Ok, I know I've seen a lot of people refering to the MCSE as a MCCert. I have a question though. I'm a college grad with a non-it degree and I want to get into the field. My end goal is a network admin or IT security specialist. Since my degree is not technical, I was thinking of getting Comptia's A+ and Network+ and then go for the MCSE. Is there some other way to do it? I doubt I'll get a job with little knowledge and no experience.
MCSE doesn't hurt - usually (there are some people who really hate it) - and can help get your foot in the door.
beyond that, it's up to you.
get it, despite the flak it gets just take a look at the job boards. it's the most requested cert, by far. HR will be more likely to pass your resume off to the hiring manager than if you didn't have it.
I am doing an MCSE boot camp right now I can understand some of the flack it gets but shit this is a bunch of stuff to cover the 270 exam is no problem gets you an MCP (big deal) but the 290 and 291 tests are the most failed tests and if you miss more then 4 you fail. so you have to have one hell of a grip on at least theory.
BigTone - if you go into security, you may want to not list the MCSE on your resume when you sent it to a hardcore security company.
this tends to be more true for smaller to mid-sized security companies, and the more technical companies with gearheads in charge, but there are people who will flat out toss your resume in security if you have a MCSE - they think it reflects a poor mindset and skillset.
warez being an example on here. :)
I don't think it would be a negative if you were working for Symantec or McAfee or those kinds of large, fat security companies.
if you do list it, bury it at the end.. they will be more interested in you having a CISSP or GSEC anyway.
the nice thing about having a cert, though, is that you aren't required to list it on every resume you send. :)
this is all far in the future, and for now, you should definitely get the MCSE if it will help you now.
I am doing the mcse plus security 2003 bootcamp right now.
RoR - thanks for the heads up on the MCSE when applying for security positions.
I don't have the money for a bootcamp so I'm probably just going to get the books around christmas time and hopefully be MCSE'd halfway through the year. I read and comprehend fast, and I've been told its possible to do it within 3 months or so. Not really sure if I'll get it by then, but I'm definately hungry for it.
Double Post
PBY How much $$$
im pretty sure bootcamp for a few days or whatever it covers is like 15k or so...i know that mcse for 6 months or whtaever it is, is around 6k
15k or 6k for a MCSE class?
craziness, learn it yourself.
"You can buy all the books twice over for 1k."
or you could buy the book + copies of Windows + copies of VMWare and extra memory, or a extra machine to run on
Damn, can't remember the website but there's some place that advertises all over the radio here (DC area) they advertise about their MCSE classes and what not, I figured I'd go to their website and check out the prices, they wanted over $20k for their MCSE course. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I'll post the website if I remember it
"they wanted over $20k for their MCSE course."
I will have probably spent around that much to get an nationally accreditted, regionally recognized degree in computer science.
now granted, I am in-state at a public school, but that is ridiculous.
download a copy of Win2k3 Server off BT or newsgroups, install and play around with it. install active directory, exchange, and start setting up accounts and policies. it's fairly easy to learn- it's not rocket science, 20k for an MCSE course is completely unnecessary.
Im taking the class because a family friend owns the school, so im getting it for a discount. Also shes going to hook me up with a job...But i have a great teacher and dont regret taking out a loan to take this class.
The 15k class, they give you 7 books or so for each module, and they give you a few months prior to the start of the class to go over it all. Then you sit down for a few days and just learn shit for like 10 hours straight. PRetty ccrazy
But not worth the 15k
PBY How much $$$
7k for a 14 day course, classes are 8:30am to 7:30 pm 30 min for lunch.
The price covers 8 exam vouchers (125.00 a piece)
Hotel for 15 nights.
breakfast and lunch everyday and dinner every other night.
course materials test king study tests and transcender pc based study and testing software.
I do not think that simply setting up your own network at home and buying some books will do you that much good. It will no doubt help but this is a tough course and the tests are not easy, 290 and 291 are the two most failed tests with 291 being a very unforgiving test.
doing the stuff at home would make getting your MCP easy as it would make passing the 270 exam much eaiser.
the tests cover sooo much crap it is more then just setting up an OU and creating a group. 291 is deep deep in DNS and IP.
Sample questions.
You are your company's network administrator. Your company includes a central office and a branch office. The network consists of two Active Directory domains: company.com and branch.company.com.
All servers run Windows Server 2003. The primary DNS server for the company.com domain is located in the central office, and the primary DNS server for the branch.company.com domain is located in the branch office.
The internal namespace is not registered on the Internet. The central office contains computers only from the company.com domain, and the branch office contains computers from both domains. The two offices are connected through an unreliable WAN link. You must ensure that the DNS server in the branch office can always resolve names in both domains, including the time when the WAN link between the offices is temporarily unavailable.
Which of the following should you do?
