Book Proposal
Sun System Administrator Certification
This book is currently a work in progress. Our working title is “SCSA: Solaris 7 Certification in a Nutshell” In hopes that O’Reilly will act as our publisher.
This book will contain information on the format and content of the Sun Certified Systems Administrator (SCSA) certification exams. Our target version of the Solaris OS is version 7 (recently renamed from version 2.7), however the book will also contain information on earlier versions of the exams. The exams for this version will first become available in April. Practice exams and computerized testing software will be included. This book will also contain general information on the Sun certification program.
This book will review the material covered on the two exams that candidates must pass in order to be awarded Sun Certified Solaris Administrator (SCSA) credentials. The reader will be able to use this book, and the accompanying software, to measure their abilities and knowledge against Sun’s requirements for certification. Those planning on taking the tests can study this book and take the practice tests until they are confident in their ability to pass the SCSA examinations. This will reduce the chances that they will waste time and money retaking the tests. Those who have no need for official certification can use this book to evaluate their Solaris skills without having to go through the actual certification procedure.
At the time of publication, the most recent version of Solaris will be Solaris 7. Many companies maintain platforms of older versions of Solaris, and Sun continues to offer the older certification exams. Therefore, we will include information on the older versions of the exams, and how they are different.
This book will also briefly cover the reasons why individuals or organizations should be interested in obtaining Sun certification for themselves or their employees.
We are designing a simple Java-based practice exam with a similar look and feel to the actual exams. We will include enough test questions to mix and match from each of the sections so that the user can take each practice exam several times with only minimal duplication. The book can contain instructions to download the testing software and the Java Runtime Environment, or a CD-ROM may be included. We will also include instructions for obtaining a free copy of Solaris X86 for those who do not have access to Sun hardware.
The ideal reader for this book is technically competent and experienced in the use of the Unix (but not necessarily the Solaris brand) operating system. Those without strong Unix backgrounds may use this book in conjunction with additional texts or a classroom environment.
Even highly experienced Solaris administrators will be interested in this book for several reasons:
If they do not intend to take the tests, they may still want to review the requirements for the tests in order to affirm that their own skills match the Sun certification standards. This book will give them an excellent opportunity to do just that without the expense of actually taking the exams.
It will also give them the opportunity to take a computerized test, very similar in form and content to the actual Sun exams. This will satisfy their curiosity concerning what their actual score would be if they were to ever actually take the exams.
A current Solaris administrator may want to review for the Sun exams so they can add SCSA credentials to their resume. This will give them objective proof of their skills, allowing them to command higher wages from their current employer. It will also make them generally more valuable in the market place should they seek employment elsewhere.
This book will be an ideal tool to study for the exams, allowing experienced readers to quickly become confident that they are ready to take the test. Since they will already know the majority of the material, an instructor-taught course would be an unnecessary expenditure of their time and money.
Non-Solaris Unix administrators may want to take the SCSA exams in order to prove that experience in a different flavor of Unix translates into Solaris experience. This book would be an ideal tool for them to review the Solaris specific techniques before taking the exam. SCSA credentials also represent knowledge of Unix in general, as this is obviously a requirement for understanding the specific brand of Unix that is Solaris.
The SCSA credentials are the perfect opportunity for the knowledgeable Solaris Administrator with little or no job experience to prove that they can do the job. The package of a review book and testing software is the perfect solution for them to prepare for the exams, especially if they are currently seeking employment, and can not afford an expensive review class.
Large cross-platform networks are becoming increasingly more common. While Windows systems have become the default GUI environment, their failings in scalability and reliability are becoming increasingly evident to the business community. As a business grows, it reaches a point where the best solution for the continued growth of its Intranet is to add Unix file and print servers. Many of the current and future MCSE qualified administrators will soon be facing a need to learn the Unix environment in order to implement cross platform solutions. Since Solaris is the major corporate Unix player, it is natural for these administrators to seek Solaris certification to complement their MCSE credentials. Dual certification in NT and Unix makes them far more valuable in this market of increasingly heterogeneous networks.
