Archive for category I.T. Certification
2010 In Perspective So Far
Posted by Ken Thompson in I.T. Certification, Journal on October 1, 2010
I was just reading back on my 2010 New Years’ Resolutions and so far I’m doing pretty well!:
So I figure I should write down some 2010 New Years resolutions (geek goals!) down so I have something to work towards:
- Obtain CCNA certification – In Progress (Will study for this in November/December)
- Upgrade MCSE 2003 to MCSE 2008 – Complete
- Obtain MCITP : Enterprise Administrator Certification - In Progress (Currently studying and will sit the exam in week 3/4 of October)
Non-Geek Goals for 2010:
- Get surgery on at least 1, preferably both my shoulders to stop them dislocating – Complete (I just had surgery on my left Shoulder, having surgery on my Right in November)
- Do a “photo-a-day” photoblog – Complete (on Facebook)
- Drink a whole slab of beer by myself on Australia Day – Complete (I actually very easily drank 30 stubbies of Coopers Pale starting at 6am, I went to bed at 10pm and felt fresh the next day!)
- Plan moving to New York to work in 2011/2012 – Cancelled…I fell in love with the woman of my dreams and got engaged instead…so I will give that a Complete anyway!
- Get my car license (P’s), next test is the 12th of Jan – Complete
- Get my motorbike license (L’s) – Complete and I also have my Motorbike P’s
It’s good to see I’ve achieved most of the goals that I set out for myself at the start of the year and it looks highly likely that I will complete them all. That is of course, not including my grandeur plans of moving to New York to work. But I did get engaged instead; which I think is a fair, alternate, life changing decision!
MCTS Certifications
Posted by Ken Thompson in I.T. Certification, Journal, Work on September 28, 2010
I’ve completed my 70-649 and 70-680 exams successfully. I scored 983/1000 on my 70-680 (Windows 7, Configuring) and 925/1000 on my 70-649 (Upgrading from Windows Server 2003 MCSE to Windows Server 2008, Technology Specialist).
I’m very happy with the results and I’m already starting my studies to acquire my 70-647 (MCITP : Enterprise Administrator), which I plan to do within 2-3 weeks so that I can start focussing on some alternative certifications, specifically VMware and Cisco.
Windows 2008 R2 Server Core
Posted by Ken Thompson in Brain Busters, I.T. Certification, Journal, Work on September 22, 2010
Having just finished studies for my 70-680 Windows 7 exam, I have begun my studies on upgrading my MCSE 2003 to 2008 (MCTS). I’ve been using Windows 2008 / R2 for a bit over a year now and am very familiar with most of the day to day running of it and a lot of the more in depth features also. But this experience has been restricted to time critical real world scenarios; that is to say that I haven’t had time to explore all potentially beneficial features and that when it came to projects I have general stuck to what I know has worked in the past. One of the features I am now very keen to test out is Server Core installation mode. The bar bones version of Windows 2008, with no GUI (command line interface only), but most essential server roles and features. Next week I plan to install some 2008 R2 VMs at home in Core mode to play around with them a little. Some things that I am keen to explore further are:
- Can you install and run any 3rd party applications on server core; specifically Antivirus
- Can you run a file server with DFS enabled and configured
- Do you get much performance increase over a full blown installation…is it worth it for increase performance, or only increase security?
70-680 & 70-649 Exams Booked
Posted by Ken Thompson in I.T. Certification on September 21, 2010
Last night, I booked in my 70-680 (Configuring Windows 7) exam for next Monday morning. I’m ploughing through my studies for it, and I’m so confident about it that I have also booked in my 70-649 (Upgrade MCSE 2003 to MCSE 2008) exam for that Monday morning also.
I have been using 2008/R2 for over a year now including extensive use of some of the new more advanced features. I am also currently on leave, recovering from shoulder surgery, for this week which allows me plenty of time to study for both exams. Both of which, I am extremely confident about.
