MCITP Server Admin hardware/

Dashik said:
Bought the last Dimm to max out at 16Gb today, should arrive next week :D Thinking on replacing the standard Processor with a dual core i3-540 with hyper threading :D

Also I think I'll bite the bullet and take a Technet sub. Standard should do it. I can live without the pro version for Now :D

Then I'll get the Boson practice exam as that looks good and buy each one as I need them.
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hows it coming alone Dashik? Iv not touched my books for a while :/
 
Meh, Bit the bullet and hit buy on the Technet Standard sub only to find out that it's not an instant sale lol, seems MS want 2 to 8 hours to process the online transaction.

State of the art e-shop huh?

In any case I decided I can live with limited time on the enterprise versions of the software and Ill upgrade my sub next year if I need those versions then.
 
I've not bothered to renew my Technet subscription, as you can reset the activation period on Server 2008/Vista and above to extend the grace period to 240 days. This KB article explains the process (it's just a case of running "slmgr.vbs –rearm" when you want to reset the grace period). I downloaded the Windows 7 Enterprise evaluation and use that instead of my existing Windows 7 Technet keys, as they have a limited number of activations. You can get evaluations of Office, Exchange and SQL too, so I don't really see the benefit of having a Technet subscription any more.

Any idea when you're going to book yourself in for an exam, Dashik?
 
I'm looking towards the end of April beginning of May. I have a bit of time on hand just now so hitting the book/Lab and internet hard from Saturday onwards :D
 
Ok so that's the last stick of Ram in and the server is maxed out at 16Gb. Might get a hypethreading CPU next, just to make things a little quicker.
 
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What do people find is the best way to go about getting MCITP?

I'm going to be doing my MCTS 70-680 soon, and work are pretty much saying that they want me to follow it up to make that into an MCITP Desktop Admin, then up to Server Admin as I am going to be their only IT so they are willing to invest a bit of money in training etc!

Can anyone recommend any courses/places in and around Manchester which might be useful that can offer the course in a taught environment (doesnt have to be a crash course kind of thing) then the exams at the end.

I've been toying with doing it at a college as they'll have all the equipment/labs there that i'll need, I don't really have the money to invest in more machines etc at home and set up my own farms. I could potentially VM it all on my main PC but not really checked out the feasibility of it all.

I'd rather not do the whole CBT nuggets/reading book in own time method, but if the general concensus is that it's the best way to do it then i'll look more into that and try and discipline my self a bit more haha!
 
R.O.S.S.I said:
I'd rather not do the whole CBT nuggets/reading book in own time method, but if the general concensus is that it's the best way to do it then i'll look more into that and try and discipline my self a bit more haha!
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This for me is the best way, you can learn at your own speed and there's plenty of online tutorials/info to pass the exams.
 
Well as I dont have the luxury of an employer that will pay my training for me I'm on the DIY route. As posted I bought a server some memory and a few HDD's. Ive bought the MS press MCITP:EA books and now the Don Poulton MCTS 70-680 Cert Guide: Microsoft Windows 7, Configuring book along with the Boson 70-680 exam and a Technet standard sub.

I plan on buying the appropriate Boson exam for each module along with a decent alternative study guide to compliment the MS press stuff.

So its VM's for me :D

So that will have to work for me to get 70-680. Then I can see about getting a couple of low level rollout contracts and maybe a job off the back of those. I do have prior IT experiance so Im just updating skills. Then if Im lucky they might help towards the cost of the rest of my certification. I suspect however that I'll be doing the whole thing myself :D

You could try Firebrand Training but they are more of a boot camp. Good online resources are www.certforums.com and www.techexams.net they pretty much have all levels and backgrounds/situations covered for people training for certs.

The big advantage of self-study is you get to keep the resources and can work at your own pace. The downside of course is that it requires self discipline. Doing a course is fine if you can keep up and absorb the topic appropriatly. You then still have to try and practice and without the kit/books etc at home/work it might not be so easy.

Your employer might fund the Lab kit for training if you put a decent and reasonable proposal to them,

Oh and for kicks if you get the Server Admin Cert you might as well do the 70-643 and 70-647 to go with your 70-680 and get the Enterprise Admin Cert!!

