BSDA cert exam now available at IQT testing centers

[nilsgecko]

Dear forum,

As someone who recently took the BSD Associate (BSDA) Exam at a conference here in Chicago and who is also on the BSDCG mailing list, I've been asked to post the announcement about the new computer-based testing option for the BSD Certifications in relevant forums etc.

http://www.bsdcertification.org/news/pr061.html

Basically, since 2008 when the BSDA exam first appeared, it's been a paper-based exam and while this is still an option--and very affordable at a cost of $75 USD--there is now an option to take the exam at IQT testing centers located throughout the world.

Because of the new delivery method, if you opt to take the test in computer-based form, the cost becomes $150 USD. As I understand it, the BSD Professional (BSDP) exam also seems to be available and there is no requirement for a person to take the BSDA first as is the case with other certification programs (e.g. RHCSA to RHCE etc). Basically, if you feel you have the skills, you can take the BSDP. I'm not sure at this point as to the pricing of the BSDP, as it is a two-part test: written and a live lab-oriented part.

Finally I'd like to say it's important to realize that taking the BSDA or BSDP directly supports BSD and spreads awareness about the systems. Case in point, I was the only person who took the BSDA exam at the aforementioned conference a few weeks ago here in Chicago. All the rest of the examinees were taking the Linux Professional Institute exams 1 & II. Even if you are, say originally a Music student like myself and a computer hobbyist and don't envision yourself becoming a master systems admin, it can be a very good experience to find areas you need improvement in. Even if you are an expert, there is likely a chance you will learn a new way of doing something. If you do work in IT, well all the more reason to make yourself marketable in this competitive economy.

http://www.bsdcertification.org/news/pr061.html


Regards

[BSDfan666]

Quite honestly, I believe the certification is a sham.. I would not pay a dime.

[Oko]

Originally Posted by nilsgecko

Finally I'd like to say it's important to realize that taking the BSDA or BSDP directly supports BSD and spreads awareness about the systems.

Which BSD? Could you tell me exact amount of money my favorite project OpenBSD has received from BSDA?

[Carpetsmoker]

I looked at this a few years ago, and was surprised by the very low level of knowledge required…

Originally Posted by BSDfan666

Quite honestly, I believe the certification is a sham.. I would not pay a dime.

If I'm not mistaken, BSDCertification.org is run by Dru Lavigne, a well-known book author and person in the BSD world.

While I must admit I don't find these certificated particularly useful—just as I find a large part of the education offered in the world not particularly useful—I wouldn't go as far as to call them “a sham”…

[nilsgecko]

Originally Posted by BSDfan666

Quite honestly, I believe the certification is a sham.. I would not pay a dime.

I'm sorry to hear you feel this way. I can partially agree with your stance in that there are some certifications out there that are all about the $$ and "memorization". That being said, I think the BSDCG have worked hard to make a test that does not fall into this category. Moreover, with the BSDP, the exam is part 'live-based' which will truly test whether you can perform the objectives or not. Theoretically, it's said live-based exams are seen as more respected but there are always opinions as we've seen.

Originally Posted by Oko
Which BSD? Could you tell me exact amount of money my favorite project OpenBSD has received from BSDA?

Well, what I was speaking about was spreading awareness about the systems. Like it or not, and regardless of OpenBSD being your preferred system, FreeBSD is in fact the flagship BSD project as it has the most support, etc etc. OpenBSD is also represented in this certification and is therefore part of the 'community'. Therefore, at least indirectly, and if you look at things from a positive viewpoint, OpenBSD does benefit from the exposure other BSD's might gain.

If you are looking to expand on this idea of community and still need a specific example of financial sponsorship, you have only to look at what the BSD Fund recently did with the proceeds from NYBSDCON 2010.

$14,400 in NYCBSDCon 2010 Proceeds Donated To BSD Projects

You have to scroll half-way down the page, but in essence they divided the proceeds equally among Free, Net, Open, and Dragonfly

http://bsdfund.org/press/


Many of the board members on the BSDGG are heavily involved in these events and like myself, seem to agree that the BSD systems as a whole need more adoption/exposure. The BSD Certification is simply another angle in the larger scheme of pushing these systems in industry.

Regards

[BSDfan666]

The concept of a single certification for multiple distinct projects is flawed, I know and use OpenBSD.. while I'm not ignorant of the other projects, I don't actively following their development nor maintain any such systems at home.

Not interesting in the least, it should not weigh in on an employers decision to hire someone.. it's their job to thoroughly interview potential employees.

[Oko]

Originally Posted by nilsgecko

Well, what I was speaking about was spreading awareness about the systems. Like it or not, and regardless of OpenBSD being your preferred system, FreeBSD is in fact the flagship BSD project as it has the most support, etc etc.

