Yes, there's now a joint Microsoft Linux certification. Who would have imagined this even a year ago?
Posted on 12/11/2015 3:23:58 AM PST by ShadowAce
Right after Microsoft releasing MS-Linux, a few years ago I would have said the next most unlikely thing for Microsoft to do would be to offer a Linux certification. Guess what? They are. Yes, there's now a joint Microsoft Linux certification. Who would have imagined this even a year ago?
On December 9, Microsoft released a Linux certification: Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) Linux on Azure. You know what's even more amazing? Microsoft created this certifcation with the help of the The Linux Foundation. Maybe dogs and cats can live together!
This important step in broadening the technology integration between Microsoft and the open-source community is another sign that this is not your or Bill Gates' Microsoft. Why would Microsoft do this? Well, it's not because Microsoft has become Google+ buddies with Linus Torvalds.
As Mark Russinovich, CTO of Microsoft Azure, Microsoft's cloud program, said recently, "It's obvious, if we don't support Linux, we'll be Windows only and that's not practical." He continued, "last fall one in five instances on Azure were Linux. Today, about a year later, one in four instances are Linux." In short, Microsoft fully supporting Linux on the cloud is simply good business.
To get this new Linux on Azure certification, you'll need to pass both the Microsoft Exam 70-533 (Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions) and the Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS) exam. The certification will be issued by Microsoft. To pass the pair you'll need both Linux administration and Microsoft Azure implementation skills
"The Linux Foundation is the leading organization representing stakeholder interests in the open source ecosystem. That, combined with its proven commitment to professional, distribution-flexible and performance-based certifications, makes it a natural choice for our partner for Linux on Azure certifications," said Steven Guggenheimer, Microsoft's chief evangelist in a statement.
Microsoft expects, as do I, that many people will be trying for this certification.
Microsoft now offers support for eight Linux distributions running on Azure. Those are: Canonical Ubuntu, CentOS, CoreOS, Oracle Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise, and openSUSE. Recently Microsoft also added support for Debian GNU/Linux (Did anyone expect to see Microsoft GNU Linux?) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Azure users can also provision their own Linux distributions from the command line, besides the vendor-backed, endorsed distros and Azure Marketplace pre-packaged Linux distributions.
"Today's IT environments demand more from professionals than ever before, and the ones equipped to manage this new landscape look to professional certifications to rise above the rest," said Jim Zemlin, The Linux Foundation's executive director in a statement. "A Microsoft-issued certification that includes the Linux Foundation Certified SysAdmin exam will most definitely allow professionals to stand apart from their peers and allow them the opportunity to work on the most interesting technologies of our time."
More information about this new Microsoft certification can be found on Microsoft's Linux certification page. Candidates can register for the LFCS exam and the Microsoft Exam 70-533 immediately.
Who knows? Maybe we will see a Microsoft Linux distribution sometime in 2016.
I’ve heard that Powershell is good. Windows has needed something like that for quite a while. As a 100% Linux admin, I have not had the opportunity to try it out.
I plan to get the Transcender test engines hopefully next week since Christmas will be paid for. They helped me a lot with the MS certs of long ago.
I’m in (surprisingly) good paying slot making more than I ever thought I would for a few tech college classes and heavy experience person. It was a contract help desk at a factory that went full time. The only active cert I have is a vintage A+.
It is a glorified help desk but I have my own large office, seldom questioned, good supervisor types (which I most grateful for), and treated extremely well. I’m looking to do more than be a break fix and password resetter.
There is talk of making my position some kind of hardware manager or some such. That might take a while. I didn’t have a name plate for two years and I’ve been there over three.
In the past couple of days, I have found these two study guides to be good. Couldn’t beat the Kindle price.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NNWKN3G?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o01_
My lead RHEL engineer love PoSh, and coming from a hardcore Linux adherent, that’s saying something. He can script in Bash like no one I know, and he’s caught on to Powershell real quick. I have junior Windows engineers who don’t know PoSh as well as he does.
this mean anything?
When was the last time you had any experience with a modern Windows server?
I'm not talking about the technical ability of their serves--I'm talking about their morals as a company.
People have morals. Companies have product and services.
Still reading through your comments/jokes on the Silliness thread... :-)
Yup—and people run companies based on their morals.
So, how much do you know about the people?
Whoever is there currently either came up through that environment, or joined them based on their history.
Either way, while I don't know them personally, I know how MS has been run, and they have not earned my trust.
Either way, while I don't know them personally, I know how MS has been run, and they have not earned my trust.
Here's the guy that's in charge of the server division now, talking about his career and experience coming up through that environment:
Um. No. I'm already certified. Or is it certifiable? I get confused.
Very heavy user of Gnome 3 and the <">accessibility option<"> here.
Scripters just love to script. It’s an art to them. I know enough powershell to get by, but it’s nice having a dedicated guy.
Microsoft drives home PoSh in all of their exams. I’m a dedicated MS architect, but I spend at least 10 hours a week in PoSh for something. I do enjoy it.
The real story here is that “The Cloud” is the next big thing, the next computing platform. Which particular OS is running on which particular instance I would argue is of secondary importance.
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