Lab philosophy
Your Lab Is Your Experience.
Watching someone configure a server is not the same as configuring one. In the Systems Engineer Program, students work with actual servers, services, and infrastructure concepts — building environments, operating them, and repairing them when they fail.
What You Work With
Linux Servers
RHEL installs, systemd services, storage, packages, and performance work.
Windows Servers
Server roles, remote administration, PowerShell, and configuration.
Active Directory
Domains, OUs, users, groups, policy, and Linux domain integration.
Networking
Addressing, routing, DNS, DHCP, firewalls, and connectivity diagnosis.
Databases
PostgreSQL deployment, roles, connectivity, and backup validation.
Automation
Ansible playbooks and roles, Bash, Python and PowerShell scripting.
Security
SELinux, firewalld, auditing, OpenSCAP, AIDE, and remediation.
Monitoring
Service checks, metrics, thresholds, and alert response.
Backup
Backup design, scheduling, restores, and recovery testing.
Troubleshooting
Structured diagnosis of broken services and dependencies.
How a Lab Runs
- 01
Build
Provision and configure the systems and services yourself.
- 02
Verify
Prove the service works the way an administrator would validate it.
- 03
Break
Faults are introduced — sometimes deliberately, sometimes by your own change.
- 04
Diagnose
Work from symptoms to cause using logs, status, and method.
- 05
Repair
Restore service and confirm dependent systems recover.
- 06
Document
Write the resolution the way you would close a real ticket.
Simulated tickets
Failures Arrive as Tickets, Not Instructions
Each ticket describes a symptom reported by a user or an alert. Students decide where to look, what to check, and how to prove the fix — the exact reasoning interviews probe for.
$ systemctl status httpd --no-pager
httpd.service - The Apache HTTP Server
Active: failed (Result: exit-code)
$ journalctl -u httpd -n 20 --no-pager
... AH00526: Syntax error on line 42 of /etc/httpd/conf.d/app.conf
- Ticket #1042P1app01.rhel / db01.rhel
Application server cannot communicate with the database
NetworkingPostgreSQLfirewalldService logs - Ticket #1087P2web02.rhel / dc01.win
Linux server cannot authenticate Active Directory users
SSSDKerberosDNSActive Directory - Ticket #1121P1app03.rhel
Filesystem is full and an application has stopped responding
LVMStorageLog rotationProcess analysis - Ticket #1164P2nfs01.rhel
NFS clients cannot access shared storage
NFSExportsSELinuxMount options - Ticket #1203P1web01.rhel
Web application is unavailable after a configuration change
ApacheChange reviewsystemdTroubleshooting
Hands-on labs
See the lab environment for yourself
Request program information for lab details, access requirements, and how lab time is structured.
Talk with Mobile ITT Solutions — questions welcome before you commit.