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EX442 Exam Topics and Domains
EX442 is organized into 7 weighted domains. Expect to work with sysstat, crond, NetworkManager, pmcd, and more.
Use Utilities to Analyze System Behavior
System performance monitoring utilities
Use utilities such as vmstat, iostat, mpstat, sar, gnome-system-monitor, top, powertop, and others to analyze and report system and application behavior
Performance Co-Pilot (PCP)
Use utilities such as Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) to analyze system behaviour
Hardware profiling utilities
Use utilities such as dmesg, dmidecode, and sosreport to profile system hardware configurations
Monitor and Alter Kernel Behavior
Kernel runtime parameters
Use /proc/sys, sysctl, and /sys to examine, modify, and set kernel run-time parameters
Kernel module parameters
Configure kernel behavior by altering module parameters
Analyze System and Application Performance
Process analysis tools
Analyze system and application behavior using tools such as ps, top, and Valgrind
Valgrind profiling suite
Analyze system and application behavior using tools such as ps, top, and Valgrind
SystemTap
Configure systems to run SystemTap scripts
eBPF tools
Use the eBPF family of tools (e.g. syscount, gethostlatency and others) to diagnose system and application behavior
Application performance comparison
Given multiple versions of applications that perform the same or similar tasks, choose which version of the application to run on a system based on its observed performance characteristics
Tune Running Systems
Process priority management
Alter process priorities of both new and existing processes
Tuned profile management
Select and configure tuned profiles
Control groups (cgroups)
Manage system resource usage using control groups
Tune Memory Utilization
Alternate page size configuration
Configure systems to support alternate page sizes for applications that use large amounts of memory
Configure Disk and File Subsystems
I/O scheduling algorithms
Select proper I/O scheduling algorithm
File system tuning
Tune file system layout for a given use
Tune Network Performance
Network buffer calculation
Calculate network buffer sizes based on known quantities such as bandwidth and round-trip time
System buffer configuration
Set system buffer sizes based on those calculations
How do I earn this certification?
Passing EX442 earns the Red Hat Certified Specialist in Performance Tuning certification. It sits in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux track.
- EX200 - RHCSA examFoundation certification - required before specialist exams
- EX294 - RHCE exam (Ansible Automation)Prerequisite for RHCA and complements performance tuning with automation skills
- EX280 - Red Hat Certified Specialist in OpenShift Administration examAnother RHCA-qualifying specialist exam; extends skills to container platform administration
- EX180 - Red Hat Certified Specialist in Containers and Kubernetes examComplementary specialist certification for containerized workloads
- EX358 - Red Hat Certified Specialist in Services Management and Automation examRHCA-qualifying specialist in RHEL services management
- EX374 - Red Hat Certified Specialist in Developing Automation with Ansible Automation Platform examRHCA-qualifying specialist focused on Ansible development
Practice with Precision
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How to study for this exam?
The most effective way to prepare for EX442 is by using the PlanetCert Simulator to practice questions and review detailed explanations.
What's changed on this exam?
- ACTIVE
- Last content update: 2025-10-27
- Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) PCP is a current exam objective; future RHEL 9-based exam updates may include newer PCP features
- eBPF/BCC Tools eBPF tools are explicitly listed in exam objectives (syscount, gethostlatency, etc.); this is an active and growing area
- TuneD Core exam objective; tuned profile management is fundamental to the exam
Who should take this exam?
This exam is typically taken by Experienced Linux system administrators responsible for maximizing resource utilization through performance tuning and Red Hat Certified Engineers (RHCE) interested in becoming a Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA).
- Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) certification
- RH442 - Red Hat Performance Tuning: Linux in Physical, Virtual, and Cloud course
- Extensive real-world work experience in Linux performance tuning
- Senior-level Linux system administration experience