MCSE in 2000 or 2003?!

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Hi guys,

As some of you will know, I am looking to do MCSE...

However a lot of subjects are regarding upgrading from 2000...

I also want to do Exchange, of which a substantial amount is upgrading..

So I have sorted out several old cheap books for the older OS' so I can install it and upgrade it... (Picked up MCSE books for NT 4 + Exchange 5.5 + MCSE for Win 2K and Ecxhange 2000)

Herein lies my question...

Is it better to take this knowledge and pass the Windows 2000 MCSE track and upgrade... or just stick to Windows Server 2003/XP..

I have not taken any exams yet...

 

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Just as an aside...

I personally would prefer just to start with Windows 2003 and just take the learned knowledge I will gather from 2000 as an extra bonus...

I am wondering purely what other people think...

I am in a Server 2003 environment so from a work perspective I have no need for 2000 knowledge...

Also I do not want to be doing server 2003 exams when the new Vista exams come out etc. etc

Also my CV is looking rather impressive as there is a clear progression from client stuff, XP, Linux, Mac etc to the server environment available now i.e. 2003 Mac OS Tiger etc...

Why would I want to go back in time?!

Hmmm

 

This has come up on the forum before.
Although 2000 gives you a solid foundation, 2003 is 'supposed' to be more 'vista-ish'.
I'm not really into MCSE stuff, but if you think ahead - MS is going to have to do something to get people into Vista when it is launched. The industry is pretty sceptical, so the ideal stunt would be to pull support for 2000 on or around the launch...

 

Hi,

Yeah I agree.... but it is interesting to get people's views...

I think I am going to stick with MCSE 2K3 path purely because it looks better on my CV (Gradual progression).

But I am still going to read the books I have bought... just go gain an overview of how things have developed...

LOL

So much stuff

 

Hi,

Yes, i for one have brought this up in the past Jelly.
My local college teaches 2K at a reasonable cost compared to some providers. After some e-mail tennis i spoke to the head of IT in the college. He said the college are now on 2K3 but as he was only certified in 2K could only teach it.
He also commented that there are still a lot of companied on 2K....

 

When I started my MCSE 2000 track I was led to believe by the training provider and all their tutors that there would be no upgrade path to Server 2003. three quarters of the way through Microsoft decided to introduce two difficult upgrade exams much to my dismay.

I still feel my knowledge is comprehensive enough to administrate a Server 2003 domain. I have no personal need to learn more about Sharepoint services, or the extra settings in Group policy, or the volume shadow service, as these are all easy enough to understand *if* you have studied your heart out to learn W2K stuff. I doubt I will ever be in the situation where I would have to implement a new AD 2003 forest in an enterprise environment. It gets to the point where you are just learning additional stuff that you will never use. Hence I would personally rather study Linux, as that is the future, as I predict it.

The most difficult thing to understand when it comes to selling Microsoft solutions is their impossibly complex and expensive licence structures. They prohibit me marketing their products at my clients, which tend to be small businesses. If I really want to be able to offer server solutions to these small businesses then I have to find an affordable alternative. Linux is the answer.

 

Well, I got my MCSA2K, then discovered to get MCSE2K then MCSE2K3, I would need 6 more exams.

Luckally, I can go from A2K to E2K3 with only 4 exams.

The company I currently work for still uses 2K with no immediate plans to upgrade.

 

I have had another think on this and I have come up with the following:

I am sticking to the 2K3 route simply because, as I have already stated a lot of the stuff in the books is upgrading.. therefore any employer who knows his/her stuff about the 2K3 qualification, will also be aware that I must have some experience with the Windows 2000/NT (Even if its just in a practice environment to upgrade with...)

Thats good enough for me I reckon. I will still skim over the older books just so I know about them, but I agree with Bluerinse as regards addtional features etc... the majority of concepts are the same...

I mean otherwise I am sure someone will pop their head up and say that there are lots of NT4 systems lying around... (And there is no way I could do a NT4 MCSE!)

Also Bluerinse after I have completed my MCSE:M+S I am looking to do RHCE (Pref when Redhat Enterprise 5 comes out which is due around October this year), so I will probably get to it around Dec/Jan, (Thinking about doing some deal with work where they pay some money and I do - they wont pay it all, to go to Redhat's training centre for a 1 week intensive!)

 

that is a false assumption. the upgrade coverage in the 2k3 route is minimal, and does not give you the correct ammount of knowledge and experience to perform a successful upgrade, especially an upgrade from nt4. granted, windows 2k is quite similar to windows 2k3, because they both work on the same principle of active directory, yet a fair number of tools and techniques are very different. don't think that by taking the 2k3 route and skimming over some older books, as you put it, will be sufficient.

 

um... seems like there is no answer either way then?

 

I guess the answer is do what you want...

Personally I am going 2K3 before its too late...

lol

 

Hi Jellyman

Greetings to a fellow OU student.

IMHO the question is a no brainer do W2K3 as it is the latest exam track. I still can't work out what Microsoft are doing with their new stratgie