RHCSA stands for Red Hat Certified System Administrator, the credential you earn by passing Red Hat’s EX200 exam. It is a hands-on test: you get real systems and a list of tasks, and your work is graded on whether the machines end up in the right state and stay that way after a reboot. No multiple choice, no internet, no notes. That is why the book you study from matters more here than for most certifications. A good RHCSA book is really a lab manual.
The short answer: if you are sitting the exam on RHEL 10, buy Asghar Ghori’s RHEL 10 fourth edition for the labs and add Sander van Vugt’s RHCSA 10 Cert Guide if you want a second, more structured pass. By November 2026 Red Hat’s own exam page states that EX200 is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, and both of those books are in print and shipping. The rest of this guide covers the other RHEL 10 options, the RHEL 9 editions for anyone still booked on the older exam, the books worth reading for RHCE (EX294), and the old editions to avoid.
Our top picks at a glance
- Best overall for RHEL 10: RHCSA Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 (EX200), 4th Edition by Asghar Ghori. The most hands-on labs of any RHCSA 10 book.
- Best structured exam guide: Red Hat RHCSA 10 Cert Guide: EX200 by Sander van Vugt. Pearson’s format, chapter quizzes, four practice tests.
- Best compact RHEL 10 companion: Red Hat RHCSA 10 Study Companion by Andrey Markelov. Twelve task-based chapters from a Red Hat Certified Architect.
- Best if you are still on RHEL 9: RHCSA Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (EX200), 3rd Edition by Asghar Ghori.
- Best for RHCE (EX294): Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) Ansible Automation Study Guide by Alex Soto Bueno and Andrew Block. The newest major-publisher RHCE guide, and it covers ansible-navigator.
What changed with the RHEL 10 exams
Most RHCSA book lists online were written for RHEL 9 and never updated. Before you buy anything, it helps to know what moved, because it decides which edition is worth your money.
- EX200 is now based on RHEL 10. Red Hat’s EX200 page says so directly. A RHEL 10 edition of a book is the one that matches the live exam.
- Flatpak is on the RHEL 10 list. The current study points include configuring Flatpak repositories and installing and removing Flatpak packages, alongside the long-standing storage, LVM, SELinux, tuning profile, networking, users, and firewalld tasks.
- The current list has no separate container section. The RHEL 9 objectives had a “Manage containers” block. If you are studying from a RHEL 9 book for a RHEL 10 exam, you will spend time on containers the current objectives page no longer lists and miss the Flatpak material.
- The RHCE exam was renamed and reworked. EX294 is now titled Red Hat Certified Advanced System Administrator in Ansible, and passing it counts toward the Red Hat Certified Engineer in Ansible credential. The exam uses Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, and the objectives now include ansible-navigator, basic Git operations, and working from VS Code with an Ansible development container. Red Hat marks the EX294 objectives as following the most recent product version, so check the list again when you book.
Red Hat also notes that you must hold RHCSA before you can become a Red Hat Certified Engineer, in either the Enterprise Linux or the Ansible track. So RHCSA first, then RHCE, is still the order everyone follows.
RHCSA and RHCE books compared
Prices are the new-copy Amazon price we saw on September 27, 2026. They move, so treat them as bands and check the live price before you buy.
