SAN Engineering

So I am interested in branching out to SAN as it is growing and there is a huge market for it in the area I live in.
But I have no idea which path to pursue and what certs to go after that actually have self study material out there. I have read up on SNIA a bit but would like some folks here to advise me.

Thanks again.

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UnixGuy

Try to get a job in servers administration and slowly get into SAN & backups. There's no direct shortcut for this, but it's a very rewarding career.

Ryuksapple84 wrote: »

So I am interested in branching out to SAN as it is growing and there is a huge market for it in the area I live in.
But I have no idea which path to pursue and what certs to go after that actually have self study material out there. I have read up on SNIA a bit but would like some folks here to advise me.

Thanks again.

Essendon

UnixGuy wrote: »

Try to get a job in servers administration and slowly get into SAN & backups. There's no direct shortcut for this, but it's a very rewarding career.

+10

No one is going to hand you the keys of something critical without substantial experience to back you up. You'll need to show your mettle and work your way up there. Get an MCSA or dive into the MCITP track and try to get a server gig. You'll get there if you have the drive and perseverance.

UnixGuy

You can also try Storage vendors & business partners, they all have junior level support positions where you can learn, and they have nice training programs for support staff.

Search for EMC partners, Hitachi partners, Brocade partners, IBM, Oracle(Sun/StorageTek), NetApp, HP,...etc.

Good luck

blargoe

+1 to everything UnixGuy said.

You sort of have to have a foundation of OS knowledge to be effective as a SAN admin, as well as entry level networking. No shortcuts... you'll probably have to find a job in server or network ops, or work for a partner doing server stuff, and work your way into storage from there.

Ryuksapple84

That is great advice guys.

What certs should I start looking into? I am trying to diversify from networking into Systems and would love to get into SANs... After my CCNP and CCDP, I will be going after MCITP... just would like to know what certs to pursue so I can start now.

UnixGuy

Ryuksapple84 wrote: »

That is great advice guys.

What certs should I start looking into? I am trying to diversify from networking into Systems and would love to get into SANs... After my CCNP and CCDP, I will be going after MCITP... just would like to know what certs to pursue so I can start now.

Any cert would be helpful. Server+ & SNIA SCSP are both entry level conceptual certs..MCITP is good, Linux+ is good...However, try to focus on getting a job where you deal with backups, and little bit of Storage. you can do certs later. Those certs help in landing you a support role.

MrRyte

blargoe wrote: »

+1 to everything UnixGuy said.

You sort of have to have a foundation of OS knowledge to be effective as a SAN admin, as well as entry level networking. No shortcuts... you'll probably have to find a job in server or network ops, or work for a partner doing server stuff, and work your way into storage from there.

So if I have my CCENT (hopefully by this afternoon); would I have legit long shot of getting into an entry-level position at one of the data centers here in San Antonio (Microsoft, Methodist, Stream, etc.)?