mcitp course sequence

i plan on doing

MCITP: Server Administrator on Windows Server 2008

does it matter in what order i study or do the exams in , is it better if i do them in order 70-640/642/646?

also i have no previous certs, so insteaad of doing mcsa or mcse i was told to do this one, i have 7 years exp in IT and mostly tier 2 help desk and wanna move up perhaps to a sys admin one day.

also if anyone could recommend the best self study books for each exam and prep questions (perhaps ones with fewest mistakes and most popular i would greatly appreciate.

for starters i was planning on doing 70-640 by buying the sybex book called:

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration Study Guide: Exam 70-640
William Panek, James Chellis
ISBN: 978-0-470-26167-5
Paperback
624 pages
May 2008

my last question is are the questions in the book good enough, or should i be buying extra bank of study prep questions oinline, and if so what is the best website or engine /bank to use?

cheers guys.

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Comments

Essendon

Welcome to the site!

That's the order most people do them in, however you can go 642 > 640 > 646. The 646 builds on top of the other two, s it's best to leave it for last.

That book will do, but I suggest you read up on technet.microsoft.com for more in-depth documentation. The book should come with a CD with MeasureUp practice questions on it. They arent terribly bad, but if you want more practice you can buy Transcenders. Whatever test engine you get, check if it's a braindump by putting in the URL of that site into domain/url search box in this site: CertGuard | IT Certification Exam Security & Integrity

Good luck!

dtakhar

thank you so much,

where on technet.microsoft.com should i be going to or searchig for?

also that last part i don't get it about braindump can u elborate?

cheers pal

Essendon

Here on TechNet: Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2

TechNet is THE most comprehensive resource out there for most things Microsoft. And it's free.

Braindumps are actual exam questions. Plenty of websites offer braindumps by passing them as practice questions. To check if the site offering the questions is a braindump site or not, use the certguard link I posted above.

dtakhar

thank you very much i appreciate it.:)

dtakhar

just go get a general outline, so i can better time manage and get things rolling what else after mcitp is critical/crucial or beneficial for a sys admin to have?

i was thinking

1.mcitp -admin on server 2008
2. some scripting languages, powershell, vbscript, perl
3. ccna or network + (NOT SURE if this even needed, prolly more for network admins, althought i know some sys admins do cross role depending on size of organization ur working for
4. what else is hot to have, i was told vcp vmware on vsphere for cloud as its the next big thing

any project managemnt courses helpful?

thanks

Essendon

The 1st and 2nd are good-to-haves. Anything else on top makes it better.

LAN_Guru

dtakhar wrote: »

just go get a general outline, so i can better time manage and get things rolling what else after mcitp is critical/crucial or beneficial for a sys admin to have?

i was thinking

1.mcitp -admin on server 2008
2. some scripting languages, powershell, vbscript, perl
3. ccna or network + (NOT SURE if this even needed, prolly more for network admins, althought i know some sys admins do cross role depending on size of organization ur working for
4. what else is hot to have, i was told vcp vmware on vsphere for cloud as its the next big thing

any project managemnt courses helpful?

thanks

Essendon was spot on with his answer to this one. The MCITP-SA will give you a good foundation to transition from a help desk position to a Windows Server admin role. Powershell and VBScript would be excellent skills to add to your admin toolbelt and may help set you apart from other Jr Admins.

If you haven't already, build a home lab and use it...a lot. And not just for the exams. Practice common administration tasks such as user account administration, shares and permissions, network printing (way more important than most people realize, users get pretty tweaked when they can't print), backups and restores, etc.

Any certifications you attain are going to add to your skillset and marketability but gaining real-world admin experience is going to be key to furthering your career. The certifications will help get you interviews. Being able to effectively demonstrate and convey that you actually know how to do the things that the certs specify you should be able to do will get you a job.

dtakhar

what would consist of a basic home lab setup?

rsutton

dtakhar wrote: »

what would consist of a basic home lab setup?

One beefy machine that you can run VMWare or Hyper-V on. You can then build out multiple virtual machines. The books tell you how much resources you need per VM, and how many, so you can plan accordingly.

As for the exam order, I'd recommend knocking out whichever one you feel would be easier first. Getting one down quick will serve as good motivation to bang the rest out.

Good luck!

Hypntick

Yeah 70-640 or 70-642, whichever you're more comfortable with. As I have a bit more experience with networking in general i'm doing the 70-642 first.
As far as a lab setup, at least 4 cores and 8 GB of RAM minimum. More is obviously better, if you have a stand alone machine, pop ESXi on there and load up the VMs. Pretty straight forward setup overall.

dtakhar

yes ok i got it.

i am running windows 7 on my laptop at home and i also have vmware workstation install on that same latop and have created a windows server 2008 standard image. is that okay>?

can i do a client server role with one machine if i have it setup with vmware.

certnerd

You could check to see if one of your local colleges is a Microsoft IT academy. If they are you might find doing a course, at least for the first exam will help get you started. If nothing else you get to meet and work with like minded people.

They will have virtual labs set up through Hyper V etc so you can see yourself where to go from there.

I went this route with Cisco and have just started doing Microsoft at the same college in Leeds. I know - no good if you don't live near a college that is a Microsoft Partner.

texasit

dtakhar wrote: »

i plan on doing
MCITP: Server Administrator on Windows Server 2008

does it matter in what order i study or do the exams in , is it better if i do them in order 70-640/642/646?

also i have no previous certs, so insteaad of doing mcsa or mcse i was told to do this one, i have 7 years exp in IT and mostly tier 2 help desk and wanna move up perhaps to a sys admin one day.

also if anyone could recommend the best self study books for each exam and prep questions (perhaps ones with fewest mistakes and most popular i would greatly appreciate.

for starters i was planning on doing 70-640 by buying the sybex book called:

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration Study Guide: Exam 70-640
William Panek, James Chellis
ISBN: 978-0-470-26167-5
Paperback
624 pages
May 2008

my last question is are the questions in the book good enough, or should i be buying extra bank of study prep questions oinline, and if so what is the best website or engine /bank to use?

cheers guys.

I did it in order 640,642,then 646. I used the measureup tests in the MS books to gauge where I was before I tested.Aside from the MS books I used Cbtnuggets training which I found very useful .Good luck

StarUK

texasit wrote: »

I did it in order 640,642,then 646. I used the measureup tests in the MS books to gauge where I was before I tested.Aside from the MS books I used Cbtnuggets training which I found very useful .Good luck

You may wish to get this book excellent reading about Windows Server 2008 it is called

"Windows Server 2008 unleashed" Publisher Sams
Authors .. Rand Morimoto, Michael Noel, Omar Droubi, Ross Mistry and Chris Amaris

I do not condone or recomend Brain **** or any **** method to get the exams. With your experience and commitment you should be able to pass the exams. You may find it easier to understand if you did the 2005 server course MCSE as the MCITP does not go inot depth regarding server set up and configuration.

I wish you success on which ever path you choose. Doing it the hard way you can hold your head up high.

dtakhar

i am running into troubles, i have a trial copy of server 2008 running in vmware is this going to cauae problems. also how does microsoft expect you to pass without actually buying the server 2008 software?

does it come with the books.