MCSA: Microsoft Certified System Administrator

January 17, 2009, Posted by Alexandra at 1:27 am

MCSA certification helps IT professionals to advance their career by having much needed skills
to manage and troubleshoot networks in Windows environment. MCSA certified will should
have the following skills

 Installing, managing and troubleshooting a desktop operating system

 Installing, managing and troubleshooting network operating system
 Managing and maintaining networking infrastructure

MCSA Syllabus:

To get MCSA certification for windows server 2003, you must pass four exams.

 Two core exams on networking systems.

 One core exam on client operating systems.
 One elective exam.

If you have an MCSA credential on Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, you can transition your
skills to Windows Server 2003 by taking one exam

Core Exams (Must Pass)

 70-290 Exam (Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment)

 70-291 Exam (Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure)

Core exams on client operating systems (choose one)

 70-6203 Exam (Configuring Windows Vista)

 70-270 Exam (Installing, Configuring, and Administering Windows XP Professional)
 70-210 Exam ( Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional)

Elective exams (choose one)

 70-086 Exam (Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Systems Management Server

2.0)
 70-089 Exam (Designing, Implementing, and Managing a Microsoft Systems
Management Server 2003 Infrastructure)
 70-227 Exam (Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Internet Security
and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000, Enterprise Edition)
 70-228 Exam (Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2000
Enterprise Edition)
  70-235 Exam(Developing Business Process and Integration Solutions Using Microsoft
BizTalk Server)
 70-236 Exam (Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Configuring)
 70-262 Exam (Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 – Implementing,
Managing, and Troubleshooting)
 70-284 Exam (Implementing and Managing Microsoft Exchange Server 2003)
 70-299 Exam (Implementing and Administering Security in a Windows Server 2003
Network)
 70-350 Exam (Implementing Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server
2004)
 70-351 Exam (Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006,
Configuring)
 70-400 Exam (Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007, Configuring)
 70-401 Exam (Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, Configuring)
 70-431 Exam (Microsoft SQL Server 2005 – Implementation and Maintenance)
 70-445 Exam (Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence – Implementation and
Maintenance)
 70-500 Exam (Microsoft Windows Mobile Designing, Implementing, and Managing)
 70-557 Exam (Microsoft Forefront Client and Server, Configuration)
 70-620 Exam (Windows Vista, Configuring)
 70-624 Exam (Deploying and Maintaining Windows Vista Client and 2007 Microsoft
Office System Desktops)
 70-630 Exam (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Configuring)
 70-631 Exam (Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Configuring)
 70-638 Exam (Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Configuring)

MCSA Resources:

Microsoft offers information for it professionals on its learning portal where you can update
yourself about latest news. You can also visit certification blogs and read certification articles on
internet to get in touch.

MCSA Industry Value:

MCSA will allow you to get higher level certification than MCP to show advance skills in
windows environment and MCSA professional is hired as manager in organization to configure ,
manage and troubleshoot windows 2003 server and so MCSA is considered as reliable credential
for promotion and hiring.

Here are job titles which an MCSA certified could have.

 Network Administrator Systems Administrator

 Information Technology Engineer
 Information Systems Administrator
 Network Technician
MCSA Certified Salary?

Here is the salary graph surveyed from United States for mcsa certified professional by payscale.
This information was posted on 16 January 2009.

Finding Exam Centers:

You may register yourself at http://www.prometric.com/default.htm and www.vue.com by

making payment. You can also find your nearest test centers on these websites.

MCSA Prerequisites:

No skill needed to prepare for MCSA certification. You only need to have basic computer
operating system knowledge and computer networking knowledge will be considered as plus
point. Otherwise just go through your study material.

How to Pass MCSA Certification ?

Passing MCSA certification is not tough as compared to MCSE as it  has only 4 exams. 2 exams
you must adopt and 2 exams you may select from list of exams provided for selection.

To pass MCSA certification , you must have sufficient knowledge and about microsoft products
related to this certification, I’ll advise you to subscibe microsoft official blogs, forum and other
IT certification fourms available on internet and see what are latest updates regaring  to this
certification.

Use  practice exams, certification tutorials developed by subject specialist exams expert for
certification preparation.