Finished the last step in my MCSA 2003 track this week.  I opted to use CompTIA’s Security+ as my fourth exam, instead of one of Microsoft’s electives.  The cost was twice as much, but I figured it was a 2 for 1 on certs, and I just couldn’t take any more Microsoft tests.

I definitely came away from the Security+ with a higher opinion of the exam than I had expected going in.  It covered more actual tech than I expected, and I honestly learned a good deal.  I find myself much more interested in security than I have been in the past.  There does seem to be a general theme with CompTIA exams though.  Cisco wants you to know 20 things, but know them better than anything you’ve ever known.  CompTIA prefers that you know 200 things enough to pass the test.

Anyway, MCSA is done, and I’m onto the CCDA exam.

note: CompTIA actually got their CareerID online databases back up after a 4 month downtime (ridiculous).  I can only assume they saw that I scheduled my exam, so the clock was ticking.

I just finished my third MCSA 2003 exam on Friday morning and I thought I would put down my impressions so far.

• 70-270 Installing, Configuring, and Administering Windows XP Professional
  • Going into the MCSA I assumed this would be the easiest of the three.  After all, I had been using XP for years now, this should be a cake-walk.  Turns out, this was by far the most difficult of the three.  This test covered topics and techniques for doing things that I would never have dreamed of  (and still don’t really see myself using.)  This turned out to be both the most difficult, and in my opinion, the most useless of the three exams.
• 70-290 Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment
  • This exam covered the basics of AD maintenance: OUs, GPOs, basic scripting, etc.  In addition, backup/recovery procedures and RAID were covered.   I felt this was the easiest of the three, but that may be due to my experience playing around in AD on a daily basis.
• 70-291 Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure
  • I found this test to be middle of the road, but still rather easy.  It covered DNS, DHCP, and Microsoft’s attempts at teaching network subnetting and routing (hehe.)  A large part of the test was also in regards to network troubleshooting (Which the CCNA prepared me for in much greater detail), as well as WSUS.  I have spent more hours than I care to mention on WSUS as of late, so I skipped that chapter altogether and breezed through that section.

What’s next:

I have one more test remaining on the MCSA track.  From the start I had planned for this to be the CompTIA Security+, figured I could get a 2 for 1 deal on certs with this method.   I’m beginning to have seconds thoughts though, as CompTIA’s databases have been down for near two months now.  That’s right….an IT company specializing in IT training has it’s grading, reporting, and information databases OFFLINE for TWO MONTHS.  They are even now requesting that you fax in your results to them to have your results sent to Microsoft for verification.  That’s correct, in the year 2009, my IT cert provider wants me to use a fax machine.  Needless to say, it makes me a bit hesitant to dish out $250 for their exam until they get their act together.  In addition, CompTIA is taking a serious pounding on the IT forums for this, which is only serving to hurt their reputation an lessen the value of the cert.