Introduction to the CLE Test Environment

Let's discuss the CLE exam in a little more detail. As mentioned earlier, the CLE exam is called a "practical" exam, and you may hear it referred to as "The CLE Practicum." They mean one and the same thing.

Why Practical Exams Are Used

Traditional certification exams in the IT industry usually provide the student with a series of multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and matching questions, as shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1. Traditional testing method.

The strength of these types of exams is the fact that they are very effective at evaluating your mastery of theoretical concepts. They are also easier to create and deliver.

Their weakness is the fact that they don't test your ability to actually perform the tasks specified in the objectives. In other words, they tend to evaluate what you know instead of what you can do. You may have heard the term paper certified before. This term refers to network administrators who have passed the multiple-choice exam for their certification, but who can't actually perform on the job. Novell wanted to make sure this situation didn't happen with the CLE certification.

Novell has been a pioneer in the field of practical testing since its Certified Directory Engineer (CDE) certification was introduced in 1999. Novell has implemented exams that present you with a scenario and then require you, without guidance, to determine the proper resolution and to implement that resolution correctly.

The strength of this strategy is that it truly verifies whether you have mastered the skills specified in the objectives.

Students who pass a practical test are much more likely to be able to perform better on the job than those who pass traditional exams only. To a job applicant , this is of high value. It gives you bargaining power with an employer, allowing you to provide a higher degree of verification of your skill set.

Unfortunately, "certified" IT job applicants have burned many employers over the years . Because their skills were only verified at the conceptual level, their ability to actually do the job was sometimes less than what was necessary.

Practical certification testing helps employers filter out less qualified job applicants. When you apply for a job, employers can have a higher degree of confidence in your abilities if you have successfully completed a practical exam.

You should, however, be aware that the pass rate on practical exams tends to be much lower than traditional exams. To pass the CLE practical exam, you will probably have to spend twice as much time preparing as you would for a traditional certification exam. Interestingly, Novell reports that even though the pass rate on the CLE exam is lower than a traditional exam, most candidates feel the test was a fair one ”even those that fail. Some exam-preparation tips are presented later in this chapter.

How the CLE Practicum Works

The CLE Practicum is composed of the components shown in Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2. The CLE Practicum.

The role of each of these components is as follows .

The Testing Center Computer

The first component in the CLE Practicum is the testing center computer. In order to complete the Practicum, you must schedule a test with a Novell education partner center. This can be done by visiting http://practicum.novell.com/partner_search.php. At the testing center, you will use a Web browser on the testing center computer to access the virtual servers running on the Novell server. The CLE exam interface is shown in Figure 1.3.

Figure 1.3. The CLE Practicum interface.

The Novell Server

The second component in the Practicum is the Novell server. This server is maintained at Novell's Provo campus and is used to run VMWare, a product that allows multiple operating systems to be run simultaneously on a single computer. More information about VMWare can be found at http://www.vmware.com.

Virtual Servers

The final Practicum component is the group of virtual server sessions running on the Novell server. Each session represents a SUSE Linux server. These servers have been preconfigured using a specific scenario.

Depending on what scenario you are required to complete, you may find that these servers have been deliberately configured incorrectly. To pass the exam, you must correct any errors and implement the requirements of the scenario in these virtual servers.

CLE Practicum Tips and Strategies

When you are in the testing center taking your CLE Practicum, you should keep the following tips in mind. They will save you a lot of trouble!

• Follow all the instructions to the letter! When you begin your exam, you will be presented with detailed instructions on how to complete the exam. Don't skip reading these.

• You are accessing the virtual servers using a TCP/IP connection. You should never change the IP address, subnet mask, router address, or DNS server address of your virtual servers. Doing so will disrupt your ability to access them.

• You will be automatically logged in to the virtual server as a non-root user . If you need root-level access, you should open a terminal session and use the su- command. Under no circumstances should you log out. You won't be able to log back in.

• Remember that the virtual Linux server has several key processes running on it that provide you with remote access at the testing center. Don't kill a running process unless you are absolutely sure you know what it is first. If you accidentally kill a process that provides remote access, your session will be closed.

• You should never exit the X Windows System. If you need access to a shell prompt, open a terminal session.

• If you need to restart your server, use the reboot command. You should never use the halt or logout command.

• On occasion, your mouse cursor may disappear when using Mozilla within the virtual server desktop. It may or may not come back. (Sometimes wiggling the mouse quickly will cause it to reappear.) If you can't get your cursor back, you must exit Mozilla by pressing Ctrl+Q and then restart it.

• It can take some time to load iManager on your server for the first time. Be patient. After it is loaded into memory on your virtual server, it should run at a reasonable speed thereafter.

• Remember that you are completing the exam on a virtual server being accessed through a remote-access Web connection. It's going to run much slower than a real server. Exercise patience and don't get "click happy."

As mentioned previously, passing the CLE Practicum will require considerably more effort than traditional certification exams. Before you start studying the CLE objectives, we need to spend some time in this chapter discussing some test-taking strategies that will help you be successful in your Practicum experience.

Read the Scenario

Remember that the CLE Practicum is scenario based. Novell has a number of different CLE scenarios. Each one is slightly different from the others. When you sign on at the testing center, you will be randomly assigned one of these scenarios to complete.

When you receive your scenario, keep the following points in mind:

• Read the scenario thoroughly. Due to the time constraints imposed on the Practicum, your first impulse will be to get working right away on your virtual Linux server. Avoid this impulse at all costs. It is imperative that you read through your scenario line by line. The time spent will be time well invested.

• As you read, carefully analyze the details of your scenario. Your testing center should provide you with scratch paper or a whiteboard for making notes. Use these materials to record the following information:

  • What is the problem or error condition identified in the scenario?

  • Are there any special or unusual conditions identified in the scenario?

  • What criteria must be met in order for the scenario to be considered resolved? (It is critical that you list each item!)

  • What tests can you run to verify that each success criteria has been met?

• Don't assume that your server has been configured properly as you read the scenario. Depending on your scenario, you may have to isolate and resolve various misconfigured parameters.

• After you have read through and analyzed your scenario, read it again! Chances are you will find one or more items that you missed. Add these to your scenario analysis.

Plan Your Strategy

After you have thoroughly read and analyzed your scenario, you will be, once again, tempted to immediately dive in and start working on your virtual server. Avoid this impulse at all costs!

Before working on your server, it is imperative that you use your scenario analysis to create a plan of action. Again, using your testing center scratch paper or whiteboard, identify each of the tasks you must complete in order to resolve the condition in the scenario. List them in the order that they must be completed.

Implement Your Plan

When you have thoroughly analyzed your scenario and have planned your strategy, you can now give in to your impulse and actually start working on your virtual server. If you've organized yourself properly, you should be able to complete the scenario quickly and methodically.

As you do, it is important that you keep your eyes open for hidden issues that may not have been overtly described in the scenario. Be prepared to reevaluate your plan at any time.

Test the Resolution

As a part of your overall plan, you should have identified how you would test your resolution to ensure that you have completed each criterion in the scenario. (It's interesting to note that many CLE candidates fail to complete this simple task.)

When you have completed each task in your plan, implement your evaluation plan and verify that the scenario has been truly completed.

There's a better than average chance that you will find one or more problems remain unresolved . Identify each of these and, again, develop a plan for how you will work them out.

If you study the materials in this book, practice with the lab exercises, follow the exam instructions, plan your strategy, and test your implementation, you will greatly increase your chances of passing the CLE practicum. Let's review what you learned in this chapter.