Getting into Solaris??

CorkFenian

Hi,

Working in windows with for past 10 years , 2-3rd level support with odd support of Linux-Debian, have done Linux\Unix in college, anyone got any advice about Solaris exams and how to approach them..Any info appreciated???

Naikon

Not to sound smart or anything, but with Oracle being involved now, SunOS/Solaris is practically dead.

stereo_steve

Hey,

I've done all the Solaris exams. Only because work paid for them , they aren';t cheap! €300 or so each If I rememebr correctly. I did ...

1) Solaris 10 Admin 1
2) Solaris 10 Admin 2
3) Solaris 10 Networking Associate
4) Solaris 10 Security Associate

Tbh I found the two Solaris Admin exams tough.

Firstly because I am only familiar with SPARC and alot of questions were X86. Fixing booting issues etc. My saviour was that when I paid forthe exams there was a promotion were you got to do the sample sun exams for free. The sample Sun exams where like mock tests and there was three of them. So straight away you can see what score you will be getting and the areas that your weakest in.

Secondly, not knowing alll the options for command line utilities is hard. We all know its easy to add a user etc but when you have no access to a man page and it asks you something like ...

Create a user, home directory bla, use skeleton file bla , group bla , bla bla bla

is it

useradd -g bla -k bla -u bla -G bla -s bla -u bla -c bla or
useradd -g bla -u bla -s bla -u bla -c bla

So you get a lot of similar answers and you need to know the OS utilities well for loads of commands, who , ls , format user mod etc. Even a Solaris veteran can get muddled up wondering the -options for some commands.

thankfully its a 60% passmark to scrore (or something around that). My advice. HAve a quick scan of a Soalris Admin pdf that you find online. Assess how much study you need. Book the exam straight away giving yourself time and get access to the sample examples. You'll see the standard straight away and find your weak areas.

BTW Solaris 11 certs should be out very soon. If not already. It might be a good idea to wait and do those. Although I imagine an employer wouldn't care if you have 10 /11 for the next 5 yrs.

Good luck!

stereo_steve

OSI wrote: »

Not really sure why you would want to do Solaris at this stage tbh.

As said above it's pretty much a dead OS walking. I'd put your effort into getting Linux certification, it'll stand to you much better now and in the future.

True I think that its on a downward spiral but I think it will be in its death throws for a long time. Its a great OS and is rock solid. It is still used hugely in industry. There will easily be work in it for the next 10 yrs at least. Even if its working on legacy systems or migration.

/Steve

CorkFenian

Hi guys, really appreciate the advice, tbh on a college course I'm doing, a solaris admin advised me to get into as opposed to red hat etc as he said it was still used widely across enterprises. I really want to broaden outside of windows but always wind up in same windows based roles, knowing what ye guys know, what would ye recommend to start with regarding entry to unix\linux work??? Thanks again

stereo_steve

http://www.jobisjob.ie/dublin/linux/jobs 331 entries
http://www.jobisjob.ie/dublin/solaris/jobs 41 entries

Depends really what you want!

CorkFenian

I guess I want to obtain a certification which carries good weight, but at same time will allow me to develop with other technologies of linux\unix, as i said i havent really done much work in it, so I'm not really sure what the lay of the land is, I do now I want to make my skillset and cv broader....Cheers again

jonathan11

Linux (Redhat maybe) seems to be the way to go rather than solaris.
Aside from which is the better cert to have on your CV, the solaris exams are stupid multiple choice exams where as ones like RHCSA are hands on exams where you fix broken servers.

Solaris exams make you learn stuff off which you never need to know in real life, like what is the switch option for useradd etc. etc.