Lukas Beeler's IT Blog

I’ve written about IT Certifications before. There are several reasons why you want/need to get certified. Your company might want to present more certified people to their customers, there are internal audit requirements that depend on certifications, or you’re looking for a new job and want to differentiate yourself from other candidates.

The first thing you’ll need to make sure before getting certified is that certification is really the thing you want. Certification is not education, it is not learning. Certification is about showing what you already know, and what you already can do. Certification is not an entry point into the IT market. Only certify in areas you already have expertise and experience in. With that said, it is not wrong to learn for certificate exams – exams usually cover the whole product, and chances are you haven’t used every product to the fullest in your company. That’s what you’ll need to learn, and not the product in itself.

Especially if you’re the one paying for the certification, cost is an issue. For example, an MCSE Bootcamp from Digicomp costs 15’000 CHF. This it not much money for a company where the CEO drives a new 150’000 CHF car every year, but it is much for someone who just has a regular job. So if you want to get certified on your own, these Bootcamps might not be your best choice. There are also other things to consider when thinking about taking bootcamps. You can get an MCSE Certification for 1505 CHF (in Exam fees – you’ll still have to travel to a test center).

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Test centers are locations where you can pass Microsoft exams. They’re usually maintained by a company which franchises their Testing stuff from Microsofts testing providers Prometric (earlier there also was Pearson Vue, but that runs out on 31.08.2007). You book appointments through the Prometric website, pay with your credit card, and then go to the testing center.

Exams are fully computer based, you’ll answer multiple choice, drag and drop and simulation questions, and get your result immediately after clicking “Finish”. This is instant gratification at it’s best. Usually you’ll need multiple exams to obtain a credential, and there are often multiple paths to a single credential. Think of it as a role playing game, it’s pretty much the same.

Credentials consist of multiple passed exams, and usually give you a fancy logo and text like “Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer”. These are your real goal.

Defining your goal

At first you’ll need to know what credential you want to achieve. Microsoft is currently restructuring their certification program with the release of Windows Server 2008, so things can be a bit confusing at times. Though i’d argue that it’s currently an excellent time to get certifications on Windows Server 2003, because you’ll already have lots of experience with it and company will be using it for quite some time in the future. For admins, the interesting credentials on Windows 2003 are the MCSA and the MCSE.

I’d suggest you to read through but of these pages closely, and make sure you understand what they’re saying. The whole thing looks complicated at first, but you’ll understand the logic behind it soon. You might also notice that the MCSE and MCSA share quite a few exams – this means it’s possible to go for the MCSA first (4 exams), and then upgrade to the MCSE with 3 additional exams (total of 7). There are also specializations to both the MCSA and MCSE for Messaging and Security. The first might be very interesting for you if you use Exchange 2003 a lot, and the latter for you security specialists.

There are a few decisions you can/need to make. For example, you need a core client exam. I’ll leave Windows 2000 out of the game and concentrate on Windows XP and Windows Vista. You can take 70-270 (XP) as a core client exam, or 70-620 (Vista) as a core client OR elective exam. You could also do both exams and fulfill your core client and elective exam.

I would recommend to start out with one of these two client exams. They’re both pretty easy (with the 70-620 being a bit easier), and you don’t need to learn for either of them if you’re familiar with the OS.

Getting your first exam appointment

Go to this Prometric registration page, and choose “Microsoft” and your country from the drop down lists – Note that most modern browsers can do type ahead find in these drop down lists, that makes searching a bit easier. After that, you can already choose to “Schedule an Appointment” and select your exam and English as the language. If you don’t think you’re proficient enough for doing an IT exam in English, i’d suggest you to schedule an English course.

After clicking through some more disclaimers, you can select your test site. In Switzerland (Zurich), i can recommend only the Digicomp test site, as both the Comicro-Netsys and BCD Sintrag Testsites are in horrible shapes. Also, you get free drinks at the Digicomp testsites. Free parking is usually available a few metres from the testcenter, and paid parking for up to two hours is also available nearby.

After selecting your test site, you’ll be asked to create an account with Prometric. Do so. Then, choose a time for your exam. Please note that the given timeframe needed is usually not needed. You can do most exams in 60-90 Minutes.

After that, enter payment information and a valid email address. There’s also an MCP ID field which you should leave empty on your first exam.

Passing your first exam

After parking your car near the testing site, enter and figure out where you need to register yourself. You’ll usually need to leave your mobile phone and sign several ominous sheets. You’ll then be seated in front of a computer, where you can agree to some more disclaimers, NDAs and EULAs. After that, your exam starts. As said, there are mostly multiple choice questions, but also some drag & drop and even simulation questions (basically a flash version of a Windows machine, where only the stuff you need to do works).

After going through the questions, you can end the exam. You’ll then be on a screen where you can comment on most questions, i usually skip this part because i want to see whether i passed or not. Because right after the comment section, you’ll see your result and your score (The minimum score is 700 for a pass, the maximum score is not known).

After this, you can go back to pickup your mobile phone, get a detailed result sheet, and sign some more sheets.

