STEP 3 · EXPERT LEVEL
RHCA
The Red Hat Certified Architect is Red Hat’s highest level of certification. It builds on RHCE: an RHCE who passes five additional specialist exams, and keeps them current, becomes an RHCA.
How the path works
STEP 03 · RHCA
Five specialist exams
Five additional Red Hat specialist exams, chosen from the approved list, and kept current.
Areas the specialist exams cover
Red Hat changes the list of approved exams over time, so these are the typical areas, not a fixed syllabus.
Containers and OpenShift
Building and running containers, application development and cluster administration on OpenShift.
Automation
Ansible automation at scale, beyond the RHCE playbooks.
Security and hardening
SELinux, auditing and securing Red Hat systems against unauthorized access.
Identity management
Central authentication, access control and identity services.
Performance and troubleshooting
Tuning Linux systems and diagnosing what is slow or broken.
Hybrid cloud and multicluster
Managing cloud infrastructure and several clusters from one place.
Staying current
Three years at a time
Red Hat certifications stay current for three years. An RHCA stays valid while five eligible specialist credentials beyond RHCE are kept current, so the exams are retaken or replaced over time.
Current focus
RHCSA and RHCE come first. RHCA follows with five specialist exams.
Red Hat has reorganised RHCA over the years, for example into Infrastructure and Enterprise Applications tracks. Its certification pages are the source of truth for the current rules and exam list.
Questions
What is RHCA?
RHCA, the Red Hat Certified Architect, is Red Hat’s highest level of certification. It is earned by an RHCE who passes five additional specialist exams.
What do I need before RHCA?
You need RHCE first, which itself requires RHCSA. The specialist exams can be taken in any order, but RHCA is only awarded to a current RHCE.
How many exams does RHCA require?
Five additional specialist exams beyond RHCE, chosen from the list Red Hat approves. Taking more than five raises the RHCA level.
How long does an RHCA stay valid?
Red Hat certifications stay current for three years. An RHCA stays valid while five eligible specialist credentials beyond RHCE are kept current.
Has Abdallah Mekky started the RHCA exams?
Not yet. RHCSA comes first, then RHCE. RHCA is the long-term goal.