choosing an mcsa elective

chambja

hi all,

this forum is great! im glad i found it.
i am having trouble deciding on an elective for my mcsa. i am leaning toward 70-227 but i am more interested in 70-299. i would appreciate any input if anyone has taken either of these tests.

jason
mcp 70-290,291

Slowhand

Personally, I'd probably go with 70-299. The ISA server is great to know about, and know how to use, but it's a very specialized test. The 70-299 test is about general windows network security, and I think that most people would benefit more from this kind of broader scope, unless they already have a solid background in security. Basically, if you've taken something like Security+, (which is similar in concepts to 70-299, but vendor-neutral,) then you probably already have a pretty solid foundation in similar topics. 70-299 is also a very good parallel to 70-298, since 70-299 deals with hands-on implementation and 70-298 deals with design concepts and integrating security with the rest of the organization's operations.

To put it simply, I'd recommend the 70-299 before the 70-227 if you don't really have any in-depth experience implementing general security concepts hands-on. If you feel like your security background is strong, (if you know how things like IPSec, Kerberos, 802.1x, IDS's, Sniffers, and those sorts of things work,) then you'll get more out of the 70-227 material. The key here: experience.

fondue

There is another option, you can take the Security+ as your elective. It's a generic security exam. You would end up with one more cert, plus get a reprive from the massive reading involved with MS certs.

Slowhand

Yup, that's exactly right. I'm planning on doing that, so I started with Security+ to have an actual cert. It used to be that you could use a combination of either A+ & Net+, A+ & Server+ as your elective for both MCSA and MCSE. These days, though, the MCSE only recognizes Security+. That's especially important for people working on their MCSA who are also going to try to get their MCSE in the future; don't rely on A+ & Net+ or Server+ as the elective.

Those certs are good to have, mind you, (sometimes having MCSE, CCNA, etc. . . is so common, that having the A+ on top of all that can be the tie-breaker for a job,) but Security+ is the only elective that will get you both MCSA and MCSE. (And don't forget, having any security certification will make you a hot commodity these days, especially if you have Security+ and MCSE:Security, and the like.)