3/24/2010 -- While details remain difficult to find, Microsoft is in the process of creating a new Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) certification as an entry-level certification for Windows Server 2008 small business administrators. This operating system is popular as witnessed by Microsoft awarding Windows Server 2008 credentials last year to 60,000 professionals worldwide (300,000 were given new certifications by Microsoft on all products during this time period).

The three new certificaitons (and related exams) slated to become available are:

• MTA Server Administration (Exam # 98-365, TA: Windows Server 2008, Server Administration Fundamentals)
• MTA Networking (Exam # 98-366, TA: Windows Server 2008, Networking Fundamentals)
• MTA Security (Exam # 98-367, TA: Windows Server 2008, Security Fundamentals)

From all appearances, the certifications will be similar to counterparts offered by CompTIA, but operating system specific rather than vendor neutral.

More information on these upcoming exams should be available on the Microsoft Learning site shortly.

Red Hat Obtains Common Criteria Certification

Looking at certification from the software perspective, as opposed to the individual’s, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 on Dell 11th Generation PowerEdge Servers “has been certified at Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 4, Augmented for Flaw Remediation, with the Controlled Access Protection Profile (CAPP)”  which adds to the other Common Criteria certifications they’ve obtained (12 times on four different hardware platforms).  This particular certification also includes RHEL 5.3 running under Xen.

Visual Studio Beta Exams Run Thorough April

• Exam # 71-551, TS: Windows Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework (Beta Code: 511BC)
• Exam # 71-513, TS: Windows Communications Foundation Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (Beta Code: 513CD)
• Exam # 71-515, TS: Web Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (Beta Code: 515AA)
• Exam # 71-516, TS: Accessing Data with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (Beta Code: 516B1)
• Exam # 71-518, Pro: Designing and Developing Windows Applications Using Microsoft .NET Framework (518PE)
• Exam # 71-519, Pro: Designing and Developing Web Applications Using Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (519ZS)

Testing is done through Prometric testing centers (except in China, India, and Pakistan) and the exam numbers will change from 71 to 70 when the exams exit beta.

Read Microsoft's blog posts announcing the betas here.

Books of the Week: CCNP TSHOOT and CCNP Switch

Cisco Press has recently published two books essential for CCNP certification: David Hucaby’s CCNP SWITCH 642-813 Official Certification Guide and Kevin Wallace’s CCNP TSHOOT 642-832 Official Certification Guide . Both of these titles are available individually, or in a box case (along with the ROUTE book) called the Routing and Switch Official Certification Library.

Looking at the SWITCH book first, the 400 pages are broken into 18 chapters spread throughout six parts, with four parts really holding all the meat: Building a Campus Network, Designing Campus Networks, Campus Network Services and Securing Switched Networks. The pedagogical elements common to this series are all present, including the “Do I Know This Already?” quiz at the beginning of each chapter and the completion of tables and list from memory at the end. It is the beginning of the chapter quiz which contains the multiple-choice questions similar to those found on the exam and the accompanying CD includes 100 of these.

The TSHOOT book is slightly longer and avoids the whole issue of parts. The 14 chapters (there is another on final preparation that doesn’t really count) run the gamut and cover everything you need to know to pass the exam and includes (but not limited to) introducing network maintenance, troubleshooting large enterprise networks and security troubleshooting.

The examples throughout are plentiful and extremely well thought out and the writing is easy to follow (“Key Topic” icons draw attention to those things you need to spend extra time on.  Wallace has written a number of other books on Cisco certification and it is his style is an asset to all of them).

Whether you’re looking to add CCNP to your resume, or just wanting to add some more knowledge to your networking skills, these are two titles you’ll want to take a look at.