83-640 TS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring

This test is the first virtual lab based certification exam from Microsoft, therefore Nerdy Eddy must go and try it out. That's reason #1. Reason #2 is the demand for me to acquire the proper overall understanding about Active Directory and its configuration thingy and thus to be able to talk to those nasty IT Administrators, especially those bank customers of ours. You might be a vendor like us and if you're dealing with enough customers with relatively large directory-based network infrastructure, you do understand the fact that without a knowledge of the standard operating procedures and configurations (hardening and stuffs) of IT systems, your project might get into troubles, well "preferably" at the end of the testing phase and the start of migration phase. Surprises such as services suddenly went down, network became inaccessible and some weird blockage of program execution can turn your world upside down and when you found out the root of cause, most of the time it's all about subtle policy settings. Lolx. If you're telling me that all these hassles form the experiences of a seasoned technical person, well, wake up and tell yourself that it is all caused by your incapability, insufficient knowledge, unwillingness to learn formally and unable to read a book from cover to index. LOLX.

About 83-640. It's quite a fun testing experience. The test program started one or more virtual machines for you and ask you to perform a series of tasks within timed duration. I guess the step by step process is not important but the end result. You can do the entire tasks in command prompt if you're well verse in it than GUI based tools. Of course, some tasks must be perform using GUI tools.

For my case, there were so called performance labs, each one must be completd within 65 minutes and consists of roughly 7 to 9 tasks. Nonetheless, my task scopes are quite limited to the use of ntdsutil, dnsmgmt.msc, dsa.msc, domain.msc and schmmgmt. I didn't use compmgmtlauncher.exe at all. No tasks for me that're related to monitoring and ADCS, ADFS, ADLDS, ADRMS.

Then after completed the labs, you need to settle a traditional question-based test (30 questions).

I've passed the test with 933 score, not sure it is a good score or not because this is my first MS certification exposure :p

My preparation materials were:


Que MCTS: 70-640 Exam Cram (As main study material)
Windows 2008 Bible (As ad-hoc reference book)
Microsoft Site and TechNet
Some Windows 2008 VM to play with

I'm not sure I want to proceed now to complete MCITP track, unless my work desires more knowledge on network and more MS environment stuffs.

IBM SOA Fundamentals (2008) - 000-669

I went to take this SOA entry level certification last Tuesday during the IBM SOA Service Management Conference 2009 in Malaysia (The exam is FREE!). Well, the thing is I don't really have the luxury of abundant time to prepare for this one, partly because I was prep-ing for MQ 996 Solution Designer exam the day before (Will post details on this later) and I only managed to cover the following reading materials.

*Best Practices for SOA Management (Chapters 1 - 3)
Publication number: REDP-4233-00

*Propagating Identity in SOA with Tivoli Federated Identity Manager
Publication number: REDP-4354-00

*Understanding SOA Security Design and Implementation (Chapter 1)
Publication number: SG24-7310-01

*WebSphere Service Registry and Repository Handbook (Chapter 1)
Publication number: SG24-7386-00

*Implementing Technology to Support SOA Governance and Management (SKIPPED)

*SOA fundamentals in a nutshell (Quite a number of questions from this, thought might not in a direct way)


Publication number: SG24-7538-00

More:
IBM Recommandations for Test Preparation


I find most of the questions in the paper very subjective and open ended to the background and experiences of one person. Giving an analogy, the question can be:

13. Please select 2 out of the following that best describes the way to die peacefully.

a. Died when sleeping (Pretty obvious huh)
b. Jumping down from 100 storeys tall building
c. Jumping down from 50 storeys tall building
d. Use a knife
e. Use a gun

When I saw some of the questions similar to the above style, I was like "HUH", then "EMM", then "SHIT"... Well, at the end I need to resort to 2 of my most effective strategy:

A. Use Common Sense in The Context
B. Choose either the shortest or longest answer (!)


By the way, there's another candidate in the same room with me that can't even tell the test number (000-669) when the proctor asked him. What's the whole point of taking the test without even understand the details of the test, its' objectives and structures.

Result receipt

83.3%..... Answered 9 questions wrongly. Darn.

The bottomline is this test is just merely testing your knowledge and common sense on SOA at a very introductory level and yet term "Fundamentals".

I guess product specific certification is more interesting... I like the logo though.

IBM Websphere Application Server (WAS) V6.1 Network Deployment Certification 253

Preparation for this examination (253) was kinda harsh. I only managed to cram 2.5 of the related IBM Red Books and struggled to get the other questions right using my project experiences.

Study Materials:

WebSphere Application Server 6.1 Planning and Design (SG24-7305-00)
WebSphere Application Server 6.1 System Management and Configuration (SG24-7304-00)
WebSphere Application Server 6.1 Security Handbook (SG24-7304) - Part 1

I really want to read up another one about Performance, Scalability and HA but my schedule was extremely tight, well, maybe will do the reading if going for the advanced certification.

Score: 89%

Passed IBM DB2 Certification Exam 701

Officially I didn't hold a full time job as DBA in any of my previous employments, however this doesn't stop me from getting one or two DBA certifications, because my hunger for knowledge and piss off with some moments where intricacy of DB technical details hinder my architecting and design process.

Besides all the formal knowledge and information I acquainted, one of the most important experience is to further understand the scope, responsibility and difficulties that real DBA faced in their daily operational routines and when application development needs conflicted with the interest of maintaining corporate data policy and security auditing.

In the enterprise application paradigm, the only way a solution architect can architect a better solution is to completely understood and blend every piece of the jigsaw puzzle together into a coherent whole, in the right way.

That's my motivation. Now let me share my preparation process.

1.) Read up the IBM DB2 701 Preparation Materials from IBM

Nothing much to say here.

2.) Read up DB2® Universal Database™ v8 for Linux®, UNIX®, and Windows® Database Administration Certification Guide, by George Baklarz, Bill Wong

You can opt to skip the last part regarding Application Development, even though no harm for you to take a look into it. That part is more relevant when you were taking exam 703.

3.) Do at least one project dealing with DB2 DBMS

4.) Do your own exploration and experiments with some of the concepts in the materials like HADR, Roll Forward and etc.

5.) Get enough coffee and sleeps. Trade off between these 2 important constraints :-)


Lastly, I'd like you to know that DB2 V9 series of examination is already available and you should jump on the bandwagon of V9 if your company or projects are using it or potentially will. I sticked to V8 because that's the one bundled together with IBM DBW DWE V9.1 and I dealt with that version of DB2 the most.

P/S: I got a 100% score in this exam. Cheers. I finally revenged on my 98% score in exam 700. :EVIL: