Lammle’s CompTIA Network+ Study Guide is coming soon

The 2011 edition of the Network+ exam, N10-005, is its first major revision since 2009. To coincide with the new version, Todd Lammle has written a new edition of his CompTIA Network+ Study Guide. As well as covering 100% of the exam’s objectives, the networking guru offers invaluable insights and tips drawn from his own real-world experience to help students succeed the first time.

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NetApp certification – The NCDA | #NetApp #NCDA #Storage #Certification #ANCDA

BY Edward Grigson

I’ve been asked by a few people over the last few weeks about the Netapp Certified Data Administrator certification, better known as the NCDA. I was only exposed to NetApp technology a few years ago so definitely don’t claim any real expertise – I don’t know if these requests are due to an increased demand for engineers with NetApp knowledge or whether I’ve just surrounded myself with like minded people pursuing similar goals. Hopefully both!

When I took my exams a couple of years ago I considered putting together a study guide as there wasn’t much available and it suits the way I learn new material. Hanging out on the Netapp forums I picked up quite a few hints and tips along with some great links to example questions, web based learning and some documents produced by NetApp which summaries the knowledge you need for the exams. I never found the time (or motivation if truth be told) to put together my own study notes but maybe there’s still enough demand to make a collection of resources useful. As always real world, hands on experience is invaluable but the below are worth your time;

NOTE: I took two exams (ns0-153 and ns0-163) whereas you can now take a single exam (ns0-154) instead which covers ONTAP 8 – 7 mode.

• The official Netapp study guide for ns0-154 – this is a great .PDF doc which forms the basis for study. Essential reading!
• Netapp Basic Concepts quickstarts guide
• Netapp Technical Reports
• Web based learning on High Availability (for ns0-163). I believe this used to be free online (I took one course which was very helpful for the exams) but is now one training unit (or around $150). It’s only 110 mins so it’s a bit harsh to charge!
• Take the sample exams at Netapp’s site. They’re pretty basic and only offer 20 (always identical) questions but better than nothing – ns0-153, ns0-163, or ns0-154
• Fast Lane also offers some test questions
• Netapp’s YouTube channel
• Brendan Higgins has a done a good blogpost on NCIE study materials but much of it is relevant to the NCDA
• Greg Porter has a good overview
• The Netapp SysAdmin guide (354 pages!)
• If you don’t have NetApp’s that you use on a day to day basis then get the NetApp Simulator. This lets you gain ‘real world’ experience as it runs the same ONTAP as the real controllers (just with performance and capacity restraints). Unfortunately you need to be a NetApp customer to download it.

In terms of difficulty the NCDA is an entry level exam – I’d put these exams nearer the VCP standard than the VCAP, more like an MCP than an MCSE. They’re multiple choice and while some questions require enterprise design knowledge (I got one on Metrocluster cabling) most are much more basic. Like the Cisco exams your certification expires after two years so I should be retaking the exams if I want to stay current but as not much has changed (ONTAP v8 is out but running in cluster mode means it’s almost the same as v7) it would be a paper exercise only and hence not worth it. Besides there’s SRM, vSphere5, vCD 1.5, Chef, Puppet and more to learn should I find any free time…

Source: http://www.vexperienced.co.uk/2011/10/18/netapp-certification-the-ncda/

Sneak Peek: SQL Server 2012 learning products in development!

SQL Server 2012 is coming! Microsoft has already started developing some of the exams, courses, and books that will help our customers to learn SQL Server 2012 and to showcase their new skills. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s in the works.

The quick view

Title	Course	Book*	Exam
Querying Microsoft SQL Server	10774	Training Kit	70-461
Administering a Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Database	10775	Training Kit	70-462
Building Data Warehouses with Microsoft SQL Server 2012	10777	Training Kit	70-463
Developing a Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Database	10776	Exam Reference	70-464
Designing Database Solutions for SQL Server 2012	10778	Exam Reference	70-465
Implementing Data Models and Reports with Microsoft SQL Server 2012	TBD	Exam Reference	70-466
Designing Business Intelligence Solutions with Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Platform	TBD	Exam Reference	70-467

*There will be several other great SQL Server 2012 books as well, which won’t have corresponding exams and courses. More news on those later.

What’s different about the courses and books this time

• 1:1 mapping between exam, course, and book (no more two-course mapping!)
• An exam preparation book for each exam
• More real-world scenarios and business context

What’s different about the exams and certifications this time

• More community involvement in identifying the skills to be tested (over 300 people participated!)
• Higher expectations of skill level and experience for the successful candidate
• More direct focus on core skills such as querying and on business context
• Recertification required every three years at the Pro level

Wait just a minute. Did you say recertification?

Why yes, I did. In order to ensure that our certifications remain a meaningful and valuable indicator of candidate’s skills, SQL Server 2012 Professional-level certifications will require recertification every three years. Initially, the recertification requirement will be one or two exams. You can find out more by viewing the frequently asked questions about recertification on our web site.

Source: Krista Wall (Microsoft) via Born to Learn Blog!

Top IT skills wanted for 2012 #Training #Certification #Skills

By Toni Bowers

Takeaway: A new Computerworld survey indicates the nine IT skills that will be in demand in 2012.

Nearly 29 percent of the 353 IT executives who were polled in Computerworld’s annual Forecast survey said they plan to increase IT staffing through next summer. (That’s up from 23% in the 2010 survey and 20% in the 2009 survey.)

Here are the skills that the IT executives say they will be hiring for:

1. Programming and Application Development–61% plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months, up from 44% in the 2010 survey. This covers the gamut from website development to upgrading internal systems and meeting the needs of mobile users.
2. Project Management (but with a twist)– The twist is that they’re not going to just be looking for people who can oversee and monitor projects. They also want people who can identify users’ needs and translate them for the IT staffers-the increasingly popular business analysts.
3. Help Desk/Technical Support–Mobile operating systems have added a new dimension to help desk and tech support.
4. Networking-This demand is being fueled partially by virtualization and cloud computing projects. The survey also revealed that execs will be looking for people with VMware and Citrix experience.
5. Business Intelligence-Computerworld interprets this uptick to a focus shift in many companies,  from cost savings to investing in technology. That will be nice if it pans out that way.
6. Data Center-Virtualization and the Cloud could also be behind the increased need for IT professionals with backgrounds in data center operations and systems integration.
7. Web 2.0-Tech skills centered around social media will be in demand, with .Net, AJAX and PHP as key back-end skills, with HTML, XML, CSS, Flash and JavaScript, among others, on the front end.
8. Security-Although down from 32 percent in the 2010 survey, security stays a top concern of IT executives.
9. Telecommunications-The survey indicates a demand for people with IP telephony skills, and for those familiar with Cisco IPCC call center systems.

Source: www.techrepublic.com

Best practices for search in #SharePoint Server 2010 #TechNet Library

This article is one of a series of Best Practices articles for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. This article describes the best practices for enterprise search. Unless otherwise noted, this article applies to both SharePoint Server 2010 and Microsoft Search Server 2010. For more articles in the series, see Best practices (SharePoint Server 2010). For additional information about best practices for SharePoint Server 2010, see Best practices (SharePoint Server 2010) and Performance and capacity management (SharePoint Server 2010).

In this article:

• 1. Plan the deployment
• 2. Start with a well-configured infrastructure
• 3. Manage access by using Windows security groups or by using role claims for forms-based authentication or authentication using a Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) security token
• 4. Defragment the search database
• 5. Monitor SQL Server latency
• 6. Test the crawling and querying subsystems after you change any configuration or apply updates
• 7. Review the antivirus policy
• Acknowledgements

Read full article at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc850696.aspx