| Book | Exam | RHEL | Edition | Published | Pages | Price (Sep 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghori, RHCSA RHEL 10 Training and Exam Preparation Guide | EX200 | 10 | 4th | Dec 2025 | 550 | ~$60 |
| van Vugt, Red Hat RHCSA 10 Cert Guide | EX200 | 10 | 1st | Jun 2026 | 672 | ~$55 |
| Markelov, Red Hat RHCSA 10 Study Companion | EX200 | 10 | 1st | May 2026 | 12 chapters | ~$49 |
| Smyth, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Essentials | None (foundation) | 10 | 1st | Jan 2026 | 314 | ~$35 |
| Ghori, RHCSA RHEL 9 Training and Exam Preparation Guide | EX200 | 9 | 3rd | Feb 2023 | 582 | ~$41 |
| van Vugt, Red Hat RHCSA 9 Cert Guide | EX200 | 9 | 1st | Apr 2023 | 704 | ~$43 |
| Jang and Orsaria, RHCSA RHEL 9 Certification Study Guide | EX200 | 9 | 8th | Dec 2023 | 528 | ~$24 |
| Soto Bueno and Block, RHCE Ansible Automation Study Guide | EX294 | Any | 1st | May 2025 | 212 | ~$33 |
| van Vugt, Red Hat RHCE 8 (EX294) Cert Guide | EX294 | 8 | 1st | Oct 2020 | 480 | ~$40 |
| Meijer, Hochstein and Moser, Ansible: Up and Running | None (Ansible) | Any | 3rd | 2022 | 470 | ~$43 |
1. RHCSA Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 (EX200), 4th Edition
Asghar Ghori’s RHCSA books have been the lab-heavy favorite for several RHEL releases, and the fourth edition brings the formula to RHEL 10. The cover sums up why people pass with it: 22 exam-focused chapters, 84 step-by-step exercises and shell scripts, 76 do-it-yourself challenge labs, 396 review questions with answers, and four full-length practice exams made of 80 unique exam-style tasks.
Who it is for: anyone taking EX200 on RHEL 10 who learns by doing. Ghori explains a topic, walks you through it, then leaves you a challenge lab with no hand-holding, which is exactly the muscle the exam tests.
Skip it if: you want an official-feeling, publisher-backed study system with online practice software. Ghori’s books are self-published by Endeavor Technologies and are print-first; that is the gap van Vugt’s Pearson guide fills.
- Author: Asghar Ghori
- Edition: 4th, the current RHEL 10 edition
- Published: December 2025
- Pages: 550
- Price: about $60 new (September 2026), check the current price on Amazon
2. Red Hat RHCSA 10 Cert Guide: EX200
Sander van Vugt has written the Pearson RHCSA guide for several RHEL releases, and the RHCSA 10 edition shipped in June 2026. It follows the Cert Guide series format: exam topic lists, chapter-ending quizzes and labs, exam preparation tasks, and four practice tests, organized into basic system management, operating running systems, advanced administration, and network services.
Who it is for: readers who want a methodical, objective-by-objective study plan, and anyone who already uses van Vugt’s video courses. It is the natural second book next to Ghori, and plenty of people who pass first time use one of each.
Skip it if: you only want one book and learn best from long lab sequences. Ghori gives you more hands-on repetition per chapter.
- Author: Sander van Vugt
- Edition: 1st (RHCSA 10)
- Published: June 2026
- Pages: 672
- Format: Pearson also sells it as a DRM-free EPUB and PDF eBook
- Price: about $55 new (September 2026), check the current price on Amazon
3. Red Hat RHCSA 10 Study Companion
A newer and shorter option from Apress. Andrey Markelov, a Red Hat Certified Architect since 2009 who has taught Microsoft and Red Hat authorized courses for over 15 years, structures it as twelve chapters of task-based exercises with review questions and an answer annex, and publishes the examples and lab exercises on GitHub.
Who it is for: experienced Linux admins who want a lean RHEL 10 refresher that sits next to the official documentation, rather than a 600 page course.
Skip it if: you are brand new to Linux. Apress lists newcomers among its audience, but in our view it reads best as a companion, not a from-zero course. It also includes container material, so check each chapter against the current objectives list, which no longer has a separate containers section.
- Author: Andrey Markelov
- Edition: 1st
- Published: May 2026
- Length: 12 chapters, about 330 pages
- Price: about $49 new (September 2026), check the current price on Amazon
4. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Essentials
Not an exam guide, and that is the point. Neil Smyth’s book is a plain, practical walk through installing and running RHEL 10: installation, the desktop, users, storage, networking, firewalls, and standing up common services. It is the book to read before an RHCSA guide if you have never administered a RHEL system.
Who it is for: Windows admins, developers, and Linux newcomers who need the fundamentals of RHEL 10 before starting exam prep.
