CNA 6.5 exams

Where is a good place to start studying for the Novell CNA 6.5 exam? I have experience using this system at work and studied this while in college. I just want to make sure that when I go in there for the test that I know what I am doing. Thanks

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Turgon

dleggett wrote:

Where is a good place to start studying for the Novell CNA 6.5 exam? I have experience using this system at work and studied this while in college. I just want to make sure that when I go in there for the test that I know what I am doing. Thanks

Novell do instructor classes and a self study kit you can buy online. Both are pricey, the self study kit less so. The materials you will be given in class or in the self study kit are right on the money for what you will be tested on in the exam from what I have been told in the past, so if you complete the exercises and study the workbook its probably unlikely you will fail the test.

Build a Netware 6.5 server or emulate the hardware and run a Netware 6.5 on VMware. Use Novell Client and work through as many exercises as you can find in Novell Press books. Be wary of cramming for the CNA, it took me two attempts to clear mine in Netware 5 back in 2000 but I didn't get enough hands on. Very difficult to pass from books alone you will need to practice using all the utilities hands-on as well as understand the theory. When I set about completing my CNE last year I was kind of relieved that I had already passed the CNA in the past as it's a difficult test on it's own covering things across the whole of Netware. I wouldn't have relished preparing for it again from scratch. The exams I had left to do were rather more concentrated on specific subject areas within Netware. Don't underestimate the CNA test it takes quite a lot of preparing for.

There are very few providers of reputable Novell tests now. Im afraid good old Self Test Software have withdrawn their Novell exams. I dont think Transcender do any.

Dont worry about that for the moment though. Decide of materials, self study kit, Novell Press books, PDFs off the Novell website and immerse yourself in a couple of months learning. Build a Netware environment and practice administrating it.

If you have the spare cash I recommend you buy the Novell Self Study kit and do the exercises in that. You should learn a lot using those. If I could do it all again I think I would have use those kits for all my exam preparations.

You might also try the Novell Forum on www.novell.com for advice.

Good luck!

petedude

The last poster had a lot of good advice, but missed a few points.

There IS a CNA book for 6.5 on the Market, and it includes an exam prep CD from ExamForce. You can buy a full exam from ExamForce as well. There are a few small errors in the ExamForce book, but if you read the materials on the CNA book's website as well as the book itself you should be fine.

It took me about a month to prepare for this test.

The 6.5 CNE is another matter, though. Other than Novell's (pricey) materials, no study materials exist. You will want to read other 6.x CNE books, download the test objectives, and prepare yourself study notes using the 6.5 online documentation. I did not pass this test the last time I took it, and had studied for about six weeks.

Turgon

petedude wrote:

The last poster had a lot of good advice, but missed a few points.

There IS a CNA book for 6.5 on the Market, and it includes an exam prep CD from ExamForce. You can buy a full exam from ExamForce as well. There are a few small errors in the ExamForce book, but if you read the materials on the CNA book's website as well as the book itself you should be fine.

It took me about a month to prepare for this test.

The 6.5 CNE is another matter, though. Other than Novell's (pricey) materials, no study materials exist. You will want to read other 6.x CNE books, download the test objectives, and prepare yourself study notes using the 6.5 online documentation. I did not pass this test the last time I took it, and had studied for about six weeks.

I imagine getting up for CNE 6.5 was difficult. Like yourself I couldn't find many study materials for 6.5 so I went for the Upgrade to 6 path instead. I think I would have needed the Self Study Kit from Novell for 6.5 and couldn't justify the expense at the time.

I found good materials to complete my CNE in 5 though and a reasonable book by Clarke for the upgrade to Netware 6 exam, I just didn't have as much time as I would have liked to use it in time for the exam. I even managed to pass BorderManager but the MCNE expired before I had covered enough ground to arrange a resit for Groupwise 6 Administration. I have ended up with a decent arsenal of Netware books thanks to Amazon and a CNE in 5 and 6.

There is a CNA 6.5 book on the market? Very good. Have you got the ISBN for that? Although already a CNE in 6 my CNA exam was in Netware 5 so I may very well get this book myself as a refresher when I return to my Netware studies in the summer.

I did the Netware 5 exams followed by the Netware 6 upgrade. I found it difficult to prepare thoroughly for the upgrade exam as I was left with only 3 weeks to do so before the option to upgrade from Netware 5 expired. As a consequence I was under severe time constraints to study and it took me three goes to clear. I used Clarke's Upgrade to Netware 6 book which I obtained off ebay, a cramsession and some notes from Marie Perry.

Some of the available CNE 6 books on amazon should provide useful coverage for anyone preparing for 6.5 but that would need supplementing by white papers off the Novell site to cover the new 6.5 features properly. That said there isn't an immense amount of difference between the two.