News

MCSA Becomes Live Title in January

Microsoft principals also reveal possible release date for 70-218, Managing a Windows 2000 Network Exam, during MCSA chat on Wednesday.

• By Kristen McCarthy
• 12/19/2001

According to McSweeney, the Managing a Windows 2000 Network exam (70-218), which is currently in beta, will go live Jan. 22, 2002. "Those who were invited to sit the beta will know of their success or failure in early January," she said.

When it came to deciding who would be asked to take the beta, McSweeney said, "We invited MCPs who fit the MCSA profile—people who passed the Windows 2000 Professional, Win2K Server or Win 2K Network Infrastructure (exams), but who aren't MCSEs."

On the day of its release, there is a likelihood that there will already be a few hundred MCSA title holders. The requirements for the MCSA are as follows:

1. One core client operating systems exam—70-210, Installing, Configuring and Administering Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, or 70-270, Installing, Configuring and Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional (not yet available).
2. One core networking systems exam—70-215, Installing, Configuring and Administering Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, or 70-275, Installing, Configuring and Administering Microsoft Windows .NET Server (not yet available).
3. One required core Networking Systems exam—70-218, Managing a Microsoft Windows 2000 Environment, or 70-278, Managing a Microsoft Windows. NET Network Environment (not yet available).
4. One elective among the following: 70-028, System Administration for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0; 70-081, Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5; 70-086, Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0; 70-216, Implementing and Administering a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure, among others.

Those who have passed the Accelerated Exam (70-240) can apply that exam to requirements A and B. Also, those who have taken specified CompTIA exams can use them as a waiver for requirement D. (The qualifying combination is A+/Network+ or A+/Server+.)

According to Nash, the exam requirements line up with how Microsoft wants every MCSA to prove proficiency in four areas:

1. The business desktop environment. Ideally Windows XP Pro, but Win2K Pro is satisfactory, as well.
2. The server OS environment (Win2K Server).
3. The Win2K networking environment.
4. An elective of the candidate's choice that supports their interest and area of focus.

For more information, visit Microsoft's MCSA main page at www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcp/mcsa/default.asp.

To read a transcript of the chat, click here (or right-click and "Save As...").