What is a data center qualification

Discussion in 'Training & Development' started by Kitkatninja, Dec 29, 2011.

  1. Kitkatninja
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    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    What do you consider to be a small datacenter? And what do you do?

    At work we have a server room housing 20-odd servers (both Physical and Virtual) running a combination of Windows 2008 r2 Data Center editions, Enterprise editions and standard editions, as well as housing our telecoms system. We also manage the power, environmental controls and security devices, as well as the maintenance of the systems. Some people would call that a datacenter, other's wouldn't.

    Do I or any of my team have any data centre specific qualifications? No
    Would they assist us with our set-up? Maybe/Not sure, however there are other qualifications higher on the list.

    I say this to get you to start to think about what you want to achieve and what you do.

    There are Data Centre Management type qualifications from the BCS, see here.
     
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  2. Kitkatninja
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    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    How about the one or more of the following?

    Comptia Network+ (or the CCENT as in your last post, or the HP Certs as you use HP switches)
    Comptia Server+
    Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Admin (MCITP: SA)
     
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  3. Kitkatninja
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    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    To my knowledge "no", well not to any depth.

    If a 3 or 4 year degree in Software engineering doesn't teach you everything about programming, then a single certification program will definitely not teach you everything about data centers.

    You've got the link re the BCS qualifications for Data Centers, plus see here for a few more:

    Data Center University by APC

    CDCDP™ Certified Data Centre Design Professional Level 5 BTEC Professional Award

    Certified Data Centre Technician - CDCT

    Then you have the individual vendors on version of Data Center certifications; this includes Architect and Master level programs from HP, Dell, IBM, etc...
     
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  4. Kitkatninja
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    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    Do not fall into the trap believing that the MCITP: EA is higher than the MCITP: SA, it isn't they are both at the same level but aimed at different job roles. Unlike the MCSA and MCSE, where the MCSE was a higher qualification.
     
    Certifications: MSc, PGDip, PGCert, BSc, HNC, LCGI, MBCS CITP, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCE, A+, N+, S+, Server+
    WIP: MSc Cyber Security
  5. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Might be best listing what tasks you do rather than aiming for certs.
     
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    WIP: Microsoft Certs
  6. Kitkatninja
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    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    See here.

    Yeah links to two forums with no official person from Microsoft, that must be solid evidence :rolleyes:

    Chart from Microsoft and Certiport:

    [​IMG]

    Of course not:

    See here.

    See here.

    See here.

    Well good for you, however read my wording: "...it isn't they are both at the same level but aimed at different job roles."
     
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2011
    Certifications: MSc, PGDip, PGCert, BSc, HNC, LCGI, MBCS CITP, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCE, A+, N+, S+, Server+
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  7. SimonD
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    SimonD Terabyte Poster

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    So let me get this straight? you got certified in a subject matter where it's expected that you have 12 - 18 months experience using those products, not just Windows OS mind you, we are talking having an understanding of what SCCM, SharePoint, IIS, WDS, AD, DNS, DHCP and a host of other technologies and you sat the EA exams before that experience, either you are one **** hot engineer who really should be a an Architect by now or you're a dumper, the fact that you're asking the questions you're asking tells me you're not ready to be an architect, that just leaves the other option.

    I really don't know how long you have been in IT but, and this is IMPORTANT, You need to be able to hold your own, it really is no good have certifications if you can't actually do the real world stuff, looking after a DC is much more than racking and stacking and power cycling servers, its having an idea of power and cooling considerations, it's knowing about virtualisation technologies (not just VMware or Microsoft but also KVM, Citrix and Oracle), it's also knowing about Networking, Backups, DR and BCP and Change Management requirements.

    I have to be honest here, I don't know what size DC you're looking after but please let me know what you consider to be small? Are you looking after 10, 100 or 1000 servers? Are you simply a remote hands bod following instructions from the actual system engineers because in this day and age it's very rare to have an engineer in the DC who is also the Sys Admin, sure he will powercycle servers, fit\replace hardware etc but they aren't the guys who design and engineer the office systems, they aren't the guys who decide on the Exchange infrastructure design, or the TMG config, or the SCCM design.

