Posts Tagged ‘2008’

As you can read : I’m on holiday till the 3rd of January! If anything very interesting happens I probably blog about it, but till then : Just sit tight and wait for my post

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

ALL THE BEST FOR 2008!

Almost a year ago I passed the 70-620 and became a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist : Windows Vista, Configuration and a few months later I passed the 70-622 and a Microsoft Certified IT Specialist : Enterprise Support Technician certification was earned. Now, almost eight months after I earned the MCITP : EST credential I received the certificate.

Good for me I’m one of the first 5000 (?) to earn this achievement so I became a Charter Member as you can see on the certificate below. The good thing is that just a week ago I received an e-mail where things were explained. With that e-mail also came a free exam voucher! Now I just have to wait on the Charter Member Certificate for the MCTS : WVC.

Let’s hope by that time I also have the results for the Upgrading Your MCSE on Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008, Technology Specialist exam.

Source : Kurt Roggen’s Blog

Server Message Block (SMB), also known as CIFS (Common Internet File System) is the file sharing protocol used by default on Windows based computers.  Windows includes an SMB client component (Client for Microsoft Windows) and an SMB server component (File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Windows).

SMB in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista support the new SMB version 2.0 that has been redesigned for today’s networking environments (wireless, possible high loss, timeouts, high latency, …) and for the needs of the next generation of file servers (EFS over the wire, Offline Files and Folders enhancements, …).

Machines running Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista support both SMB v1.0 and SMB v2.0.  However SMB 2.0 can only be used if both client and server support it!!  So, the SMB protocol revision to be used for file operations is decided during the negotiation phase. 

A Vista client advertises to the server that it can understand the new SMB 2.0 protocol.  If the server (Windows Server 2008 or otherwise) understands SMB 2.0, then SMB 2.0 is chosen for subsequent communication, otherwise they fall back to SMB 1.0. 

This preserves “downwards” compatibility so that deploying Vista clients or Windows Server 2008 servers should be simple and straightforward.   The following list below describes what protocol will be used when communicating between different types of client and servers.

• Vista client <> Vista client or Windows Server 2008 – SMB 2.0
• Non-Vista client <> Vista client or Windows Server 2008 – SMB 1.0
• Vista client <> Non-Vista client or Non-Windows Server 2008 – SMB 1.0
• Non-Vista client <> Non-Vista client or Non-Windows Server 2008 – SMB 1.0

For an overview of the impact on network throughput, have to look at the white paper of a third-party benchmark study done by The Tolly Group which compares network throughput and time-to-completion of several tasks when using Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 .

 
Click on the image to view the image at it’s original size.

From all over the world people are posting (on their blogs/forums etc.) that the results are showing up on the VUE and Prometric website. But still no Passed for me… I keep pressing F5 on my keyboard all night long hehehe!

Some of my colleagues don’t have the results either (or do you have the results yet Wilbrand, Sander?)

Update Nov 2nd  : Last night some people at Trika’s blog also commented that they didn’t have the results for the 70-649 yet. The nice thing is that all of the people I spoke to that have passed the exam did the 70-648! So it seems that all the guys/girls that did the 70-649 don’t have the results yet! I think there is a problem with that exam, maybe we just have to wait a few more days. At least the 70-648 guys/girls have the results! (I did the 70-649 too!)

On Nov 5th I posted an update on the blogpost. You can read it here.

Visiting Trika’s blog (again) I saw that she posted the following very interesting information on the Windows Server 2008 Certification paths.

So many questions, understandably, about what you should do next, with Windows Server 2008 certifications on the horizon. Lots of “I have 2000, and want to get 2008 certified, what do I do?” or “I’m an MCSA wearing a cape, what exam is right for me?”

Here is a little chart–bereft of bells, whistles, or officialliness*–that I’ve been using toward my own dark purposes. I figured I’d post it here for you to gnaw while we are finalizing Windows Server 2008 certification paths and announcements. This won’t be particularly helpful if you don’t have any clue** what is coming for Server 2008, to start with. Please download slides or watch this recording for our preview. and see the little legend at the bottom. In our December 5 Live Meeting, Rob and Jim (who know all the things) will be available to answer any specific questions about 2008, too.

For someone starting from scratch:

We recommend you plan for certifications on the technology you are using today or will be working on in the near future. There is nothing wrong with starting a 2003 certification track today—skills on 2003 will be in demand for a long time to come in different locations around the world.

• If you want to earn your MCITP: EA in the future, you can start on that now with exams 620 or 624.
• If you want to earn BOTH WS2003 and 2008 certs, start with 620, which will apply to both

For an MCSA 2000:

It is the same number of exams to go direct to 2008 certifications as it is to do so via MCSA 2003. Although 292 is known for being a very challenging exam, this route lets you take advantage of the upgrade path (only available until March), earns a valuable 2003 cert NOW, and lets you get started on your path right away (rather than waiting for months for the 2008 exams).

For an MCSE 2000:

It is basically the same. To earn your MCTIP: SA, you can take 3 exams and earn MCSA 2003 along the way (292, 648, 646) or go direct to 2008 in the same number of exams (640, 642, 646). To earn your MCITP: EA, you could go the upgrade route (292, 296, 649, 620, 647) for five exams, the direct route (5 exams, but no WS2003 cert), or go via MCSA 2003 (292, then 648, 643, 620, 647). With this final plan, you do not earn your MCSE 2003, but you do hold a 2003 cert (MCSA) and get to the 2008 certs without taking both difficult upgrade exams.

For MCSA and MCSE 2003:

Your paths to 2008 professional-series certs are shorter due to your upgrade or transition exam options. For MCSA 2003, you save one exam in each professional-series WS2008 path. MCSE 2003 save one exam on the MCITP: SA path and two on the MCITP: EA path. The transition exams from 2003 to 2008 test you ONLY ON THE TECHNICAL DELTA (do not cover job-role skills). They are intended to be challenging, but we anticipate for the target candidates, these will test all the necessary skills without making it more difficult to pass than a standard exam.

292 = 2000–>2003 upgrade

296 = 2000–>2003 upgrade

648 = 2003–>2008 upgrade (earns equivalent of 640 and 642)

649 = 2003–>2008 upgrade (earns equivalent of 640, 642, and 643)

640 = MCTS: WS2008 Active Directory

642 = MCTS: WS2008 Network Infrastructure

643 = MCTS: WS2008 Applications Infrastructure

620 = MCTS: Vista Configuration

624 = MCTS: BDD

MCITP: SA = Server Administrator on WS2008

MCITP: NA = Network Administrator on WS2008

*This table was low-rent to start with, and after 15 minutes of experimental Pasting Special activities it is worse, and smaller, and I’m fed up.

**Even if you do have a clue, this might not be particularly helpful. What would be helpful?

I didn’t create the table, Trika did, so don’t come to me if you think it’s low quality.