Next certificate to study.. help!

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Hi guys, been a while since i posted on here...

Got a question... My setting has changed somewhat over the last year and I'm now a teaching assistant based on a farm providing alternative education, it is a family run business so naturally I have been put in charge of our IT network and dealings...

My currently have A+ & N+ qualifications, but want to maintain my IT edge as my job role doesn't really involve much ICT (We only have 5 computers over 2 rooms... )

I was thinking of expanding my knowledge into security or maybe implement and run microsoft server (which id need to learn).... We currently pay for webspace etc is their a way I could dedicate a PC to host our website, emails etc and I gain a qual / cert for that at the same time?

I basically want to build on my current knowledge and benefit my company at the same time, I could commit 2-3 hours a week to study...

What would you recommend?

Thanks in advance

 

Just done a quick search, looks ideal. But are there any certs / quals that will help me learn how to use and implement this?

 

To be honest, I wouldn't bother with any further certs. 5 computers isn't really enough to warranty a server .... you could just have a machine running a normal OS and share files from it. Worst case, run WHS / SBS.

Security+, would you really learn anything worthwhile? Probably not.

You can run a webserver, such as Apache or IIS. I don't think there is a cert for Apache, and I think the IIS certifications are part of somethin bigger b. I would also imagine that shared hosting is signifantly cheaper in the long term to run. Email - if you went down the Exchange route, you would need to learn Windows Server OS first, as Exchange greatly relies on Win Server. It might also give you more headaches than it's worth to maintain a server infrastructure.

If you want a project, you could try implementing a free / cheaper mail server such as MailDaemon.

There are MTAs you could do, I probably wouldnt recommend the MCITP:EDST as you wont learn anything worthwhile you can do on 5 computers. SBS is also a good shout.

I don't know where to suggest, but if you are a teaching assistant, is there some training you can do in that direction?

 

Well yeah I've just completed my teaching assistant course and the mrs is going back to Uni so I wanted something cheap and Certs are like £99 plus materials.

Just looking to keep sharpe on the IT side of my brain..

Good suggestions so far but I'm still lost...