Hello all

Hi & welcome to CF

To be honest I would strongly make sure that you're going down the right track, first of all. Let's face it that's alot of money you're going to part with.

The only DB track I found on your second option is this one.

Now considering that Microsoft says:

And for the 2008 route:

For exam 70-432: Candidates should have one to two years of experience using SQL Server 2008 or two to three years of experience using a previous version of SQL Server.

For exam 70-450: This exam is targeted at the professional level SQL Server 2008 Database Administrator.

Or the 2005 route:

Exam 70-443: Candidates for this exam are professional database administrators who optimize and maintain database solutions. They have three or more years dedicated to database work...

Exam 70-444: Candidates for this exam are professional database administrators who optimize and maintain database solutions. They have three or more years dedicated to database work...

I'm very hesitant about completing this within 2 1/2 months (560 hours @ 8 hours a day) if you have no experience.

And as for learning Unix or Linux professionally within 4 days, then sit an exam without experience. Again I'd be very hesitant.

I'm not saying this to dismay you, I'm just being realistic.

If you want to get into IT Support, look at the A+, Network+, the MCDST and the MCTS: Vista.

if you want to get into DB admin, look at the Associate (CMA) Certification from MySQL and the Exam 70-431: TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (where the candidates for this exam are professionals who typically pursue careers as database administrators, database developers, or business intelligence developers.)

Research into the role where you see yourself and remember professional certifications should reflect your job role and responsiblities.

Hope this helps

-ken