[SunRescue] Certification

[Jim Roth]

The Solaris certification exams are entirely based on the appropriate Sun
courses, System Administration I and II. There is an exam for each, passing
the second exam certifies you. The Network admin cert is based on the new
TCP/IP networking class, SA387. There is a cert if you work for VAR, called
Competency 2000, just a combination of the other stuff plus product training
and Sun electives.
The gist of this is that someone who's taken the Sun courses is at an
advantage over someone who's taught themselves. If you are asked a question
in the exam, and there are two ways to answer it, the correct way is the way
you learned in class. (I believe Cisco has come out and said this about
their own tests). There are two good books on certification prep, but they
are based on the 2.6 tests.
(http://www1.fatbrain.com/asp/bookinfo/bookinfo.asp?theisbn=157870085x).
They come with a sample test on CDROM. (For Windows. Gad!). These books are
good (or bad) because they focus on that range of the material which is
possible to put into a multiple-choice test.
I took the one of BrainBench sysadmin tests. It was much easier than the Sun
tests.
Jim Roth
Systems Engineer
Continental Resources
Sun Microsystems Certified Network Administrator for Solaris 7, as of
yesterday!