Passed the OS X Server Essentials 10.8 exam and earned Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) 10.8 title

Yesterday, my colleague Daniel Hass (Macastic blog) from Open Line and I have both passed the “OS X Server Essentials 10.8″ exam with scores of over 90%. Because we had already passed the “OS X Support Essentials 10.8″ exam, we’ve earned the title “Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) 10.8″ in addition to the “Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) 10.8″ title. I prepared for the exam by:

• Taking the Mountain Lion 201 course at LAI (Learning Associates International) in Schiedam by instructor Maurits Sanders.
• Studying the powerpoint handouts from the course.
• Studying a document with screenshots from the course.
• Studying the book : Apple Pro Training Series: OS X Server Essentials: Using and Supporting OS X Server on Mountain Lion and performing the exercises in it. Note: because the Server app had just been updated, the paper version of the book was a bit outdated, but it did not really affect the exam.
• Studying the OS X Server: Advanced Administration resources.
• Creating a testing environment and playing around in it.
• Testing my knowledge with practice exams in the app Revise IT.
• Studying the Exam Preparation Guide

In my opinion the exam was relatively easy. It was key to read the questions and answers very well though.

If I have some time, I’ll try to make a summary similar to the one I did for the “OS X Support Essentials 10.8″ exam.

 

OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 is released with official support for Windows 8 through bootcamp

OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 has been released and includes official support for Windows 8 through bootcamp. For the full list of changes, take a look at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5612

 

Apple – Notes / summary for the “OS X Support Essentials 10.8 Exam”

As I already wrote in yesterday’s post Apple – Notes / summary for the “Mac Integration Basics 10.8 Exam”, I’ve mainly been working with Microsoft products all my life. Since recently however, I’m also trying to get more familiar with Apple, Mac products and OS X and am trying to become certified.

One of the reasons, I’d never used Apple products before was because I never really deemed it necessary. Nowadays the number of Mac users seem to be growing and there is more demand for people with Mac / OS X knowledge.

As such my quest for knowledge and certification began. For me personally this meant:

• Using Apple online resources
  • http://www.apple.com/support/
  • http://switchtoamac.com/
  • http://training.apple.com/itpro/macinteg/exam
• Reading books (mainly the great book Apple Pro Training Series: OS X Support Essentials. Before purchasing, you might also want to look for coupon codes as it might save you 30% off or more.)
• Watching computer based training (CBT) videos
• Working with OS X (thanks go out to my employer Open Line for providing me with a MacBook Pro, books and most importantly … TIME)
  • Personally I didn’t think it was necessary to take a course at a training center, but some people might prefer this.
• Asking colleagues for help (thanks guys !!!)
• Making sure that I understood everything and if it wasn’t the case, look it up.
• Taking notes / creating this summary blog post that can be used as a reference if needed
• Testing my knowledge using test questions from Revise IT

I’ve taken the exam last friday and passed with 92.5%. Even though I think it was a pretty good score, I still had to make some educated guesses. This made me realize that there’s still a lot to learn and that getting more experience is important as well.

I also want to mention that I took the exam at LAI the training institute for IT professionals in Schiedam (The Netherlands). They were really kind, helpful and service oriented. The waiting area and test room were great and they even provided a pastry and all kind of drinks at no charge. This has been my best test taking experience to date, so keep up the good work guys.

I’m looking forward to attending the OS X Server 10.8 course at LAI the training institute for IT professionals at the end of March. I’ll try to create another blog post about this as well.

But now back to the important stuff, here are my notes/summary. I hope it is useful. If you find any errors or have any suggestions, please leave a comment.

Notes / summary for the “OS X Support Essentials 10.8 Exam”

 

Apple – Notes / summary for the “Mac Integration Basics 10.8 Exam”

People that know me, know that I’ve mainly been working with Microsoft my whole life. Lately however, I’ve been working with an Apple MacBook Pro with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion however and I intend to  enough knowledge and experience to get the following certifications:

• Apple Certified Associate – Mac Integration 10.8
• Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) 10.8
• Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) 10.8

So keep an eye on my blog if you want to learn more about Apple’s Mac OS X and its certifications. Read more about other Apple certifications on their Training and Certification page.

