Well, It's official - I've had my first Microsoft certified title change from "Microsoft Certified Professional" to "Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist".

Not exactly a high bar to jump over, but it's still good.

Old logo:

New logo:

The new logo will change as I take the next few exams.. the right-hand side will list each certification as I achieve them.

Plus, a new MCP Transcript:

I took my 70-236 exam today, and I passed!

In 7-10 days when my score is processed, I'll have the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Configuration certification.

This exam, along with 70-237 (Exchange Design) and 70-238 (Exchange Deployment), are requirements for the next level of certification, the Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP): Enterprise Messaging Administrator.

All three are required for applying to the Microsoft Certified Master: Exchange 2007 program, along with a fourth requirement: a MCSE 2003 certification, or 70-640: Active Directory on Windows Server 2008.

I never completed my MCSE, so I have to take all four exams to even apply to the MCM program.

Given that I want to complete the other 3 exams by the end of January, here's my proposed schedule for doing so:

• Complete 70-237 by Friday January 9th
• Complete 70-238 by Friday January 16th
• Complete 70-640 by Friday January 23rd, or Friday January 30th at the latest.

If I can complete all three exams by January 30th, that gives me two full weeks to apply to the MCM program and provide the $12,950 (30% of $18,500) discounted payment by the deadline of February 14th.

I think I may purchase the first e-learning course by Microsoft and load it up on my netbook.. That way, it would be easier to take it with me over the holiday vacation. :)

My test for the 70-236 "Configuring Exchange 2007" exam is tomorrow afternoon.

So just to be sure, I took the practice test one more time.

Still "passed", with an 87% - mostly different questions.

On a related note, since I have changed my plans to take the 3 remaining exams by the end of January, I think I will be investing in the Microsoft e-Learning courses for the exams. They're a few hundred dollars each, but should be faster to work through.

I also have the books as well, but reading them all will take longer, I think.

The e-Learning courses are:

• Collection 5095: Designing the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Infrastructure (12 hours) $191.99
• Collection 5098: Deploying the Microsoft Exchange 2007 Infrastructure (10 hours) $159.99
• Collection 6425AE: Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services (20 hours) $319.99

  Total: $671.99

Each collection has a number of courses, each 2 hours long - 6 in the first, 5 in the second, and 10 in the last one.

I figure for 42 hours worth of training, I could do that in one week - but that would be 8 hours a day, and I'd get burned out too fast.

If I only took one 2 hour course per day, that's still 21 days - a full three weeks.

If I took 3 hours of courses per day (1 & 1/2), that's 14 days - better.

If I took 4 hours of courses per day (2 courses per day), it's only 10.5 days - pretty aggressive, but I could probably do it..

If you're interested, check out my Microsoft Certified Professional Transcript.

I've completed more than a handful of exams over the past 10 years, but never quite got around to completing the full MCSE track.

OH. MY. GOD.

30% Off Microsoft Certified Master until Feb 14th.

Microsoft is announcing 30% off their Microsoft Certified Master training for Exchange 2007 for a limited time, offer is only good until February 14, 2009, for the March (March 16th to April 4th) and May (May 4th to May 23rd) sessions.

Which means, instead of the program being $18,500, the cost would be $12,950.

I think I may have to upgrade my pace for studying, and get the rest of the 3 exams I need done by the end of January.

Seriously.. holy carp!

Last week, I got a new toy – a Samsung NC10 “netbook”, or as I like to call it, a mini-top – a mini laptop.

It’s small, about the size of the average hardcover book, and only weighs a few pounds.

Like many of the other small Netbooks these days, it’s based on the new Intel “Atom” processor, a very power-efficient CPU, allowing for battery life in the 5-6 hour range.

There are Netbook products from other vendors such as HP, Acer, and a few others – the feature set is nearly the same between the different vendors, but Samsung has had the best reviews and some features that outperform the other models.

