Since I wrote about storage certifications in my previous blog entry "Storage Training, Certification & Large Archive", I received several messages requesting training material for the SNIA certifications. Unfortunately, I am unable to distribute the training course materials, I use in my sessions. It is not fair to course developers and training providers to distribute such material freely without permission.
In my previous blog entry "Training Feedback", I mentioned several resources that will help in preparing for SNIA Storage Networking Foundations exam. The same material can also be used to gain basic knowledge in data storage for people working in other technology area.
Using the SNIA Storage Network Foundations (S10-100) Exam Description (PDF file) as roadmap, I will try to cover some basic aspects of different data storage topics in my future blog entries.
Topic: Basic Storage Technology
Section: Identify Standards Organizations
Some industry organizations active in Data Storage industry that you need to be aware of:
Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA)
An association of producers and consumers of storage networking products whose goal is to further storage networking technology and applications, as listed in SNIA dictionary. Basically, it is an industry trade association formed by data storage vendors to cooperate and promote data storage technologies and solutions through standards, best practices, knowledge exchange and education.
SNIA Storage Security Industry Forum (SSIF)
It is SNIA forum working on developing best practices, technologies and promoting storage networking security.
Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA)
An association of manufacturers, systems integrators, developers and vendors of Fibre Channel (FC) based storage products.
Infiniband Trade Association
Some Standards Organizations and Committees active in developing and ratifying data storage standards are:
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
The InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standrads (INCITS) committees related to storage networking are:
Technical Committee T10 responsible for SCSI I/O Interface
Technical Committee T11 responsible for Fibre Channel (FC) Interface
Technical Committee T13 responsible for ATA Interface
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
The standard body responsible for IP (Internet Protocol) based Storage Networking protocols such as iSCSI, FCIP, iFCP.
This is great material to see on the web instead of the usual "buy my cheat sheet" garbage that Google normally finds. I wish there was non-training center material available (i.e. books, CBTs, etc) for these series of exams. I am already certified by one hardware vendor and can answer some of the material you bring up. However, each vendor has a "spin" on terminology and that could distract me from studying the SNIA standards for storage. So far I am only seeing SNIA cert material if you pay for a class. There should be other ways to learn the material without having to write a check to a training company.
ReplyDeleteJoe,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. In several posts, I gave pointers to the material that may help with SNIA exam.
I am not aware of any books or CBT specifically targeting SNIA exam. Is there lot of interest in SNIA exam or such material for this exam?
BTW, there are enough books and info out there that cover in detail the exam topics.
Anil
Hi Anil,
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of taking snia foundations exam and googling for material or books and found your link.
Did the material given in snia is quite enough of a IT professional to take the exam? I've this questions becuase, those materials are not targeted for exam preparation rather just for knowledge.
Can you give some information how to organize for the exam? Appreciate any feedback on this. --Shyam
Shyam,
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if the material provided at SNIA website is enough for Foundation exam. If they were, how would their training partners make money. ;-)
If you review the Exam syllabus and for each topic, read SNIA website material, some additional material like books, magazine and vendor publications, and if you already work in storage segment and keep up with industry trends, you may be able to clear the foundation exam without any difficulty.
Good Luck.
Anil
Hi Anil,
ReplyDeleteI am planning to take the foundations exam but very much concerned in the duration i would spend to complete the course. What's your recommendation for an IT engineer who has some basis in Storage?
Regards
ChandraM