It's new—is it worthwhile?
At the fall 1998 Comdex, Microsoft announced the release of SQL Server 7.0 and a new certification for database administrators. The Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA) certification was the first new certification Microsoft had introduced in several years and was a long time in coming. Database management specialists in general, and SQL Server specialists in particular, are delighted to finally see database administration officially recognized. The road to the new certification hasn't been a smooth one, however, and questions remain about whether the MCDBA differs substantially from the MCSE with a SQL Server specialization.
Long before Microsoft introduced the MCDBA certification, confusion existed over what MCDBAs would be certified in. Beginning in November 1998, Microsoft awarded the general-purpose Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) certification to people who passed one exam, and many MCPs say they are certified "in" the topic that this exam targets (e.g., Windows NT 4.0, SQL Server 7.0). However, Microsoft doesn't recognize these self-awarded specializations, and no separate logos for MCP areas of expertise exist. In other words, there's no such thing as an MCP in SQL Server. To give you an understanding of the relative worth of the MCDBA, let's look more deeply at MCDBA certification and explore its pros and cons.
MCDBA Certification Requirements
Microsoft requires MCDBA candidates to pass four core exams:
- Administering Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 (Exam 70-028)
- Designing and Implementing Databases with Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 (Exam 70-029)
- Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 (Exam 70-067)
- Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 in the Enterprise (Exam 70-068)
In addition, candidates must pass one elective exam chosen from the following exams:
- Designing and Implementing Distributed Applications with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 (Exam 70-015)
- Designing and Implementing Data Warehouses with Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 (Exam 70-019)
- Internetworking with Microsoft TCP/IP on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 (Exam 70-059)
- Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0 (Exam 70-087)
- Designing and Implementing Distributed Applications with Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 (Exam 70-175)
You can get full details about the requirements for the MCDBA certification from Microsoft's Training and Certification Web site. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/ mcp/certstep/mcdba.htm.
Automatic Certification?
As of May 1999, no one had been certified as an MCDBA. Microsoft held the beta exams for Administering Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 and Designing and Implementing Databases with Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 during the last week of February 1999 and the first week of March 1999, and the results of the latter exam were not available when this article went to press. As soon as that test's results are available, however, some people might achieve MCDBA certification. I know many Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) who also hold the MCSE certification and took the SQL Server 7.0 beta exams so that they would be qualified to teach SQL Server classes. These trainers didn't intentionally pursue MCDBA certification—they wanted only to be able to teach SQL Server classes. But if one of their electives for MCSE certification is either Internetworking with Microsoft TCP/IP on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 or Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0 and they also pass the two SQL Server 7.0 exams, they'll have MCDBA certification.