Update

Wow, more than 3 years have passed since my last update on this blog.

I am trying to figure out why, but maybe I should just post some updates from my life and draw the conclusion after:

1. In August 2011 I got married

2. In April 2012 I started running (read this as running competitions, trail-running marathons)

3. In December 2013 I got the VCP 5 certification

4. In April 2014 my son was born

5. In April 2014 I changed my employer and job

But enough about me, as this blog is about certifications, I will write in this blog how I achieved the VCP 5 certification

As I can read from the last post, the idea came to my mind in November 2011, but the first step to that was to take the VMware official course. As it was a fairly expensive one, 1500-300 Euro, it was kind of hard to get the company I was working for to pay for it. Luckily for me, the summer of 2012 brought some high management changes in the company and in December 2012 I got the approval to take the course. It was a 5 day online course which I highly recommend - vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage. At this point (March 2015) it still uses the vSphere 5.5 version. When I took it it was on 5.1. I learned a lot of things there, but the most important for me was the storage part, where I had little experience.

After I took the course, a couple of work projects/ business trips took much of my energy, together with points 2 and 4 from the list above, but in November 2013 I finally scheduled the exam and in December 2013 I took the VCP 5 certification. The exam wasn't very difficult, but I would not call it easy either. Bear in mind I have been working with vSpehere (vCenter) for the past 2.5 years, but not only as administrator but also as a software developer, QA, support, so I had a lot of knowledge of the inner mechanisms of vCenter.

Fast-forward to March 2015, I now work again in the networking field, Software Defined Networking. Again the certification paths are on hold, but I am sure they will converge in the future.

"You can't connect the dots looking forward you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path."

Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Address, 2005

VCP 5

A new change in the direction of my certification has occurred. This is due mainly to my work, but I also think that it is connected to my past Certifications and that it will help me a lot in the future.
VCP 5 comes from VMware certified Professional on vSphere 5 (which was released this summer).
Although I have been successfully using vSphere 5 since it was in beta version, I feel I do not use its full power and that I need to follow a course in order to understand it correctly.
The thing with VMware certifications (compared to Cisco or Microsoft ones) is that it is mandatory to take their official course before becoming certified. This limits a lot the number of VCP and the accessibility to this certification (a course costs from 1500 to 3000 euro).
Of course the course will not give you all the information needed to pass the certification, so before I take the course I started studying Trainsignal VCP 5. One of the authors of this training is David Davis who holds multiple certification including the CCIE.
It is hard to see how all these trainings/certifications will help me in the future, but I am sure I will be able to "connect the dots" when I will look back after a few years.

Aller Anfang ist schwer

I used to have a big mug with this words written on it. It's in German and it means: The first step is the hardest.

I don't know if anybody is reading this blog anymore (not meaning that it had a lot of readers when it was active) but I decided to bring it back to life.
After more than a year of delay I took the MS 70-642 (Configuring Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure) exam. I started really preparing for it in January 2011, although I have been planning it since January 2010. It was harder than I expected because the subject of the exam changed from Windows 2008 and Vista to Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 7 sometimes during last year, and I didn't knew this until yesterday evening when I googled for some exam experiences. Luckily I took the exam. From here I learned that postponing is bad. Another thing I found today is that the BSCI exam I took was retired and does no longer count towards CCNP. This made me decide to let the CCNA cert expire and pursue the MS way I started (it will help me in my work more than the cisco certs).
Now I'm looking for the next step... 70-640: TS: Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory
All the best.

Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure

After a half year of absence, I decided to get back to writing here. As you can see from the title of this post, I’m not going to write about Cisco certifications for the next 2-3 months, but about Microsoft because this is what I’m currently using at work. I will keep using this blog because I find it very useful in keeping a plan and sticking to it and because I will get back to CCNP after I take a couple of MS exams.
The first one I will try to pass at the end of January is 70-642 – Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure. I already know a lot of the concepts needed for this exam from my Cisco study (IPv6, DHCP, routing, etc) and from the MCP certification I got 6 years ago which is on Windows Server 2000 administration.
I have added a section with the WS 2008 NI schedule.
Happy New Year!

New plans

I'm sorry for the long pause, but there has been a change in my work. I have shifted from networking devices to Windows servers now, so the focus moved away from cisco, for the moment.
Anyway, after revitalizing my MS skills, I have decided it's time to get back to cisco learning, if not for my daily work at least to stay in touch with cisco technology.
So, here I go again.

P.S. schedule updated