The couple of weeks leading up to Christmas involved a lot of intense revision for me, as I prepared for the Microsoft exams to finish updating my MCSE on Windows Server 2003 to MCITP Enterprise Administrator.

When I set out to do this, I had originally intended to combine the tasks of reviewing John Savill’s Complete Guide to Windows Server 2008 with getting ready for my exams but it soon became apparent that I simply didn’t have enough time to work my way through the entire volume (excellent though it is!). Instead, I used the Microsoft-published exam preparation guides to identify the recommended Microsoft E-Learning courses.

If I’d written a review of the courses after the first couple of days it would have been a glowing recommendation – and in some respects perhaps I should be holding off on this review as I am somewhat battle-weary; however, having just taken two certification exams based on this study method it seems as good a time as any to assess the suitability of these courses.

The good

Starting out with the selection, there is a huge catalogue of courses available which mirror the Microsoft Official Curriculum instructor-led courses. The prices are not bad either, when compared with classroom training; however, in many ways, I prefer the interaction that a classroom environment provides.

The format of the courses is good – built up as a number of virtual classroom modules, with a mixture of demonstrations and animations (with transcripts), textual content, and puzzles/tests in each lesson. Each lesson ends with a self-test and there is a summary and a glossary at the end of each module. There’s also a full-text search capability.

It’s possible to synchronise the content with a local cache to provide offline viewing – indeed, I only used the courses online for one day (when I was in the office and the proxy server wouldn’t let me download some new courses for offline working – the offline player includes the ability to edit proxy settings in the options but is not exposed in Windows until after successfully downloading and launching a course – and online viewing required me to add microsoftelearning.com to Internet Explorer’s trusted sites list) but it’s important to note that the virtual labs must always be completed online (this functionality is not available in the offline viewer).

The bad

Somewhat annoyingly, the course overview (which is the same for each course) and the glossary are included in the progress count, so after completing all of the available lesson content, most of the courses I attended were marked as only partially completed (it is possible to mark a course as complete in the My Learning section of the Microsoft Learning website but this will not complete the course in your transcript).

I could almost forgive elements like this, but the next annoyance really affected my ability to learn. You see, I’m English, and I will admit that sometimes I find it difficult to listen to an American accent for a long period of time (that’s nothing personal – I’m sure the same happens in reverse). But the demonstrations and animations in these courses are recorded in an American monotone – and it doesn’t even seem to be human. After listening to a few of these, with misplaced paragraph breaks and identical pronunciation for recurring words, regardless of sentence structure and intonation (or lack of), they actually become very difficult to concentrate on. Towards the end of my revision I stopped working through entire courses and instead concentrated on the introductions, summaries, and making sure I could complete the puzzles and self tests at the end of each lesson – avoiding the computer-generated monotone entirely. By simply recording all of the demonstrations using a human voice (as most of the module introductions are) then a vast improvement could be made.

The ugly?

Then there are the animations – which are at best ugly and at worst confusing. Watching icons appear and disappear in a manner which at times appeared to be random whilst the computer was talking to me did not help at all. In the end, I nearly always resorted to reading the transcript.

Whilst the animations may be a design crime (as are many of the diagrams in Microsoft Official Curriculum courseware) even worst was the inaccuracy of some of the information presented – which shows it was produced by an outside agency (Element K) and sometime suffers from a lack of technical quality assurance.

Let me give some examples:

• Course 6519: one of the self-tests at the end of a lesson claims that NT 4.0 supports Kerberos (for that I would need Windows 2000 or later); and in the context of Active Directory database mounting, the module claims that one should “use a line printer daemon (LPD) utility, such as Active Directory Users and Computers, to view the data” (clearly LPD should have been LDAP…).
• Course 6521: one of the reviews claims that only Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services uses an extensible storage engine (ESE) for its database store – contradicting the text elsewhere in the module (as well as being incorrect); and a self test asked me to “identify the feature that AD LDS supports but AD LDS does not support” (!).
• Course 6524: .PIX files referred to in the text, whilst the demonstrations clearly showed that the extension is .PFX.
• Course 6536: claims that “Hyper-V is supported only by the Windows Server 2008 Standard 64-bit edition” (64-bit yes, standard edition only – certainly not).
• Course 6169: claims that “The various wireless networking standards are 802.11, 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.1X, and 802.11n” (802.1x is used for implementing network security but is not specifically a wireless networking standard).

