Thanks to all who responded!
Mark Hargrave
Checkout: http://www.sun.com/sunservice/suned/catalog/csa.html
for more information from Sun Microsystems.
Original Question:
-----------------
Has anyone taken the Certification exams to become a
Certified Solaris Administrator.
How difficult was it?
Answers:
--------
---From: Dan Brainard <brainard@ihs.com>
If you're an experienced solaris admin, it isn't too tough. If you're
not and you've taken the classes, it's a little tougher, but not bad if
you study.
---From: Matt Johnson <iimrj@brightpoint.com>
Myself and two co-workers took the exams.
The first once covered the basics and was around 85 questions.
The second once went into more detail (setting up serial ports, printers,
etc) and was around 85 questions for me also.
Most (85%) were multiple choice with 1 answer the rest were mutiple
choice with more than one answer or fill in the blank. It took me about
1/2 to take each exam.
If you have been involved in UNIX more than a year it should be easy to
pass.
---From: David Schiffrin <daves@adnc.com>
I did it with just the books from tjhe CBT's and it wasn't too bad.
just lots of obscure NIS+ and NFS stuff, and printers is what I remember.
---From charles@Grafnetix.COM Fri Apr 18 14:06:12 1997
I'm not done with the certification yet but I completed three exam.
Solaris System Administration I (Sun Certified - SA135)
Solaris System Administration II (Sun Certified - SA 285)
Solaris Network Administration (Sun Certified - SA 380)
The problem for me was to find information on what's covered in each exam.
Plus, I don't even know what I need to do next to be a CSA (if you have good
pointers...).
Generally speaking, the problem is they ask questions on stuff you might not
use now and you might never use. Exemple, in the printing section, they only
asked questions on the "S5" type commands like lp, lpstat and lpsystem. I
personnaly use lpq, lprm and lpr more so I know less about the options with
the S5 commands. They're all "Multiple Choices" questions like:
Printing on a specific printer:
a) lp -Pprinter -i -q
b) lp -D printer -q
c) lp -dprinter -q -o
I made up the -i -q and -o options but it was just an exemple on the types of
questions. They may also ask stuff like:
Defining a variable in SH:
a) VARIABLE=(item1,item2)
b) VARIABLE=item1:item2
c) set VARIABLE (item1:item2)
d) etc...
You usually have five (5) choices.
They like asking questions on *all* native Solaris stuff like: vi, mailx, etc.
Basically, you have to know your commands and be able to find the problem in a
command easily and quickly. The more you go along the tougher the questions
get and in the networking exam you'll find questions like:
What is the _default_ security level of NIS+:
a) 0
b) 1
c) 2
Or questions on Sendmail.cf and Sendmail generally, DNS config, etc.
If you know what you're doing, you should be fine.
---From cherub@lava.net Fri Apr 18 16:12:11 1997
First exam is fairly easy.
The second is a bit more difficult and more litteral in content. Memorize
the SOlaris Sys Admin I and SYs Admin II books.
THe test covers what is in the books.
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