70-680 passed

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

Well I passed my 2nd exam in the last 2 months. Today was 70-680. 890/1000. So pretty happy. I am going to buy the books for the 70-640, 70-642 and 70-646 server 2008 admin MCITP.

Just out of interest, would it be recommended doing 70-642 first in those?

I plan on also grabbing 70-686 book when it comes out and doing it too, as recommended by others here.

Feeling quite pleased

 

If you've got about 6 months of server admin experience, I'd recommend 70-640 first.

Congrats on the pass!

 

And if I don't is it still recommended to do 70-642 first? As I notice Microsoft on posters list it first. Just curious. My Windows experience is from years ago, these days I am a Unix Systems Specialist, just doing this MS stuff to brush up on my cross platform skills (and to fill out CV).

 

Same question here; what to take first?

Get the basics on AD, or the netwerk configuration side first?

 

Congrats!

I'd recommend 640 too.

 

If you don't, it's recommended to not do it at all until you do have that experience. At least, that's what Microsoft recommends, and I tend to agree.

That said, it sounds like you have server admin experience from years ago - is that correct?

 

Follow the exam numbering, its there for a reason.
Each exam has cross over from the previous exam concluding with the pro exam which draws on all of the previous exams.

 

Thanks for the info. I am still undecided, but will take the info on board. Will start doing 642 prep and review. Waiting on bookdepository to ship my books, then it will take about 2-3 weeks to arrive.

Yes, I do have previous experience from NT/2K days. I've played around with 2k8 in a lab setup at home. Setup routing and DHCP/dns and AD for messing about. Not too different from 2k3 I must say, tools still the same, just look different.

Cheers

 

Hi Purana

Congrats on the pass, passed the 680 today with the sam score 890.
I am also unsure what exam to take next. Ultimately I want to go down the MCITP route. I have experience with 2003 Server including AD (IT experience 7+ years), was thinking about either the 640 or go for something that I have always wanted to do which is the 662 Exchange (no current experience). Just wanted to put it out there to get some feedback to see what everyone thinks.

 

Why not tackle the MCSA/MCSE, considering your Server 2003 experience?

 

Hi Boson

Yeh did consider that but wanted to go for the most up to date, though I suppose 2003 will be around for some time to come. Just saw one of your posts on "mcse world" which kinda echos that.
So would you think that either one of the networking systems exams should be next? (70-290, 291, 293 or 294)

Thanks

 

I always recommend going after either 1) the oldest cert you can get, then certify forward, and/or 2) the certification covering the most prevalent technology. In this case, Server 2003 fits on both counts.

If you don't yet have your workstation OS done, knock it out (70-270, 70-290, 70-620, 70-680). If you do, then go after the MCSE exams in order: 290, 291, 293, 294, then design, then elective.

 

My 2008 Server Admin books arrived. 640, 642 and 646. I also grabbed a 652 Hyper-V book. From the looks of it, I could grab some more Hyper-V related stuff later on and get a MCITP. Had a quick look at hyper-v role on a server and very impressed. Hyper-V seems pretty damn nice. Will grab a new PC with 8gb ram so I can have a dedicated crash/burn host to build several guests on for the training I need to do with all the exams on those books above

 

I got into Linux back in the early 00's and used it as much as I could to run various services. i.e. web, mail (smtp, pop3), proxy, ftp, dns etc. Obtained a lot of knowledge and skill from this. Then had various roles that gave me more experience in this area.

If my current employer doesn't get me on a RedHat cert course, I guess I will do that off my own back after I get some of these Windows ones done. Think I will be very busy for a while yet, based on the number of books I have listed. Besides I want to do 686 (Win7 one) to give me an MCITP, however I will wait for the MS Press book to come out in Oct and stop what I am doing at the time (or plan to have anything I am doing completed by then) so I can slip it in.

I've always been a cross platform person, so I have strong skills in most platforms (and then even stronger skills in specific areas on some platforms).

But after a quick peek at Hyper-V on 2008 r2. Must say I am impressed, will look forward to getting my new clone box built to tinker further. Looking at a quad core amd with 8gb ram

 

I agree that the exams should be done in the numerical order presented, but with the choices for the elective dwindling every year there may be a case for doing the elective sooner rather than later. In my case I did 270, 290, 291, 293, and 350 as my elective in that order. I think it's okay to leave 294 for later as it has very little in common with 291 and 293. Just my opinion.

 

Dwindling? Nay, my friend... the choices increase every year.

I disagree with your assessment of 70-294... it has enough in common with previous exams that I'd recommend taking it soon after.