Skip it if: you already work on RHEL daily. It does not map to the EX200 objectives or include practice exams, so an experienced admin should go straight to pick 1 or 2.
- Author: Neil Smyth
- Edition: 1st
- Published: January 2026
- Pages: 314
- Price: about $35 new (September 2026), check the current price on Amazon
Picks 5 to 7 are RHEL 9 editions. Buy one only if your exam booking is explicitly for the RHEL 9 version of EX200, or if you run RHEL 9 at work and want the reference. For a RHEL 10 exam, the books above are the better match.
5. RHCSA Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (EX200), 3rd Edition
The RHEL 9 predecessor to pick 1, with the same approach: 22 chapters, 99 step-by-step exercises and shell scripts, 74 challenge labs, 381 review questions, and four sample RHCSA exams of 22 tasks each.
Who it is for: candidates booked on the RHEL 9 version of the exam who want Ghori’s lab-first style.
Skip it if: your exam is on RHEL 10. The fourth edition replaces it and covers the newer objectives such as Flatpak.
- Author: Asghar Ghori
- Edition: 3rd (RHEL 9)
- Published: February 2023
- Pages: 582
- Price: about $41 new (September 2026), check the current price on Amazon
6. Red Hat RHCSA 9 Cert Guide: EX200
Van Vugt’s RHEL 9 Cert Guide, in the same Pearson format as pick 2. It is still a solid, widely used RHEL 9 study guide.
Who it is for: RHEL 9 exam candidates who prefer a structured guide with practice test material.
Skip it if: your exam is on RHEL 10. The RHCSA 10 Cert Guide is the direct replacement from the same author.
- Author: Sander van Vugt
- Edition: 1st (RHCSA 9)
- Published: April 2023
- Pages: 704
- Price: about $43 new (September 2026), check the current price on Amazon
7. RHCSA Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Certification Study Guide, 8th Edition
The McGraw Hill study guide, now in its eighth edition by Michael Jang and Alessandro Orsaria. It uses the familiar certification study guide format: step-by-step exercises, Exam Watch and On the Job sidebars, Two-Minute Drills, self-tests, and hands-on lab questions.
Who it is for: budget buyers on the RHEL 9 exam. At around $24 it is the cheapest current-edition RHCSA book here.
Skip it if: you are studying for RHEL 10, or you want the most lab repetition. Ghori’s RHEL 9 edition has more labs for a RHEL 9 candidate.
- Authors: Michael Jang and Alessandro Orsaria
- Edition: 8th (RHEL 9)
- Published: December 2023
- Pages: 528
- Price: about $24 new (September 2026), check the current price on Amazon
RHCE books: what to read for EX294
RHCE is where the book market is thinnest. As of November 2026 there is one major-publisher guide written for the current, Automation Platform based EX294 (pick 8), plus older RHEL 8 era guides from Pearson and Apress. The practical approach is one exam-shaped book plus one strong general Ansible book, checked against Red Hat’s live objectives list. Our separate roundup of the best Ansible books goes deeper on the second half of that pair.
8. Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) Ansible Automation Study Guide
O’Reilly’s RHCE guide, written by Alex Soto Bueno and Andrew Block, both of Red Hat, and published in May 2025. It is the newest major-publisher RHCE book and, unlike the 2020 and 2021 guides, it covers execution environments and ansible-navigator, which the Automation Platform based exam now expects. It walks from installing Ansible and building an inventory through ad hoc commands, playbooks, roles, and collections.
Who it is for: RHCSA holders starting RHCE who want a guide that matches the current exam tooling rather than the RHEL 8 era format.
Skip it if: you want a thick drill book. At about 212 pages it is compact, so pair it with timed practice tasks built from Red Hat’s objectives list. Amazon showed low stock on the paperback when we checked, and O’Reilly also sells it as an eBook.
- Authors: Alex Soto Bueno and Andrew Block
- Edition: 1st
- Published: May 2025
- Pages: 212
- Price: about $33 new (September 2026, list $59.99), check the current price on Amazon
9. Red Hat RHCE 8 (EX294) Cert Guide
Pearson’s RHEL 8 era RHCE guide, still widely used. Van Vugt teaches inventories, playbooks, variables, conditionals, loops, handlers, templates, roles, and Ansible Vault, all built around automating RHCSA-level tasks, which is still the heart of EX294.
