MCSE\MCSA\Windows 8 Certification

This Video looks at Certification paths current/old of Microsoft Certifications like MCSA and the new MCSE certifications.

Microsoft have arranged their certification into a pyramid. The positions of the pyramid indicates the difficulty obtaining that certification. If you are new to certification you should start at the associate level. In order to obtain a higher level you will need to obtain the level below. For example, to obtain the expert level you will also need to obtain the associate level.

MCTS (Associate)
Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist certification is being retired. Current MCTS exams will be expired when mainstream support ends. In order to obtain an MCTS you will to complete 1 to 3 exams depending on which MCTS you go for. Currently there are 20 different technologies that you can get MCTS. Microsoft has stated that no new MCTS certifications will be created.

MCSA 2008 (Associate)
Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate looks at configuring and supporting an Active Directory environment using Windows Server 2008. In order to obtain this certification you need to pass the following 3 exams.
70-640 Active Directory
70-642 Network Infrastructure
70-646 Server Administrator
If you want to update an MCSA 2008 to an MCSA in 2012 you can sit the 417 exam which is available to 31th July 2014. For these reasons, if you have already passed exams for MCSA 2008, it may be worth your time completing the MCSA 2008 and upgrading rather than starting again on the MCSA 2012 certification.

MCSA 2012 (Associate)
Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate 2012 is aimed at supporting Windows Server 2012. In order to obtain this certification you need to complete 3 exams listed below.
410 Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012
411 Administering Windows Server 2012
412 Configuring Advanced Windows Server 2012 Services

MCITP (Expert)
Microsoft Certified IT Professional is being retired. As new technology is released the relevant MCITP certification is being retired. Currently almost all MCITP certification expect Exchange, Sharepoint and Lync have expiry dates of July 31 2013. Some MCITP certification based on technology earlier than 2008 will be retired on September 30 2012. When new technology to replace Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010 and Lync 2010 has been released, these certifications will also be retired.
If you have obtained any of the 5 MCITP certification listed below you can sit the 417 exam to upgrade your certification to MCSA 2012.
MCITP: Virtualization Administrator
MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator
MCITP: Lync Server Administrator
MCITP: SharePoint Administrator
MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator
MCSA: Windows Server 2008

MCSE (Expert)
Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert was previously known as Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. It was retired and replace with other certification like MCITP and MCSA. This confused a lot of people as MCSE was seen as a brand name. The problem with the old MCSE is that some people objective to the term Engineer. To get the brand name back and to remove the Engineer from the name it was renamed to Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert. Unlike the previous Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert looks a solutions based on the current technology at the time. In order for someone to keep an MCSE certification, they will need to recertify as new technology it released. This is different from the old MCSE which was based on one technology.

In order to obtain an MCSE you first need to obtain an in MCSE 2008. Once you obtain this certifcation you have a choice of 3 different MCSE certification listed below. Each MCSE certification required 2 more exams.
Desktop Infrastructure
415 Implementing a Desktop Infrastructure
416 Implementing Desktop Application Environments
Server Infrastructure
413 Designing and Implementing a Server Infrastructure
414 Implementing an Advanced Server Infrastructure

[itfreetraining]

Thanks for watching. More videos to come.

[itfreetraining]

That is good to hear. Thanks for watching our videos.

[itfreetraining]

We are working on Windows Server 2012 videos at present. We will start releasing videos on Windows Server 2012 soon.

[itfreetraining]

Thanks very much. I know what you mean. It took us a while to find the information for this video from the Microsoft web site.

[itfreetraining]

No problem at all, thanks for watching.

[itfreetraining]

It depends on you want to go into. The admin certs are for more if you want to go into support. The programming certs are more if you want to be a programmer.

[itfreetraining]

AD, DNS, DHCP etc are roles in Windows Server 2008. I guess Microsoft consider server administration looking after the server, not looking after and configuring the roles on the server.

[itfreetraining]

I don't quite understand the question. The Active Directory exam looks at how to administrator and set up Active Directory. It does not look at day to day server administration.

[itfreetraining]

I will add some information about upgrading from the MCSA windows 7 to MCSA Windows 8. Thanks for pointing that out. It is refereed to as a stand alone because it does not count towards other courses. The wording is a bit Ambiguous so I will look at changing it. Thanks for pointing that also.

[ocpropertypromotions]

What an incredible resource. I am forwarding all the it staff in my organization about your site.

[itfreetraining]

No problem. Thanks for watching are videos.

[itfreetraining]

At this stage Microsoft have not released a retirement date for MCSA 2008.

[itfreetraining]

I don't the answer to this one. You can always use the caption option to translate the videos into French if that helps.

[itfreetraining]

In order to get one of these you need to get an MCSM or an MCM. It is the next level up and is very hard to obtain.

[itfreetraining]

Thanks very much. That helps us a lot.

[dellthinker]

Yes but Windows 2003 Server comes with a AD installation after you install the operating system, that's why I thought that AD would be considered server administration seeing how you need the DNS server and the optional DHCP server

[itfreetraining]

We don't provide videos or training materials in French. We unfortunately can not help you.

[mahiguru]

thank you Sir..
you have help my future :)

[CLos]

Thanks for having this! helped me a lot to understand the process. Currently have an A+ Network+ and a Security+, dont know what path to take, I'm interested in the security area. FYi, I havent found a job, sucks. Send a message to my inbox. Thanks again.

[increase]

I am a student at DeVry University Online pursuing a degree in Network Systems Administration. I have a customer service inside sales background, and I would like to know if Microsoft Certs such as Windows 8 would be a good start for me or should I go for the Comptia A+ and Network + as many have suggested.