Looking at Citrix Certification

John52

Hi All,

I have not done anything with Citrix for about 7 years with my last CCA been in MPS4.
I am wanting to get back into this but need some guidance on where to start.

Should I look to start with XenApp or XenServer?
What is the easier or more approperate certification and learning path.

Thanks everyone

eserfeliz

From what I've read, it appears that XenApp is a pretty easy exam. Ask Iristheangel

Iristheangel

I agree. Xenapp was pretty easy and lots of common sense questions. It almost felt like a "fluff" certification. I haven't tried to go for Xenserver yet though I have had to install and configure Xenserver more than a few times and that part was easy but I have no idea what will be on the test. It might be more advanced and in depth than Xenapp and it's hard to find highly rated books on the material.

undomiel

I can't comment on XenApp since XenServer is the only exam I've taken so far but I would say it isn't too difficult. Just make sure you have a good bit of experience with the product and that you've read through all of the documentation. I had searched around for some books for it as well, but they were all old and didn't have very good reviews either.

John52

Thanks for the responses, I have the following to get me started in XenApp - Amazon.com: Getting Started with Citrix XenApp 6.5 (9781849686662): Guillermo Musumeci: Books

Also, when you say just a bit of experience for XenServer, if I installed this at home and used / tested this do you think that that would be enough?

Thanks again

John52

Sorry if this comes through twice, my post a few hours ago seems to have gone stray

But I have purchased "Getting Started with Citrix XenApp 6.5" to get me moving on the XenApp learning and the exam.

When you have a comment that experience should be enough for XenServer, how much do you think is needed?
If I install and test this for a weekend on my home computer would this give me some understanding that could lead to exam pass or will I need to get onto this in an enterprise environment?

Thanks all

undomiel

You could get the experience at home but you'll need to be setting up a highly available environment. You'll want a deep dive into XenServer pools and working with the distributed switch as well as troubleshooting host and pool recovery. If you have the infrastructure at home available to do that then you would be able to learn at home. Definitely not in a weekend though. I would recommend a good week of discovery and troubleshooting at the very least.

ben2112

I would suggest getting the XA cert first. I haven't taken the exam yet. The other guys I work with have taken it and says you can pass it without a problem. I just did my XD 5 exam, but I have been supporting a massive hosting environment for the past year and gained a ton of experience that helped with that exam. As for XS, I am prepared for that one also. Our hosting environment is nothing but Xenservers. I work with about 20 Xenservers in 3 Blade chassis. But that exam is coming in Oct. I want my XA 6.5 and the CCAA next.