There are typos too (sever instead of server, yes and no the wrong way around in test answers, etc.) as well as references to product names that have not existed since beta versions of Windows Server 2008 (e.g. Windows Server Virtualization). Other beta information has not been refreshed either – course 6529 refers to a 30-day grace period before Windows enters reduced functionality mode when it is actually 60 days (and RFM is much less brutal today than it was in the original versions of Windows Vista and early Windows Server 2008 betas). In another place, virtual machine (VM) snapshots are mixed up with volume shadow service (VSS) snapshots as the course suggests that VM snapshots are a backup and recovery solution (they most certainly are not!).

I could go on, but you get the message – almost every module has at least one glaring error. Mistakes like this mean that I cannot be 100% certain that what I have learned is correct – for that matter, how do I know that the Microsoft examinations themselves are not similarly flawed?

Summary

In the end, I don’t think it was just these courses that helped me pass the exams. Boot camps (and that’s what intense online training is the equivalent of) are all very well to cram information but they are no substitute for knowledge and experience. The outcome of running through these courses was a combination of:

• Refreshing long-forgotten skills and knowledge on some of the lesser-used functionality in Windows Server 2008.
• Updating skills for new features and functionality in Windows Server 2008.

Without several years’ of experience using the products I doubt that I would have known all of the answers to the exam questions – indeed I didn’t know them all (but the knowledge gained from the online training helped me to evaluate and assess the most likely of the presented options).

So, is this training worth it? Probably! Is it a complete answer to exam study and preparation? Possibly – but not through cramming 100 hours of training into a couple of weeks and expecting to retain all the knowledge. What these Microsoft e-Learning courses represent are a low cost substitute to formal, instructor-led classes. There are some downsides (for example, the lack of interaction and the poor quality control – instructor-led courses benefit from the feedback that the instructors provide to allow improvements at each revision) but they are also self-paced and the ability to go at my own speed means that, given sufficient time, I could work through a few of these each week and allow time for the knowledge to settle, backed up with some real-world experience. On that basis, they’re certainly worthy of a look but don’t expect them to provide all of the answers.

If you want to try one of the Microsoft E-Learning courses there are plenty available discounted (or even free). Afterwards, I’d be interested to hear what you think.

That’s it. Done it! I’ve just passed the last exam I needed to take (70-647) in order to update my MCSE on Windows Server 2003 to MCITP: Enterprise Administrator for Windows Server 2008, before the vouchers I had for free exams expired and just in time for Christmas!

For anyone else thinking of upgrading the Microsoft certifications for Windows Server 2008, then check out the post I wrote last year on Microsoft Learning and plans for Windows Server 2008 certification.

There’s also a PDF available which shows the various transition paths from earlier certifications.

Whilst on the subject of Microsoft certification… I noticed on Gregg Robertson’s blog that Microsoft Learning are offering free online training for Hyper-V and System Centre Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2008 (access code 9350-Y2W6-3676). The free training courses represent 10 hours of online study (Collection 6319: Configuring Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 – normal price £105.16) and cover:

• Course 6320: Introducing the Hyper-V technology.
• Course 6321: Configuring a virtual environment.
• Course 6322: Deploying systems in a virtual environment.
• Course 6323: Optimising a virtual environment.
• Course 6324: Managing a virtual environment by using SCVMM.

Gregg also notes that Microsoft are offering a discount on exam 70-652 (promotion code USHYPERV).

Phew! Another one down – earlier today I passed the Microsoft exam for upgrading from Windows Server 2003 MCSE to Windows Server 2008 Technology Specialist (70-649), which takes me one step closer to updating my Microsoft certification from MCSE (on Windows NT 4.0, 2000 and Server 2003) to MCITP: Enterprise Administrator. This week’s blog post drought may have been welcome relief for some but it was largely caused by many early starts and late nights cramming my head full of Windows Server 2008 information.

As usual, I’m not publishing any exam details (test details are under NDA, yada, yada) but it’s public knowledge that this is an amalgamation of exams 70-640, 70-642 and 70-643 and it seems that it was my applications infrastructure score that dragged me down (I did OK on the AD portion and scored quite well on configuring network infrastructure)… not bad for someone who doesn’t get much of an opportunity to play with technology at work any more! I will say that I put way too much effort into my revision though… I’ll write a follow up post on the online training that I used from Microsoft Learning.

I have one more exam planned for this year (I plan to take 70-647 on Christmas Eve) – and that will complete the transistion from MCSE 2003 to the equivalent 2008 qualification (I’ve already passed 70-624).

