Meb: What blogs and forums do you recommend reading?

Patrick_Regan: Microsoft actually has a couple of blogs. One is the Technet blog and another is the Microsoft discussion group. These will give you good feel for what problems are out there and what technology is becoming popular.

Rocky: From a networking standpoint, what are the areas where Cisco and Microsoft meet? Also, how is the cooperation between these two companies regarding that area of the network?

Patrick_Regan: Basically, the cooperation is touch and go. For example, Cisco is still working on getting a VPN client that works 100% with Windows Vista, even though Windows Vista has been out for a year. The next security features have prevented some features such as auto-connect, to function properly. And with the separation of testing centers, I see a little bit of friction. But then in other places I see that they work close together.

JoeAdmin: With all of the brain dumps available on the Web leading to people with "paper certifications," are the Cisco professional level certifications still relevant? A number of colleagues of mine have argued that the only Cisco cert worth having these days is the CCIE, and that working towards any of the professional level certs is a waste of time. I'd appreciate any insight you could give to this debate.

Patrick_Regan: With the many dumps available online, you will find that the Cisco Professional level certifications are still relevant. Even taking the CCNA exam, you must know how to do subnet masking and converting IP addresses to binary format to answer questions and to do it almost without thinking. If not, you will run out of time and if you leave any questions unanswered, you automatically fail. The Cisco exams are changed frequently, often adding new questions. And lastly, they have multiple questions where you have to program or configure the switch, router or other device, something that usually requires several commands.

The same can be said for the Microsoft exams. While there are plenty of dumps out there, which I am sure devalue the certification to some extent, Microsoft is watching for people who are cheating on these exams. If you use this material and are caught, you can be decertified and disallowed from future exams. Microsoft is also attempting to add more hands-on portions on their exams to weed out those people who do use dumps. Lastly, there is the job interview. Any company that is looking at hiring someone should always test the person's knowledge. It won't take long to determine if someone really knows the material or not. So if you look at taking shortcuts by doing these dumps, you will mostly only be hurting yourself.

Servergal: What kinds of ways can you recommend to get Microsoft training on the cheap? Any freebies or demo classes worthwhile?

Patrick_Regan: If you can find it, the right book always helps. Of course, you also need to be able to get the software and load it on the computer and play with it. Then when you are ready to take the exam, the Exam Cram books are in-depth enough to learn the technology and prepare you for the exam without getting too lost in the fluff. Also you would be amazed at what you can find just searching around on the Internet including what is on Microsoft's Website.

JasonW: Mr. Regan, in the WAN area, what do you feel is the hottest certification track or single certification? MPLS? Also, what is your take on the new developments of "network coding," and what books would you recommend for future learning? Thank you!

Patrick_Regan: If you are looking at WAN arena, you need to look at the Cisco certifications. The first one will be the CCNA. Then you can either go for the some of the professional certs or go for the big one, the CCIE. Some people go for the professional certs first, then upgrade to the CCIE. Unfortunately, the CCIE is very difficult to pass. It is not that it is necessarily difficult, but you must do it the Cisco way or fail. You could find a solution in two minutes to a problem and the Cisco way may have been longer, but for the exam, the Cisco way is the correct method. I am not much of an expert on network coding.