EX280

Exam Description

The Red Hat Certified System Administrator in OpenShift exam (EX280) tests the knowledge, skills, and ability to create, configure, and manage a cloud application platform using Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.

By passing this exam, you become a Red Hat Certified System Administrator in OpenShift that also counts towards earning a Red Hat Certified Architect in OpenShift.

This exam is based on Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform 4.22.

Earning a passing score on this exam is a requirement to attain the Red Hat Certified System Administrator in OpenShift certification. 

Exam Delivery

This is a hands-on, practical exam.  Rather than answering multiple-choice questions, you are required to perform routine system tasks on a live system to meet specific objective criteria.

The tasks are based on Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform 4.18.  Relevant product documentation is provided during the test, but you must complete the tasks without outside assistance.

Exam results are reported via email from Red Hat Certification Central.  Red Hat does not authorize examiners or training partners to report results to candidates directly. Scores on the exam are usually reported within 3 U.S. business days.

Exam results are reported as total scores. Red Hat does not report performance on individual items, nor will it provide additional information upon request. 

Multiple versions of this exam are in use. Please navigate directly to the Learning Management System (LMS) to view and complete your designated exam version at Red Hat Certification Exam Objectives by Version.

Exam Format

Be sure to review the Red Hat Certification Program Guide to ensure you are familiar with all official policies and exam procedures before booking your session.

 The time limit for this exam is 3.0 hours.

Exam Objectives

• Manage OpenShift Container Platform
• Use the web console to manage and configure an OpenShift cluster
• Use the command-line interface to manage and configure an OpenShift cluster
• Create and delete projects
• Locate and examine container images
• Identify images using tags and digests
• Query, format, and filter attributes of Kubernetes resources
• Import, export, and configure Kubernetes resources
• Examine resources and cluster status
• Monitor cluster events and alerts
• View logs
• Assess the health of an OpenShift cluster
• Troubleshoot common container, pod, and cluster events and alerts
• Use product documentation
• Be prepared to perform all tasks of a Red Hat Certified Technologist in OpenShift
• Declarative Resource Management
• Work with resource manifests
• Deploy applications from YAML resource manifests
• Update application deployments
• Deploy applications using Kustomize
• Work with Kustomize overlays
• Create and use secrets
• Create and use configuration maps
• Deploy applications
• Deploy applications from templates and Helm charts
• Manage application deployments
• Work with replica sets
• Work with labels and selectors
• Configure services
• Expose applications to external access
• Manage authentication and authorization
• Configure the HTPasswd identity provider for authentication
• Create and delete users
• Modify user passwords
• Create and manage groups
• Modify user and group permissions
• Configure network security
• Configure networking components
• Troubleshoot software defined networking
• Create and edit external routes
• Control cluster network ingress
• Secure external and internal traffic using TLS certificates
• Configure application network policies
• Expose non-HTTP/SNI Applications
• Configure a load balancer service
• Configure external application access
• Enable developer self-service
• Configure cluster resource quotas
• Configure project quotas
• Configure project resource requirements
• Configure project limit ranges
• Configure project templates
• Manage OpenShift operators
• Install an operator
• Uninstall an operator
• Delete an operator
• Configure application security
• Configure and manage service accounts
• Run privileged applications
• Manage and apply permissions using security context constraints
• Create and apply secrets to manage sensitive information
• Configure application access to Kubernetes APIs
• Deploy jobs to perform one-time tasks
• Configure Kubernetes cron jobs

Target Audience

• System Administrators who need to support the initial setup, configuration, and ongoing maintenance of an OpenShift cluster, including managing authentication, users, and network security.
• Site Reliability Engineers responsible for ensuring high service availability by monitoring, assessing cluster health, troubleshooting, and maintaining ongoing cluster operations.
• Platform Engineers responsible for configuring OpenShift to ensure developer teams have access to self-service tools, application delivery pipelines, and reliable cloud infrastructure.
• Application Developers working in a DevOps environment who need to deploy applications, configure container resource manifests (YAML, Kustomize, Helm), and expose services on Red Hat OpenShift.
• Infrastructure Engineers responsible for managing Kubernetes resources, evaluating cluster status, and maintaining the OpenShift platform.

Performance Rule

As with all Red Hat performance-based exams, configurations and services must persist and remain functional across the normal lifecycle of the platform without requiring manual intervention to restore or start them. 

Recommended Preparation

Candidates for this exam should:

• Have taken Red Hat System Administration I (RH124) or have comparable experience.  Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) is strongly recommended but not required.
• Have taken Red Hat OpenShift Administration I: Containers & Kubernetes (DO180) course or have comparable work experience using OpenShift Container Platform
• Have taken Red Hat OpenShift Administration II: Operating a Production Kubernetes Cluster (DO280) course or have comparable work experience using OpenShift Container Platform
• Review the Red Hat Certified System Administrator in OpenShift exam (EX280) objectives
• Experience with container technology is recommended

We recommend completing our no-cost skills assessment before enrolling in any Red Hat Training or Certification.  Learn more.

Find your path forward. Explore recommended courses and certifications tailored to your experience level and career goals. View skills paths

A Red Hat Certified System Administrator or Red Hat Certified Developer has demonstrated the baseline hands-on skills required to independently run production workloads, whether managing enterprise systems or building and deploying containerized applications. Because every Red Hat exam is performance-based, this credential tells an employer the holder has actually done the work, not answered questions about it. Holders of this credential are ready to carry out production responsibilities.

Scores and Reporting

Official scores for exams come exclusively from Red Hat Certification Central.  Red Hat does not authorize examiners or training partners to report results to candidates directly.  Scores on the exam are usually reported within 3 U.S. business days.  Exam results are reported as total scores.  Red Hat does not report performance on individual items, nor will it provide additional information upon request.