Sun Web Based Training

[mlawrenson]

Hello, wondered if anyone had any experience of Sun Web Based Training? I am interested in the Solaris 9 OS courses which are only £305 bargain! Or is this a false economy and should I just do the classroom based course?

Thanks in advance

 

[bfitzmai]

mlawrenson,
I have taken hundreds of hours of Sun Training. I have also taken Sun’s Self Paced and Web Based Courses. By far, the classroom based courses are the best. You have hands on training with Sun Equipment and an instructor who can assist you with problems and answer your questions immediately. If you are taking an Administration course, you perform all admin functions including OS installation and configuration. You also have access to instructors after class to answer questions outside the class work.

The Self Paced courses can only be described as useful refresher courses. I used them as a help tools when studying for certification tests. If you are using this type of course to learn the material for the first time, you have to find the time and place to take the course without distractions. The material can be a little dry.

The Web Based course I took was like a chat session. The course was slower because it is harder to relay the information via text chat. Also, some of the students who I took the course with had their own conversations going while the instructor was trying to teach (very distracting). It has been a few years since I took a Web based class, hopefully it has changed.

 

[AnotherAlan]

My advice, for what it is worth, is to take Solaris 10 courses unless you have a business requirement to do Solaris 9.
There are many new features of Solaris 10 and it is the latest Solaris offering.
If you are new to UNIX there are myriad web sites that will take you through the fundamentals which you can then build upon with specific targeted courses to your choice of OS.
i.e RedHat Linux, HP UX or good old Solaris.
Either way, good luck with your studies and keep looking at these forums, I have learnt more from Tek Tips than all the classroom courses I have taken.
Alan

 

[mlawrenson]

thanks for these replies.

Interesting that bfitzmai mentions that the web based courses are good refreshers, because really that is what I am after. Having completed solaris certification on version 7 back in 2001, I was working with 2 solaris servers for a while. But I haven't touched Solaris since about 2003. Now I've been asked to support 3 Solaris 9 boxes. I've got a test Sparc server and a decent book, and its all coming back to me. But as I have authorisation to do a course, I thought that the web based course would be cheaper, and therefore I could do an intermidiate and advanced course in one week.

bfitzmai - could you expand a little on the format of these courses I imagined that it would be a web based presentation with some test questions at the end of each module? I didn't realise there was live chat via text going on as well?

Alan - i see your point but as I have a business requirement to support version 9, I think I'll stick with that. At £300 I might be able to wangle a Solaris 10 course when we upgrade!

Thanks again.

 

[Edcrosbys]

I'm currently enrolled in the second Solaris 10 Admin course part 2 and took part one last week. I am not impressed. I took a redhat course a few weeks ago (RH-133) and was much more impressed by the quality of the instructor and layout of the training/labs. I am taking these as a refresher, since I haven't messed with Solaris much since 8. For the money, I would recommend getting a book and spending the time reading and loading/configuring it.

When I got the courses, I also grabbed a few cd courses (one for me and another for a friend). I wasn't overly impressed with those, but after attending the class, I can say they are pretty much on par.

Just for some info:
Sun course, approx 4k(us) each (5-8 ppl per class)
RedHat Course, approx 2.5k (us) each (18 ppl in class)

 

[bfitzmai]

The self paced courses I am talking about is the DVD/CDROM courses that Sun offers. I used this course material as a refresher. They are interactive so you actually type in the commands as you proceed through the course.

I agree with Edcrosbys. The Sun courses are expensive. But, if you are a new admin, reading a book to learn the steps (in my opinion) is not enough. As an admin, you need to learn and understand not only the "how" but also understand the "why". Having the interaction with an instructor who has the experience can give you the "why" perspective.