam page or your booking confirmation before scheduling. Multiple versions of some exams may be in use; Red Hat directs candidates to the objectives-by-version page in its learning system for the exact version they booked.
| Exam | Stated version | Published duration | Core objective areas |
|---|---|---|---|
| EX200 (RHCSA) | RHEL 10 | Not listed on the page | Essential tools, RPM and Flatpak software, shell scripts, boot targets and system tuning, local storage and LVM, file systems and NFS, services and timers, networking and firewalld, users and groups, SELinux |
| EX294 (Ansible advanced) | Most recent product version available | Not listed on the page | Ansible components, ansible.cfg and ansible-navigator, static inventories, SSH keys and privilege escalation, playbooks, roles and content collections, Vault, templates, Git basics, automating standard RHCSA tasks |
| EX342 (Enterprise Linux advanced) | RHEL 8.4 | 4 hours | Troubleshooting: system information, boot and service failures, root access recovery, kernel modules, file systems, LVM, encrypted volumes, iSCSI, RPM and dependency issues, network connectivity, application and library issues, SELinux, containers, PAM and identity management, kernel crashdumps |
| EX280 (OpenShift administration) | OCP 4.22 (description) / 4.18 (delivery) — conflicting | 3.0 hours | Cluster management via web console and CLI, YAML manifests, Kustomize, Helm, deployments and services, HTPasswd authentication and permissions, routes, TLS, network policies, quotas and limit ranges, operators, service accounts, security context constraints, secrets, jobs |
| EX188 (Cloud-native developer) | RHEL 10, Podman v5, OCP 4.22 | 2.5 hours | Containerfiles and base images, image management and registries, running containers with Podman, multi-container application stacks with environment variables, secrets, and volumes, troubleshooting containerized applications |
| EX267 (Developer in AI) | OpenShift AI 3.3, OCP 4.20 | Not listed on the page | OpenShift AI architecture, data science projects and workbenches, data connections, node placement, model serving with KServe, OpenVINO, and vLLM, model registry, monitoring with TrustyAI, pipelines, LLM optimization and evaluation, GenAI applications with RAG and guardrails, Git and Python workflows |
Official sources: Red Hat Certified System Administrator exam | EX200 — Version (RHEL 10), audience, prerequisites, objectives; Red Hat Certified Advanced System Administrator in Ansible Exam | EX294 — Objectives, exam format, scoring; Red Hat Certified Advanced System Administrator in Enterprise Linux exam | EX342 — Version (RHEL 8.4), objectives, four-hour duration; Red Hat Certified System Administrator in OpenShift exam | EX280 — Version conflict (4.22 vs 4.18), three-hour limit, objectives; Red Hat Certified Developer in Cloud-native Applications exam | EX188 — Versions (RHEL 10, Podman v5, OCP 4.22), 2.5-hour limit, objectives; Red Hat Certified Developer in AI | EX267 — Versions (OpenShift AI 3.3, OCP 4.20), objectives, prerequisites
Worked decision case: picking your next exam
A current RHCSA whose team wants version-controlled, repeatable configuration across many RHEL servers should take EX294. Combined with EX200, it completes the Red Hat Certified Engineer in Ansible requirements, and its objectives cover exactly the tasks described.
The exercise below is a complete decision case. It assumes only what the official pages support: you hold a current RHCSA, the track map is as published, and your goal is the task described in the prompt — not a different one such as diagnostics or OpenShift administration.
Practice decision case
You passed EX200 last year and your RHCSA is current. Your team now manages 30 RHEL servers, and leadership wants package versions, service states, firewall rules, and user accounts applied identically on every server, defined in version-controlled files. You want your next credential to match this work. Which exam should you take, what credential does completing it give you, and which official page should you read before booking?
Show the decision and reasoning
Take EX294, the Red Hat Certified Advanced System Administrator in Ansible exam. Passing it makes you a Red Hat Certified Advanced System Administrator in Ansible, and because you already hold EX200, the pair completes the requirements for Red Hat Certified Engineer in Ansible — no separate engineer exam exists. Before booking, read the EX294 objectives page: its study points include configuring Ansible and managed nodes, writing plays and playbooks, using roles and content collections, and automating standard RHCSA tasks covering software packages and repositories, services, firewall rules, file content, task scheduling, and users and groups — a direct match to the job task.
EX294 directly matches the stated fleet-automation goal. EX342 emphasizes diagnosis and repair of RHEL problems; EX280 emphasizes OpenShift platform administration. The current map also lists specialist exams in developing and managing AAP automation, Windows automation and network automation, which a candidate can explore for a more specific focus. Here the existing RHCSA and the requested Linux fleet work make EX294 the appropriate next step. Verify the current credential requirements and the booked exam objectives before registering.
