RHCSA (20): The RHEL Alternative: Exploring Rocky Linux 9 & 10
Executive Summary
Episode 20 introduces Rocky Linux, the cornerstone of our hands-on lab environment for Season 2. Building on our understanding of RHEL 10, this session tackles the critical challenge for aspiring administrators: gaining authentic, enterprise-level experience without the cost of a commercial subscription. We explore the history and mission of Rocky Linux, positioning it as the community-driven, open-source successor to the original CentOS and a perfect, bug-for-bug compatible alternative to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This compatibility ensures that every command, configuration, and troubleshooting step you learn is directly applicable to the RHCSA exam environment.
The episode clarifies our strategic approach for the upcoming labs. We will deploy the stable and widely available Rocky Linux 9 on our Linode cloud servers as the practical foundation for mastering the objectives of the newer RHEL 10 certification. We'll discuss why the skills are virtually identical and completely transferable between these versions, making Rocky 9 the perfect tool for the job right now. By the end of this session, you'll understand why Rocky Linux is the ideal, no-cost solution that provides the genuine RHEL experience necessary to confidently prepare for your certification. This sets the stage for our next episode, where we'll put them head-to-head in a direct comparison. 🚀
Keywords: RHCSA, Rocky Linux, RHEL 10, Rocky Linux 9, CentOS, RHEL Clone, Red Hat Certified System Administrator, EX200, Enterprise Linux, Linux Lab, Hands-on Labs, System Administration, Linode, Open Source, Free RHEL Alternative, IT Training, Linux Podcast
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+-- Episode 20 Abbreviations
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|-- CentOS: Community ENTerprise Operating System
|-- OS: Operating System
|-- RHEL: Red Hat Enterprise Linux
\-- RHCSA: Red Hat Certified System Administrator
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+-- Episode 20: The RHEL Alternative: Exploring Rocky Linux 9 & 10
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|-- 1. The Need for a Free, Enterprise-Grade Lab
| Â |-- 1.1 Recap of E19: RHEL 10 is our target, but it's a commercial OS
| Â |-- 1.2 The RHCSA Challenge: How to practice RHEL skills without a subscription
| Â \-- 1.3 The Solution: RHEL Clones and the power of open source
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|-- 2. Introducing Rocky Linux: The Community's Enterprise OS
| Â |-- 2.1 A Quick History: The Legacy of CentOS and the birth of Rocky
| Â |-- 2.2 The Mission: A bug-for-bug compatible, downstream build of RHEL
| Â \-- 2.3 Who's behind it? (Community-driven, enterprise-backed)
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|-- 3. Understanding the Versions: Rocky 9 vs. Rocky 10
| Â |-- 3.1 Rocky Linux 9: The Current Champion
| Â | Â |-- Based on RHEL 9
| Â | Â \-- Our stable, reliable lab OS for Season 2
| Â |-- 3.2 Rocky Linux 10: The Next Generation
| Â | Â |-- Based on the brand new RHEL 10
| Â | Â \-- Represents the future we're preparing for
| Â \-- 3.3 The Core Takeaway: Skills are 99% transferable between versions
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|-- 4. Why Rocky Linux is the Perfect Choice for RHCSA Prep
| Â |-- 4.1 Cost: $0. The best price for learning.
| Â |-- 4.2 Authenticity: The command-line experience is identical to RHEL
| Â |-- 4.3 Availability: Easy to install on hardware or in the cloud (like Linode)
| Â \-- 4.4 Reconfirming Our Plan: We'll master RHEL 10 objectives on a Rocky 9 Linode
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\-- 5. Wrap-Up & Looking Ahead
  |-- 5.1 Recap: Rocky Linux is our free, professional-grade key to hands-on RHEL practice
  \-- 5.2 The Bridge to E21: "So just how identical are they?"
    \-- Next Episode: A direct comparison of RHEL 10 and Rocky Linux
```