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Catatron Prime
Aug 23, 2010

IT ME



Toilet Rascal

flatpack flapjack posted:

This is helpful information. I plan on taking a spin thru Messer's material, and I'll definitely spend some time brushing up on my networking. Suddenly starting to wish I hadn't sold my Network Security textbook back to the bookstore :negative:

Thanks all!
I just took it last week after sitting on my butt on picking up certs for ages.

It's hard in the sense that it's pick the least worst of a bunch of bad answers. It's worthwhile to study for so you know which if the banal answers is it. It's easy, but the questions run the gamut of "someone is peeking in the windows, do you put up fencing, lighting, CCTV, or barricades" to here's this stupidly worded ACL, figure something out. I've been a network admin for three years now, and I thought there's a fifty fifty chance of passing it with zero studying, but it's worthwhile to listen to professor Messer, take some practice tests, and read through the Mike Meyers sec+ passport. One of the practice test sites was much better than the others, I forget which, but probably half the test is either rote knowledge of abbreviations and basic familiarity, and the other half is trying to figure out what they're asking. It's probably easier than the Net+. Also keep in mind they're switching test versions in a few months.

Also, don't forget to buy the academic discount voucher. If you've got a student email, it's a hundred bucks off the regular price.

Also, I got an email from CompTIA saying I now have " stackable certs", which, looking at their choice of abbreviations, is just :psyduck:

"CSCP" and "CCAP" which sound an awful lot like CCNP and other more respected Cisco certs, lol

E: I spent about two weeks studying for it, just fyi. I just read a chapter or more a day in the book, too some practice tests, and listened to the videos when I had downtime or was doing something else. I was going to study longer, but I had a backpacking trip this week and didn't want it hanging over my head. I'm not sure spending longer studying would have helped anyways, to be honest.

Catatron Prime fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Apr 21, 2018

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capitalcomma
Sep 9, 2001

A grim bloody fable, with an unhappy bloody end.
Completed the second Linux+ exam yesterday and passed! Feels good. But...

This was my first CompTIA exam, and I kept finding myself frustrated at how obsolete the material was...maybe half of the material was relevant to modern Linux distributions, and would be useful in administrating a Linux environment.

The other half was "historical" topics...stuff that would have been useful 10 years ago, but now students are expected to learn it for historical context? Waste of time.

Are all of the CompTIA exams like this?

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal
Some worse than others but yes. They want you to be able to support lovely legacy systems as well as modern, so there is some fringe benefit to the obscure stuff.

N+ and A+ are also pretty bad about this but are getting better, in that the obscure stuff is from 10 years ago and not 15+. S+ is better.

Peachfart
Jan 21, 2017

When I took my A+ in 2007, I was still expected to memorize IRQ settings. CompTIA isn't the best on updating their curriculum.

The Illusive Man
Mar 27, 2008

~savior of yoomanity~
Let me tell you something about Windows Vista system requirements.

AnonymousNarcotics
Aug 6, 2012

we will go far into the sea
you will take me
onto your back
never look back
never look back
Vista? My prof just told us we need to know the boot process for xp :wtc:

FCKGW
May 21, 2006

AnonymousNarcotics posted:

Vista? My prof just told us we need to know the boot process for xp :wtc:

XP is still the 3rd most popular OS worldwide. :smith:

vyst
Aug 25, 2009



Passed the 2018 version of the AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam today. Way over-prepared, but i do have AWS experience. Most of the questions were around AWS Lambda and the various storage options (S3, EBS, EFS, Storage Gateway)

Kashuno
Oct 9, 2012

Where the hell is my SWORD?
Grimey Drawer

FCKGW posted:

XP is still the 3rd most popular OS worldwide. :smith:

We have a couple VMs running XP :D

LochNessMonster
Feb 3, 2005

I need about three fitty


vyst posted:

Passed the 2018 version of the AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam today. Way over-prepared, but i do have AWS experience. Most of the questions were around AWS Lambda and the various storage options (S3, EBS, EFS, Storage Gateway)

Cool, I’m going to start preparing for that soon, what materials did you use to study?

