Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1. Overview

The Red Hat Certification Program is Red Hat’s method of certifying hardware and software to be compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat OpenStack Platform, Red Hat Gluster Storage, Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time, and other Red Hat software products. The program has three main elements: the test suite, which tests the hardware or software undergoing certification; the Red Hat Certification Catalog, which displays certified hardware and software to the public; and a joint support relationship between Red Hat and the vendor whose hardware or software is undergoing certification.

This workflow guide covers all aspects of the hardware portion of the Red Hat Certification process, from the initial request for certification to the final approval and posting of the certification. It is geared towards the engineer who has been tasked with certifying their company’s products to run one or more of Red Hat’s products. It assumes that you as the tester have a basic level of knowledge about the software that is being used for certification, and are familiar with concepts like operating system installation, software installation, and where applicable, hardware installation and removal.

The policies and other rules of the program are covered in the Red Hat Hardware Certification Policy Guide.

1.2. Hardware Certification Process Summary

Hardware certification covers the testing of servers, desktops/workstations, laptops, and individual components to run Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat OpenStack Platform Compute, Red Hat Gluster Storage, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time.

Preliminary Steps

  1. The partner establishes a certification relationship with Red Hat.
  2. The partner stands up a test environment consisting of the partner’s product and the Red Hat product combination to be certified.
  3. The partner does preliminary testing to ensure this combination works well.
  4. The partner installs the redhat-certification tool.

Certification Steps:

  1. The partner creates a certification request for a specific system or hardware component using redhat-certification.
  2. Red Hat’s certification team applies the certification policies to the hardware specifications to create the official test plan.
  3. The partner runs the tests specified in the official test plan and submits results using redhat-certification to Red Hat for analysis.
  4. The certification team analyzes the test results and marking credit as appropriate and communicating any required retesting.
  5. The partner provides Red Hat with a representative hardware sample that covers the items that are being certified.
  6. When all tests have passing results, the certification is complete and the entry is made visible to the public on the external Red Hat Hardware Certification website at https://access.redhat.com/certifications.

The preliminary steps are further explained below in Chapter 2, Prerequisites and Chapter 3, Preparing the Test Environment, and the certification steps are expanded upon in Chapter 4, Certification Workflow.

If you need help at any time, refer to Section 1.3, “Giving Feedback and Getting Help”, which explains how to contact Red Hat Certification for assistance.

1.3. Giving Feedback and Getting Help

Partners who have a dedicated support resource that is an assigned Engineering Partner Manager, Engineering Account Manager, or Technical Account Manager can open a support case using the same tool they use to request support for other Red Hat products.

Partners who do not have a dedicated support resource can open a support case using Red Hat Customer Portal under the following instances:

  • To report issues and get help with the certification process
  • To submit feedback and request enhancements in the certification toolset and documentation
  • To receive assistance on the Red Hat product on which your product or application is being certified. To receive Red Hat product assistance, it is mandatory to have the required product entitlements and subscriptions which are separate from certification-specific entitlements and subscriptions

To open a support case using Red Hat Customer Portal Interface, complete the following steps:

  1. Log in to the Red Hat Customer Portal using the Red Hat account credentials that are also used to access other Red Hat assets like Red Hat Connect for Technology Partners and software subscriptions.
  2. Click Open a Support Case on the Red Hat Customer Portal Home Page.

  3. Complete the Support Case Form with special attention to the following fields:

    • From the Product field, select the name of the Red Hat product on which your product/application is being certified, based on the following details:

      • For Red Hat OpenStack Platform Certification, select Red Hat OpenStack Platform.
      • For Certified Cloud and Service Provider (CCSP) Certification, select Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
      • For Red Hat Container Certification, select Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
      • For Red Hat Hardware Certification, select Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
    • From the Product Version field, select the version of the product.

    • In the Problem Statement field, type a problem statement/issue or feedback using the following format: {Partner Certification} (The Issue/Problem or Feedback).

      Replace (The Issue/Problem or Feedback) with either the issue/problem faced in the certification process/Red Hat product or feedback on the certification toolset/documentation.

      For example: {Partner Certification} Error occurred while submitting certification test results using Red Hat Certification application

Complete the remaining form using the details https://access.redhat.com/articles/38363.