SQL Server Magazine

Windows 2000 (Win2K) is shaping up to be one of Microsoft's most significant releases. We've heard—and many of us have seen firsthand—that Win2K presents some major departures from Windows NT 4.0. Microsoft understands that successfully rolling out Win2K in the corporate environment depends on the availability of systems administrators with skill sets that support the new OS. Thus, the company has announced its $40 million initiative to offer Win2K training on a wide scale. But considering the number of new features and capabilities, how much training will a systems administrator need to become proficient at rolling out and supporting Win2K? The answer depends on several factors, the most crucial of which is level of NT 4.0 experience. In this article, I introduce the Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) and show you what this training initiative can do for you.

The MOC, which ships in June and July 1999 and covers Win2K beta 3, comprises eight courses. The first course is a free self-paced course that Microsoft designed to prepare customers for Win2K. The next three courses help develop and upgrade skills to administer and support Win2K networks, as Figure 1, page 82, shows. The company gears these courses to users who are new to the IT field or whose experience is primarily in a non-Microsoft environment. A fifth course targets experienced support professionals. Three additional courses are available for what Microsoft calls the enterprise architect. Figure 2, page 82, shows the courses available to the NT professional. For more information about these courses, see the Microsoft Official Curriculum Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/ train_cert/win2kmoc/ win2000_data.htm.

For the NT First-Timer
If you're making your first move into the NT world, start with Course 1555, Getting Ready for Microsoft Windows 2000. This free course covers Win2K migration topics such as updating and streamlining NT's directory services infrastructure and networking protocols.

Then, move on to Course 1556, Administering Microsoft Windows 2000. This course introduces you to Win2K administration and shows you how to create and manage user accounts, manage data storage, create and restore backups, and monitor data access.

Course 1556 is a prerequisite for the third class you need to take. Course 1557, Installing and Configuring Microsoft Windows 2000, doesn't cover only installation and configuration, as its name implies. This course also teaches you about working with Active Directory (AD) and DNS, sharing and securing network resources, and implementing and managing key network services such as DHCP, WINS, Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 5.0, and Terminal Services. (For information about Win2K's new features, see Jonathan Chau, "10 Reasons to Buy Windows NT 5.0," http:// www.winntmag.com, instaNT document number 3617, and Mark Minasi, "NT 5.0 Update," December 1998.) Course 1557 also educates support professionals about the intricacies of upgrading a network to Win2K.

The fourth course in this series is Course 1558, Advanced Administration for Microsoft Windows 2000. Course 1558 builds on courses 1556 and 1557 by showing administrators how to centrally manage large numbers of users and computers. This course takes previous knowledge and applies it to a multidomain environment. Course 1558 shows you how to use Group Policy to manage user and computer environments and centrally manage application software deployment, how to administer AD, and how to implement enterprisewide security and disaster protection.

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