Official sources: Explore Red Hat certifications to complete your learning journey. — Certification levels and per-track exam requirements; Red Hat Certified Advanced System Administrator in Ansible Exam | EX294 — Objectives, exam format, scoring; Red Hat Certified Advanced System Administrator in Enterprise Linux exam | EX342 — Version (RHEL 8.4), objectives, four-hour duration; Red Hat Certified System Administrator in OpenShift exam | EX280 — Version conflict (4.22 vs 4.18), three-hour limit, objectives
Pricing, retakes, results, and renewal
The standard exam list price is $500 USD, though regional prices vary. Every paid first attempt includes one free retake, results arrive by email within a few business days, and certifications stay current for three years from the date earned.
Book with the retake policy in mind: Red Hat provides one free second attempt for every paid first attempt on the same exam. There is no waiting period after a first failed attempt, but a waiting period applies after a second failure, further attempts require a new paid registration, and you may not take the same exam twice in one calendar day.
For remote exams, you boot your computer from an official Red Hat Remote Exam ISO on a LiveUSB drive, supervised by a remote proctor. A compatibility test using the LiveUSB is mandatory before exam day; compatibility problems discovered on exam day can cost you the attempt. Testing center and classroom options are also available, and classroom exams are run by a Red Hat Certified Examiner.
Certifications remain current for three years from the date earned, and an expired certification cannot be renewed — it must be earned again. Renewal follows a 'the more you earn, the better the reward' model: completing a higher-level credential renews everything at or below it, and earning a credential at the same level renews that level and below. Red Hat Certified Architects can alternatively maintain status through recertification credits.
Official sources: Red Hat Certification program guide | Red Hat Learning Subscription — Exam format, pricing, retakes, remote delivery, results, renewal
Your next steps
Choose the specialization that matches your work, read the objectives for the exam version you will book, and practice completing and verifying those tasks in an appropriate lab.
A short checklist before you book: verify which specialization matches your daily work; check whether your target credential has prerequisites or only recommendations in the current track map; read the objectives page for your booked exam version, especially for EX280 where versions conflict on the page; run the mandatory compatibility test if you choose a remote exam; and review the Red Hat Certification Program Guide for current policies.
Official documents to rely on: the Red Hat certifications overview for the track map, the Certification Program Guide for format, pricing, and renewal policies, and each exam's own page (EX200, EX294, EX342, EX280, EX188, EX267) for its version, objectives, and duration. Course attendance is encouraged by Red Hat where listed but is not required — you may choose to take just the exam.
- Pick your specialization from the five current tracks before picking an exam.
- Read the objectives page for the exact version you book, not a summary from another site.
- Verify the requested results and the persistence requirements stated for your exam.
- Check the current retake terms and scheduling window when booking.
- Plan renewal before the three-year expiry, since expired credentials must be re-earned from scratch.
Official sources: Explore Red Hat certifications to complete your learning journey. — Certification levels and per-track exam requirements; Red Hat Certification program guide | Red Hat Learning Subscription — Exam format, pricing, retakes, remote delivery, results, renewal; Red Hat Certified System Administrator exam | EX200 — Version (RHEL 10), audience, prerequisites, objectives; Red Hat Certified Advanced System Administrator in Ansible Exam | EX294 — Objectives, exam format, scoring; Red Hat Certified Advanced System Administrator in Enterprise Linux exam | EX342 — Version (RHEL 8.4), objectives, four-hour duration; Red Hat Certified System Administrator in OpenShift exam | EX280 — Version conflict (4.22 vs 4.18), three-hour limit, objectives; Red Hat Certified Developer in Cloud-native Applications exam | EX188 — Versions (RHEL 10, Podman v5, OCP 4.22), 2.5-hour limit, objectives; Red Hat Certified Developer in AI | EX267 — Versions (OpenShift AI 3.3, OCP 4.20), objectives, prerequisites
Official sources
Key facts checked against Red Hat's official pages:
- Explore Red Hat certifications to complete your learning journey.
- Red Hat Certification program guide | Red Hat Learning Subscription
- Red Hat Certified System Administrator exam | EX200
- Red Hat Certified Advanced System Administrator in Ansible Exam | EX294
- Red Hat Certified Advanced System Administrator in Enterprise Linux exam | EX342
- Red Hat Certified System Administrator in OpenShift exam | EX280
- Red Hat Certified Developer in Cloud-native Applications exam | EX188
- Red Hat Certified Developer in AI | EX267