Getting your MCP ID and access to the Microsoft MCP Site

Now you’ll need to wait for a mail from Microsoft, containing your new MCP ID and your access code. If your company is a member of the Microsoft Partner Program, ask the person in your company who deals with that to register you and your MCP ID in the partner program. This will provide your company with points and the ability to add new competencies.

You’ll then need your access code to register on the MCP member site. This will allow you to download logos, access and print your exam transcript.

If you do not receive your ID or access code within a two week period, you should contact your Microsoft Regional Service Center. Please keep your result sheet handy, it contains all the necessary information in order to create your MCP ID.

Moving on

Now that you have access to your transcript, your MCP ID you can move on, and complete the other exams necessary for your credential. There are many blogs with information about the exams you’re planning to take. If you think about upgrading to Windows Server 2008, ReSQueL has several posts about proper preparations. The German MCSEboard.de community also has many insightful posts. The Microsoft certification newsgroups are mostly useless, filled with trolls, and not recommended.

Have fun with your exams!

Right over at Trika’s Blog you can get the promotion codes to register for the Windows Server 2008 Beta Upgrade exams. You can find more information about the Upgrade Path on the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Certification Site.

I’ve seen this information yesterday evening, and decided to make an appointment for tomorrow morning – i was even able to persuade my co-worker Reto Giezendanner who recently got his MCSA to try the 71-648 (MCSA Upgrade exam). I gave the 71-649, the MCSE Upgrade Exam a try.

This is the first beta exam i’ve ever done – the first thing about beta exams is that they’re free, but you don’t get the result until some undecided time in the future (Official sources vary from “few weeks”, 2 months, 3 months, etc. so i’ll estimate this at half a year).

The MCSE Upgrade exam covers three different MCTS titles:

• MCTS: Windows Server 2008 – Active Directory Configuration
• MCTS: Windows Server 2008 – Network Infrastructure Configuration
• MCTS: Windows Server 2008 – Application Platform Configuration

As such the questions in the exam were very varied, covering a wide area of topics. Most of them were well written, but i’ve found a few very confusing ones which i commented in the second part of them exam (you can note questions for comments and review).

The Beta exams have more questions than normal exams, and of course you’ll also get more time. I’ve had 88 questions and 3 hours of time.

A few things which i found worth mentioning:

• There were many questions about WDS, i think it’s the topic that was most extensively covered
• There was a strong focus on managing changes through the commandline interface, very few answers involved the GUI
• There were more IIS questions than i’ve seen in the MCSE 2003 exams together
• There were questions about Virtual Server 2005, and IPv6
• There were no simulations
• An MCSE on 2003 could probably answer 50% of the questions without having touched WS2008

I’ll now have to wait three months till i get a result back, but i’m fairly certain that i passed. You now have this in writing, and i hope i don’t disappoint anyone when i get the results in three months.

About a month ago, i’ve passed exam 70-237. A few days ago, the last exam of the the MCITP: Microsoft Exchange 2007 Messaging Solutions Administrator series (not yet on the MS websites) was released – that is exam 70-238.

I noticed this on Saturday, and booked a testing appointment for today. I arrived almost late at the testing center, because a customer appointment took longer than i thought (that’ll teach me to book exams in the afternoon). Another bonus was that it is quite hot today (32C according to my car), and the A/C in the testing center has failed or was overloaded – in fact, it was almost cooler outside the building. I was offered to move my testing appointment, but i didn’t want to.

70-237 was easy as pie, and mostly theoretical questions on “how should you do this”. 70-236 required you to learn vast PowerShell commands to be able to pick the right one from the answers given.

70-238 was completely different, and much more technical than 70-237. A very large focus were backup, backup windows, recovery methodologies, migrations from older Exchange versions, migrations from/to clustered mailbox servers, and lots of questions about journalling, mailbox and transport rules, and Send and Receive connectors. Most of the questions focused on where you have to set rules, i.E. Hub or Edge server. This is usually pretty easy, but there were a few cases where the solution wasn’t obvious.

A bit of material was the same as in 70-237 (not word for word, but in the type of questions) – focusing on which rules you need for what. A few other questions centered around Active Directory, and the requirements Exchange has for it.

There were also questions which i found completely irrelevant – at least 3 questions focused on MOM and what you should do to configure it with Exchange. I never used MOM, so i used all my guessing skills.

In the end a passed with around 850 points, i expected much worse than that. I didn’t even have bars that we’re below the (imaginary) 80% margin, even though i don’t think i understood all the Journalling/Transport/Managed folder stuff completely.

So now i should be a MCITP: Microsoft Exchange 2007 Messaging Solutions Administrator, as long as Microsoft doesn’t have the same troubles they had with the MCSA and 70-620.

Update: Updating the transcript wasn’t a problem this time, the credentials were visible a day after i passed this exam.

According to this Pearson Vue FAQ, Microsoft is going to stop testing with Pearson Vue. No idea why, and i have found no official announcement of this. Rather interesting, because most testing centers located near Horgen are primarily Pearson Vue.

