With Windows Server 2008 right around the corner, I thought it might be interesting to see where they were going with not only the new version of the certs but also the security specializations.

As you may have heard, the title MCSE is going bye-bye in place of MCITP (MS Certified IT Professional). MS makes no excuse for changing the title as they were sued by almost every global organization and some governments over their use of the word "engineer." So it was their intention for quite some time to get rid of it. So while they were changing the name, they also decided to change the entire program based more on job duties and with a shorter exam track IE less exams.

This new way of doing their certifications have been around for a little while starting with SQL Server 2005. Since this is the first major upgrade (barring R2) of their server platform, it is just now catching up to the current group of MCSAs and MCSEs.

Few interesting points to mention:

1. MCSA and MCSE will never expire. They will just eventually lose their value as people eventually move away from Server 2003, although that won't happen for quite some time.
2. The new MCITP credential will have only a 3 year life-span and will have a recertification requirement, although only 1 exam will meet that requirement.
3. There is NO security specialization with the MCITP. Instead, MS says that security is included as part of the normal content covered by the study materials and exams.

For more info on Server 2008 certs:
https://www.microsoft.com/learning/windowsserver2008/default.mspx

MS will however continue their big push into security with their Forefront family of products of which ISA Server 2006 is now a part. Speaking of which, after more than a year on the market, MS is finally releasing an exam for ISA Server 2006. The MS page with details of this new exam isn't up yet, but you can get some early details from a blog run by some of the MS employees:

http://blogs.msdn.com/trika/archive/2007/11/22/get-certified-on-isa-server-2006.aspx

Here some more info on the Forefront Security Product Line:
http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/prodinfo/overview.mspx

So bottom line is if you want a MS specific credential with security as a focus, a Forefront product certification exam seems to be your only option. We'll see how this all pans out in 2008.

Here are a few links to free MS security training:
- MS's own eLearning for Windows Server 2008
- ISA expert Dr. Tom Shinder's site, http://www.isaserver.org
- MS site introducing Forefront technologies with case studies, trial downloads and virtual labs.

Hope you found this of interest,
Don

Interesting info.

Thanks guys!