Hurricane Electric Free IPv6 Certification

As I’m getting ready to update my community college textbook Guide to TCP/IP  for a fourth edition, I’m gearing up in a big way to make the switchover to IPv6.  I co-authored this book with protocol analysis diva Laura Chappell, and am adding budding IPv6 guru Jeff Carrell to the authoring team and to the cover for this next round. He’s the guy, in fact, who recently turned me on to Hurricane Electric’s free IPv6 certification:

As I convert my home/office network over to IPv6 in the next 30 days or so, I’ll also be working my way through this entire cert program. At present I’m reading the inital materials entitled “A Basic Introduction to IPv6.” When I’m done, I’ll take a test to check my reading comprehension and basic knowledge of IPv6, after successful completion of which I’ll attain “Newbie” status. You can do likewise: check it out!

Going forward, Jeff and I will be putting a pretty sizable IPv6 test lab together, which will be colocated at the Hurricane Electric facilities in Fremont, California. Jeff’s driving out to teach on this very subject at SharkFest in Palo Alto next Monday, June 13, after which he’ll be dropping off and installing a load of equipment to bring our test labs up shortly thereafter. It’s going to be interesting (and somewhat costish, too, alas) but an essential part of our aggressive planned moves into the IPv6 world.

The IPv6 Test Lab Course blurb from Sharfest 2011

Score Another One for Emmett Dulaney: A Visual Guide to Risk Mgmt

I may be imagining things, but Emmett Dulaney’s postings over at CertCities.com seem to be one of the few active signs of life left on at that once-vibrant IT certification information clearinghouse (his columns are now the only entries in the What’s New area on the home page, and most other silos show dates no newer than 2010) . If only to prove his continued vitality, you really should bop over to Emmett’s latest posting on the Security+ exam, entitled “A Visual Guide to Risk Management.” There, you’ll find discussion and examples for the five different types of risk management strategies near and dear to the hearts of risk management professionals everywhere, now also explicitly ensconced in the questions for the recently-revised SY0-301 version of the CompTIA Security+ exam:

• risk acceptance: formal acknowledgement that a risk exists, couple with a decision to accept the risk as it stands (which usually means the costs of mitigation exceed the losses that the risk is likely to inflict should it actually occur)
• risk avoidance: this means identifying a particular risk, and choosing no longer perform the actions that invite such a risk. By avoiding risky behavior, in other words, the risk incurred thereby is also avoided.
• risk deterrence: this means responding to the threat of some particular risk by providing deterrent means or messages to let potential malefactors know that if they seek to inflict certain types of attack or damage, you have means to detect and respond to such behavior (Dulaney uses the example of a security camera with a promise to prosecute trespassers).
• risk mitigation: this means taking steps to reduce the risk, often by increasing the strength of defenses against them.
• risk transference: this means offloading some or all of a risk to a third party, many times by purchasing insurance to protect against loss (which also usually requires insureds to take reasonable steps for deterrence and mitigation as well, to qualify for further loss protection).

A simple, if old-fashioned, icon for risk magagement

The best thing about the article is Dulaney’s simple, effective, visual illustrations of these principles, and his use of a neighborhood mailbox to explain each of these principles directly and cogently. Well worth checking out, and even pondering for those who may never wish to pursue the Security+ exam. A nice piece of work!

New VMWare Certified Professional 4 Desktop Cert Available

In the continuing expansion of its certification offerings, VMWare has added a new credential to its lineup. It’s called the VMWare Certified Professional 4 – Desktop credential, and courses and exams are ready for sign-up. Here’s a graphic from the cert page that describes pre-requisites, related courses, exam, and credential identifier (VCP4-DT):

How VMWare depicts the stately procession toward earning VCP4-DT certification

Any or all of the three courses listed in the graphic are recommended to candidates to help them prepare for the VCP4-DT credential. Unlike the VCP4, however, no course is actually *required* to earn this cert. Visit the VCP4-DT cert page to get more information, including a program overview, an exam blueprint, a mock exam, FAQ, and more. Enjoy!

