Resources that each Administrator/IT Pro/Power User should have.
Information on how to secure your server. Some of the best third-party administrative tools in the market. In otherworks could you leave home/work without it... probibly not. Some of the information here will also be loacated on the LINKS page for ease of use.
If you’re thinking about certification or sweating it out studying for your first test, this list of links will help you prepare for the exams.
This list is not meant to be comprehensive or even to contain the top10 certification preparation sites. What you will find here is a group of Web sites that offers affordable certification help. Some information is free, some information costs between $10 and $50. Selftestsoftware.com (http://www.selftestsoftware.com/shop/) has a lot of great practice tests for sale, but who wants to pay upwards of $100 to practice when you’ve already spent a chunk of change on the cert class itself?
Some sites listed here do have a lot of software for sale, but they also offer demo copies of the software that you can download and try out. These shorter tests will let you sample the format of the for-a-fee exams and test your skills to see how much studying you still need to do. After completing the sample test, you can decide from there if you want to shell out the money for the complete tests.
You should also use this list to link you to other test takers. There is a huge community of certification students on the Web who communicate through bulletin boards, forums, and study groups. These connections to people going through the same test stress can be as valuable as practice tests.
If you are an instructor trying to help students with certification preparation, this list will expand your Web resources beyond cramsession.com (http://cramsession.brainbuzz.com/). All of the sites mentioned below have links to lots of information not included on their own pages. You could study for years if you followed all the links that these pages have to offer.
One technical note: We have tried to make sure that all the links in this document fit on one line. However, if they do break over onto two lines, you may need to copy and paste the link into your browser to get it to work. Also, while we have checked and double-checked these links, they may change or move over time. If you find a bad link, let us know and we’ll fix it In the meantime, happy studying!
(http://home.about.com/index.htm)
This site, which features discussions on a huge variety of topics led by guides, has a lot of information on Windows. In the computing/technology section, there is a subcategory, Focus on Windows 2000/NT, and within that category there is a section on training and certification.
About Windows 2000 NT: Training and Certification
(http://windows2000.about.com/compute/windows2000/msub07.htm)
This page has a huge list of links and information. The main categories are:
(http://www.ccprep.com/)
CCPrep.com is an independent company that helps students prepare for certifications. Membership is free and includes:
http://www.certificationzone.com/
This is an independent study area for Cisco certifications. This area features study guides and simulated exams that cover Cisco's CCIE and CCNA certifications.
(http://www.certificationzone.com/demo/
Membership includes:
(http://www.comptia.org)
CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association, is a 17-year-old association representing over 7,500 computer hardware and software manufacturers, distributors, retailers, resellers, VARs, system integrators, and training, service, telecommunications, and Internet companies. In addition to providing a unified voice for the industry in the areas of public policy, workforce development, and electronic commerce standards, CompTIA certifies information technology and service professionals with its widely adopted and vendor-neutral certification programs.
(http://www.mcmcse.com/)
MC MCSE provides extensive certification information and prep materials for free. It is affiliated with TechTutorials.com, which is also described on this site. It covers these certifications:
The certification topics are listed in the left navigation bar. The page for each type of certification is set up differently, but they all include information on:
(http://www.mcsetutor.com)
This site is designed to help people who are studying on their own for Microsoft and Cisco exams. It offers:
(http://www.mcsetutor.com/FreeTests.html)
This page contains links to dozens of free MCSE practice exams on the Internet. The following tests are listed on the left navigation bar of this site:
Softpanorama: Open Source Software Educational Society
(http://www.softpanorama.org/Sysadmin/certification.shtml)
Softpanorama (which the site defines as “slightly skeptical”) offers computer science-related content for schools and universities all over the globe. This site offers:
(http://www.syngress.com/)
Syngress Media, Inc. is an independent company that produces books, software, and Internet-based exam preparation tools for the IT professional. Thy have published over 55 certification study guides and professional references. Their site offers IT books and certification software that cover:
(http://www.syngress.com/Marketing/demo.htm)
This page represents the free aspect of the site and has a list of demo tests you can download. These demos, called Personal Testing Centers, are Explorer applications that combine exam simulation, reference material, and skills assessment. All of the questions come from Syngress’ study guides, which include Windows 2000 Server System Administration Handbook and Configuring Windows 2000 Server Security. The questions have been prepared by MCSEs, MCSDs, CCIEs, and/or A+ Certified Technicians and reviewed by Certified Trainers for accuracy and realism.
The testing centers cover:
(http://www.4tests.com/)
This site includes IT exams as well as high school and college standardized tests. Here is a list of the free NT and Sun exams it offers:
(http://www.4tests.com/downloads.asp)
4tests.com’s download page also has some helpful information:
(http://www.4tests.com/links.asp)
Links on this page include:
(http://www.techtutorials.com/)
TechTutorials.com is a huge resource for free materials. This site has links to almost 1,000 free tutorials on the web as well as offering a few of their own study materials. The site says, “TechTutorials is the Internet's only search engine solely dedicated to providing links that point directly to the free tutorials and whitepapers across a broad spectrum of computer related topics.”
TechTutorials.com also offers its own training materials:
(http://www.test.com/scripts/home.exe?)
At Test.com, some tests are free, but some require credits. To take these tests, you must create an account and purchase credits. Credits are worth $.10 each, and you have to buy a minimum of $10 in credits. Most tests, such as those covering UNIX and NT, are 10 credits each.
You also can create your own test. Most of these are frivolous, “Star Trek—how die hard are you?” and “Pokemon Test,” but there are certification applications for this tool.
(http://www.test.com/scripts/viewcat.exe?sid~5UliGLmO6KyHzy8/cols~3/cat~23)
Test.com offers tests on these programming languages:
(http://www.testfree.com)
Parts of this site are free but you have to pay a membership fee to get access to certain areas. The subscription fee for the members area is $19.95 for one month or $39.95 for one year and gives you access to over 1,000 tough questions including adaptive mode exams. TESTFREE.com exams cover MCSE, CNE and A+ tests. You can take every exam we have as many times as you like with membership.
(http://www.testfree.com/exams.asp)
These are the free exams that they offer:
Windows NT Systems: NT Certification
(http://www.ntsystems.com/ntcert.shtml)
This page is from the archives of Windows NT Systems, the magazine for Windows NT systems management and administration. The page has a list of articles on how to pass a variety of Microsoft exams going back to 1997.
(www.ntsystems.com/db_area/archive/1999/9902/302c2.shtml)
This link to an article on how to pass the TCP/IP exam is a sample of the archived articles.