Chris Stark’s Blog

Yellow,

Ordered Microsoft Technet Subscription earlier today, getting prepared for some serious study towards my MCSA, MCSE, Vista and Windows 2008 Certifications. Really looking forward to firing up some Virtual Machines and playing about…

One thing i want to get into is RIS installations and then migrating users from 2003 server to 2008 (using 64bit Exchange etc).

On another note - Got my contact lenses on Monday! damn i love them, getting them in is a pain but I’m sure this will get easier with time. Had a lenses fall out today because wasn’t in properly (doh!) - No more steaming up glasses!

Starky

Failed again… now i’m starting to get slightly annoyed with this exam!

Hopeing to have this re-booked in 2 weeks which i shall study my a$$ off to pass this…

Chris

Been a while since i’ve posted… still alive!

Passed my Microsoft exam (70-271) yesterday which now means I’m known as Mr MCP! (Microsoft Certified Professional) Got loads more to go but its a start! I used the Microsoft Press Books & Transcender!
It’s coming up to Christmas and i usually put snow on my sites.. and I’m running a bit late with it this year so soon as I’ve finished this I’m going to whack up some snow flakes (if i remember how!!)

Still at College doing my HNC and got my final project this year which is going to be something slightly different then usual… I’m going to be writing a program in the VB.NET language using a MySQL database as the back end!

Anyways, best get the snow up and running and i wish everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year (in case i don’t post again for a month or so!)

Chris

Told ya it wouldn’t be a month…

Work have been kindly enough to allow me to complete my HNC at college! But i have to start studying the Microsoft Certified Support Technician (MCP) for the company, which is not a problem as it’s the way i personally want to go!

My Network+ study is going very well! I’ve got around 200 pages left in the Mike Meyers all in one book (and yes i’m taking it in). Once i’ve completed reading the book i’m moving straight onto the CBT Nuggets trianing videos and loads of practise questions from the mike meyers cdrom and various sites.

So by the end of this year i should be A+, N+ and MCDST qualified! though i would like to get another MCP by the end of the year.

Everything is going great, looking at getting a 03/04 plate Renault Clio around October ish and doing some driving about…

Thats it for now!

// CsTarX

Today i successfully configured my Cisco 2501 router to ping servers on the internet and forward conenctions to my ADSL router.

My Cisco 2501 router doesn’t have a ADSL modem built in, so i had to manually set the default gateway for the Cisco router to my ADSL router which at present is (192.168.0.1). I then had to set a DNS server, again my ADSL router. The Cisco router was getting the IP of google fine but wasn’t pinging it, so i had to enable something (i forgot now, but i enabled about 3 different things at once) and can now ping google.co.uk!

I then changed my default gateway on my XP machine to 192.168.0.30 (Cisco Router) and the Cisco Router was successfully redirecting the connection to my ADSL Router! Otherwise i wouldn’t have been able to access the interweb.

Next job is to limit my speed to a 56k speed and see how slow the Internet is and to see if speed limiting works. I got another Cisco 2503 router which i have a couple of new ideas for.

Might take the CCNA one day!

I’ll retype this due to the extreme bad English in the old one.

I’ll be booking my O/S exam for the 12th of May. 3 weeks i reckon will be enough time to recap my knowledge.

I’m then going to take the N+ exam which i estimate will take me around 4-6 weeks. Followed by the MCDST (Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician) which shoulf take me a little longer but shall be fun to learn.

Once i’m A+ Certified i’ll be applying for loads more jobs in the hope i get something out of it.

// CsTarX

Got a score of 679 and they was suprised how quick i was in and out… (Had 2hr parking max and got there an hour early so had to kinda of speed things up). Took me around 20 minutes. Exam said 1hr and 20 i believe.

Now to do the operating system exam in 5 weeks!, and then i’m CompTIA A+ Certified!.

On my way home… i overtook an old man doing 30 in a 30… fair play to him but i knew once we reached the National Speed Limit he was going to go slow (They always do) so i overtook him. Had to stop at some lights and he was sticking hes fingers up! (looked in rear mirror) lol was funny. Just laughed… anyways got to the national speed limit and well i was doing around 50/55 and he must of been doing 40! i was losing him in my mirror! so the overtook was worth while. Can’t stand people doing less then 60 in national speed limit zones unless the road is proper dodgy… fair play.

// CsTarX

Booked my Comptia A+ Hardware exam for April 21st @ 11am! cost me £82 and a saving off £53.

This gives me over a month to prepare my self for this test, i know my weakness from online tests and such so need to re-read over these or i’m going to fail.

Things are shaping up.

// CsTarX