Free Video Exam Prep for 70-681 Available

For those interested in taking the Microsoft Certification exam 70-681 TS: Windows 7 and Office 2010, Deploying, there’s a free video available from Microsoft to help candidates prep for that test. Presented by ace Microsoft Certified Trainer Daniel Nerenberg, and recorded on May 24, 2011, this 55 minute LiveMeeting recording is available to anyone who registers through the access portal. The video is also available in either Live Meeting High-Fidelity Presentation or Microsoft Office Live Meeting Reply formats (the former didn’t want to run on my production PC, but the latter played fine through Windows Media Player on my Windows 7 Professional production PC, even though I do have the Live Meeting ActiveX controls installed in IE9–go figure!).

Opening slide from examprep session

It’s mostly a voiceover a PowerPoint slide deck for Mr. Nerenberg’s exam tune-up. He starts with an overview of the exam objectives and a set of pointers to key topics to help candidates guide their exam preparation process. He also provides a useful action plan to help individuals plan out the steps involved in preparing for this particular exam. You won’t get a lot of deep or detailed technical information in this presentation but you will get a useful review of key topics, concepts, tools, and technologies. Those who are preparing for this exam will find the one hour they must commit to the video well worth the time and effort involved. Check it out!

Nice Overview of Remodeled Security+ Exam

In her most recent article at GoCertify.com, longtime cert maven Anne Martinez shares some really useful information about the recently revised CompTIA Security+ exams, which hit English-language testing centers earlier this month. Entitled “New CompTIA Security+ Exam Delivers,” this article reviews the changes in content and coverage between the SY0-201 Security+ exam, which made its debut in 2008, and the current SY0-301 version, which made its debut in mid-May.

Anne’s tabular comparison between old and new exam objectives makes the article worth reading all by its lonesome, but you’ll also find lots of other good stuff in that story. Please, check it out!

Side-by-side comparison of 2011 v 2008 Security+ objectives

Those who’re already prepping for the old (2008) version of Security+ can take heart from the information that this exam will remain available at testing centers until the end of 2011. Those getting ready to tackle an entry-level information security credential can take even more heart from Anne’s remark that : “CompTIA has developed these [Security+] exam objectives with such great study and care that they are probably the best blueprint, bar none, defining what an IT pro needs to know call himself or herself an IT security professional today.” That’s not only good news, it’s also a big change from previous Security+ incarnations, which have been dinged in the past for being wanting in relevance and currency.

VMWare VCP4 Exam Gets a “Second Chance” Offer

Breathless hype from the VMWare Cert pages

Following in the wake of Microsoft’s long-standing “Second Shot” program, VMWare is offering a re-take option on its popular, in-demand VMWare Certified Professional on VSphere 4.0 (VCP4) exam. The name of their offering is “Second Chance,” and requires using the promotion code VCPTAKE1 when you sign up for the test at Prometric Vue. The following restrictions also apply:

• Alas, if you decide to take up this offer, you can’t apply any discounts to the exam cost, and must pay full price to get a free re-take. The exam code is VCP410, and full price is $175 (you must also take an authorized VCP 4 class to take this exam, so total costs for your adventure will exceed $3K before all is said and done).
• You must register for and take both the first and second tries on or before July 31, 2011.
• Only one retake per customer.

If you’re gonna do it, you have to do it soon. If you haven’t taken the course (or courses) yet, it’s probably already too late to take advantage of this offer. But if you’ve already planned to take the exam, jump on this offer right away.

Join Learning@Cisco on LinkedIn, Post Like Message, Win Free Exam

Marcus Fan blogged on this offer on 5/11

Learning at Cisco is offering reimbursement for any third-pary testing center-based Cisco exam (sometimes called a “written exam” though there’s very little writing and most button pushing involved) for up to $350 to those who join the Learning@Cisco group on LinkedIn, and who then file a “How Cisco certification helps my career…” message, and acquire the most “Likes” for their posting.

In list form, here’s what’s required:

• Step 1: Join Learning@Cisco Linkedin Group. (http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=3443017)
• Step 2: Register on Cisco Learning Network (http://www.ciscolearningnetwork.com)
• Step 3: In Learning@Cisco Linkedin group, create a post with the following title and write about it.

“How Cisco certification helps my career? <Your CLN username>”

• Step 4: Share the post you created in step 3 on your Linkedin profile and ask your contacts/others to ‘Like’ your post.

For more information, please visit Marcus Fan’s May 11 Cisco Learning blog “Win a Cisco Certification Written Exam.” It’s not an onerous amount of work for those planning to take a Cisco exam anyway, and some lucky IT pro will get a free ride thanks to his or her persuasive writing skills, or their ability to work their personal networks.

Good luck!

