I've just passed the Security+ exam, what a relief! To my surprise, the exam was nothing like the practice exams , the book or most of the sample exams i've seen.

I found the questions not as much focused on security terminology, but rather on how as an administrator or manager you'd handle security situations.

I've only studied for two days, though i've a background as a Unix/MSFT sys admin for over 5 years. I found my experience with Unix helped alot in understanding security terms.

The book I've used is from Element K, and I don't recommend it. I've also seen sample questions from various source like ucertify, pass-guaranteed and didn't find value in much of them.

The ProProfs security+ study guide had some helpful hints.

The exam in general appears to have covered all materials. Most questions were more in depth than I've expected (comparing it to A+).

Anyway, here is a run down of the exam flow:

- Many questions on Ports, know all ports (secure and non-secure). Know ports for IPSec , Kerberos, SSH, VPN...etc

- There were about 6-10 questions related to MAC/DAC/RBAC (Role), they are not as directed as what is MAC/DAC. Rather, more complex in term they say something in the line of if you have sensitive labels attached to each object or subject and to each user what kind of method is that ?

- There were number of questions on when would you use Symmetric and when would you use Asymmetric crypt. So know the advantage/disadvantage of each and where they are used. Know all encryption methods and to where they belgon (e.g. PGP is Symm or Asymm , Kerberos is Symm or Asymm )

- Know IPSec inside out, what it uses for encryption, what it is, how many network associations in each direction! Know ports for ESP and AH.

- Couple of questions on Risk Management, the steps, the process and why is it used

- Something I wasn't expecting is the use of different terminology. For example, all books and study guides referred to footprinting as a way of understanding the network/OS. In the exam, I've seen the word fingerprinting.

- Know differences between different password guessing attacks

- Be familiar with networking programming like nessus, nmaap, tcpdump

- Know what to be restored in the event of disaster recovery and in which order

- When to use DMZ, Extranet, Intranet....etc.

- Be well familiar with VLAN, MAC, DTP , their advantages and disadvantages.

- Know the different type of certificates available, all different naming (X.509)

- Physical connection methods Copper RG-58, CAT5, Fiber Optic and their differences in terms of security

- Know SNMP, TCP, DHCP, DNS, RADIUS, FTP, SSH....etc

Always think in terms of security. This is a security exam, so they really don't care much about which is better in terms of efficiency, but they want to know what is each item weakness and advantage from a security stand point.

Hope these information are helpful...I'm wondering about doing CISSP next, heard it opens lots of opportunities ?

As the topic implies, this post is intended to give you an overview of my Linux+ exam.

After much consideration, I finally took my Linux+ exam today. This was one of the exams on my to-do list since the very beginning, so I am very excited to have passed it.

As it is typical for CompTIA exams, you're allowed 90 minutes to complete the exam, and it consisted of 98 questions. To my surprise, all questions were multiple choice, with no other unsual pattern such as "choose 2 or 3" or "choose all that apply".

The questions were pretty straight forward, and I did not find that many tricky questions as in my other exams.

Topics you should be familiar with for Linux+ include:

Permissions - You definitely gotta know your permission and how umask affects them.
Commands - You definitely gotta know certain commands and switches which are necessary, and very important to Linux.
Shell Variables - You gotta know what some variables mean, and how you can set them in bash, ksh, and so forth.
Apache - Know where the default files reside, where does it log errors, different configurations, etc.
SSH - You gotta know how to connect to a Linux server remote, and some other commands related to ssh.
Algorithms - Believe it or not I had about two questions on algorithms on this exam.
Printers - Gotta know the commands such as lpr,lprm, lpq, and so forth. Also know how to start and stop printers, how to modify the print queue, etc.
Linux Documentation - Know where you can find the lastest version of the kernel, and where do the user docs reside on the system.
VI - Know you're way around VI, from editting to saving, and running a command while you have VI open.
Ports - Know the different ports for services such as ftp, ssh, smtp, etc.
NIS - Know how to configure it and what it is used for.
Filesystems - You gotta know your filesystems for Linux. Know how to create filesystems, and how to mount them, including swap.

That's all I can remember for now. I will update this thread if I recall anything else.

I'll also be finalizing my study guide during the rest of the week, and probably next week as well.

And now for my score, it was 890 out of 900!!!

I guess I missed only one question but it's rather difficult for me to know which one as I must have guessed correctly on about 4-5 questions that caught me totally off guard.

Needless to say I am EXTREMELY excited about this.

Time to celebrate now.

Well! Just a few thoughts on this exam. It's 90 questions (vs. 100 for Essentials) and it stated that there *may* be questions that weren't graded. In the Essentials it stated that there were ten questions that were not graded out of 100. The 604 requires a slightly higher passing of 700 when compared to the the 601. I found this interesting as there are fewer questions!

I found this exam much more difficult than the 601, but YMMV. It took me about 70 minutes to go through the exam twice and then again re-review some additional questions. To be honest, I don't think I could break down the test as others have done (Fade - awesome attention to detail!) but I can say you need to know printer and laptop troubleshooting pretty good. Common failures of each, common problems encountered necessitating upgrades, etc. There were some questions related to good work-place practices involving personal safety and workspace environments.

A couple of questions that I flat out guessed on involved some emerging (or maybe it's been around for a while, but I haven't a clue) technology for high-end graphics solutions.

A few of the questions were worded poorly. I don't mean they were trying to "trick" you, they were just wrong grammatically. Also, some were the "pick the least wrong" answer. Many were common sense.

