It’s a Virtual, Virtual World Out there!

It's the wave of the future - it's new AND improved - be the first in your neighborhood to go..VIRTUAL (and no, this is not about that on-line game where your doppelganger resides wither).  Virtualization is the wave of the future and for a variety of reasons.  You can virtualize a number of physical servers into a single physical server. Fewer physical boxes running reduces the amount of energy consumed as well as reducing the amount of cooling needed. Now you might be asking yourself just what does this have to do with Microsoft and Microsoft Certifications?  Well...seems the fine folks in Redmond have some great courses on virtualization and a real sweet enticement as well.

Virtualization is a proven technology with Microsoft having several different virtualization products available (Virtual PC has been used in the classrooms for several years).  Because of this, a number of classes and tests are available to help you learn about and deploy a virtual environment.  What is even more attractive is that you can also get a Second shot on the tests to boot!  Currently there are three tests available, with a fourth soon to be released:

                Exam 70-403 TS: System Center Virtual Machine Manager, Configuring (available soon)

                Exam 70-643 TS: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure, Configuring

                Exam 70-652 TS: Windows Server 2008 Virtualization, Configuring

                Exam 70-656 TS: Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, Configuring

Now how does the Second Shot come in to all of this?  When you register for one of these exams (which, by the way you should do soon), you can sign up for a Second Shot - in case you don't get the requisite score to pass (which I am sure will not be the situation in your case...) you can take the test again.  Now to help you even more with these tests, Microsoft has made four e-learning courses available - for free!  Yes, that's right, free!  The current e-learning virtualization courses available are:

                Clinic 5935: Introducing Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008

                Clinic 6394: Exploring Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager

                Clinic 6335: Exploring Microsoft Application Management

                Clinic 6336: Exploring Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008

Here is the link you can use to access these e-learning courses: http://learning.microsoft.com/Manager/Catalog.aspx?clang=en-US&dtype=Catalog&Sort=TitleAscending&page=1&search=virtualization

So, what is stopping you?  You get a free Second Shot at the exam and the training (well, e-learning training) is free as well!  Go forth and Virtualize!

• Microsoft