Cisco Reworks Data Center Specialist Certs

Nowhere is IT technology changing more quickly or thoroughly than in data centers around the world, particularly those that play host to a growing collection of cloud-based applications and services, including SaaS (Software as a Service), IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a service), or even cloud-based storage services. That explains why Cisco has just revamped many of its various Data Center Specialist certifications, as it announced yesterday (see Updates to Data Center Training and Certifications Announced).

Header from the Data Center Specialist certs page

By no small coincidence, the items of particular interest relate to these credentials:

• Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Design Specialist
• Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Support Specialist
• Cisco Data Center Networking Infrastructure Design Specialist
• Cisco Data Center Networking Infrastructure Support Specialist

[Note: Cisco specialist credentials generally map to job roles, so the Design elements cover the often more senior design- and planning-related people who perform such work, where the Support elements cover those who play an operational or deploy/maintain role.]

As far as I can tell, the Unified Computing system (UCS B and C, plus Cisco UCS Manager 1.3, to be specific) maps into the SaaS (or at least,  a Web-based applications services) entry, where the Networking Infrastructure piece (with a focus on Nexus Series devices) maps into IaaS in similar fashion. The Cisco staff told me that they’d already updated their storage elements for Data Centers recently, and there doesn’t seem to be a platform play, per se, in the current collection of Cisco Data Center offerings (and thus, neither are there PaaS elements in the Cisco Learning catalog).

For more information, please visit the newly-updated Data Center Specialist Certifications page at The Cisco Learning Network site. Exams will begin to be available beginning June 15, 2011 through Pearson VUE, and training courses are available now through the Cisco Learning Network Store.

MS “Spring Cleaning” Turns Up Free E-Learning Gems

A traditional activity turns up unexpected dividends at MS Learning

Thanks to Julie Lary’s posting on the MS Born to Learn Blog last week (it’s entitled “Announcing Spring Cleaning“) you can gain easy access to a whole slew of free e-Learning offerings from Microsoft Learning. Visit the Spring Cleaning list to get access to free e-books, online training, exam coaching sessions, and other helpful resources to teach you about Microsoft technologies, and help you prepare for related certification exams. Here’s a partial list of topics covered:

• Microsoft Exchange Server
• Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2
• Microsoft Virtualization
• Microsoft SharePoint Server
• Microsoft SQL Server
• Visual Studio
• Windows 7

You’ll find complete e-books, excerpts and sample chapters from other titles, videos of exam coaching sessions, code samples, and more amongst these many offerings — all of them absolutely free. Definitely worth checking out soon (spring cleaning can’t last too far into summer). Enjoy!

Employment and Unemployment Numbers Both Go Up!

Earlier this week, the markets made history when the major stock indexes (Dow, S&P500, and so forth) and commodity prices both went down at the same time, and for the same reason: prospects of slowing employment in the US. Today, the markets and commodities both rebounded when the US Bureau of Labor Statistics pushed its Employment Situation Summary for April 2011 out the door and reported substantially higher numbers than had been expected. Consensus guesstimates in advance of the report put employment gains at about 140-150,000; the actual number reported this morning was a much healthier 244,000, with gains across all industries and sectors reporting.

April 2011 Employment Situation

Perhaps not to be outdone by the recent double-dip in markets and commodities, this report also features an unusual combination of number swings: at the same time that the employment number jumped to a respectable value, unemployment also edged up from 8.8 to 9.0 percent. This doesn’t happen very often, and analysts are quick to point out that employment gains and the total unemployment numbers come from different surveys and thus are not bound to agree.

And for the first time I can remember since the downturn of 2008, the Information sector is up across most of the board (see Table B-1 for details) for April. Overall, Information is up 2K jobs for the month, and only telecommunications (-1K) and data processing, hosting, and related services (-400) are down, and not by terribly much. Publishing (not including Internet) is up 1.9K jobs, and other sectors vary from 300 (motion picture and sound recording) to 800 (other information services). Computer systems design and related services is up 7.9K jobs (a very good harbinger of coming growth in IT, I believe), and management and technical consulting services are likewise up 11.3K jobs (another good sign for IT). Professional and technical services are up a whopping 33K jobs, which is a good overall indicator of real, solid growth.

Folks, we’ve been waiting for a hint of good news for IT for some time now. April, 2011, shows some real signs of improvement. Now, let’s hop it’s  a trend and not a momentary glitch or hiccup!