Information from Vue directly is spotty:

We have not been informed of the reason for this decision. Feedback we have received from Microsoft employees and partners over the years has been overwhelmingly positive. Please contact Microsoft for details.

And things seem to happen rather quickly:

Between now and 31st August 2007, Pearson VUE can register candidates for any Microsoft exam that is delivered by 31st December 2007, via any means of payment. After 31st August Pearson VUE will only be able to register candidates with pre-paid vouchers, as long as the exam is delivered by 31st December 2007.

Does anyone know more about this?

Update: This Prometric document seems to confirm this move.

Update 2:
It’s official now
More details on Trika’s Blog.

A coworker recently completed his MCSA credentials, but they didn’t show up on his transcript. After a month, nothing has changed. It seems that Microsoft is still having troubles with people that used 70-620 as a core client exam (it worked fine for me as an elective).

Here’s the official statement from Microsoft:

A lot of MCSA candidates are facing this issue regarding the certification not being updated. This is happening with those candidates who have taken exam 70-620 as Core exams for client operating system. This issue has already been escalated and is being worked upon.

Today i’ve passed Microsoft exam 70-237, Designing Messaging Solutions with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.

I didn’t spend too much time preparing for this one, mostly because i wasn’t able to find many referneces on the web related to this exam. This is also why i decided to write this post.

While the 70-236 exam was clearly focused on the technology itself, with many EMS and EMC questions, this exam tested the other half you need to know.

Basically, what Microsoft shuffled into on Exam in the Windows Server 2003 series (70-290, et. al.) is now split into two or more exams – one focused on the handling the technology in detail, and others handling the planning and limitations of the product. This is already explained on the New Generation of Microsoft Certificates page, it’s amazing how this worked out in practice. I really do like this approach, as it makes it easier to prepare for an exam.

I found the 70-237 way easier than the technical exam 70-236, mostly owed to the fact that when knowing all the base rules of Exchange 2007 deployment, you will have a lot of questions in 70-237 covered. But other topics also get their share, like Message Management, Auditing, Archival. None of them to deep. I even got a single question about Unified Messaging, which was not the case in the previous exam.

I honestly didn’t really learn for this exam – i’ve read How to Cheat at Configuring Exchange Server 2007 about a month earlier, but didn’t do anything else.

Now i’ll have to wait till 70-238 is out to complete my Exchange 2007 certification.

I was always afraid of exams – usually until it started – because then i had better things to do. After i was done with my apprenticeship by passing my LAP, i thought it was finally over with exams. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

My focus here is clearly on Microsoft and IBM certifications, because those are the only ones i’ve got experience with.

I know many people that are afraid of certification exams – i was too, until i got some experience with them.

The first IT exam i took was the Microsoft exam 70-294. Two years ago, i’ve found my company lacking enough Microsoft certified personnel to make us stay in the Microsoft Partner Program. Something had to be done, and Microsoft even offered special Bootcamps for Partners. I booked the one with the nearest date and a topic that i was at least familiar with.

The bootcamp itself was very interesting. I, and some guy that was sent there by the RAV were the only attendees. The trainer however, know his topic very well, and i’ve learned quite a few things. A day later, i attended my exam and passed with just a few points over the required score. All was well.

Fast forward two years later, our CEO decided that we should earn the Microsoft Small Business Specialist. Again i’ve booked a one day bootcamp for exam 70-282. The attendance here was very interesting – and MCSE, an MCT and two sales guys. The course itself was rather worthless, i didn’t learn anything i didn’t know before. On the following monday, i passed the exam with a lot of room to spare. I didn’t learn for it, i didn’t do anything to prepare myself. And yet, i passed, with a good score and lots of time to spare.

I’ve got four years of experience dealing with Microsoft’s Small Business Server, and all of it’s related products. And that’s exactly what the exam tested. I knew all the stuff, because i’ve done it all before, for customers, in reality. Not in a virtual environment, not by reading a textbook, but at work.

At that point i decided to try something – why shouldn’t i just go and complete an MCSE certification? I registered for the next Exam online through Prometric. Exam 70-270 covered Windows XP. Again, it was all just trivia that i’ve done before on the job – of course i didn’t know all answers, but you can always take an educated guess. I passed.

After a few more exams, i had my MCSE. Without too much learning, and especially without cheating. One of the problems that IT certifications face are cheaters – people that use Braindumps to memorize the answers, and are then able to pass an exam.

I’ve seen people with enough technical knowledge to pass the exam still using braindumps. The problem here is two fold:

• People are afraid of exams, and want to make sure that they pass
• Exams sometimes have out-of-this-world questions

Not much can be done about the first point – just to repeat that failing an exam isn’t the same as having bad grades in school. You won’t get in any trouble, you will just have lost a bit of money.

The second point however is fixable. Microsoft did a lot in this respect, but there are still several questions which refer to ntbackup. Nobody uses that in a production environment, and even if they do, they probably don’t know what the difference between a “full backup” and a “daily backup” is (the latter is not incremental or differential, it uses the timestamp on the files). That’s why even people that are good at their jobs need to prepare for exams.