Who it is for: RHCSA holders starting RHCE who want an exam-structured path through core Ansible.
Skip it if: you expect it to cover the whole current exam. It was published in October 2020, before ansible-navigator and the Automation Platform based exam format, so you must add the navigator, Git, and VS Code objectives from Red Hat’s EX294 page yourself.
- Author: Sander van Vugt
- Edition: 1st (RHCE 8)
- Published: October 2020
- Pages: 480
- Price: about $40 new (September 2026), check the current price on Amazon
10. Ansible: Up and Running, 3rd Edition
O’Reilly’s long-running Ansible book, updated in 2022 by Bas Meijer, Lorin Hochstein, and René Moser. It is not an exam guide, but it explains how Ansible actually works in more depth than any cert book, including roles and collections.
Who it is for: RHCE candidates and working engineers who want to understand Ansible well enough to debug a failing playbook under exam pressure, not just memorize syntax.
Skip it if: you only want exam drills. Pair it with pick 8 or 9, or practice tasks rather than using it alone.
- Authors: Bas Meijer, Lorin Hochstein, and René Moser
- Edition: 3rd
- Published: 2022
- Pages: 470
- Price: about $43 new (September 2026), check the current price on Amazon
Older editions to skip
Search results still surface several older RHCSA books. They were good in their day, but they target retired exam versions, so we do not recommend buying them now.
- RHCSA/RHCE Red Hat Linux Certification Study Guide, 7th Edition (Jang and Orsaria, 2016). Written for RHEL 7 and the old EX200 plus EX300 pairing. The eighth edition (pick 7) replaced it.
- Asghar Ghori’s RHEL 7 and RHEL 8 guides. Superseded by the RHEL 9 and RHEL 10 editions above.
- Red Hat RHCSA 8 Cert Guide (van Vugt). Replaced by the RHCSA 9 and RHCSA 10 Cert Guides.
Can you get these books as a PDF?
Yes, legally, for several of them. Pearson sells van Vugt’s RHCSA 10 Cert Guide as a DRM-free eBook that includes both EPUB and PDF, and Apress sells Markelov’s Study Companion as an eBook through Springer. The “free RHCSA 10 PDF” downloads that turn up in search are pirated copies. Besides the legal problem, they are often older editions with a new cover page, which is the last thing you want when the objectives just changed.
How to study with these books
Reading alone will not pass a performance-based exam. Every chapter needs to be typed out on a real system, twice, until you can do it without the book. A few things that make that easier:
- Build a free lab. Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux are close RHEL rebuilds and fine for practice; our Rocky Linux vs AlmaLinux vs RHEL comparison covers the differences. Run two or three VMs locally with KVM on Rocky Linux 10, or register for a free Red Hat Developer subscription to use real RHEL.
- Drill the tasks that fail people. SELinux contexts and port labels, LVM resizing, and persistent mounts are where most retakes come from. Keep SELinux troubleshooting, extending a filesystem with LVM, and firewalld configuration practice in your rotation.
- Reboot after every lab. The exam checks that configuration survives a reboot, so make rebooting and re-checking a habit from day one. Once a book’s labs feel routine, practice the RHEL 10 objectives hands-on with 20 exam-style tasks and a reboot check at the end.
- For RHCE, practise the Ansible basics until they are automatic. Work through writing playbooks, roles, and Ansible Vault, then add ansible-navigator on top.
If you are weighing RHCSA against a vendor-neutral Linux certification, our guide to the best CompTIA Linux+ books covers the XK0-006 side. For RHCSA itself, start with Ghori’s RHEL 10 fourth edition, put every lab on a real VM, and add the van Vugt Cert Guide if you want a second set of practice tests before exam day.
Where did you find Michael Jang’s book at?
It is saying that it somehow isn’t even coming out till Feb 2022.
Good list!