70-680 - Couple of questions...

SdotLow

I've been browsing the forums for a couple weeks now trying to figure out a direction for pursuing certifications.

1) How valuable is picking up the Net+ cert if I plan on going the route of pursuing MS certs (starting with 70-680 and either going after the 70-685 or moving to the EA path)?

2) I have very little "on the job" experience, mainly assisting with coworkers issues and acting as a kind of liaison with our network guy. My A+ that I got 10 years ago after getting out of high school has done nothing for me, which is making me question whether spending the money to pick up the Net+ Cert would be worth it. Is this a valid assumption?

3) I've read a lot of conflicting posts about the best books to get for the 70-680 exam. Does anyone have any idea when the second revision of the MS press book is going to be released? And how good are the CBT nuggets for 70-680?

Thanks for any advice!

Psoasman

The certs you work for are often determined by the path you want to take.

That being said, the Network+ will give you good, foundational knowledge that should help you.

You could start with the 680 and 685, getting you the MCITP:EST cert. You could then start on the MCITP:EA track.

As far as 680 books go, the MS book has errors, but you can get the errata threads for that. I have read through the MS 680, 685, 686 books, and Darril's book.
I haven't heard when the 2nd edition is coming out.

SdotLow

Psoasman wrote: »

That being said, the Network+ will give you good, foundational knowledge that should help you.

You could start with the 680 and 685, getting you the MCITP:EST cert. You could then start on the MCITP:EA track.

This is precisely what I was thinking of doing. Thank you very much for your reply.

I've read that the errata for the 680 book is upwards of 80+ pages. Since I'm still pushing through the Net+ CTB nuggets and Mike Meyers book I'll see if a date is announced for release of the updated book. A miniature errata book is a big turn off, and I have the CBT nuggets for 680 to fall back on until it gets released.

Thanks again!

Psoasman

You might see if Professor Messer has some videos for the 680 as well. Microsoft has virtual labs you can sign up for and these little learning snack videos.

SdotLow

Psoasman wrote: »

You might see if Professor Messer has some videos for the 680 as well. Microsoft has virtual labs you can sign up for and these little learning snack videos.

I've read that the best way (short of having your own server to work with) is to run a VM of Windows Server 2008 R2. I poked around the Virtualization forum and didn't see any info on doing this.

I did go to the VMware website and it seems I would have to purchase this software in order to do this, would this be correct? Do you have any idea where some instructions would be to accomplish doing this, or a simple suggestion as to where to look exactly?

Since I have a nicely equipped laptop and a relatively nice desktop I just rebuilt a year ago, I was debating the viability of just wiping windows 7 pro off my desktop and setting up the trial of windows server 2008 R2 to play with. Viable and/or worth doing?

Thanks again for taking the time to reply! It's very much appreciated.

Bokeh

Don Poultons 70-680 book has gotten great reviews, and is a very easy read.

Amazon.com: MCTS 70-680 Cert Guide: Microsoft Windows 7, Configuring (9780789747075): Don Poulton: Books

Psoasman

I use Oracle's virtual box with some evaluation copies of Server 2008 R2 -all free. As long as you have enough memory, you can run them fine. I have a box with Server 2008 R2 and 2 Win 7 clients for labbing.

SdotLow

Psoasman wrote: »

I use Oracle's virtual box with some evaluation copies of Server 2008 R2 -all free. As long as you have enough memory, you can run them fine. I have a box with Server 2008 R2 and 2 Win 7 clients for labbing.

Interesting. I'm running 6gb tri channel RAM with both an SSD and a raptor available on my main box that I was looking to convert to 2008 R2. I'll look into Oracle's virtual box when I get home from work. I may have more questions, I'll have to see what information I can dig up later on.

Thanks again Psoasman!

Repo Man

SdotLow wrote: »

I've read that the best way (short of having your own server to work with) is to run a VM of Windows Server 2008 R2. I poked around the Virtualization forum and didn't see any info on doing this.

I did go to the VMware website and it seems I would have to purchase this software in order to do this, would this be correct? Do you have any idea where some instructions would be to accomplish doing this, or a simple suggestion as to where to look exactly?

Since I have a nicely equipped laptop and a relatively nice desktop I just rebuilt a year ago, I was debating the viability of just wiping windows 7 pro off my desktop and setting up the trial of windows server 2008 R2 to play with. Viable and/or worth doing?

Thanks again for taking the time to reply! It's very much appreciated.

The best setup short/long term is an extended dual monitor setup with VM's IMO. Depending how far you plan on taking your studying into the server path you may want to just use Hyper-V as you'll need to learn it eventually.