I’m planning to study for and sit my 70-647 (Enterprise Administrator) exam within 3-4 weeks from now. After that I am going to focus on gaining VMWare certification, something (VSphere) I am now using more with my new role at work. I’m also going to be studying, but not as intensively, for Hyper-V and CCNA (Cisco) certifications.
MCITP: Enterprise Administrator
Posted by Ken Thompson in I.T. Certification on September 20, 2010
Well, it’s been quite a while since I last posted and since my last certification. I’ve been caught up in some very busy, exciting and at times stressful projects. It’s all been a fantastic learning experience though. But now it’s time to get back in the books and keep forging ahead by updating and adding certifications.
I am now focussed on achieving my MCITP: Enterprise Administrator qualification, upgrading from my MCSE 2003. I am currently studying for my 70-680 : Configuring Windows 7 exam, which I will sit in the next 1-2 weeks. I hope to do my following 2 exams and achieve the qualification by the end of November at which stage I plan to look at some more specialist certification in Virtualisation.
Two Thousand and Ten Geek Goals
Posted by Ken Thompson in I.T. Certification, Journal, Work on January 1, 2010
Well, 2009 was a great year.in all, it went fast and with it brought a lot of big changes with it. I furthered my specialisation in IT, got a beautiful new niece, ended a 7 year relationship, made a bunch of great new friends, dislocated my shoulders countless times and no longer own any mountain bikes at all! There are some pretty epic changes there, but all for the best and stoked to be where I am in my life at the moment and the opportunities I have as a result.
In 2010 I want to further my industry certifications firstly on some well known more broad scope ones such as CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) and upgrading my MCSE from 2003 to 2008. After that I am going to start specialising myself a bit more. I think one of the most interesting and booming areas of IT at the moment is Virtualisation;. VMware definitely has a large presence, but Microsoft and Citrix are really going to challenge this with their excellent and affordable (at times free!) Hyper Visor platforms. In reality, if you can do one of those brands, you can do them all it’s just like driving a different car; essentially everything works the same. I currently use all the Hyper Visor technologies in one form or another at work and at home, but I’m going to choose to specialise in Microsoft Hyper-V virtualisation. While it doesn’t currently have some of the enterprise features of VMware, it has most of the sought after features and is by far the most cost effective solution for SME’s which is the area I would like to stay in. SAN engineering and management is also something that goes hand in hand with virtualisation and something I will also be pursuing.
So I figure I should write down some 2010 New Years resolutions (geek goals!) down so I have something to work towards:
- Obtain CCNA certification
- Upgrade MCSE 2003 to MCSE 2008
- Obtain MCITP : Enterprise Administrator Certification
Non-Geek Goals for 2010:
- Get surgery on at least 1, preferrably both my shoulders to stop them dislocating
- Do a “photo-a-day” photoblog
- Drink a whole slab of beer by myself on Australia Day
- Plan moving to New York to work in 2011/2012
- Get my car license (P’s), next test is the 12th of Jan
- Get my motorbike license (L’s)
MCSA: Messaging
Posted by Ken Thompson in I.T. Certification, Journal on July 2, 2009
I sat my 70-291 (Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure) exam on Tuesday. I was very confident of doing well as I’ve been using the skills in this cert for over 6 months now. I wasn’t expecting to score 984/1000 though, but obviously very happy with the result.
The best thing is, I have reached a mini-milestone in my Microsoft certifications now. With the 4 certifications I have thus far, I am now a “Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator : Messaging Specialist”. It feels good to have acquired a milestone and looking forward to studying the rest and obtaining the MCSE in the next half of the year.
Exchange Certified & Jumping In The Deep End of the Win 7 Pool
Posted by Ken Thompson in Brain Busters, I.T. Certification, Journal on June 8, 2009
Well it has been a while in between posts as I have been trying to work out why the hell posts using Windows Live Writer are now putting in weird formatting. Starting to think it’s something going on with the site rather than Windows 7 now as have tested on numourous Win 7 PCs (could be a Live Writer specific problem also though). Going to hang out until WordPress 2.8 is released this week and do a fresh install of the website and see if that knocks it on the head.