YOLOsubmarine
Oct 19, 2004

When asked which Pokemon he evolved into, Kamara pauses.

"Motherfucking, what's that big dragon shit? That orange motherfucker. Charizard."

vyst posted:

Passed the 2018 version of the AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam today. Way over-prepared, but i do have AWS experience. Most of the questions were around AWS Lambda and the various storage options (S3, EBS, EFS, Storage Gateway)

I took it about a year ago and there was almost no Lambda on it. Guess they’re pretty aggressively updating it to spotlight the things they want people to care about.

vyst
Aug 25, 2009



Acloud.guru for CBT and labs
Whizlabs for practice exams
AWS white papers

Pretty cheap materials for the most part

nightchild12
Jan 8, 2005
hi i'm sexy

fromoutofnowhere posted:

Also, in order to get a bit of experience and to hopefully land an entry level job, what tools should I look to get familiar with? I've already got Kali linux on a Virtualbox, but most of the tools in there are new to me other than wireshark and some of the basic Terminal commands in Linux. What do you guys recommend for learning Linux and becoming something more than a casual user?

By far the best book on Linux that I have read is "Your Unix/Linux: The Ultimate Guide" by Sumitabha Das. I first got it as part of a class in college when it was just "Your Unix", and bought the 3rd edition of "Your Unix/Linux" years later. It's distro-agnostic, and focused on scripting and system programming. It does not have any detail on e.g. the tools you'd find in Kali or services you'd be running, just the OS, shell, and programming. Some subjects it just touches on briefly, without giving super in-depth discussion (e.g. networking), and it is pretty out-of-date for most modern Linux distros ("sysadmin" chapter teaches SystemV, doesn't mention file systems past ext3, no SELinux, etc). If you want to be comfortable in a shell, though, it's good at that.

For server admin type stuff, I have an RHCSA (and am about to start studying for the RHCE), and read both Jang and Ghori's books for RHEL7. I prefered the Ghori book, since it seemed more useful as a reference (more tables, mostly) and I like the way it is structured better, but most people in reviews seem to prefer Jang. Either one would have been sufficient, and they both cover pretty much the same material. The latest version of either will give you more information on several of the various services that you'd expect to find running on a modern RHEL7-based distro, plus basic system admin stuff. For non-RHEL-based distros (or older ones), there will be some differences in e.g. package managers, possibly init systems, where configuration files are, and so on.

edit: While I'm in this thread anyway, does anyone have an opinion on if it's worth it to pick up the Security+ cert in between getting my RHCSA (at the beginning of this month) and starting studying for my RHCE? My day-to-day job involves a lot of networking, but I enjoy the stuff I do with Linux a lot and figure that the networking experience + red hat / security certs might look good / well-rounded to prospective employers in the future. I also have an MEF-CECP2.0, which is probably not all that useful on a resume, but my employer paid for it and it is nice to have a common vocabulary with telco carriers' engineers.

nightchild12 fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Apr 24, 2018

fromoutofnowhere
Mar 19, 2004

Enjoy it while you can.
Thanks! That book is a bit out of my price range right now, but it's on the list.

sniper4625
Sep 26, 2009

Loyal to the hEnd
Does anyone have recommendations for Net+ study material?

Catatron Prime
Aug 23, 2010

IT ME



Toilet Rascal

sniper4625 posted:

Does anyone have recommendations for Net+ study material?

The Mike Meyers books worked well for me

AnonymousNarcotics
Aug 6, 2012

we will go far into the sea
you will take me
onto your back
never look back
never look back

sniper4625 posted:

Does anyone have recommendations for Net+ study material?

PMed you like 7 times

sniper4625
Sep 26, 2009

Loyal to the hEnd

AnonymousNarcotics posted:

PMed you like 7 times

Obliged 7 times over. Thanks thread!

Woof Blitzer
Dec 29, 2012

[-]
Kind of a dumb question, but would 4 months be enough time to get CCENT and A+/Net+? Assuming I have 7 days a week to focus on learning.

