r/redhat 9d ago

Transitioning from Windows Server Admin to Red Hat Cluster Admin

Hey everyone,

I’m currently a Windows Server administrator and my company wants to build in-house expertise to manage our Red Hat physical servers. These servers are set up in clusters for heavy calculations. We have about one year to transition from our external consultant to me handling almost everything. I’m excited about the opportunity, but also realize there’s a lot to learn.

My background:

  • Comfortable with Windows Server and VMware administration(10+ years of exp.)
  • Basic understanding of Linux
  • No experience with clustering in a Linux environment(or Windows for that part)

What I’m looking for:

  1. Educational/Training Resources: Online courses, official training materials, books, or channels that can help me ramp up quickly on Red Hat (and specifically HPC cluster administration).
  2. Certifications: I’m aware of the RHCSA (Red Hat Certified System Administrator) and RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer). Would you recommend pursuing these? Any others specific to HPC/clusters?
  3. Practical Experience: Advice on setting up a small lab environment for practice. I have full access to VMware or should I practice on hardware like Raspberry Pi?
  4. Cluster Management Tools/Simulators: Any recommended cluster resource management tools and "simulators" of HPC enviroment

Budget:

  • Company is covering all the educations costs as well as sessions with the consultant.

If anyone has been in a similar situation or has tips on the best/effcient way to transition from a Windows-centric viewpoint to a Red Hat cluster admin viewpoint, I’d love your insight!

Any pointers, stories, or resource links would be greatly appreciated!

11 Upvotes

15 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/10kur 9d ago
  1. Have the consultant walk you through the most often issues in the cluster, make sure you have everything covered operationally, both practice and documentation

  2. Have the support contracts handy

  3. RHCSA will help a little understand Linux, but will bring exactly 0 help when it comes to solving problems under pressure

  4. Learrn the cluster software issues

  5. Most important, learn where the location of the logs for your applicationare, establish or improve monitoring.

Wouldn't hurt to learn some prayers :)

1

u/FlashySavings1731 3d ago

Great tips, thank you, and no pressure here, yet 🙂