Incidentally, I couldn’t get in to the test centres that I usually use (QA-IQ in Milton Keynes or Global Knowledge in Coventry) so I went to Computer Associated Decisions in High Wycombe. If anyone is thinking of taking a Prometric test there then I’d urge them to reconsider as it’s absolutely the worst testing experience I’ve every had. The test centre is one half of a retail unit on a housing estate and the cheap wood laminate flooring and thin plasterboard walls mean that sound is echoed and amplified around the unit so you can hear the people in the shop next door (at one point someone was in the shop with a small child and it was like having my 4 year old in the room with me whilst trying to think…) as well as the office behind (where the people working seem to think nothing of shouting – even when asked to pipe down by the receptionist). Unfortunately, that’s where I have to go back to on the 24th…

Phew! That was close. I passed the Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment for an MCSA Certified on Windows 2000 exam (exam 70-292) yesterday afternoon, but only by the narrowest of margins. Microsoft’s NDA prevents me from commenting on the contents of the exam but after my last Microsoft certification (which was unbelievably simple) this one was much more difficult.

I’m also aiming to take exam 70-296 over the next couple of weeks – to complete the update of my MCSE from 2000 to 2003 before that is retired (and therefore make transitioning to the Windows Server 2008 certifications a little more straightforward).

I guess administration is not something I do a huge amount of (I’m a consultant and I know the technology but more from an implementation perspective) but I did invest a fair amount of time in the preparation and so I think it may say something about the quality of the revision materials that I used… I’ll reserve judgement on that until after I’ve taken the next exam but watch this space.

One of the most engaging presenters that I saw on my trip to Redmond last month was Lutz Ziob, General Manager at Microsoft Learning, who dispelled all British preconceptions about German humour and delivered an interesting presentation about how Microsoft views its education programmes.

Having personally re-engaged in the learning process recently and with a number of exams planned for the next few months, now seems like a good time to post something about the direction which Microsoft intends its learning programs to take (including certification).

Lutz Ziob has a strong background in the IT industry – having worked at WordPerfect, Novell and CompTIA (where he introduced the Linux+ certification) prior to joining Microsoft.  Starting off by introducing the Microsoft Learning Mission ("Help Microsoft customers and partners realise their full potential by providing them with the necessary knowledge and skills to optimise the adoption and use of Microsoft solutions"), he then went on to add a few analogies of his own:

• If we believe one car-maker’s marketing message, one should be more intelligent, and more attractive to the opposite sex, because they drive an Audi… is that true?  Almost certainly not but it does show that to use a product (let alone use it well), it helps to know something about it.
• What about a holiday at Disneyland?  Disney may claim that it will transform your life.  It may lift your spirits for a period – may even may you think differently about travel, but transform your life?  Unlikely.  On the other hand, learning a new skill (such as how to use Visual Studio to write computer software) may well have an impact on your career direction and as a consequence your life may be transformed.
• Or, moving back to the motoring analogy, switching to a new car may involve a few minutes of working out where the controls are and generally adjusting to the environment – switching operating systems (e.g. Linux to Windows) is a little more involved.

In short, skills are either a barrier or they can enhance an individual’s (and hence a company’s) overall success.

Microsoft Learning claims to be "Microsoft’s centre of excellence for learning" and offers products in a number of areas including:

• Publishing (Microsoft Press).
• Certification.
• Office specialisation.
• Instructor-led training.
• E-learning.

Connected in some way to over 11 million learning engagements annually, Microsoft is instrumental to many in their entry, advancement (or just remaining current) in their chosen career.  From Microsoft’s point of view, the goal is to reach as many customers as possible and educate them whilst increasing their satisfaction with Microsoft products (and making money).

I’m in the fortunate position that I get involved with many Microsoft products early in their lifecycle (at least from the point of view of understanding what the product does – even if I no longer spend as much time on the implementation aspects as I once did) and one of my frustrations is that I often attend a pre-release training course but have to wait for a while before the certification exam is available.  It was interesting to hear Microsoft Learning’s view on this as their customer readiness program for a new project begins around 12-18 months prior to release.  As the product enters beta testing, books and e-learning are generally available, with instructor-led training following once there is sufficient customer demand (generally after product release) and certification at release.

Microsoft uses the term "unified skills domain" as a methodology to integrate assessment, learning, reference and certification products, recognising that the cost in training is not so much the cost of the training itself but the resource cost of the time taken to attend the training – to which I would add that cost of the training itself is still a significant factor.  Microsoft’s intention is that books, e-learning and classroom training come together as a whole without repetition and compliment rather than overlap (or even worse – contradict) one another (although it has to be said that the trainers I have spoken to recently are unhappy with the quality of the learning materials being provided recently).

Moving on to focus on Windows Server 2008 certifications, it’s worth noting that nearly 4.5 million certifications have been granted over their 15 year history with 2.2 million unique Microsoft Certified Professionals.  What these figures don’t show though is that Microsoft saw certifications peak in the late 1990s and then tail off, although they claim that there has been a resurgence since they added performance-based testing and a new certification framework.

