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Entry-level server software certification

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kmcferrin

MIS
Jul 14, 2003
2,938
US
So I am in a bit of a quandry about how I should proceed with a situation that has come up at work. We employ numerous technical resources in many different areas of specialization. I myself am in a Core Infrastructure role focusing on virtualization. But we have other people who focus on other technologies like SQL, Sharepoint, Exchange, etc who spend 90% of their time working only on those technologies rather than general infrastructure. As we bring in entry-level resources or interns we want to train them and get them up to speed on these technologies, but we also feel that they should have some degree of background in Windows server.

At first we were thinking of having them earn an MCITP:Server Administrator cert, then focus on their technology-specific certification. As we started looking at the material though it was clear that the MCITP:SA track was going to be at a skill level above where these resources are now, in addition to focusing on areas that they would not likely need. After all, how many entry level Sharepoint admins/developers need to know how AD or a Windows network infrastructure works?

So then we started looking at the Server+ certification, but there are large portions of this cert that focus on hardware-specific knowledge domains (interface cards, drive types, rack infrastructure, etc). While it won't hurt them to have that knowledge, it's way out of scope for what these people will be doing.

So my question is this: are there are decent certifications out there (Microsoft or other) that focus on server software fundamentals?

________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCTS:Windows 7
MCTS:Hyper-V
MCTS:System Center Virtual Machine Manager
MCTS:Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator
 
but we also feel that they should have some degree of background in Windows server.

So my question is this: are there are decent certifications out there (Microsoft or other) that focus on server software fundamentals?

Do you mean something like a fundamentals course for the Windows server OS?

Paul
VCP4

RFC 2795 - The Infinite Monkey Protocol Suite (IMPS)

Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week
 
Yeah, that's pretty much what a I mean. We could probably develop something internally but that means taking one of us off of billable work to develop the material and present it. We'd like to find something already canned, if we could.

________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCTS:Windows 7
MCTS:Hyper-V
MCTS:System Center Virtual Machine Manager
MCTS:Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator
 
I don't think I've seen what you are looking for I'm afraid, certainly not recently anyway. I think the way MS run their certs is that there is some assumption that you are familiar with the OS, either from work experience or through working up form the client certs.

Not that this helps but some years ago I attended this;

Microsoft Windows 2000 Networking & Operating System Essentials

Which sounds like the sort of thing you need. I have not seen anything like this course since.

I did a search on the Global Knowledge for all MS courses that are OS related and didn't see anything really relevant either, sorry.



Paul
VCP4

RFC 2795 - The Infinite Monkey Protocol Suite (IMPS)

Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week
 
Unfortunately this is going to be a self developed piece of work, only you will know what they need to be taught and then cater to those requirements, I think a mixture of Network+ (IP Addressing\Switching\Routing etc), 70-290\70-640 and Server specific training (Dell\HP\IBM) along with some basic Virtualisation and SAN training.

Ideally you would want to do this over a few days to allow the knowledge to sink in.

Simon

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 
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