Then the exam should be called FreeBSD associate exam (FBSDA) and you shuld honestly say that FBSDA supports only FreeBSD. It would be also good to remove any questions/references about OpenSSH, OpenBGPD, and PF. Make sure you use Groff instead of mandoc for reading man pages!

Well, like it or not, and regardless of FreeBSD being your preferred system, the fact is that FreeBSD is the least interesting of four BSDs projects. FreeBSD actually have not contributed anything to BSDs ecosystem probably since the times of 4.xxx when Matt Dillon forked DragonFly unless you count things like scrypt . And please, please stop bragging about ZFS and DTrace since if I need Solaris stuff I will use Solaris. Also when I need Linux I will use Linux and I do not need FreeBSD linux emulation layer nor GNU tools which dominate FreeBSD userland (you do not even have tar ).

Cheers,
Oko

P.S. By most support you must be thinking of Opera web-browser since I can not thing of anything relevant supported by commercial vendors on FreeBSD. No serious compiler to speak of (PortlandCC, Open64), no GPU/CUDA drivers, no Oracle, no Maple, no Mathematica, no MATLAB, no scanner drivers (epkowa), no drivers for all in one (Brother), no Adobe Flash, no Acrobat Reader, no Java, no Skype ...

Oh... I forgot, you do not even have major open source support like the one for TeX (no TeXLive on FreeBSD via official ports)

[vermaden]

Originally Posted by Oko

(you do not even have tar ).

Well ... at least we have tar

% which tar
/usr/bin/tar (in base system)
% tar --version
bsdtar 2.7.0 - libarchive 2.7.0
% which gtar
/usr/local/bin/gtar (added by coreutils package)
% gtar --version
tar (GNU tar) 1.26
Copyright (C) 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Written by John Gilmore and Jay Fenlason.

[Oko]

Originally Posted by vermaden

Well ... at least we have tar

% which tar
/usr/bin/tar (in base system)
% tar --version
bsdtar 2.7.0 - libarchive 2.7.0
% which gtar
/usr/local/bin/gtar (added by coreutils package)
% gtar --version
tar (GNU tar) 1.26
Copyright (C) 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Written by John Gilmore and Jay Fenlason.

Finally There must be some casualties from heart attacks among developers when the tar was finally committed. If you vote down Hiroki Sato from the core you may even have TeXLive
As the Chinese say the thousand kilometer journey starts with one step...

[vermaden]

Originally Posted by Oko

Finally There must be some casualties from heart attacks among developers when the tar was finally committed.

I use FreeBSD since 5.x times and I remember it was bsdtar since then ... cant speak for earlier status.

Originally Posted by Oko

If you vote down Hiroki Sato from the core you may even have TeXLive As the Chinese say the thousand kilometer journey starts with one step...

I have heard all that 'Sato TeX bullsh!t' many times, I just wonder why we still do not have that up to date TeX in the ports?

[fossala]

Sorry for being ignorent but who is Hiroki Sato? I could find he is in the board of directors of the FreeBSD Foundation. Also a member of the core FreeBSD team and he maily focuses on documentaion of FreeBSD.
Why would getting rid of him get FreeBSD closer to TeXLive?
(P.S. Hiroki Sato according to google is also part of MMA (different man i guess?) or is he just that awesome?)

[Oko]

Originally Posted by fossala

Sorry for being ignorent but who is Hiroki Sato? I could find he is in the board of directors of the FreeBSD Foundation. Also a member of the core FreeBSD team and he maily focuses on documentaion of FreeBSD.
Why would getting rid of him get FreeBSD closer to TeXLive?
(P.S. Hiroki Sato according to google is also part of MMA (different man i guess?) or is he just that awesome?)

Hiroki Sato is a full professor at Tokyo University, one of five members of the FreeBSD core, occasional contributer to IPFW, and the guy who is porting TeXLive to FreeBSD since 2001. He prevented at least two different people that I know of committing full working TeXLive to FreeBSD ports tree because it hurts his ego to know that a kid from France and a kid from a Serbia did something in 6 months that he could not do in ten years.

[Carpetsmoker]

Originally Posted by Oko

Hiroki Sato is a full professor at Tokyo University, one of five members of the FreeBSD core, occasional contributer to IPFW, and the guy who is porting TeXLive to FreeBSD since 2001. He prevented at least two different people that I know of committing full working TeXLive to FreeBSD ports tree because it hearts his ego to know that a kid from France and a kid from a Serbia did something in 6 months that he could not do in ten years.

I was also in contact regarding TexLive a couple of years ago when I still did some FreeBSD port work (And didn't have a job, so I had plenty of time). IIRC the answer I got was "it's almost done and at this moment I don't need any help. Maybe later. Thanks!"

As for tar, libarchive(3) tells me:

HISTORY
     The libarchive library first appeared in FreeBSD 5.3.

libarchive (and thus tar) can also process zip files, iso files, etc.

