Hands-on Lab·Red Hat Certified System Administrator
systemd Targets and Boot Selection
Two objectives: booting into a target manually, and configuring the default. Both are one command each. The part worth the guide is that `set-default` is a symlink - the same mechanism as enabling a service - and that `isolate` will disconnect you from a remote machine whatever target you give it.
Operating Running Systems Guide 23 of 67 Intermediate
- OSRHEL 10.0 (Coughlan)
- Kernel6.12.0-55.9.1.el10_0
- dnf4.20.0
- Flatpak1.16.0
- TimeAbout 13 min
- Reviewed23 August 2026
Written against the versions above. Targets replaced SysV runlevels. `runlevel` still reports a number and `telinit 3` still works, both through compatibility shims: `multi-user.target` is runlevel 3 and `graphical.target` is runlevel 5. The modern names are what the exam uses.
| Server Name | IP Address | OS | Roles | CPU | RAM | HDD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RHCSA-A01 | 192.168.0.31 | RHEL 10.0 (Coughlan) | Practice node (graded) - spare /dev/sda | 2 Core | 4 GB | 50 GB + 15 GB |
Before you start
- A sudo-capable account.
- The session changes the default target and changes it back.
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What a target actually is
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The four that matter
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Setting the default
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Switching at runtime, and why not over ssh