Things I like about the Samsung NC10

• The screen is a relatively large 10.2” widescreen LCD, the same as most of the other models.
• The hard disk is bigger than most at 160GB, and is the larger 2.5” model instead of a 1.8” model. That means better performance from the hard disk, and more options if you want a SSD (solid state disk) or a hard disk upgrade down the road.
• It has 3 USB ports, a dedicated VGA video port, 10/100 Ethernet, separate headphone and microphone ports, 801.11b/g WiFi, and a SD card slot. More ports available than other models, and no “pigtail” adapter cables are necessary.
• The keyboard is nearly full size, and the Enter and Shift keys are large. Not bad for typing.

Things I don’t like about the Samsung NC10

• The resolution of the 10.2” widescreen screen is the standard 1024 pixels wide by 600 pixels high, which is a little small in the vertical dimension. Most programs require 1024 x 768, otherwise the interface may be a little cramped. Every Netbook model has this issue, though..
• The touchpad for mouse control is a little small in the vertical dimension. Takes a little getting used to.
• When you initially start the netbook up, the Samsung Recovery Manager program starts and by default, it partitions your 160 GB hard disk in half, allowing 75 GB for the laptop and 75GB for the “backup & recovery” partition. You can change this with the “Advanced” button, if you don’t need the backup and recovery features.

Otherwise, it’s a very nice ultra portable laptop, great for e-mail and general tasks.

I took a second attempt at the 70-236 "Configuring Exchange 2007" exam, with 45 different questions from the last attempt.

I "passed", with a 91% mark, getting 41 out of 45 questions right.

Some of the questions I missed last time involved syntax questions - ie, what command with which specific syntax do you need to run to accomplish a certain task.

This is where the exams don't reflect reality, because half the time if I don't remember the complete syntax, I look it up.

It's what any good engineer or admin should be able to do, reference a manual or research.

Check it out:

Today I'm going to do something I haven't done before - I'm going to recommend a book I bought today at the supermarket.

The book in question is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Working Less, Earning More by Jeff Cohen.

It's not a big book - about 100 pages short - but so far it's proving to be a very interesting read.

Edit: The version I picked up at the supermarket for $3 is the "digest" condensed version.. the full version is about 288 pages for $16. 

Its main premise is how to reinvent your work life, and thrive on a less than 40-hour work week.

In the past, I have always preferred positions of employment of a full time salaried nature - presumably due to the illusion (maybe?) of job security.

More recently, I have been reconsidering my stance on contract work vs. Full Time Employee, and the contract work is becoming more appealing.

I've been at my current employer for nearly 4 years now, and they've been good years (not the tires..), so I've been mostly happy.

And yet, I've been yearning for new challenges... so I feel a change is in order, and may come about in the next few months.

There was a really good position that I saw at Starbucks, in Seattle - but I'm not quite ready for the consequences that might happen if I apply for the position now - such as moving to Seattle.. but there are some interesting prospects here in Atlanta for the near-term of the next 2-3 years.

Oh, and I'm going to take my 70-236 "Configuring Exchange 2007" exam this Thursday. I'm ready.

Next weekend is the last weekend before I go off for the Holiday vacation (2 weeks!), and since I'm working that weekend, I'm really looking forward to getting it over with.

This coming week is bound to be stressful, and I'm hoping I won't blow a mental fuse along the way.

I took a practice test today for the 70-236 Configuring Exchange 2007 exam, and to my dismay.. I failed.

But I didn't fail by much - only 2 percent, or 1 question. I got 35 questions correct out of 45, and passing (80%) is 36 out of 45.

Apparently, I got the easy questions wrong, and the hard questions right!

Take a look:

I'll review the "Installing and Configuring" section again later, and see if I don't do better on the next round.

One of the Microsoft products that I've implemented at home is a small computer running Windows Home Server, which serves two main purposes - centralized file sharing, and remote access.

One of the things that I found out is that it's possible to install the WHS Connector client software on Windows Server 2008 for remote access.

I have a server running Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V at home, and sometimes it's useful to be able to access the server from remote when I'm away from home.

Installing the WHS Connector client software on the Hyper-V server allowed me to access the server when I'm away from home, and it works pretty smoothly.