[vermaden]

Originally Posted by Oko

Well, like it or not, and regardless of FreeBSD being your preferred system, the fact is that FreeBSD is the least interesting of four BSDs projects. FreeBSD actually have not contributed anything to BSDs ecosystem probably since the times of 4.xxx when Matt Dillon forked DragonFly unless you count things like scrypt .

If these are 'nothing' then ok ...
http://ivoras.net/freebsd/freebsd7.html
http://ivoras.net/freebsd/freebsd8.html
http://ivoras.net/freebsd/freebsd9.html

Originally Posted by Oko

And please, please stop bragging about ZFS and DTrace since if I need Solaris stuff I will use Solaris.

So porting LVM from Linux to DragonflyBSD/NetBSD is 'better' then porting ZFS to FreeBSD?

[nilsgecko]

Originally Posted by BSDfan666

The concept of a single certification for multiple distinct projects is flawed, I know and use OpenBSD.. while I'm not ignorant of the other projects, I don't actively following their development nor maintain any such systems at home.

Not interesting in the least, it should not weigh in on an employers decision to hire someone.. it's their job to thoroughly interview potential employees.

Hello BSDfan666,

I don't agree but I don't hate you or anything. I think the base BSD Way of doing things is similar enough but that's just my opinion. After all, it's only a matter of reading through man pages or documentation to figure the way this BSD does things compared to that BSD. The changes aren't as drastic as they can be going from between two disparate Linux distributions for example.

I also think a variety of factors should go into the decision to hire someone not just a certification. This includes whether the hiring manager feels the candidate will work well with others for example.

Also, while you've already expressed your disinterest, I just thought others might like to know, that for the BSDP, I believe you can use whatever preferred BSD distribution you want to complete the live-lab objectives.
I think that's fair enough for people who primarily use this-or-that system.

Also, FreeBSD is not my preferred distribution. I think NetBSD is my preferred distribution. I also LOVE OpenBSD though and run a couple of machines on it. Depends on the task for me.

[fossala]

nilsgeko: I think that saying "the base way of doing things" is closer in BSD's than in Linux is wrong. Your right that a quick look at man pages will tell you what you need, but how does that change it from Linux?
I'm not against broad Linux or BSD qualifications, they can give people good base knowledge. I just think saying to people when you know one you know them all is wrong.

[Oko]

Originally Posted by vermaden

So porting LVM from Linux to DragonflyBSD/NetBSD is 'better' then porting ZFS to FreeBSD?

Last time I checked DragonFly has Hammer file system. Maybe not as sophisticated as ZFS but definitely it is a damn good file system.

Speaking of porting ZFS, it is already ported to NetBSD 5.99 the same as Hammer. If you are really after some very specific file systems requirements NetBSD is just the way to go... (from the mouth of OpenBSD user )

[s0xxx]

Originally Posted by Oko

...

P.S. By most support you must be thinking of Opera web-browser since I can not thing of anything relevant supported by commercial vendors on FreeBSD. No serious compiler to speak of (PortlandCC, Open64), no GPU/CUDA drivers, no Oracle, no Maple, no Mathematica, no MATLAB, no scanner drivers (epkowa), no drivers for all in one (Brother), no Adobe Flash, no Acrobat Reader, no Java, no Skype ...

But that could be said for all *BSDs, not just FreeBSD... Which is sad really.

[Oko]

Originally Posted by s0xxx

But that could be said for all *BSDs, not just FreeBSD... Which is sad really.

+1 Of course...

He was bragging about support for FreeBSD so I felt the need to respond. The only probably correct statement he made was that FreeBSD has the largest user base among BSDs. BSDs have such a miniscule user base that even such claim should be taken with a reserve as there is no even semi accurate account of the BSDs installations. For instance right now the system admin of this forum probably see my system as Linux as I use Opera via Linux emulator layer on OpenBSD. Even on this forum I bet half of all members never or only seldom use BSDs which Carpetsmoker once in the past confirmed by posting the user statistic for this forum.

Cheers,
Oko

[vermaden]

Originally Posted by Oko

Last time I checked DragonFly has Hammer file system. Maybe not as sophisticated as ZFS but definitely it is a damn good file system.

... but HAMMER (as good as it is) is 'only' a filesystem ... You will not create RAID1/RAID5/RAID6/RAID10/RAID60/.../RAIDXYZ with it like with ZFS, HAMMER needs one device on which it can 'spread' so You still need a volume manager to provide that device, that is why they ported LVM from Linux.

Originally Posted by Oko

Speaking of porting ZFS, it is already ported to NetBSD 5.99 the same as Hammer. If you are really after some very specific file systems requirements NetBSD is just the way to go... (from the mouth of OpenBSD user )

I like NetBSD because of having Xen dom0 support and iSCSI target in the base, but thats it, I have tried it about 5.0 times and it was PITA to use it (packages/configuration/sound), I hope most of these things will be resolved at 6.0 (pkgin is very nice).