Novell Certifications Novell has a lot of experience in the training and certification business having recognised, along with many other vendors, that certification provides a useful way of raising product visibility, allows users to show their product knowledge and also provides an additional income stream from authorised training. Most certifications are achieved by following a selected track. The track taken determines which optional exams or electives you will need to take in order to gain the required certification. There are two main streams to the current Novell certification offerings. The first is the traditional networking area. As well as NetWare this includes their other major products GroupWise, ManageWise and Border Manager. The second stream comprises a number of Internet-specific certifications which are fairly vendor-neutral. There is also a certification for sales people which naturally concentrates on selling Novell products. CNS - Certified Novell Salesperson As a networking professional you are perhaps more likely to encounter one of these trying to sell you something rather than wanting to be one yourself (although selling the need for IT purchases to higher levels of management is increasingly a skill network managers need to have). The CNS certification is intended to show that a salesperson not only has a good depth of product knowledge for the entire range of Novell software but also that they have the ability to use that product knowledge to meet real business needs. Training is carried out around a technique that Novell call PowerSell which is intended to take existing sales skills, add product knowledge and apply both to realistic business scenarios. The training requirements may be met either by using free self-study material available from the Novell Web site or, in certain locations, a free one day instructor-led training course may be available. There is a single examination which is only available online. CNA - Certified Novell Administrator There are currently five CNA tracks available, one for each major version of NetWare (3, 4 (also known as intraNetWare) and 5) and one each for GroupWise 4 and GroupWise 5. A CNA is expected to provide basic levels of support and administration in a wide variety of environments. Skills covered by CNA training include setting up workstations and printers, user and resource management, routine software maintenance and network monitoring. The exact skills will depend on the track followed. The official Novell course takes five days for NetWare or three days for GroupWise. There is a single administration examination for each track. Benefits from being a CNA include online access to current information in a special restricted area, free or discounted event invitations and a lapel badge so you can wear your certification too. CNE - Certified Novell Engineer The CNE certification is available for the same products as CNA. The next stage on from CNA, a CNE is expected to be able to provide more specialised support for an entire organisation including NDS (Novell Directory Services) design and implementation, multi-protocol (IP, IPX, AppleTalk) network design and troubleshooting and other complex technical problems. Depending on the track followed, a total of six or seven examinations must be passed. The core exams for each track cover basic and advanced administration, networking technologies, support and one elective. Elective topics available include Securing Intranets with BorderManager, Network Management using ManageWise and integrating NetWare and Windows NT. Those following a NetWare CNE track may take the GroupWise administration exam as an elective. Those following the intraNetWare track may take Building Intranets with intraNetWare. Existing NetWare 3 or 4 CNEs may become a certified NetWare 5 CNE by passing one of either the NetWare 4.11 to NetWare 5 Update or NetWare 5 Advanced Administration examinations. MCNE - Master CNE A Master CNE certification program takes the CNE level of expertise and then adds one or more specialisations. The are currently five areas of specialisation available: o Client / Network Solutions Comprises implementing and managing networks which integrate NetWare with any combination of Windows NT, AS400 and UNIX systems. o Internet / Intranet Solutions Managing an IP network infrastructure including WAN connections to the Internet, firewalls protecting Web and FTP servers integrated with other servers on the network and NDS. o Management Manage servers and clients across multiple networks including maintaining hardware inventory information, performing software upgrades, monitoring network activity and configuration and management of workstations and printing services o Connectivity Manage network databases and remote servers. Bridge or route applications over LAN configurations, manage NetWare to UNIX file sharing. Configure multiple printing options. o Messaging Design and implement appropriate security measures for the network, documents and screens. Integrate, maintain, troubleshoot and repair complex databases and data sets. A CNE may specialise in more than one of the above categories depending on business requirements and interest. Between four and six additional examination passes will be required (depending on the CNE track taken) in addition to the examinations required to reach CNE initially. Many of the electives available at the MCNE level