All in all, I'd say both exams probably test fairly. I used the tests on this site, Mike Meyers 2003 version (whatever edition that is) and the FastPass series for 2006. The Meyers book I checked out from the library and I purchased the FastPass book. I also cross-checke the Meyers book with my latest Scott Mueller "Upgrading & Reparing PC's" book. Study time? I registered with ProProfs in December and checked out the Meyers book and started thumbing through it. After the holidays, (really half way in to January) I picked up the FastPass book. I wasted some time about 2003 vs. 2006 and finally decided that I was sick of memorizing IRQ's and such and reacquainting myself with Win9X so I focused on 2006 instead. I spent about two weeks really reading and reviewing the FastPass book, but I warn you, there are errors and generalities. If I didn't have experience I could've easily been led astray. Also, the Meyers book has a bunch of piddly errors, but I couldn't find an errata sheet for it? But I digress... Once I committed to the 2006 version, I further decided that I should just stick to the hardware aspect and went with the Depot designation. Although I'm comfortable and confident using XP, I haven't had 2000 on any of my machines for several years and didn't feel like messing with it again just for the test. I didn't want my lack of familiarity in completing every variation of a task to harm my chances of success.

Well, I just want to again thank James and all the moderators and contributors at ProProfs for hosting, nurturing, and encouraging this community. It's a great resource for information, inspiration, and (what I needed most) motivation!

I'm now a CompTIA A+ Depot Technician. 840/845.

On to N+ then Security+, then ... ?

Thanks again everyone!

Jerry

Adrian,

I know exactly what you mean, and I feel your pain! A few suggestions that might give you a bit of that "real world" experience:

1) As lame as it may sound, check out your local computer store, and visit the networking section. Read the labels on the boxes, check out what's available, and make mental notes of things you see that you don't know or understand.

2) Play around with the command line, and perform the basic networking commands. Run commands like ipconfig /release, and try to connect to the internet. Understand why you can't (and enter ipconfig /renew). Examine the different areas of the various commands, and play around with them.

3) Visit any forums that have troubleshooting sections. Read about networking problems user's experienced, and find what the solution was. Oftentimes, I find the google forums to be a great learning experience.

4) In terms of the 7 layers of the OSI model, if you're really interested in practical networking usage, check out CCNA after you take Network+. You learn all about switches, bridges, NICs, routers, serial/parallel connections, LAN and WAN connectivity, packet structure, etc. Many people set up home labs with a router and a couple of switches for hands on learning.

I hope these prove to be a good starting point for you -- feel free to ask any more questions, as you will be surprised at the number of people here that can provide very good suggestions.

Members have been all over the ballpark with how they feel about CompTIA waiting til the last hour to push back the retirement date for the 2003 A+ testing.

http://www.proprofs.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6256

There has been joy in the fact there's more time and others who are mad as #&*@ about killing themselves studing, trying to finish on time.

Take a few minutes and let us know how you feel about it. I for one think CompTIA should of seen this coming sooner, knowing the school year does not end til June. That was very shortsighted on their part.

So here's a thread where you can get it off your chest and tear into CompTIA if you feel it's needed. Enjoy.

spy

WOOT, just passed the OS test! I just wanted again to thank ProProfs.com for the great resources you offer. I don't plan on going anywhere else to prep for my future certs. If I may give some advice for future test takers:

-9 times out of 10 your first answer is the right one, don't second guess yourself.
-Try to answer the question before looking at your choices, then if you see your guess as one of your choices then it's a no brainer.
-There's no such thing as too much studying.
-Make flash cards, they make memorization a lot easier.
-Read the questions VERY carefully, the wording they use can trick you into picking the wrong answer.
-This post by spy1954 was a great guide for the OS test: http://www.proprofs.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1432

Thanks a million guys!!!

A lot of members are asking, do I study for 2003 or 2006 A+ test. Fact is, time is not on your side. You still have time to get certified with the 2003 test, but remember you must pass both core & OS by 12/31. If you want to take the 2003 test, one thing you may want to think about is taking the harder of the two test.

Most members have said that OS is the harder of the two test. If you take the harder of the two first, that will leave more time to study for the easier test. Another way to look at it is, why pass the easier test only to run out of time trying to pass the harder test.

Manage your time well, the tests cost about $150.00 each so look ahead before you jump in. Study for both, try the practice test for both.

Prepare now for both, time is starting to become a factor.

spy

Although covering all the objectives in your studys are vital while studying for network +, I found an excerpt on page 43 in Mike Harwood's Exam Cram 2 Network + Second Edition that I found important.

"Although CompTIA does not include BNC connectors in the updated Network + objectives, we have included them in this chapter to provide complete coverage of the commonly used connectors. In addition, CompTIA has been known to include questions in the exam that are not included in the objectives, and we think it wise to prepare for any eventuality."

Also, on page 47, Harwood says:
"Even though it is not specifically stated in the CompTIA Network+ objectives, we have inlcuded coverage on 10Base2 because there is still a chance that you will encounter it in the real world"
In other words, abiding by the objectives are very important, but it is also important to understand the big picture. One reason being, if you understand the entire concept, you can usually infer what the right answer will be, even if the question being asked is something that is not specifcally covered in the objectives(Such as the example of 10Base2). Be sure to read all parts of the study material that you may have, because certain legacy devices or concepts are sometimes thrown on the exam as a curve ball. Also, just because CompTIA doesn't necessarily test on a topic, doesn't mean you won't see it in the real word. Just because CompTIA doesn't address it specifically any longer, doesn't mean organizations around the world just stop using the technology. So keep your eyes open for information that might give you an extra leg up on the test or in the real world.