Looking for advice

Discussion in 'General Microsoft Certifications' started by diffy114, Nov 21, 2012.

  1. diffy114

    diffy114 New Member

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    Hello folks..

    I hope you don't mind me picking your brains as you good people are well placed to answer some of my concerns. I am considering an attempt at MCITP certification via distance learning/self study. I currently work in IT support and have been doing so for a number of years (as a technician and systems manager so I have some experience). So...I have a few questions.


    1. I understand a good place to start is by studying for the 70-640 exam. Is this a wise course of action as a starting point?

    2. I'm not sure what hardware I'll need to complete the courses involved. Will I need a 64bit PC to host Server 2008 with a minimum of 4GB RAM that will support a couple of virtual DCs and clients?

    3. I may have to take my time to complete the whole certification as I work full time. What constraints are placed on the MS software (or trial version I get with a self study kit) if it expires?

    4. Is this going to cost me a small fortune in hardware and licensing before I even start (Server 2008 R2 and VMWare).?

    I'd appreciate your thoughts

    Regards

    Diff
     
  2. l4ter

    l4ter Nibble Poster

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    Hey Dif, I’m currently studying it atm.

    I bought the whole course from eBay for like £200, it was immaculate, opened the 70-640 book and realised why (the cds contain the eBook) this also came with server 2008 r2; although I found it initially difficult to read but have found that videos easier to digest.

    I did not follow the prescribed 70-640, 70-642, 70-643, 70-647 then finally 70-680. I attempted to 70-640 but someone said to me try 70-680 – to complete the whole course you need at least that (which is windows 7) or vista (which is some other number).
    It took me 2 attempts but I did pass the exam.

    In terms of hardware; build/create something that can run a lot of RAM and has lots of hard drive space (I'm currently using a HP probook icore5 with 4 GB of ram (unfortunately it can only be suped up to 8 GB or RAM) and is on win7pro-64bit.)

    You will need software to create yourself a lab, sort yourself out with a 30 day licence of virtual machines, and make sure you grab a copy of magicISO and magicDISK.

    I currently work fully time and have found it VERY difficult to dedicate study time to it.

    It’s all down to how much you know and how easy it will come to use.
     
    Certifications: BSc Computing, A+, N+, MCITP Enterprise
    WIP: MD-100
  3. dmarsh
    Honorary Member 500 Likes Award

    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    1. Most people start with a client exam but its upto you which order you pick.

    2. Decent desktop or laptop should be fine, 64 bit dual core or better, 4GB ram or better.

    3. Depends on the version and license. Lot of them have 90 day evals then its re-install.

    4. You can buy TechNet plus for 200 notes and its good for a year. Vmware server and Vmware player is free.

    You can also use others like Virtual PC, VirtualBox, Windows 8 Hyper-V, they just aren't quite as nice.
     
  4. diffy114

    diffy114 New Member

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    Thank you folks.

    This information was very difficult to obtain from MS... I sent quite a few email to their learning and certification customer support people.
    BTW....as I understand it...is the MCITP exam or certification being withdrawn from July 2013? What will take its place? The last thing I want to do is embark on a course that gets made redundant.

    Diff
     
  5. dmarsh
    Honorary Member 500 Likes Award

    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    A lot of certs exams get expired fairly fast. The certifications tend to last a bit longer, but often not long enough to pay for themselves so ultimately its a personal choice.
     

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