CertTutor.net UPDATE—brought to you by the Windows & .NET Magazine Network and CertTutor.net
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(below COMMENTARY)
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July 26, 2002—In this issue:
1. COMMENTARY
- Jack Be Nimble—The Job Market Ain't What it Used to Be
2. NEWS & VIEWS
- MySQL AB Develops New Certifications
- Team Database Announces Vendor-Neutral Certification
- More About the New Cisco Systems Exam
3. CERTIFIABLE
- Questions for Exam 70-210
4. ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Energize Your Enterprise at MEC 2002, October 8 Through 11, Anaheim, CA
- Win 1 Year of Microsoft Certification Exams ... Free!
5. RESOURCES
- CertTutor.net Live! Featured Thread: Real-World Supernetting
- Link of the Week: TechInterview
6. INSTANT POLL
- Results of the Previous Poll: Viruses
- New Poll: Windows XP
7. NEW AND IMPROVED
- Use Your PDA to Prepare for Exams
8. CONTACT US
- See this section for a list of ways to contact us.
1. COMMENTARY
(contributed by Will Willis, [email protected])
Let's face it, the past year has been tough on the IT industry. Although leading indicators show the economy to be improving, the news remains bleak for IT professionals. The harsh reality is that when times are bad, the IT industry is one of the first to take hits and one of the last to recover.
When looking for a job in this type of market, experience plays a more important role than certification. Nevertheless, many out-of-work IT professionals face the realization that their job skills have stagnated and that their education must catch up. The double-edged sword is that you must look for ways to gain more experience, particularly if you're trying to break into the IT industry, but you also must be diligent about your education and certifications so that your skill set remains as marketable as possible. If you're looking for work in a job market that's flooded with well-qualified people, you want to be as nimble as possible.
Diversification is a term that commonly arises when you discuss retirement portfolios, but you can take a similar approach to your skill set. Obviously, certain high-end IT specialists will always be in demand because few others possess their skills, but the vast majority of IT professionals aren't in that situation. Look for skills that will complement those you already have and examine job postings to learn what types of skills are in demand. You can also read industry publications to get a feel for where technology is going and visit IT discussion forums such as CertTutor.net Live! to network with other IT professionals. For example, consider some ways that a Windows administrator (e.g., one who works with Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0) might diversify his or her skill set to gain an edge in the job market:
- Learn multiple OS platforms, concentrating on systems integration. For example, learn Linux and a UNIX OS such as Sun Microsystems' Solaris and become an expert at making heterogeneous environments work. Linux+ is a good certification to start with, and Sun offers multiple Solaris certifications. Novell NetWare still has a significant piece of the market, so consider the CNA and CNE certifications.
- Gain network-engineering skills to accompany the systems-engineering skills you already possess. Cisco Systems' Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA) are good options to begin with; so is Computing Technology Industry Association's (CompTIA's) Network+ certification.
- Become an expert in a server-application category. For example, become a messaging specialist by learning Microsoft Exchange Server, Lotus Notes, and GroupWise. Alternatively, add database skills by studying Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle. Try not to concentrate on specific products as much as platforms and broad application categories.
- Learn about the hardware that Win2K Server and NT Server run on. Compaq, IBM, and other vendors offer hardware certifications. But even more important than certifying in a vendor’s product line is learning about server concepts such as storage arrays, clustering, SMP, and redundant systems. Become more than the person who deals with the network OSs—become the person who can design and implement server solutions.
As you can see, many possibilities exist for the average Windows administrator. Other jobs require different skills, but in most cases, you can map out skills to complement your existing ones instead of heading in a whole new direction. This step not only makes the best use of the time you spend studying and certifying, but also maximizes the value of your current skill set by concentrating your skills into a field of study, which is more useful than having a hodge-podge of skills that don’t work well together.
The economy isn't especially IT friendly right now, so IT professionals need to be even more diligent than usual about maintaining their skills and being able to react quickly to market changes. As the job market recovers, a specialized but flexible skill set puts you in a position to succeed.
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2. NEWS & VIEWS
MySQL AB announced two new certifications, MySQL Core Certification and the MySQL Professional Certification, for MySQL, an open-source database application. For more information, see the MySQL AB Web site.
http://www.mysql.com/training/certification.html
Team Database plans to offer a new vendor-neutral database certification. Similar to the vendor-neutral Linux+ certification, the Team Database certification will concentrate on all aspects across all database platforms for design, implementation, and administration. For more information, see the Team Database Web site.
http://www.teamdatabase.com
Cisco Systems has released more information about its new Multi-Service Switching Specialist Certification, a certification that follows on from the popular Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP). For more information, see the following CertTutor.net Live! discussion thread:
http://certtutor.net/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=76&threadid=34013
3. CERTIFIABLE
(contributed by Jonathan Bischke, [email protected])
Welcome to Certifiable, your exam-prep headquarters. Here you'll find questions about some of the tricky areas that are fair game for the certification exams. This week's questions cover topics for Exam 70-210: Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional.
Question 1
Last year, Enrious bought a Windows 2000 Professional workstation, a Pentium II 350MHz machine with 128MB of RAM, an EIDE hard disk, a NVIDIA GeForce2 graphics card, and a 100Mbps NIC. Recently, Enrious noticed that performance slows markedly when he runs resource-intensive applications. Over the course of a few days, Enrious runs several performance counters. The results are as follows:
- LogicalDisk, % Free Space: 7%
- Memory, Pages/Sec: 2
- Physical Disk, % Disk Time: 5%
- Processor, % Processor Time: 4%
Which of the following actions would most likely improve the performance of Enrious's workstation? (Choose the best answer.)