How to:

1. Hyper-V runs only on x64 (64-bit) servers, so get the Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 update to get the x64 version of the WHS Connector software. It can also be obtained from Windows Update in the usual manner.
2. On the Windows Server 2008 system, access the WHS system and install the WHS Connector software. The default path is usually \\server\software\Home Server Connector Software\setup.exe. There is also a WHSConnector_x64 installer package, but don't run that - you must run the Setup program instead.
3. Enable Remote Desktop on the Windows Server 2008 system. You can easily get to this setting by running Server Manager, and clicking the Configure Remote Desktop link.
4. Enable Remote Desktop by choosing the "Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop".
   
    
5. Access the WHS Console by double-clicking the Windows Home Server icon on the System Tray. The color may be green, yellow, or red depending on the status of your WHS server.
   
   
6. On the Computers and Backup tab, right click the Windows 2008 server, and choose the "Turn off Backups" option.
   This step is optional, but recommended - you may not want to have backups taken of a server system.
   
   
7. To configure the Remote Access feature, click on the Settings button, and then the Remote Access section.
   
   
8. Turn On Web Site Access.
9. Configure the router - this configures UPnP, so you must have Universal Plug n Play enabled on your WAN router/gateway.
10. Configure the domain name - this lets you set up a custom domain name in the form of something.homeserver.com, where "something" is a name of your own choosing. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be support for completely custom domains (like something.moschini.org), but this works OK.
11. If the statuses of the Router and Domain Name sections go to "Working", then it's all configured properly.
12. Access the User Accounts tab, and open the Properties page for your user account.
13. Enable remote access, and make sure "home computers" is one of the selected choices - you can do both shared folders and remote access if you want. You will also need to set a password, and it needs to have some capital letters or numbers in it.
    
     
14. Use Internet Explorer and access https://something.homeserver.com where "something" is the name you chose. Note the HTTPS connection. If you use HTTP instead, it will redirect to HTTPS.
15. Log in using the account name and password you set up.
16. Choose the Remote Access page, and select the server. Enable the Remote Desktop ActiveX control, and you're good to go!

This uses the Remote Desktop web control, so you must use Internet Explorer.. but other than that, the performance is pretty good, even on a slow connection.

One of the interesting things I've read recently is about Microsoft's framework for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration.

It's a set of solutions for providing Microsoft Exchange, Sharepoint 2007, and other related technologies as a hosted service.

A hosted service provider model is different from the typical corporate in-house Exchange or Sharepoint environments.

In a in-house environment, you may have a few dedicated Exchange or Sharepoint servers providing messaging and collaboration services to internal clients, with the number of clients ranging anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand (500-10,000).

10,000 clients may seem like a large number, but it really isn't - that kind of load can be serviced by a few servers of moderate capacity.

The HMC framework is intended for service providers hosting large scale deployments of 50,000 to 100,000 clients or more.

As service providers, each of their customers may have less than 10,000 mailboxes each, but combined they result in a very large scale deployment.

Having had prior experience with service-provider type hosted solutions, these types of large-scale solutions are very interesting to me.

Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration v4.5

Just finished Chapter 5, page 290 out of 750, or 38% done reading the 70-236 book.

Ordinarily if this was a particularly enthralling fantasy or sci-fi book, I'd be done with a 300-page paperback in a few hours.

This is more difficult - I actually have to remember this stuff, and understand it.

It's almost like I'm back in college... :)

As I was studying my books for the exams I'd need for the Microsoft Certified Master - Exchange 2007 program (aka Exchange Ranger), I was contemplating how or if I was going to be able to pay for this thing, being that the cost exceeds $18,000.

I figured I basically had two options:

1. Get my employer to pay for the program and the travel expenses:
   • Application: $150
   • "Tuition": $18,500  - either paid direct by the company, or partially by education reimbursement of approximately $5500.
   • Airfare: $500 (Atlanta to Seattle, Round Trip)
   • Hotel: $2200-2500 for 22 days, easily $100+ a night for a decent hotel.
   • Food: $700, about $30 a day.
   • Total: Approximately $22,350 for a seriously tough 3-week training and certification course.
2. Pay for it all myself.
   • Application: $150
   • Tuition: $18,500, or $595 for 36 months.. $21,445 total.
   • Airfare: Free. Delta Skymiles will pay for it.. :)
   • Hotel: $2200-2500 for 22 days. Possibly less, if I can leverage air miles, etc.
   • Food: $700
   • Total: $24,795.

