RHCSA Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield RHCSA facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. In Bash, what does the `test -f /etc/passwd` command check? → Whether /etc/passwd exists and is a regular file
2. Your goal is to access an SMB share. Which of the following commands exemplifies the appropriate syntax? → mount -o username=sambauser1 //server/share /somewhere
3. What command verifies the syntax of the SSH server configuration file without restarting the service? → sshd -t
4. Which file on RHEL must be updated to allow the new SSH port through the SELinux policy? → semanage port -a -t ssh_port_t -p tcp NEWPORT
5. What command is used to make a shell script executable? → chmod +x script.sh
6. How do you run a container in detached (background) mode using Podman? → podman run -d nginx
7. How can a cron job be created for a specific user? → Log in as that user and type crontab -e to open the cron editor
8. Where is the authorized public keys file stored for SSH key-based login on RHEL? → ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
9. What is the purpose of the `~/.ssh/known_hosts` file? → Stores fingerprints of previously connected SSH servers
10. What command generates a systemd unit file for an existing Podman container named 'myapp'? → podman generate systemd myapp
11. After running 'podman generate systemd --name myapp --files', where should you place the generated unit file to enable it for a non-root user? → ~/.config/systemd/user/
12. What `firewall-cmd` command permanently allows SSH traffic through the firewall? → firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=ssh && firewall-cmd --reload
13. Which command lists all containers, including stopped ones, in Podman? → podman ps -a
14. Which file contains the system-wide SSH server configuration on RHEL? → /etc/ssh/sshd_config
15. What is the exit status of a Bash command that completes successfully? → 0
16. Where does a system obtain its first supply of time when it starts up? → The hardware clock
17. What is the primary purpose of the `/etc/group` file in a Linux system? → To define group names, GIDs, and list the members of each group.
18. An executable file named `app.sh` has the following permissions: `-rwsr-xr--`. Which of the following statements is true? → The file will run with the privileges of the file owner.
19. A system administrator runs the command `umask 0027`. What will be the default permissions for a newly created directory? → 750
20. How do you mount the host directory '/data' to '/mnt/data' inside a Podman container? → podman run -v /data:/mnt/data nginx
21. On a Linux computer, which of the following files is used to initialize a system-wide environment? → /etc/profile
22. Which of the following commands enables a Linux server administrator to switch between run levels without having to restart the server? → init
23. Which of the aforementioned commands or options may be used to list the installed services and the runlevels that go with them? → chkconfig
24. How do you reference the first argument passed to a shell script? → $1
25. "Which of the following describes Red Hat Enterprise Linux's Graphical Mail clients? Each correct answer represents a complete solution. Choose two." → Mozilla
26. You want to type the previous command again into the bash shell. Which control from the list below will you use? → history !!
27. How do you use SCP to copy a local file to a remote host's `/tmp` directory? → scp localfile user@host:/tmp/
28. Which `sshd_config` directive sets the maximum number of concurrent unauthenticated SSH connections? → MaxStartups
29. Which command lists all locally stored container images in Podman? → podman images
30. By default, where are images stored for a rootless Podman user named 'alice'? → /home/alice/.local/share/containers/storage/