Well I successfully passed my 70-284 exam last week, Implementing and Managing Exchange Server 2003. From memory I got 843/1000, so happy with the result, even if it did take me 2 goes. But it has sparked a new motivation to get my next certification as I released that I only need 1 more (70-291) and I will be a Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA). So getting back on the books in a big way as I am very keen to acquire that title on my way to MCSE and other certifications in the later half of the year.
This week I jumped in the deep end of the Windows 7 pool and installed it on both my netbook and my work laptop. I did it via USB and it was super simple (I’ll post a how to this week sometime, I promise!). I’m having some issues on my work laptop connecting to the Windows 2003 domain at work, the same symptom I had at home with slow folder redirection for My Docs etc to a Windows 2003 server. At home I ended up just turning folder redirection off for the moment, but definitely need to get on top of it at work soon as it won’t be too long until we are getting new PC’s shipping with Windows 7. I’m looking forward to the potential problems ahead though so that after using it so much on a variety of systems I will really get a handle on it for successful implementation at work.
Daemon Tools have released a Win 7 compatible version of their program also which I am wrapped about as PowerISO which I have been using slowly decides that one virtual drive will never work again; you create another which works; same thing happens eventually and so on!
Anyway, back to basking in the glory of 3 Windows 7 PC’s and behaving like a Octupus multitasking on all of them!
28 Days for the Body and Mind
Posted by Ken Thompson in I.T. Certification, Journal on May 11, 2009
Well this year is absolutely zipping on by, I can’t believe it is almost half way already! It has been a great year thus far, but I am falling behind in my certification and education warpath. So this morning I have set myself a target to achieve my next 2 certifications in the next 28 days. I have also decided to tie in a de-tox for this period as it surely can’t hurt the study efforts and my body has definitely earned a break.
The rules are simple, in the next 28 days:
- Obtain 70-284: Implementing and Managing Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Certification (I have already booked in my exam for next Monday morning and have got Friday off for a 3 day study-a-thon weekend)
- Obtain 70-291: Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure Certification
- No Alcohol
- No Junk Food
This will bring me back on track reasonably well and I plan to do my 70-293 before the end of the financial at least, maybe another…but the de-tox will definitely end at 28 days…it’s going to be a long 4 weeks!
Back to the study….
Microsoft Exchange 2003 SMTP Relay to Smart Hosts
Posted by Ken Thompson in Brain Busters, I.T. Certification, Projects, The PCs That Kevin Built on May 6, 2009
Sitting behind a dynamic IP means that your going to get blocked by a lot of SMTP servers if you send directly from that IP address. Most ISPs allow their SMTP servers to be used as relay Smart Hosts; so when you send an email out to the internet it will relay to your ISPs SMTP server and then send from there…from that IP address.
Its a pretty simple thing to set up in Exchange System Manager:
- In Connectors, right-click on Internet Mail SMTP Connector and choose Properties.
- Change the radio buttons to: Forward all mail through this connector to the following smart hosts
- Enter your ISPs SMTP server in here, if you have the IP be sure to enter it within square brackets, below is the address for iiNet in Australia.
- All SMTP servers these days require authentication to send outbound through them, so select the Advanced tab.
- Then click Outbound Security
- Choose Basic authentication
- Click Modify
- Enter your ISP user name and password and click OK
The Exchange server is now setup to relay outbound mail through your ISP, so that should see all your mail successfully arrive at it’s destination 100% of the time. But be sure to test it out and check that your ISP allows the use of a Smart Host.
For inbound email I have also now added a 2nd MX record for my domains which points to my web server (which is how I used to have email set up), which means I will have another layer of redundancy for inbound emails, should I lose my ISP connection for the server or it crashes etc.
Now time to kick back and wait for the emails to flood in, though not SPAM anymore!
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