- Genesis
- Audience/Program Prerequisites
- The Program
- Final Course/Certificate Program
- Program Benefits/Weaknesses
- What Happens Now?
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Final Course/Certificate Program
This course is the final leg in the Master of Integrated Networking certificate program. Students will have met all prerequisite skills and certifications before sitting in this class.
This is a rigorous 60-hour, 4 credit, demonstration of students’ ability to design, install, configure, administer, secure, use, troubleshoot, and evaluate a complex, integrated test network, as they would encounter in a production environment.
This is not an introduction to any of the included technologies. Instead it is a full-blown implementation of the most-observed networking technologies currently used in production environments.
The course will consist of 5–10 hours of lecture and discussion; the remainder consists of hands-on tasks. Each student will create a fully functional integrated network consisting of at least one client platform, two LAN platforms—one of which will be installed as a virtual guest, one WAN platform, two directory services, one database solution, one e-mail solution, one Web server, one DNS-DHCP solution, one NAT solution, and one Firewall solution.
Students will be evaluated at the end of the course, based on the network platform’s ability to interoperate and provide the services needed in an enterprise.
Students who cannot complete all tasks during the course will not receive the Master of Integrated Networking credential. Those who do satisfactorily complete all tasks will receive the Master of Integrated Networking credential.
The models for this course and method of evaluation are the practicum assessments used by Novell for the CDE, CLP, and CLE certifications, and the lab practicum used by Cisco for the CCIE.
This is designed to be an intensive examination of a candidate’s knowledge and skills. It is not an introductory course or project. It is not a paper-and-pencil evaluation that can be addressed by brain dumps or practice exams. It is a final project or capstone.
According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, it will test the high-order skills possessed by only the most determined and skilled. Successful candidates will be an elite group of IT professionals.
Candidates can use whatever resources they can avail themselves of to emulate a real-world scenario. And in the real world, resources are available in an integrated enterprise. In the real world, the key to integrated networking in a production environment is knowing what questions to ask and where the resources are to address those questions.
The prerequisites for being admitted to this course are the following (based on geographic need):
- CompTIA A+ and Net+
- Novell CNA
- Microsoft MCP
- Microsoft MCTS-Vista
- LPI-I
- Cisco CCNA
- Vendor exam score for Exchange, GroupWise, Notes, or equivalent
- CompTIA Security+ or equivalent
- Microsoft MCTS—SQL 2005/8 or MySQL CMA
The final goal is to graduate with the Master of Integrated Networking credential along with these vendor certifications.