The “Mac Integration Basics 10.8 Exam”

For people new to Mac and OS X, Apple offers the Associate certification for Mac Integration. This covers OS X basics and describes options to integrate OS X into an existing (Windows) environment. The exam costs $65 and can be taken online.

Even though the guide that Apple provides isn’t that big to begin with, I decided to summarize it anyways. I hope it is useful to someone else as well.

Also if you want to get more in-depth knowledge about OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, check out this great book: Apple Pro Training Series: OS X Support Essentials. Before purchasing, you might also want to look for coupon codes as it might save you 30% off or more.

Notes / summary for the “Mac Integration Basics 10.8 Exam”

 

Windows 8 – Running Windows 8 from USB stick or USB hard disk using Windows To Go (WTG)

Summary of what Windows To Go (WTG) is

In short, Windows To Go is a Windows 8 Enterprise feature that allows you to boot and run Windows 8 from a USB flash drive (USB stick).

Potential reasons and scenarios for using Windows To Go

There are many potential reasons and scenarios for using Windows To Go, but here are some of them from the top of my head:

 

Security – Java releases update for major Java vulnerability

Last sunday I warned about a major vulnerability in Java.

It wasn’t expected that Java would come have an update available this quickly, but it is good that they did. So be sure to update to Java 7 Update 11 : http://java.com

 

Security – Major Java vulnerability, don’t become a victim

[EDIT 14-01-2013]

Oracle release Java 7 Update 11 to fix this security issue. Be sure to update: http://java.com/

[EDIT]

Normally when I read about security vulnerabilities, I don’t really get a sense of urgency.

With the current Java vulnerability however, I do feel like people have to act quick because there are so many respected companies and even countries actively taking action:

• Apple has disabled the Java 7 plugin on Macs through its OS X anti-malware system, in order to protect users from a potentially serious security issue
• Cisco: New Java Vulnerability Being Exploited in the Wild
• Mozilla Security Blog: Protecting Users Against Java Vulnerability in FireFox
• United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) suggests disabling Java

Apparently this vulnerability is actively being exploited already and Oracle hasn’t released a Java fix yet. You might want to consider a combination of the options below:

• Updating Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) signatures (Cisco signature)
• Uninstall Java (Windows | Mac OS X)
• Disabling Java only for web browsers
• Disabling Java in specific web browsers

Personally I like the way FireFox is handling the issue because it blocks by default, but allows users to easily override this behavior for specific sites. Also I’m getting quite fed up with all these Java security vulnerabilities lately

I’d like to know what you’ll be doing. Have you or are you going to disable Java ? Which methods will you use ? Why ?

 

Windows 8 tablet considerations including Windows RT and Windows 8 comparison

Since I’m seriously considering buying a Windows based tablet, I’ve been very closely following all developments. Even though a lot of information has become available, it’s often spread across many different websites and articles and is often incomplete in my opinion. Since the Microsoft Surface RT tablet is available for pre-order and will be sold when Windows 8 will be available on the 26th of October I decided to write this article.And even though a lot of people have complained about this on various sites, most sites don’t have one article that covers all the things to look out for. In this post I try to do just that. One of the most useful resources I’ve used are the articles from Paul Thurrott on his website supersite for windows.

Also it’s not just consumers that are having trouble understanding / explaining the differences between Windows RT and Windows 8 tablets though, Microsoft employees are also still being trained to properly handle questions.

In this post it’s important to realize that Microsoft Surface RT is not the same as Windows RT, Microsoft Surface RT is a tablet from Microsoft (hardware) that runs Windows RT (software). Microsoft Surface Pro is another tablet from Microsoft (hardware) that runs Windows 8 (software).