MCSA - Why no RDS?
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I'm in the process of wrapping up my MCSA 2012 certification (took and passed the 410+411 and am scheduled to take the 412 on Monday), and the one question that I keep asking myself is why does Microsoft not cover anything about remote desktop/terminal services?
Obviously they cover the 'core' roles like AD, DHCP, DNS, etc. And they also focus heavily on other common tasks and topics like group policies, password management, etc. Since the MCSA is more of an 'enterprise' focus, it makes sense for them to cover topics that are common only in large businesses like WDS, WSUS, etc. But they also are pushing things that, in my experience, seem to be very limited in customer scope -- Direct Access, IPAM, etc. Remote Desktop on the other hand is pervasive in all types of businesses, regardless of size.
RDS also has had some big changes in the implementation side in 2012, and there are a lot of sub-topics to cover (licensing, brokers, etc.), so it seems strange to me that they don't touch on it at all. Personally, I think it would be more important than many of the things they do test on.
Anyway, just wondering if there was a reason for this absense in the exam objectives. -
James,
I think what has happened is certification specializations. Microsoft like other vendors has moved away from broad generalist certifications to the highly specialized certifications. The RDS planning and implementation comes under the 70-415 as part of the MCSE in Enterprise Desktop Administrator.
The irony is that in today's job market, the generalist is sought after as much as the specialist. You can find out more here: https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/exam-70-415.aspx
Cordially,
Ronnie Wong
Host, ITProTV -
Thanks for clarifying Ronnie. I guess it makes sense that RDS would be focused on in the Enterprise Desktop Admin tests, since that is a good fit. I'm fairly new to the World of MS, coming mainly from a networking background before, and find their whole certification/testing program to be quite confusing compared to other vendors.