A better companion for Linux - Cisco or MS?

I'm trying to figure out my courses for the Fall semester at my college (which happen to be really expensive right now, thank you recession) and I have a choice between taking a Cisco course along with a Linux course or skipping Cisco for general credit course but keeping Linux.

I'm going to stay on the Linux course but I would really like to supplement it right now with industry standard vendor but the problem is which would be a better fit. Cisco people say Linux is a good fit but they don't jump into much detail. In my mind Microsoft would be a better fit because the two need to talk together, not to mention there might be a mixture of the two on a network.

So, any insight would help, if more comes to mind for questions I'll be sure to ask but right now its late, so forgive if my typing has some errors.

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Comments

undomiel

Why not take the Linux course, take the Cisco course, and study Microsoft on your own? Of the three I think Microsoft is the easiest for home study.

Talic

undomiel wrote:

Why not take the Linux course, take the Cisco course, and study Microsoft on your own? Of the three I think Microsoft is the easiest for home study.

I was thinking about doing that at first but I wasn't sure if I should try to focus on just two. Cisco also has me a bit worried with the 3 year renew cycle, I probably will be looking for a better college to attend for my bachelors by that time

dynamik

All you have to do is pass one professional-level exam every three years to renew all your associate and professional-level certifications. That really shouldn't be too much to manage.

Forsaken_GA

Talic wrote:

I'm trying to figure out my courses for the Fall semester at my college (which happen to be really expensive right now, thank you recession) and I have a choice between taking a Cisco course along with a Linux course or skipping Cisco for general credit course but keeping Linux.

I'm going to stay on the Linux course but I would really like to supplement it right now with industry standard vendor but the problem is which would be a better fit. Cisco people say Linux is a good fit but they don't jump into much detail. In my mind Microsoft would be a better fit because the two need to talk together, not to mention there might be a mixture of the two on a network.

So, any insight would help, if more comes to mind for questions I'll be sure to ask but right now its late, so forgive if my typing has some errors.

Cisco goes well with any flavor of Unix experience. There's alot of freeware tools that make up a part of a network admins kit (rancid, tacacs+, nagios or other NMS, etc). It's a hell of alot easier to ask management for a box or two for you to setup your tools on than to try and get the cash layout and licensing requirements that come along with an MS setup).

Honestly though, in this day and age, the best solution is to learn as much as you can, and that means learning tools for multiple platforms. Even though I abhor Microsoft solutions with every fiber of my being, I will eventually take the time to get myself current on Exchange and MS SQL Servers... just because they're useful (and marketable) skills to have

marco71

undomiel wrote:

Why not take the Linux course, take the Cisco course, and study Microsoft on your own? Of the three I think Microsoft is the easiest for home study.

depends... I prefer to study MS at work (there are 99.99% chance to find MS products at employer's company), take my Cisco exams at Academy (where I derive advantage from practical lab) and study linux at home (doing this for more than 10 yrs.), as is my primary O.S.