1/25/2001 -- Sun announced recently that it will delay the launch of the new Solaris 8 certification exams until February.

The exams were originally scheduled to go live this month. No reason was given for the delay on the company Web site. However, Sun did release more details about how the upcoming Solaris 8 certification program will work.

According to the Sun Web site, there will be three Solaris 8 options:

• A "two-part" Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris 8 exam.
• A single Sun Certified Network Administrator for Solaris 8 exam.
• A first-ever Sun Certified System Administrator upgrade exam.

Also, Sun will no longer allow candidates to mix-and-match versions of the Solaris System Administrator exams to become certified (e.g., one version 7 and one version 8 exam). Once the new exams are released, System Administrator candidates must take either both version 8 exams, or first become Solaris 7 certified and then take the upgrade exam in order to become certified in 8.

The upgrade exam will only be available for six months. Objectives for it and the rest of the version 8 exams have yet to be released; however, you can find out more about the format of the exams and classroom-training options at http://suned.sun.com/USA/certification/SOE8FAQ.html.

Solaris is Sun's "operating environment" for Unix. For more information on Solaris, visit http://www.sun.com. -B.N.