Create a delegation on the DNS server in the branch office for the company.com domain and specify the DNS server in the central office as the name server.
Create a stub zone for the company.com domain on the DNS server in the branch office and specify the DNS server in the central office as a master.
Create a secondary zone for the company.com domain on the DNS server in the branch office.
Create a secondary zone for the branch.company.com domain on the DNS server in the central office.
Create a delegation on the DNS server in the central office for the branch.company.com domain and specify the DNS server in the branch office as a name server.
Create a stub zone for the branch.company.com domain on the DNS server in the central office and specify the DNS server in the branch office as a master.
Configure conditional forwarding for the company.com domain on the DNS server in the branch office and specify the DNS server in the central office as a forwarder.
Configure conditional forwarding for the branch.company.com domain on the DNS server in the central office and specify the DNS server in the branch office as a forwarder.
QUESTION:
You are the network administrator for your company. The company's network consists of a single Active Directory domain and several sites. All servers run Windows Server 2003, and all client computers run Windows XP Professional.
You work in the company's central office. Each site contains several file servers; each file server contains multiple volumes on hard disks. You want to be notified when the amount of free space on any volume on any of the file servers becomes less than 10 percent.
You also want to be able to determine which volume on which file server has reached its free space threshold. You want to accomplish this task with the least amount of administrative effort.
Which of the following should you do? (Select 2 choices. Each correct answer presents part of the solution.)
Create the necessary alerts on each file server.
Create one alert for each file server.
Create only one alert.
Create one alert for each volume.
Create the necessary alerts on your workstation.
You administer your company's network. Your company maintains a public Web site on a Windows Server 2003 IIS 6.0 Web server that is named WebSrv. You can administer WebSrv only remotely because it is hosted by a third party.
Normally, you perform administrative tasks from your workstation on the company network. You also want to be able to manage WebSrv from your home. You do not have a high-speed Internet connection at home. To access WebSrv from your home, you will first dial to the corporate network.
This connection is very slow, and, therefore, you have difficulty using IIS Manager. You want to be able to make configuration changes to IIS on WebSrv quickly in order to minimize the impact on Internet users.
Which of the following should you do?
Configure WebSrv to support WebDAV.
Enable FrontPage server extensions on WebSrv.
Use Notepad to directly edit the IIS metabase.
Enable BITS server extensions on WebSrv.
QUESTION:
Your company's network consists of a single Active Directory domain. All servers run Windows Server 2003, and all client computers run Windows XP Professional. A server named WebSrv runs IIS 6.0. WebSrv belongs to a workgroup and hosts confidential files.
The company's written security policy states that those files must be transmitted over the network only in an encrypted form. You must take the necessary steps to enforce the company's policy.
Which of the following should you do?
Use EFS to encrypt the confidential files on WebSrv.
Apply the security policy to WebSrv that enables encryption and signing of the secure channel data.
Apply the default Secure Server IPSec policy to WebSrv.
Configure WebSrv to require SSL.
QUESTION:
You are the network administrator for your company. The company's network consists of a single Active Directory domain and several sites.
All servers run Windows Server 2003, and all client computers run Windows XP Professional. You work in the company's central office. Each site contains several file and print servers. You must monitor resource usage on all those servers.
All accumulated data must be saved in the central office and maintained for at least three years. Periodically, the saved performance data will be analyzed in order to identify trends and plan for hardware upgrades. You configure the appropriate counter logs.
Which of the following destinations should you specify for the log data?
Text File (Tab delimited)
Binary Circular File
Text File (Comma delimited)
Binary File
SQL Database
QUESTION:
You are your company's network administrator. Your company's network consists of a single Active Directory domain. All servers run Windows Server 2003, and all client computers run Windows XP Professional.
The company's written security policy stipulates that only authorized VBScript files are allowed to run on any client computers. The scripts that are currently authorized are located on different computers throughout the network.
You must configure the appropriate software restriction policy to comply with the written security policy. Once your solution is implemented, you should not have to reconfigure the policy each time that a new .vbs file is authorized for use. You set the default security level to Unrestricted.
Which of the following should you do next? (Select 2 choices. Each correct answer presents part of the solution).
Create a hash rule for the authorized .vbs files; set the security level to Unrestricted.
Create a path rule for *.vbs; set the security level to Disallowed.
Create an Internet zone rule for the Intranet zone; set the security level to Unrestricted.
Create an Internet zone rule for the Restricted sites zone; set the security level to Disallowed.
Digitally sign each authorized .vbs file, and create a certificate rule with the Unrestricted security level.
Also if oyur going to set up a network at home you better set it up to opperate in native and mixed modes because some questions will have a network with nt.4 2k and 2003 elements with some clients running ME xp 9x
then in 291 you get into dns and ip sub netting etc.