The Sun Certified Network Administrator for Solaris 9 Certification

The certification program currently includes one exam, the Sun Certified Network Administrator for the Solaris 9 Operating Environment (Exam 310-044) exam. The exam covers local area networks, the TCP/IP Model, Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) and Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP), basic Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) configuration, Routing with IPv4, Multipathing with IPv4, Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), the Transport layer, Domain Name System (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), and Network Time Protocol (NTP).

To become a certified network administrator, you must already be a Sun Certified System Administrator, having passed the exams for any of the Solaris releases, 2.5, 2.6, 7, 8, or 9. This is a prerequisite that must be satisfied before you can take the Solaris 9 network administrator exam. The exam itself consists of 64 questions, and you have 105 minutes to complete the exam. You must attain a pass mark of 70% to pass the exam.

The questions on the exam will be of the following types:

• Multiple choice, single answer (only a single answer is correct).

• Multiple choice, multiple answers (multiple answers are correct and you have to get them all to score the point).

• Multiple match (drag-and-drop style, where a number of terms are displayed along with a number of answers ”you have to use the mouse to drag the correct answer box and drop it on the corresponding term ).

• Free response (where you have to enter the required command on the keyboard in a space provided).

It is not uncommon for the entire network administrator certification process to take six months, and many individuals find that they must take the test more than once to pass it. The primary goal of the Exam Cram 2 series is to make it possible, given proper study and preparation, to pass the exam on the first try.

Although certification is associated with a particular version of the Solaris Operating Environment, there is no requirement to recertify. After a Solaris version becomes obsolete, however, being certified on that version will have little value, so it would be in your best interest to work on the certification for the next version of Solaris. Also, unfortunately there is no upgrade exam for the Network Administrator certification, unlike the Sun Certified System Administrator certification, where a single upgrade exam can be taken to become certified on the next Solaris version.

In the past, Sun has used the certification requirements and test objectives from the previous version as a starting point for the next version. So after you've been certified on a version of Solaris, you should be very familiar with most of the test objectives for certification in the next version of Solaris. Only about 15 “20% of objectives seem to have changed between Solaris 8 and Solaris 9, the majority of those in the IPv6 section and the DHCP section.

The best place to keep tabs on Sun's certification program is on the Sun Web site. The current URL for Sun's Network Administrator program is http://training.sun.com/US/certification/solaris/ netadmin .html. Sun's certification Web site changes frequently, so if this URL fails to work, then try using the Search tool on Sun's main Web site, http://www.sun.com, using keywords such as "certification" or "network administrator" as the search string. This will help you to find the latest and most accurate information about the company's certification programs.