are the same as for CNE. However, additional examinations cover subjects such as NetWare for SAA and NetWare NFS Services. In addition to the benefits received as a CNA, both CNEs and MCNEs are able to directly obtain beta and early software releases, Novell Support Connection training and additional product information, publications, tools and patches. CNI - Certified Novell Instructor The CNI qualification is required in order to teach Novell authorised courses. A prospective CNI must have at least one year of hands-on computing or networking experience, a year's experience of teaching adults in a classroom environment and must become a CNE before they can submit an application to join the CNI program. They must then either obtain a software Certified Technical Trainer (CTT) certification or pass a Novell Instructor Performance Evaluation (IPE). The CTT certification has been created with input from a number of vendors including Adobe, Autodesk, IBM, Microsoft, Netscape, Novell, and Oracle. Becoming a CTT involves passing a 105 question test and submitting a 20 minute video taped course presentation which was made to an audience. Both the test and video are evaluated based on a number of key competencies which a trainer must be able to demonstrate. For each course that the CNI wishes to teach they must first attend the course as a student and then pass the appropriate examination at the instructor level. MCNI - Master CNI The Master CNI certification builds further on the instructors knowledge and skills obtained through experience and gaining CNI status. In order to become a MCNI the instructor must be both an MCNE and CNI. The CNI qualification must have been held for at least two years. An MCNI must also fulfil an annual update requirement. This may be achieved in a number of ways including attending qualifying conferences or workshops or by obtaining qualifying certifications from other vendors such as Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) or Sun Certified Solaris Administrator. Both CNIs and MCNIs are required to pay an annual subscription fee in order to maintain their status and receive benefits from Novell such as instructors guides, inclusion in listings of qualified instructors and other information and facilities. CIP - Certified Internet Professional The Novell Certified Internet Professional program is a range of reasonably vendor-neutral and cross-platform certifications intended to provide proof of skills in a number of areas. The qualifications obtained are recognised by a number of independent associations. A number of specific job areas are targeted in what is a rapidly developing area. Certified Internet Business Strategist This certification is aimed at those who are responsible for influencing or establishing how a company can use the Internet go gain a visible business benefit. This includes identifying marketing opportunities, finding possible ways to reduce support costs and increasing productivity throughout the company by using Internet technology. Training covers two categories, using the Internet (using Netscape Navigator) and Internet business strategies. The first part includes many of the facilities in Communicator including email, conferencing as well as Web browsing. The second part uses real-world business scenarios to show how to develop and implement an Internet business plan whilst considering cost effectiveness and return on investment. There is a single examination, Internet Business Strategies, which must be passed to receive this certification. This exam is also a requirement for all the other CIP certifications. Certified Web Designer The Web designer certification is primarily aim at those responsible for the design and layout of Web pages, especially designer who have previously worked in other industries and with other media whether static or interactive. Skills covered include effective user interface design, accommodating different technologies, page performance, multimedia enhancements and managing content using NetObjects Fusion. There are four exams to be taken: Internet Business Strategies, Web Authoring and Publishing, Advanced Web Authoring and Designing an Effective Web Site Certified Web Developer The training and examination requirements for this track are not yet fully established. It will be aimed at developers in languages such as C++ and Visual Basic and will provide Java development skills. Skills to be covered will include using an object-oriented methodology, creating and using Java applets, JavaBeans and class libraries and developing Java in a NetWare environment. The Internet Business Strategies exam will be required, other test requirements are not yet finalised. Certified Intranet Manager An intranet manager is responsible for converting an existing LAN into a network based on Internet technologies and the ongoing management of the intranet. Skills covered include intranet administration and Web server management and Web page development with HTML, NetObjects Fusion, CGI, perl and JavaScript. There are five required exams. The four core exams are Internet Business Strategies, Web Authoring and Publishing, Advanced Web Authoring and Web Server Management. The fifth exam may be NetWare 4.11 Administration or any one of a number of qualifying exams from other Microsoft (Implementing and Supporting Windows NT Server 4.0), Sun or SCO. Certified Internet Architect An Internet