Windows 2003 Certification … Real World Practicality Achieved<= /title>  <style>  </style>  </head> <body lang=3DEN-US link=3Dblue vlink=3Dpurple style=3D'tab-interval:.5in'> <div class=3DSection1> Windows 2003 Certification … Real World Practica= lity Achieved <o:p> </o:p> After months of speculation, Microsoft finally release= d the exam titles and objectives for the Windows 2003 MCSA and MCSE tracks. As ma= ny of you know, originally Microsoft had mapped the Windows 2003 exams directl= y to the Windows 2000 equivalents. Abruptly the Windows 2003 exam information was pulled from their website, and shortly thereafter it was announced that the= two tracks would not be interchangeable. It was speculated that significant cha= nges were to be expected, and now the results are in. <o:p> </o:p> The bottom line is that current MCSA’s will have= one exam (70-292) to take to upgrade from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003, and MCSE’s will have two exams (70-292 and 70-296) to take to upgrade. Th= at is approximately what was expected (though many thought MCSE’s would = only have to take a single exam). But what about when we look at the new track f= rom the perspective of someone getting newly certifi= ed? This is where Microsoft finally came through with testing the real world sk= ills required of Windows administrators. <o:p> </o:p> A while back in one of my columns I addressed the then= new 70-214 security exam. My main complaint was that while the test was much needed, the material it covered desperately needed to be included in the <i= >core exams and not an elective that could be skipped = over in favor of easier exams. Microsoft has come through on the Windows 2003 tr= ack. If you notice, looking at the Windows 2003 certification requirements (http= ://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcp/mcse/windows2003/), 70-214 is not an option as an elective on the track. Why not? The reason <s= pan class=3DGramE>is, that security content has been moved into the core exams. <o:p> </o:p> The Windows 2003 Server exam (70-290) finally addresses operating system updates (service packs, security patches, Windows Update). That’s a real world reality for Windows administrators that has been = for the most part ignored in past certification exams. Furthermore, Microsoft h= as split the network infrastructure exam (70-216 on the Win2K track) into two exams, 70-291 and 70-293. The objectives for 70-293 incorporate much of the 70-214 security exam, and go much further into n= etwork security than anything on the Windows 2000 track. Topics such as protocol security, data transmission security/IPSec, secure network administration practices, wireless network security, public key infrastructure (PKI), secu= rity baselining, and planning/managing a security framework and update infrastructure were unheard of as certification exam material, at least not= as far as being core certification objectives. Microsoft has finally addressed the lack of real world practicality in its certification program, and as a resu= lt we have a certification that is more relevant to companies looking to hire Windows administrators. <o:p> </o:p> Another nice feature of the Windows 2003 exams is that= there seems to be much less redundancy of topics, something which has plagued the MCSE track going back to the early days. The new exams seem to have focused= the material so that there isn’t the level of overlap we’ve previou= sly experienced. For example, on the Windows 2000 track you had to deal with identical DNS objectives on both the 70-216 (network infrastructure administration) and 70-217 (Active Directory administration) exams. Both ex= ams had you installing, configuring, and monitoring DNS. On the Windows 2003 tr= ack, DNS has been dropped from the Active Directory exam (70-294) and left only = on the first network infrastructure exam (70-291). To be fair there is some overlap when you consider you’ll have to be able to implement the concepts on the design exams, but that is to be expected. <o:p> </o:p> It should be very encouraging that at a time when certification has reached a low ebb, Microsoft h= as come through with a Windows 2003 track that stands to be its most relevant = yet. An IT professional who takes the time to learn the material covered in the track (without shortcut methods designed just to pass the exams) will definitely be ahead of the game when it comes to real world Windows 2003 administration. And after all, that’s the whole point of certificatio= n, to demonstrate that you have the skills needed to do the job. Microsoft tak= es a lot of heat for their seemingly endless bungling of their certification program, but this time they stepped up and got it right. </div> </body> </html> ------=_NextPart_01C57447.A9407140 Content-Location: file:///C:/0C4BB24E/Windows2003Certification_files/editdata.mso Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 Content-Type: application/x-mso QWN0aXZlTWltZQAAAfAEAAAA/////wAADPC6AAAAGvAGAAAAAADAAAAAAAAARggAAADggOlaAAAA AOCA6VoAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADggOla4IDpWgAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAAAHgBXAGkA bgBkAG8AdwBzACAAMgAwADAAMwAgAEMAZQByAHQAaQBmAGkAYwBhAHQAaQBvAG4ALgBkAG8AYwAA ACMBytwBAAAAAAAAACMBytwBAAAAAAAAACMBytwBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL8AQAAAASNFZ4 ------=_NextPart_01C57447.A9407140 Content-Location: file:///C:/0C4BB24E/Windows2003Certification_files/filelist.xml Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8" <xml xmlns:o=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"> <o:MainFile HRef=3D"../Windows2003Certification.htm"/> <o:File HRef=3D"editdata.mso"/> <o:File HRef=3D"filelist.xml"/> </xml> ------=_NextPart

MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_01C57447.A9407140" This document is a Single File Web Page, also known as a Web Archive file. If you are seeing this message, your browser or editor doesn't support Web Archive files. Please download a browser that supports Web Archive, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer. ------=_NextPart_01C57447.A9407140 Content-Location: file:///C:/0C4BB24E/Windows2003Certification.htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Windows 2003 Certification … Real World Practicality Achieved<= /title>  <style>  </style>  </head> <body lang=3DEN-US link=3Dblue vlink=3Dpurple style=3D'tab-interval:.5in'> <div class=3DSection1> Windows 2003 Certification … Real World Practica= lity Achieved <o:p> </o:p> After months of speculation, Microsoft finally release= d the exam titles and objectives for the Windows 2003 MCSA and MCSE tracks. As ma= ny of you know, originally Microsoft had mapped the Windows 2003 exams directl= y to the Windows 2000 equivalents. Abruptly the Windows 2003 exam information was pulled from their website, and shortly thereafter it was announced that the= two tracks would not be interchangeable. It was speculated that significant cha= nges were to be expected, and now the results are in. <o:p> </o:p> The bottom line is that current MCSA’s will have= one exam (70-292) to take to upgrade from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003, and MCSE’s will have two exams (70-292 and 70-296) to take to upgrade. Th= at is approximately what was expected (though many thought MCSE’s would = only have to take a single exam). But what about when we look at the new track f= rom the perspective of someone getting newly certifi= ed? This is where Microsoft finally came through with testing the real world sk= ills required of Windows administrators. <o:p> </o:p> A while back in one of my columns I addressed the then= new 70-214 security exam. My main complaint was that while the test was much needed, the material it covered desperately needed to be included in the <i= >core exams and not an elective that could be skipped = over in favor of easier exams. Microsoft has come through on the Windows 2003 tr= ack. If you notice, looking at the Windows 2003 certification requirements (http= ://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcp/mcse/windows2003/), 70-214 is not an option as an elective on the track. Why not? The reason <s= pan class=3DGramE>is, that security content has been moved into the core exams. <o:p> </o:p> The Windows 2003 Server exam (70-290) finally addresses operating system updates (service packs, security patches, Windows Update). That’s a real world reality for Windows administrators that has been = for the most part ignored in past certification exams. Furthermore, Microsoft h= as split the network infrastructure exam (70-216 on the Win2K track) into two exams, 70-291 and 70-293. The objectives for 70-293 incorporate much of the 70-214 security exam, and go much further into n= etwork security than anything on the Windows 2000 track. Topics such as protocol security, data transmission security/IPSec, secure network administration practices, wireless network security, public key infrastructure (PKI), secu= rity baselining, and planning/managing a security framework and update infrastructure were unheard of as certification exam material, at least not= as far as being core certification objectives. Microsoft has finally addressed the lack of real world practicality in its certification program, and as a resu= lt we have a certification that is more relevant to companies looking to hire Windows administrators. <o:p> </o:p> Another nice feature of the Windows 2003 exams is that= there seems to be much less redundancy of topics, something which has plagued the MCSE track going back to the early days. The new exams seem to have focused= the material so that there isn’t the level of overlap we’ve previou= sly experienced. For example, on the Windows 2000 track you had to deal with identical DNS objectives on both the 70-216 (network infrastructure administration) and 70-217 (Active Directory administration) exams. Both ex= ams had you installing, configuring, and monitoring DNS. On the Windows 2003 tr= ack, DNS has been dropped from the Active Directory exam (70-294) and left only = on the first network infrastructure exam (70-291). To be fair there is some overlap when you consider you’ll have to be able to implement the concepts on the design exams, but that is to be expected. <o:p> </o:p> It should be very encouraging that at a time when certification has reached a low ebb, Microsoft h= as come through with a Windows 2003 track that stands to be its most relevant = yet. An IT professional who takes the time to learn the material covered in the track (without shortcut methods designed just to pass the exams) will definitely be ahead of the game when it comes to real world Windows 2003 administration. And after all, that’s the whole point of certificatio= n, to demonstrate that you have the skills needed to do the job. Microsoft tak= es a lot of heat for their seemingly endless bungling of their certification program, but this time they stepped up and got it right. </div> </body> </html> ------=_NextPart_01C57447.A9407140 Content-Location: file:///C:/0C4BB24E/Windows2003Certification_files/editdata.mso Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 Content-Type: application/x-mso QWN0aXZlTWltZQAAAfAEAAAA/////wAADPC6AAAAGvAGAAAAAADAAAAAAAAARggAAADggOlaAAAA AOCA6VoAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADggOla4IDpWgAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAAAHgBXAGkA bgBkAG8AdwBzACAAMgAwADAAMwAgAEMAZQByAHQAaQBmAGkAYwBhAHQAaQBvAG4ALgBkAG8AYwAA ACMBytwBAAAAAAAAACMBytwBAAAAAAAAACMBytwBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL8AQAAAASNFZ4 ------=_NextPart_01C57447.A9407140 Content-Location: file:///C:/0C4BB24E/Windows2003Certification_files/filelist.xml Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8" <xml xmlns:o=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"> <o:MainFile HRef=3D"../Windows2003Certification.htm"/> <o:File HRef=3D"editdata.mso"/> <o:File HRef=3D"filelist.xml"/> </xml> ------=_NextPart_01C57447.A9407140--