    Finally, to be a consultant you actually have to have the experience of designing and implementing the products and environments mentioned previously, you have to have a broad understanding of the entire product range likely to be used, I am not talking having all the certifications for those products, what I am talking about is knowing that there are at least 3 different ways that MS allows you to deploy and OS in the Enterprise or that there networking\firewall requirements to PXE boot\Build OS's across network segments. You need to know that it's possible to have Exchange publish to Outlook over the Internet without requiring a VPN connection into your network or that you can also publish applications to your users when they are online anywhere in the world (again, without a VPN connection).

    Just because you have the certifications doesn't actually mean you can do the job well.
     
    Certifications: CNA | CNE | CCNA | MCP | MCP+I | MCSE NT4 | MCSA 2003 | Security+ | MCSA:S 2003 | MCSE:S 2003 | MCTS:SCCM 2007 | MCTS:Win 7 | MCITP:EDA7 | MCITP:SA | MCITP:EA | MCTS:Hyper-V | VCP 4 | ITIL v3 Foundation | VCP 5 DCV | VCP 5 Cloud | VCP6 NV | VCP6 DCV | VCAP 5.5 DCA
    TheMagician, Sparky and derkit like this.
  8. SimonD
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    SimonD Terabyte Poster

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    At 41 years of age and with 13+ years in IT I really do think I don't have to worry about school or scholastic education now days. As far as the certs in my signature goes, come and talk to me in 11 years time and show me the certs you have then.

    Cheating... well obviously I cheated, I mean I obviously lack the skills and experience that you quite simply ooze, don't mind the fact that I spent the last 10 years as contracting consultant (installing SCCM, DPM, TMG and a whole host of other products and then teaching the systems engineers how to support them) has nothing to do with my ability to pass those exams. You may want to do a little more checking up on people before calling them out.
     
    Certifications: CNA | CNE | CCNA | MCP | MCP+I | MCSE NT4 | MCSA 2003 | Security+ | MCSA:S 2003 | MCSE:S 2003 | MCTS:SCCM 2007 | MCTS:Win 7 | MCITP:EDA7 | MCITP:SA | MCITP:EA | MCTS:Hyper-V | VCP 4 | ITIL v3 Foundation | VCP 5 DCV | VCP 5 Cloud | VCP6 NV | VCP6 DCV | VCAP 5.5 DCA
  9. zebulebu

    zebulebu Terabyte Poster

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    This thread highlights perfectly the reason I stopped posting here. Every single post this poster has made highlights the fact that he knows nothing about IT, yet the forum will go round the same tired ol' nonsense of encouraging him to stay here and post - despite him being an obvious braindumper.

    FAIL
     
    Certifications: A few
    WIP: None - f*** 'em
  10. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    If the company you work for is a MS Partner then you should think again.

    If you *really* want to be a consultant then you need to be aware of what Citrix, VMware etc. have to offer so you can at least talk about it.
     
    Certifications: MSc MCSE MCSA:M MCSA:S MCITP:EA MCTS(x5) MS-900 AZ-900 Security+ Network+ A+
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  11. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Good to see you again Zeb :biggrin
     
    Certifications: MSc MCSE MCSA:M MCSA:S MCITP:EA MCTS(x5) MS-900 AZ-900 Security+ Network+ A+
    WIP: Microsoft Certs
  12. onoski

    onoski Terabyte Poster

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    Come on guys and calm down as the world does not revolve around any one of us on CF:)

    Well on a serious note some people are just too serious for life and this cannot be good for your overall being and health.

    Chill and those that would learn the hard way would learn.

    Cheerio:)
     
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2011
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  13. ThomasMc

    ThomasMc Gigabyte Poster

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    Happy hogmanay ;) and nice seeing zeb again
     
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