Architect takes an existing network within an organisation and connects it to the Internet to provide the Internet services the company requires whilst still maintaining the security of the network. Skills covered include TCP/IP planning, internetworking and installing, managing and configuring Internet services such as DNS, FTP, Web and proxy servers. CNE certification is a prerequisite, followed by up to five additional exams (i.e. those not already taken at CNE level). These are Fundamentals of Internetworking, NetWare TCP/IP Transport, Web Server Management, DNS and FTP Server Installation and Configuration and Securing Intranets with BorderManager. All Certified Internet Professionals receive free Internet-related software, up to date Novell product information and discounts on publications and entry to events. Training needs may be met by taking the appropriate Novell authorised course with a Novell Authorised Education Centre (NAEC) or Novell Education Academic Partner (NEAP) or by taking a course with a third party training company who is not authorised by Novell and does not use official Novell training material. Alternatively there is also a wide range of self-study material, usually in the form of books with accompanying CDs. Many candidates will follow a certification track using a combination of self study material to fill in any gaps in knowledge gained through experience and instructor-led courses for rapid learning of new information. All those following a certification track must agree to the conditions in the Novell Education Certification Agreement before they can be fully qualified. This essentially requires you not to claim to have a qualification you have not properly received and that you will not bring Novell's name in to disrepute. Unless otherwise stated, all the examinations referred to here may be taken at any participating Sylvan Prometric (www.prometric.com) or VUE (www.vue.com) testing centre around the world. There are also many sites on the Internet which provide example examinations (e.g. www.testfree.com or www.quick-cert.com) which give you the chance to see how much you know without having to go and take a full exam. Official tests are all taken on a PC, do not allow students to take in any reference material and must be completed within the time limit allowed. There are only two grades, Pass or Fail, although if an exam is failed at the instructor level it may still count as a pass at the normal level if the score achieved was high enough. The actual format of the tests varies. There may be a fixed number of multiple choice questions or the examination may be adaptive. Adaptive tests are intended to establish how good a candidate is by basing the grade on the difficulty of the questions which were passed correctly. The level of the questions asked may change as the exam progresses, harder questions being asked if the candidate does well. Adaptive exams have a time limit of 30 minutes. Standard exams have time limits of between 60 and 180 minutes. Some exams are performance-based to measure ability as well as knowledge. These include simulations of, for example, the utilities used to administer a product and a scenario which requires the candidate to complete a number of actions using the tools available. There may also be access to online reference material and the candidate may be expected to show how they would go about finding the answer to a problem. The result is given to the candidate as soon as the examination is finished and is forwarded to Novell automatically by the test centre. In order to make sure each qualification stays relevant to the skills area it covers, individual examinations may be replaced, causing the old one to expire. There is usually plenty of notice given when this is to happen so that new exams can be taken to keep the qualification up to date. It is, however, your responsibility to watch out for exams being retired which would affect your certification. If you don't take and pass the required new exam you will cease to hold your qualification until you do pass. Market conditions and systems usage change which means that in particular the CNE and MCNE certifications are not quite so highly sought after as they once were. A quick survey of Internet job sites suggests that current demand for CNEs is roughly half that for those with Microsoft's MCSE certification. There are many opportunities for those with both though, recognising the importance of being able to work with the range of systems that many organisations have ended up with. Certification is not itself a replacement for skill and talent. It does however show that the person does have a certain level of knowledge and that they have shown enough commitment to be able to study and pass a number of exams, with all the time and financial outlay that entails. A set of initials is a convenient way for recruitment agents to get a handle on your skill set and so market you to their clients more effectively when the time comes for you to change jobs. Once you have become certified you may also wish to consider membership of an independent group such as the Network Professional Association (www.npa.org) or the Association of Internet Professionals (www.association.org). For up to date information on Novell networking certifications go to education.novell.com. Information on the Internet-related certifications may be found at www.netboss.com.