Confessions of an IT Geek

The Road Ahead...

Bill Gates released a book called "The Road Ahead" a few years back as a look into the future of technology. But my immediate road ahead is related to what I wanted to do in updating my Microsoft certifications. Like many MS IT folks I currently hold a MCSE in Windows Server 2003 and I need to update this to Windows Server 2008. So what is path?

Well first there is no MCSE 2008.. In fact there are no MCSEs anymore. MS has dropped this title in the 2008 wave instead now you have Microsoft Certified Technology Specialists (MCTS) which appears to be product centric in that you get MCTS on specific products like Exchange, OCS, etc. With WIndows Server 2008 there is three different MCTSs focued on three areas: Network Infrastructure, Active Directory and Application Infrastructure. Fortunately as a MCSE 2003 you can get these three separate MCTS certifications with a single exam (70-649 - Upgrading your MCSE on Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 Technology Specialist).

The next step is to get to the next certification level - Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professional (MCITP). Unlike the MCTS, this certification is more job function focused. So the rough equivalent of having a MCSE 2003 is achieving the MCITP: Server Administrator or MCITP Enterprise Administrator. My plan is to get the Enterprise Administrator cert. This will require, in addition to passing the 70-649 exam, taking the 70-646 - Windows Server 2008, Server Administrator exam and the 70-647 - Windows Server 2008, Enterprise Administrator exam.

So the gist of this is that it takes three exams for a current MCSE 2003 to get the 2008 equilvalent certification (MCITP: Enterprise Administrator). Not too bad although this is one more exam than what was required to get from MCSE 2000 to MCSE 2003. But now on top of this you have other certification areas to explore if you work with other MS products. Take MS Exchange Server for example. This product has its own MCTS cert as well as the MCITP:Enterprise Messaging Administrator certification.

Now if don't think this is enough, the next level until recently was the Microsoft Architect certification. But recently annouced at TechEd is the Microsoft Certified Master credential. This cert comes in three varieties: Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007 and SQL Server 2008. Although these certifications sound great, they are rather expensive to actually achieve in that travel and training costs are invovled that can easily exceed $10,000. So it will be interesting to see where these certifications go.

TechEd 2008 (Not!)

Well I am unhappy to say that I was not able to get out to Orlando this year for TechEd. Blame it on the economy and current business environment. I suspect a lot of folks didn't get to attend for the same reasons. But alas not all is lost. The online coverage typically is good. The best place is to go to the TechEd Online site. But there is also stuff on the Channel 10 and TechNet Edge sites (links on the right side). Not a whole lot of IT content just yet other than Bob Muglia's keynote but hopefully that will change as the week progresses.

Updated TCP/IP Guide

Microsoft recently updated their TCP/IP fundamentals guide. This is a fairly extensive document that covers IPv4 and IPv6 as well as DHCP, DNS, VPN, and IPv6 transition strategies. If you are looking for more background about how IP functions, this is a good resource.