Hope thats of some help.
 
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Very interesting thread in its entirety.

Im soon to start preparation for MCTS certs via 70-640, xx-642 & xx-643 and have been pretty much set on going for the HP N40L server but now im thinking will the max of 8gb ram be enough?

I have no experience with servers what so ever, however i do have a decent enough background in I.T so was going to get my head around using Server2k8r2 installed on my new server to be via the help of trainsignal material and the appropriate literature.

After doing the above, id then look to get Exchange server certs.
 
8Gb is enough if your only running a couple of VM's. Like everything it depends on what you want/need. I decided that I wanted a 16Gb server just in case I needed to run a few VM's together. I can also upgrade the CPU and the HDD's if required but I think its fine as is. After all it's for lab sim's not a live production server.
 
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Dashik said:
8Gb is enough if your only running a couple of VM's. Like everything it depends on what you want/need. I decided that I wanted a 16Gb server just in case I needed to run a few VM's together. I can also upgrade the CPU and the HDD's if required but I think its fine as is. After all it's for lab sim's not a live production server.
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I do like the idea the way you went about it thinking ahead and thinking about cpu changes, RAM upgrads etc but i am struggling to get the cash for the N40L so any dearer is just out of the question.

How you getting on with your studies?
 
I would imagine that you will want more than 8GB if you want to pursue an Exchange 2010 certification. On the other hand, 8GB is enough to do all of the labs you'll need to set up for the 70-640 cert. Some of the AD FS & RMS stuff requires that you have four VMs running at once, but that's not a problem with 8GB RAM.
 
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Lorddalron said:
I do like the idea the way you went about it thinking ahead and thinking about cpu changes, RAM upgrads etc but i am struggling to get the cash for the N40L so any dearer is just out of the question.

How you getting on with your studies?
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Believe me funds were an issue for me as well :D

The study is going fine, About to book 70-680 and try and get that out of the way. Other issues previously mentioned are affecting progress but thats life as ever :D
 
Saundie said:
I would imagine that you will want more than 8GB if you want to pursue an Exchange 2010 certification. On the other hand, 8GB is enough to do all of the labs you'll need to set up for the 70-640 cert. Some of the AD FS & RMS stuff requires that you have four VMs running at once, but that's not a problem with 8GB RAM.
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Point taken,
I i were to remove the likes of Server 2k8r2 when it comes to the time of using Exchange server, would that help matters?
 
Actually 8GB should be fine for doing an Exchange 2010 exam. Especially the config exam (which i've done).

Your servers aren't going to be under much load so 1GB of RAM per VM and 4 VM's should be fine. 1 X DC, 1 X Mbx Server, 1 X HT Server, 1 X CAS Server. Possibly one more VM for a client based VM (i.e. Win 7 desktop).

That would still leave some memory for the host machine. I use my desktop so 4GB for the desktop O/S is fine. I host all my VM's in VMWare Workstation using Team Lan's for internal NIC communication.

I actually find the bottlenecks I hit considering I have an i7 920, is disks. My disks are generally slow/storage consumer 5400 RPM disks so they don't host VM's well! Splitting VM's onto different disks is recommended. I would imagine that an SSD that was big enough/quick enough would have the raw I/O's to host a few VM's.
 
Thanks for the insight, Eulogy; I stand corrected ;)

I was basing my statement on the fact that Microsoft's minimum requirement for Exchange 2010 is 4GB, and that every implementation I've come across consumes all the RAM it can get hold of.

I ended up getting an SSD for running my virtual lab from, as I found my 4-5 year old 7200RPM drives to be unbearably slow. I still find it amazing how much of a difference it makes; things like promoting a server to a DC is so much faster now. It made labbing Win7 deployment a much more pleasant experience, too. Admittedly the SSD is not the best option from a raw cost perspective, though.

On the subject of exams, having failed my previous two attempts at 70-640 I've decided to start over again, and have ordered the Microsoft Press training kit - hopefully between it and Technet I can fill in the gaps in knowledge (especially RMS and FS stuff) and have another go in 6-8 weeks.
 
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