Your friendly neighborhood virtualization guy. VMware ESX, XenServer, SAN's and more!

I recently had the pleasure of attending VMware View: Desktop Fast Track [V5.1] online.  We bought this directly from VMware, which gives you the (BONUS!) free voucher for the VMware Certified Professional 5 – Desktop examination.  The Fast Track class is actually a 5 day version of 2 standard classes (boot camp style) – it combines View 5.1 Install, Manage, Configure (4 days) with View 5.1 Design (3 days) into one fun filled 5 day week.  VMware says:

This fast-paced, extended-hours training course includes the content of the following courses:
•  VMware View: Install, Configure, Manage
•  VMware View: Design Best Practices
This hands-on training course builds your skills in the VMware® View™ suite: VMware® View Manager™, VMware® View Composer™, and VMware® ThinApp®. The course provides applications-oriented administrators with the knowledge and skills to virtualize Windows applications with ThinApp and to choose the best deployment and updating processes for their environment. The course also presents a methodology for analyzing and designing a View solution for the VMware® vSphere® infrastructure.

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UPDATE! CISSP granted to me on Sep 22, 2011!

Security is one of the many things I do.  I chose to go after the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) for a variety of reasons.  One and perhaps the most important is that it is required for many, if not most, upper level IT jobs in the Federal Government, whether you are an actual Federal Employee or a contractor (DoDD 8570).  So having CISSP is one of “those certifications” that are commonly listed on many job announcements.  I got serious about studying for the CISSP at the beginning of 2011, and I took the ISC(2) CISSP examination for on July 23, 2011 in San Francisco.

It takes ISC(2) a while to score the paper and pencil tests, but I received notification today that I passed!  Whew!  I didn’t want to have to take that one again.  (I guess the score reporting times vary, but it took me 17 days, a couple of weeks, to get email notification.  That’s in line with what ISC(2) says…)

I’m not officially a CISSP until ISC(2) processes my endorsement paperwork, I’m working on that. UPDATE! CISSP granted to me on Sep 22, 2011!

Read on for my thoughts about getting ready for the CISSP and what I did to prepare.

To recap ISC(2)’s turnaround times:

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If you live in San Luis Obispo, CA area, there are no local Prometric or Pearson Vue test centers.  Cuesta College used to run one, but there was some sort of political hoopla over it and they decided to close it.  Your choices now are all like 100+ miles away.

Here’s my thoughts on the test centers I’ve actually been to.  I think that most (all?) of these do both Prometric and Pearson Vue.  I like Vue.  I like their registration process and using their website better.  Prometric’s website is clunky and often hangs and freezes in the middle of enrollment which always makes me wonder “Did that go through?  Should I click submit again?”

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I recently had the pleasure of attending an Accelerated NCDA Boot Camp Data ONTAP 8.0 7-Mode class in El Segundo, CA, April  March 04-08, 2011.  We purchased the training from Fastlane, one of NetApp’s authorized training partners.  The class was hosted by Microtek in El Segundo, CA.  If you get a chance to go to one of these, do it!  NetApp says:

Prepare for success when taking the NS0-154 NetApp® Certified Data Management 7-Mode Administrator Exam. Through lectures and labs, you will learn the essential features and functions of the Data ONTAP® 8.0 7-Mode operating system including network-attached storage administration and storage area networks configuration. This course, paired with the Data ONTAP 8.0 7-Mode Administration course, will enable you to become a certified NetApp data administrator.

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I sometimes teach at Cuesta College, a California community college in San Luis Obispo.  Cuesta recently became a CompTIA Education To Careers (E2C) member.  During the process of becoming a member, it was mentioned that E2C was being “rebranded”.    Well, it’s official.  E2C is now CompTIA Authorized Partner Program.

The CompTIA Authorized Academy Program offers a robust educational program designed to assist academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and government retraining agencies. It is designed to extend the reach and impact of education and enhance the learning experience to prepare learners for careers in information technology (IT).  Through partnership and collaboration, CompTIA seeks to assist academic partners by providing tools, resources, and support to help institutions:

Assist students in choosing IT subjects as their field of study

Maximize student outcomes that foster long-term career growth

Improve financial and operational efficiency

Develop a valuable IT educational curriculum