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal

Woof Blitzer posted:

Kind of a dumb question, but would 4 months be enough time to get CCENT and A+/Net+? Assuming I have 7 days a week to focus on learning.

Yes if you have a year or two of network job experience, otherwise no.

Why A+?

vyst
Aug 25, 2009



Woof Blitzer posted:

Kind of a dumb question, but would 4 months be enough time to get CCENT and A+/Net+? Assuming I have 7 days a week to focus on learning.

It took me 30 days to get the full CCNA with 100% dedication to studying so it really depends on if you're dumb irl in general or not and how quickly you get stuff.

Woof Blitzer
Dec 29, 2012

[-]
I’m switching job fields and I’m trying to get my foot in the door while I go to school.

Sprechensiesexy
Dec 26, 2010

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Woof Blitzer posted:

Kind of a dumb question, but would 4 months be enough time to get CCENT and A+/Net+? Assuming I have 7 days a week to focus on learning.

Don't know about the A+/Net+ as these carry no weight in this part of the world.

But 4 months for a CCENT at 7 days a weeks should be enough provided you have any kind of affinity with networking.

Kazinsal
Dec 13, 2011



Anyone have experience with the Nutanix NPX cert? I can't even find any information on it.

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal

Woof Blitzer posted:

I’m switching job fields and I’m trying to get my foot in the door while I go to school.

Skip the A+. It's useless if you have literally any other cert.

And if you get ccent, N+ is mostly fodder, so don't worry about getting both. If you don't have networking experience, N+ and then ccent is a good track to take.

The Illusive Man
Mar 27, 2008

~savior of yoomanity~

Woof Blitzer posted:

Kind of a dumb question, but would 4 months be enough time to get CCENT and A+/Net+? Assuming I have 7 days a week to focus on learning.

Getting all 3 in 4 months would be rough I would think. Earlier this month I obtained the CCENT as my first cert and it took me 2 months of studying at 10-15 hours a week.

Even if you have 7 days a week to study, ask yourself how much time you can actually devote to useful, productive learning. Most people hit a point of diminishing returns after a few hours of continuous study.

CrazyLittle
Sep 11, 2001





Clapping Larry

nightchild12 posted:

("sysadmin" chapter teaches SystemV, doesn't mention file systems past ext3, no SELinux, etc).

what, no murderFS?

SamDabbers
May 26, 2003



CrazyLittle posted:

what, no murderFS?

They should let ol' Hans have a laptop so he can keep working on it.

Edit: He should be out in 2023. Maybe he'll pick it up again?

SamDabbers fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Apr 26, 2018

YOLOsubmarine
Oct 19, 2004

When asked which Pokemon he evolved into, Kamara pauses.

"Motherfucking, what's that big dragon shit? That orange motherfucker. Charizard."

Kazinsal posted:

Anyone have experience with the Nutanix NPX cert? I can't even find any information on it.

If you’re not working for Nutanix or a VAR then you probably shouldn’t care about it.

nightchild12
Jan 8, 2005
hi i'm sexy

CrazyLittle posted:

what, no murderFS?

It lists the following "standard file systems and their types": s5, ufs, ext2 or ext3, iso9660 or hsfs, msdos or pcfs, swap, bfs, proc or procfs. There's also a section on commands to work with floppy disks. Cutting edge stuff.

nightchild12 fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Apr 26, 2018

Kazinsal
Dec 13, 2011



YOLOsubmarine posted:

If you’re not working for Nutanix or a VAR then you probably shouldn’t care about it.

I work for a VAR and am pretty much the SME for Nutanix related stuff here so I'm eyeballing the NPX.

evelyn87
Mar 20, 2009

We all can be only who we are, nothing more, no less.
Passed the (ISC)˛ SSCP.

edit: Tipped off that the NDA literally means can't discuss even my opinion of the exam.