Option #1 is less expensive to me, because there is the assumption that my employer will fund most if not all of the trip.  

Option #2 is much more expensive to me, but then again so are the benefits - it's technical training of a caliber that is difficult to obtain anywhere other than at Microsoft.

Personally, I think #2 is more ethical - I invest in my own training, and can therefore personally drive the results I want to get.

Also, a great list of the pre-reading materials suggested for MCM - in addition to the pre-requisite exams:

Microsoft Certified Master Pre-Readings and Documents

One of the suggested reading materials for Exchange is the Exchange 2007 Help file - yes, ALL OF IT.

Making my way through the 70-236 book.. on page 117 out of 750, Chapter 3 out of 13.

Also, a great blog post on Do you have what it takes to become a Microsoft Certified Master? at the Microsoft Exchange Team Blog - http://msexchangeteam.com/

Interesting note on the program fees for MCM (Master) and MCA (Architect):

• Microsoft Certified Master: All - $18,500.00 (USD)

• Microsoft Certified Architect: All - $5,000.00 (USD)

I say it's interesting because MCA was reported at being $25,000.. not $5000.

Still, that's $23,500 in total.. yikes!

Two other IT Industry standards that I need to learn about:

• MOF - Microsoft Operations Framework
• ITIL - Information Technology Infrastructure Library

They're standards and certifications focused around the "soft" skills of the IT industry, or IT business processes.

I'm good at processes and procedures...

They're one of the things one ought to learn to get beyond just the technical aspect of IT and into more of a consulting role.

For the first exam I have to take - Exam 70-236, Configuring Exchange Server 2007 - I'm studying the Microsoft self-paced training kit book.

I'm currently on page 30 out of .. 750... or about 4% through the book.

I know most of this stuff already, but you still have to go through the book to cover it all..

I've got a lab server downstairs running Windows Server 2008 and the Hyper-V virtualization software, booting off of an iSCSI SAN Storage array.

The server has no hard disks in it - just the chassis, a quad-core CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an Intel PRO/1000 PT Server Adapter to serve as the iSCSI boot adapter.

Cost me about $1200 for the server, and it runs pretty damn well.

I hope to make it through this book and all of the labs by the end of next week, so I can get at least this first exam out of the way.

I came across this really useful script for Hyper-V:

Hyper-V Remote Management Configuration Utility - Home

By default, if you have a Windows Server 2008 system running the Hyper-V virtual machine system, you can't run the Hyper-V management tools from a remote client.

To get the Hyper-V Remote Management tools, check this KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=952627

Once you get the client, you may experience issues trying to connect to Hyper-V if your system is in a Workgroup or in a domain but you're running as a non-Domain Admin.

If so, get the Hyper-V Remote Management Configuration Utility.

One of the advanced Microsoft certifications I want to achieve, among many, is the new Microsoft Certified Master program for Exchange 2007.

Microsoft Certified Master

Microsoft Certified Master - Exchange 2007

This is a certification course that involves 3 weeks of in-depth training at Microsoft's campus in Redmond, and has a high price tag of $18,500.

However, before I can even apply to take the course, I have to pass four exams:

• Exam 70-236: TS: Exchange Server 2007, Configuring
• Exam 70-237: PRO: Designing Messaging Solutions with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
• Exam 70-238: PRO: Deploying Messaging Solutions with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007

Additionally required:

• Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) on Windows Server 2003
  or
• Exam 70-640: TS: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring

Since I never got around to completing my MCSE, I'll have to take all four exams.

For these exams, I plan to study the books and perform lab work on a Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V system I have running.

The next course rotation for the MCM Exchange 2007 track is March 16–April 4, 2009.

That gives me a little less than 4 months to take 4 exams - pretty aggressive, no?

I don't actually expect to attend the March 16–April 4 course track, but at least it's a goal I can set.

There should be more course rotations available after that, hopefully ones that are located closer to Atlanta.