This certification framework sees the replacement of the Microsoft Certified Professional/Systems Administrator/Systems Engineer (MCP-MCSA-MCSE) progression with a new structure of Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist/IT Professional/Professional Developer/Architect (MCTS/MCITP/MCPD/MCA).  Each new qualification has two parts – the credential and the certification (e.g. Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Business Desktop Deployment with the BDD).  Most notably: the MCTS is retired with the associated technology; MCITP, MCPD and MCA require re-certification for major technology changes; and the MCA qualification is Microsoft’s high watermark certification that requires proven ability to deliver business solutions, including an interview board with and is broader in scope than Microsoft’s technology looking at wider IT industry issues.

I’m somewhat skeptical about the program as my first-hand experience indicates that some (not all) of the exams represent little more than a piece of paper to indicate that a set of questions was correctly answered – questions that in one recent case were available for purchase on the Internet in the form of a practice exam!  By contrast, Red Hat certification (even at the lowest level) involves correctly configuring a real (not simulated) system.  Microsoft’s architect qualification attempts to address this but is only expected to be attained by a few select individuals and so I was interested to see what Microsoft is planning for the MCTS/MCITP certifications for Windows Server 2008 certifications.

Lutz Ziob explained that, for Windows Server 2008, there are five distinct certifications, three technology-specific and two job-role specific:

• MCTS:
  • Networking Infrastructure Configuration.
  • Active Directory Configuration.
  • Application Infrastructure Configuration.
• MCITP:
  • Server Administrator.
  • Enterprise Administrator.

As for previous MCSE upgrades, there are upgrade exams (70-648/70-649) – but only from Windows Server 2003 (the skills gap from Windows 2000 is viewed as too large – I’d better update my MCSE by taking exams 70-292/70-296 before they are retired at the end of March 2008).

And when responding to comment that Microsoft certifications are sometimes too easy to obtain and that experience is what counts, he responded with another analogy – would you rather take a long-haul flight fly with a pilot who is certified to fly a Boeing 747 (for example), or one with many years experience but who has only flown smaller aircraft?  This is equally applicable for a doctor, nurse, lawyer, electrician, architect, structural engineer, etc. so why should IT be any different – why not insist on experience and certification?  I have to admit that I take his point and he positively encouraged the journalists and bloggers in the audience to quote him on saying:

"Certification programs do not replace experience"

[Lutz Ziob, General Manager, Microsoft Learning]

but:

"Experience in itself doesn’t guarantee that someone knows what they need to know"

[Lutz Ziob, General Manager, Microsoft Learning]

So where is Microsoft heading in respect to improving the learning experience?  New initiatives in what Microsoft refers to as the learning plus services model include:

• Performance based testing: the main complexity here is the need to simulate incorrect configurations too and so here are some limitations; however Windows Server 2008 certification makes use of virtualisation technology to allow the monitoring of what a candidate is doing – working in a "real" situation on a "real" system.
• Virtual classrooms: Microsoft Official Distance Learning (MODL).
• Re-inventing the classroom experience: moving away from an instructor leading a roomful of passive students – trying to bring online services into classroom so that the trainer becomes a coach with the ability to adjust materials on the fly (e.g. add/remove modules).
• Ability to provide documentation in both printed and soft (e-book) formats (however when asked for assurance that Microsoft Press would not completely abandon printed books, Ziob replied that there are no plans to phase out printed books).

For anyone considering learning about Windows Server 2008, more information is available at the Windows Server 2008 learning portal.

I’ve just come out of a Prometric testing centre after taking the Deploying and Maintaining Windows Vista Operating System and 2007 Microsoft Office System Desktop exam (exam 70-624).  I’m please to say that I passed – with a 100% score – but I feel cheated somehow.

You see, the thing about certification is that, ideally, you should know something about the subject.  I used to do a lot of operating system deployment work but that was in the days of Windows 3.1, then NT 4.0, following which the principles didn’t change much up to Windows XP but now there are a lot of new tools and methods that make a huge difference.  I needed to get up to speed on these new tools (and pass this exam) in order to deliver desktop deployment planning services, so I spent a week reading up around the tools, working through hands on labs, installing and testing BDD on my own computers, and then used a practice exam that had been recommended by a colleague to be sure that I was ready…

Microsoft’s NDA prevents me from commenting on the contents of the exam but what I can say is that the week of revision/labs/testing was probably not worth it and that I now know why my colleague recommended the practice exam…

I suppose at least I know that I put the work in to actually learn the subject.