Onward to CISSP I go!

evelyn87 fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Apr 30, 2018

Super-NintendoUser
Jan 16, 2004

COWABUNGERDER COMPADRES
Soiled Meat
Just passed the RHCSA again. Need to start on the RHCE now.

LochNessMonster
Feb 3, 2005

I need about three fitty


Congrats to both of you!

Edit: to elaborate, I really wanted to go for RHCE but my boss pointed out it doesn’t improve my resume much. I have 10+ years of linux experience and that probably means more than upgrading my RHCSA to RHCE.

And he’s probably right.

I also wanted to knock out an AWS Solution Architect Associate which does add something to my resume, but I’m not sure if no AWS experience makes it really hard or worthwile. My current job will not include AWS working experience.

So I’m wondering if I should go for some certs for generic “DevOps” tooling I (now) get to work with on a daily basis. Problem is that I don’t know if there are certs for stuff like Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, etc, let alone if they are worth pursuing.

Basically, I don’t know what to go for next.

LochNessMonster fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Apr 30, 2018

guppy
Sep 21, 2004

sting like a byob
I work in networking and have a CCNA already, but I was thinking of taking a deeper dive and pursuing a CCNP R/S to set myself apart a little more. Is there an accepted set of books for these exams? Lammle doesn't appear to offer any, and the last time I looked at an official Cisco book was about ten years ago and I wasn't very impressed with it then.

guppy fucked around with this message at 17:02 on May 5, 2018

Judge Schnoopy
Nov 2, 2005

dont even TRY it, pal
The Bryant advantage is a seriously good resource for CCNA and ccnp. He puts a lot of work into updating his courses and tries to focus on what's on the test instead of what's in the book.

It's also really helpful when you can see the command line work in real time to get an understanding of where outputs come from on test questions.

a messed up horse
Mar 11, 2014

by Nyc_Tattoo

Lets Get Patchy posted:

What's the general consensus on the RHCSA cert? I was going to go for the Sever 2012 but I really like working with Unix. What's the best bang for the buck for a fresh graduate?


I found it difficult, too. I did study my rear end off for it, but I've never worked in IT in a professional setting, only my classes and home lab stuff. Being said, it was my first cert test so there's that.

I found RHCSA kind of fun, actually. They sit you at a computer with a VM to configure according to some given specifications, and as long as you get it done and your changes persist through reboots they don't give a gently caress how you did it. No internet access, obviously, so get good at reading man pages.

Studying for it fresh out of school will give you a lot of confidence working in RHEL, if that's what you want to do for a living.

Super-NintendoUser
Jan 16, 2004

COWABUNGERDER COMPADRES
Soiled Meat

a messed up horse posted:

I found RHCSA kind of fun, actually. They sit you at a computer with a VM to configure according to some given specifications, and as long as you get it done and your changes persist through reboots they don't give a gently caress how you did it. No internet access, obviously, so get good at reading man pages.

Studying for it fresh out of school will give you a lot of confidence working in RHEL, if that's what you want to do for a living.

I agree. It's an interesting completely practical exam, no multiple-choice or anything.

The Illusive Man
Mar 27, 2008

~savior of yoomanity~
Has anyone had experience with Pluralsight's SYO-501 course? It's about 18 hours long versus Professor Messer's 13-14 hour course, and I feel like every bit of those extra 4 hours is just the instructor repeating topics he's already covered. Like, a topic will be covered for one section of the course, then later on, he'll bring up the topic again as part of a related heading and repeat the exact information almost verbatim. "As we mentioned before, honeynets are..."

This has to be one of the most exhausting note-taking courses I've ever done also. It hits you with dozens upon dozens of topics/terms that all apparently deserve their own heading/video section (thus, worthy of writing in your notebook) but then only covers any of them for 1-2 minutes at most. My notes so far feel like basically just a list of flashcards.

I'm still only in the first half of the course so hoping there's a bit more practical application of knowledge coming in the second half.

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Kashuno
Oct 9, 2012

Where the hell is my SWORD?
Grimey Drawer
“Just enough about a topic to fit on a flash card” is the CompTIA motto

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