Linux: NCLPvsRHCE

Whenwecomparethebestcertificationinlinuxavailableinthemarket. Depends/Linux? To

When we compare the best certification in linux available in the market.

NCLP vs RHCE

SUSElinux vs RedHat

Questions

What certifications have you undertaken to gain proficiency in FOSS/Linux?

To gain proficiency in FOSS/Linux any newbies can go for RHCT (Red Hat Certified Technician) and nlinoleic (Novell Certified Linux Administrator) certification. talking about myself, I have undertaken RHCE (Red-hat Certified Engineer) and NCLP (Novell Certified Linux Professional) certification programme which is for system administrators and power-users in Linux.

What motivated do you want to opt for RHCE and NCLP certifications? How different are these certifications?

Well I was very much bored of windows OS, the pattern and the methodology of Microsoft certification program. I wanted to try out other operating system plus I wanted to do a certification that wowould really challenge my technical skill. so when I turned to Google for help there was only one best selling certification course available in the market as far as Linux OS concern "RHCE" crown jewel of Linux certifications ", so I started working on Redhat certification. after finishing RHCE, I got the idea about other distro of Linux available in the market and used in production. once I started using other flavor of Linux, I was very much interest in a particle distro of Linux which was cool to use and which has a cool name too "SUSE Linux ". the best interactive, the best GUI based Linux and user friendly Linux available in the market with best support. I had to finish my NCLP certification, to get more familiar with SUSE server administration.

How different is the value add provided by RHCE and NCLP to a professional?

Each certification have their plus and minus, finishing RHCE give you the basic idea behind on advanced server administration on Linux the same with NCLP but Scripting is one of the tough topic which each Linux administrator shocould know which are covered only in NCLP course ware.

What exactly are your career goals in IT and to what extent have RHCE and NCLP helped you attain them?

Well once I finished my RHCE, I had the job offerings on system administration domain in the IT sector, restricting myself on a single platform of Linux "Redhat ". and once I got NCLP certification now I am more qualified person to work on multiple platform on Linux plus the added advantage of shell scripting.

Elaborate on your career growth after attaining each of the two certifications.

Once I finished my RHCE certification, I was confident on my Linux understandings. finishing RHCE gives you the confidence to move to the next level in your career as system administrator plus your technical skill. since I finished RHCE first, getting NCLP certification was quite a bit easy. once again NCLP focuses on Bash Shell Scripting which is not covered in RHCE. scripting is every much important with industry standards and scripting is tough. every job or task in Linux can be performed med efficiently and Every tively if a Linux system administrator knows how to write scripts, and that were NCLP certification stands out giving candidate the confidence to write their own script. confidence in Shell scripting motivated me to learn other open source scripting language like Perl. once the candidate equipped with technologies, carrier growth is a part of learning skills.

Compare RHCE and NCLP certification based on

Cost: When comparing RHCE and NCLP certification with respect to pricing, the former (RHCE) is expensive than the later (NCLP ). RHCE will cost you around 12,500 rs where as NCLP will cost you only 3,500, You can do the math!

Market value

Comparing RHCE and NCLP certification with respect to market value both do share the same priories. A person who cleared RHCE or NCLP can work only flavor of Linux, hence both have their equal market value and their importance.

Training

Talking about training, you can find more number of RHCE training center available when compared with training center for NCLP. Novell is still on rise and are coming up with more training center for NCLP.

Complexity/difficulty level

Both RHCE and NCLP are very much difficult to clear. only a person with 80% proficiency in linux, regular practice, good with command, good in understanding the flow of control in Linux OS can clear this exam. as told earlier both of the exam are a performance-based test that measures actual competency on live systems. you don't have any other cut way (dumps) for clearing these exams. these certifica Te proves an individual's ability to configure and work on Linux and believe me its tough !!

There is no 'one size fits all 'kind of certification for open source connector sionals. it depends on your company, what you want, and the technologies you are specializing in. elaborate on the kind of externsionals RHCE and NCLP are best suited?

If your organization is completely into open source both RHCE and NCLP certified candidates will be the preferred choice. if you want to improve your Linux server performance in your organization a NCLP candidates will be preferred over than RHCE candidates because of his/her Scripting skill. where as processing ing the basic server part is covered on both NCLP and RHCE. (for experts -- mail and proxy server are not covered in NCLP which is covered in RHCE, NCLE is another advanced certification which covers both proxy, mail and more advanced concept in Linux administration which is meant only for power-user in Linux .)

Which of the two is better suited and a more holistic training programme for programming als planning a career shift from proprietary to open source?

I wocould say NCLP wocould be the better and a more holistic training program for your sionals planning a career shift from proprietary to open source because NCLP is purely based on SUSE Linux which is the best interactive GUI OS suite in Linux. proprietary product like. net, SAP, windows 2003 application are all supported on SUSE Linux which is not supported in any other flavor of Linux.

The course ware given by Novell for NCLP is very much understandable and easy to use when compared with the course ware given with Redhat for RHCE training programme.

All Linux distro servers can be configured by opening up the configuration file which are of course a text file in linux. in SUSE Linux its very much easy to configure a server or an application with GUI based interaction instead of opening a text file and working on it. hence I prefer NCLP over RHCE.

Because in RHCE everything is based on TUI (which is of course good) making it difficulty for newbies and rookies. but in SUSE Linux you can either go with TUI if you are familiar with text configuration files or GUI which is easy and smart way to do it.

Most of the configuration file in SUSE Linux are well known ents with comments and suggested configuration lines, whereas in red-hat the important configuration files are not that well known ented. documentation is very important in Linux usage because once a candidate gets stuck with any question in the certification exam the best way is to turn to the documentation page available in the Linux OS which might help the candidate to clear the certification.

Upgradation of skillsets is equally important for any engineer. Which of the two certifications offer a more promising up-gradation programme?

Its quite hard to compare the up-gradation programme of the two cerication ication, because each certification follows it own skillset in Linux.

For example the up-gradation for NCLP wocould NCLE more advanced administration, then there is CNE which concentrates on novell products like workgroup, virtualization, group-wise, teaming and conferencing.

Talking about RHCE up-gradation program it follows the redhat skill set,

RHCSS for security, RHCA for Linux architecture like clustering etc.

So each certification have their best up-gradation skill set according to the organization like Redhat or Novell.

How shoshould one decide whether to take RHCE or NCLP?

It depends on which platform a candidate and the candidate's organization is working on, SUSE or REDHAT. and both certification servers the same importance in-order of knowing and understanding Linux in depth. rather I wowould say finishing both the certification give you the special edge in using and knowing Linux and both RHCE and NCLP candidate are Hot Cake of today's IT Market.