- Add a second CPU to the system.
- Increase the amount of RAM in the system.
- Run Disk Cleanup.
- Upgrade the hard disk to a SCSI hard disk.
- Increase the CPU priority for all applications.
For the correct answer and an explanation, go to
http://www.certtutor.net/articles/index.cfm?articleid=26066#answers
Question 2
Oksana works for a company that plans to deploy 150 Windows 2000 Professional workstations on two floors of an office building. The company runs a Win2K native mode domain. Oksana is investigating whether she can use the Setup Manager tool to create scripts to support automated installations when deploying these 150 workstations. Which of the following installation types can she complete using an answer file that she created with Setup Manager? (Choose all that apply.)
- Win2K Unattended Installation
- Sysprep Install
- Active Directory(AD) Installation
- Terminal Services Installation
- Certificate Services Installation
- Remote Installation Services (RIS)
For the correct answer and an explanation, go to
http://www.certtutor.net/articles/index.cfm?articleid=26066#answers
and scroll down to "Answer to Question 2."
Question 3
Kalu wants to track use of his Windows 2000 Professional graphics workstation. Kalu suspects that someone is logging on to the computer at night and looking at some of his confidential design proposals. Kalu has local administrator-level access on his machine. His workstation has two hard disks, one for the OS and programs and one for his graphics data.
Kalu uses local Group Policy to enable the auditing of object access. However, when he goes to the graphics data drive to specify which files and folders to audit, Kalu can't find an option to configure auditing. Which of the following is the most likely reason why Kalu can't properly set up auditing on his workstation? (Choose the best answer.)
- Kalu didn't enable process tracking. To track system activity such as file access, you must enable process tracking.
- Kalu didn't restart the system. You must restart a system before you enable auditing.
- Kalu didn't format the graphics data drive with NTFS. Drives must be NTFS to support auditing.
- Kalu enabled auditing at the local level. You must enable auditing at the domain level.
- Only domain administrators can enable auditing on Win2K Pro workstations.
For the correct answer and an explanation, go to
http://www.certtutor.net/articles/index.cfm?articleid=26066#answers
and scroll down to "Answer to Question 3."
4. ANNOUNCEMENTS
(brought to you by Windows & .NET Magazine and its partners)
Don't miss the essential Microsoft infrastructure conference where you'll connect with a world of expert information, technical training sessions, best practices, and hands-on labs. Be among the first 1000 to register and receive a free MEC 2002 DVD valued at $695—plus save $300!
http://www.microsoft.com/corpevents/mec2002
You have studied hard, now prove what you know by taking your next MCP exam with VUE. Enter our random drawing for an entire year's worth of free, unlimited Microsoft exams! No purchase necessary. Must enter by August 31, 2002. Offer good in the U.S. only. For details and to enter, go to:
http://www.vue.com/certtutor
5. RESOURCES
CertTutor.net Live! is the Internet's number-one training and certification discussion board. Each week, CertTutor.net Live! receives thousands of posts about Windows XP, Windows 2000, Cisco, and more. We've selected one of these posts to feature here in CertTutor.net UPDATE. To join in the conversation at CertTutor.net Live!, register at the following URL:
http://www.certtutor.net/registration/index.cfm
(contributed by Gregory W. Smith)
<Dan> has encountered a TCP/IP configuration that appears to have been set up with a noncompliant subnet scheme. Tutor <Ian_McLean>, our resident TCP/IP guru, explains why this configuration is wrong and offers a possible solution.
http://certtutor.net/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=10&threadid=33733
Keep up with CertTutor.net Live! by subscribing to the CertTutor.net Live! UPDATE, a free weekly newsletter that highlights the best posts from the discussion forums. Subscribe at the following URL:
http://www.winnetmag.net/email/index.cfm?code=up&id=23
See TechInterview for advice about interviewing for technical positions.
http://www.techinterview.org
6. INSTANT POLL
The voting has closed in the CertTutor.net nonscientific Instant Poll for the question, "When did you last discover a virus on your personal system?" Here are the results (+/- 2 percent) from the 147 votes:
- 11%: Within the past week
- 13%: Within the past month
- 31%: Within the past year
- 46%: Never
The next Instant Poll question is, "Are you running Windows XP at home?" Go to the CertTutor.net home page and submit your vote for a) Yes, b) No, but I plan to upgrade soon, or c) No, and I don't plan to upgrade anytime soon.
http://www.certtutor.net
7. NEW AND IMPROVED
(contributed by Carolyn Mader, [email protected])
JRB Software released Pocket Exams 2.0, software that lets you use your Pocket PC to prepare for your Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) exam. Exam preparation modules include Exam 70-210: Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional; Exam 70-215: Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows 2000 Server; Exam 70-216: Implementing and Administering a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure; Exam 70-217: Implementing and Administering a Microsoft Windows 2000 Directory Services Infrastructure; and Exam 70-228: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2000. Each Pocket Exam costs $10. Contact JRB Software at [email protected].
http://www.jrbsoft.com
8. CONTACT US
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