I just came up with this analogy to explain it to my wife. She instantly understood what I was talking about.
- Analogy: How to find and shop at Kroger Let's say you want to test someone on Kroger stores. - How do I find one? - How do I get there? - How to I shop there? And once you shop there, you start asking questions? - What should I buy? - What is a good deal (price compare to Albertsons)? - How do I check out? And you decide to reserve another test for another store like Albertsons or maybe even smaller, Publix (which we have here in the SE US) -- kinda like MacOS X, Netware or specific UNIX flavors might be. First off, stepping back, the first 3 questions above are _generic_ for _any_ grocery story. Not only that, the latter 3 questions are _also_ generic for _any_ grocery store -- much less the "integration" questions like "what is a good deal?" involves price comparisons against _multiple_ grocery stores. So it makes sense to have at least a generic "grocery store" exam. But we want to get very specific on grocery stores, and then select "tasks" that might vary between grocery stores, so we want to separate out different questions that are _not_ grocery store-specific. So, secondly, we recognize that if we want to find a grocery story and travel to it -- that's actually _generic_ for _any_ store period! So things like how to find one and how to get there should be a _separate_ exam on "how to find/travel." That removes a lot of redundant questions into two different exams -- with only the "glue" between general find/travel and grocery stores being needed. This also means that if we want to write an exam on how to shop at a Best Buy, we can now leverage the _generic_ find/travel against a new exam category, electronic superstores. And we can put all those in one, and get very specific. All while _eliminating_ a _lot_ of broadness as well as redundancy. - Very 1:1 reality on enterprise networks How to find, authenticate and reference things on an enterprise network is _core_. Everything uses it! Not only file services like NFS, Samba, etc..., but Internet services like Apache, FTP, Proxy, etc... And then NFS, Samba and other file services have redundant as well as integration concepts. Just like Apache, FTP, Proxy and other Internet services do. Enterprise UNIX/Linux networks are *NOT* based on Samba. Samba is a core facility for Windows clients but we should _not_ be covering concepts such as authentication and naming that are _generic_ to enterprises -- or the exam will have major redundancy with another. Furthermore, anytime one service of the _same_type_ is integrated with another of the _same_type_, they should be on the _same_exam_ -- or that exam too will have major redundancy with another. - Conclusion I know the analogy seems cheezy, but it's a _perfect_ 1:1 analogy. How to find and get to a store is generic, and not affixed to a particular type of store much less specific store vendor. Exact same principle on a network. Other exams for other types of stores all rely on that first exam -- how to find and get to the store, possibly even some common store details like paying for goods, etc... And store vendors of the same type have many similar concepts and, even more appropriately, are often integrated into the same questions and resulting tasks. And that _includes_ desktop support as a future exam -- just like generic exam on resolving a consumer dispute or warranty service might be that really doesn't have anything to do with a store. Just like Samba can't solve many Windows client-side issues. Separate out what is common and specific to each type (by exam) and then each service (in exam). Otherwise, redundancy will be king. - My professional attitude ... I really tire of walking into networks that are designed so poorly because people "separate" Windows from UNIX/Linux and don't know the first thing about unified authentication, directory and naming services. They are a PITA to support and are _less_secure_ as a result. Let's end that non-sense with LPIC-3 and make it worth respecting! -- Bryan J. Smith Professional, technical annoyance mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://thebs413.blogspot.com ---------------------------------------------------------- The existence of Linux has far more to do with the breakup of AT&T's monopoly than anything Microsoft has ever done. _______________________________________________ lpi-examdev mailing list [email protected] http://list.lpi.org/mailman/listinfo/lpi-examdev
