Time Fer Sum Learnin
It is that time of the year, time again for myself, Rick, Damir and now Pierre to head down to the mothership to upgrade our skills. Keeping your skills up to date is one of the bigger challenges an IT Pro faces. Over the next week and a half we'll be attending sessions, taking in some hands-on labs and even writing a few certification exams. One my agenda I have a few different tracks I am taking and exams I am writing and I am inviting you along.
Well I can't fly you down and sneak you in the door you can learn some of the same things I am with the TechNet Virtual Labs. So what is on my agenda...
Well I need to update my certifications. I received my MCSE in Windows 2000 and upgraded it to 2003 when those exams came available. There are two options for me to upgrade to 2008....
Server Administrator, which focuses on the day to day operations and management, requires a 2003 MCSE to pass 70-649 and 70-646
Enterprise Administrator, which adds skills focused on design, requires a 2003 MCSE to pass 70-649 as well as 70-647 and one of either 70-620 or 70-624.
I chose the Enterprise Administrator path and have scheduled 70-620 and 70-649 and have been reading up on the requirements and focusing on certain areas. I've used the following materials to get ready and think I am.
Exam 70-620 is all about configuring Windows Vista. Having used Vista for the past two years it should be a no-brainer but I downloaded the Windows Vista 30 Day Trial VHD so I could experiment without blowing up my day to day machine. There are quite a few Vista Virtual Labs available and I got down and dirty with a few of them, namely
Windows Vista System Image Manager
Managing Windows Vista Using the New Management Technologies
Customizing Microsoft Windows PE for Vista Deployments
That combined with my experience using the OS has me confident I will pass the exam.
Exam 70-649 is an upgrade exam that combines to core skills required to implement and manage a 2008 server. It covers AD, Network and Application configuration. I've spent a little more time on this as it is a new release and most of my experience was with betas and I wanted to ensure I was doing things the RTM way :) Again I downloaded the trial of Server 2008 and started plugging away. I did find some Server 2008 Virtual Labs as well. Now some of these I have built my own versions of and you saw during the Heroes Happen Here events like
Securing Branch Office User Accounts
But others like...
Network Access Protection with IPSec Environment
Managing Active Directory - Directory Services
all taught me a few things I thought I knew! Will I pass them both? I think so and I will be sure to let you know when I return. While we are gone things are going to be awfuly quiet here on the Canitpro blog but hopefully I've given you enough to keep you busy for the next 10 days! If I didn't there is a whole lot more covering SQL to ForeFront to System Center over at the TechNet Virtual Labs portal!