A person with no experience, desiring to become a Solaris Administrator, will doubtless buy other books and take courses in Unix administration. They will also, however, want to have a clear picture of the goal towards which they are working. Since the SCSA exams represent an objective measurement of Solaris skills, a book about these exams can paint an excellent picture of their final goal. Although most will need to seek more detailed information sources, this review book and testing software can be used as a good measure of progress. The practice tests are especially useful if they are educating themselves by reading books and do not have the feedback available in a classroom setting.
Those currently employing Solaris Administrators may require their employees to add SCSA credentials to their resumes. This will make the corporate profile look more impressive, and will give the employer third party affirmation that their employees know their jobs. A book that allows review of the exam material and self-testing is a cheap purchase compared to a class that would not only be more expensive but would also take up more of their employee’s time.
A review book, with specific points of necessary knowledge clearly outlined, also makes a kind of executive summary. The less technically experienced employer can use this to better evaluate an employee’s knowledge.
The purpose of this book is to allow the reader to review the requirements for obtaining SCSA credentials, and obtain a clear picture of what their score will be when they take the real exams.
As Outlined above, the audience for this book falls into the following categories:
· Experienced Solaris Administrators
· Experienced Non-Solaris Unix Administrators
· New Unix Administrators
· Persons seeking to become Unix Administrators
· MCSE certified NT administrators wishing to develop heterogeneous skills
· Employers of Unix administrators
Neither of us has the skill to do a detailed market analysis predicting how many people in each of these categories will buy this book. We do know that 150,000+ people now have MCSE credentials, and that such certification is becoming a corporate norm. We also know that most system administrators, to be competitive in the market, are developing both NT and Unix experience in order to administer heterogeneous environments. Since Solaris is the most common corporate Unix environment, it only stands to reason that SCSA credentials will soon become very common. Demand for study materials should currently be high, but the competition in the field of SCSA exam preparation books is still virtually nonexistent.
Currently there is no effective competition in this market.
Material available from Sun on the SCSA program falls into three categories:
· Freely Available
· Self Study Material for purchase (approximately $1000.00 per exam)
· Instructor Lead course (approximately $2000.00 per exam)
None of these sources represent a product competing with this book:
The free material will be summarized in the text of our book. Sources to obtain this information and the procedures to register for the tests will be clearly outlined. This will make our book a clearer and more complete guide to SCSA exam information than any information on Sun’s web pages.
The self-study materials from Sun are priced at around $1000.00 per exam. This makes our likely price tag of under $50.00 very competitive. It is quite likely that anyone spending the full $2000.00 for the Sun materials will also be willing to buy one or more additional $50.00 books covering the same material. This makes some of the Sun self-study material customers our customers as well. The same argument applies to the instructor lead classes which cost about $4000.00 for both exams.
A search of the Amazon catalog on the topic of SCSA books yields only one title: “Solaris 2.6 Administrator Certification Training Guide” by Bill Calkins - MacMillan Techincal Pub; ISBN: 157870085X. - It has been delayed, and the current release date is in April. The listed author, Bill Calkins, is a systems administrator in Michigan with no special credentials linking him to the Sun certification program.
Even if this other book is the first to market, it is not listed as containing testing software. This makes our book a more complete product. Also, a search of other books purchased by persons purchasing certification exam review books often show that they purchased more than one title. It is not known what the percentage of overlap is, but clearly some percentage of the other book’s customers will also be our customers. It is also note worthy that the Solaris 2.7 (renamed Solaris 7) exams will also be ready in April, so this competing book will be obsolete immediately upon release, both in its 2.6 target operating system and its 2.x numbering format. Our book will target the Solaris 7 exams. Since at least one other publisher believes there is a market for this book, it is likely that more will follow shortly. If O’Reilly wants to have a competitive line of exam prep books, a book on this topic should be included.
We are in the process of creating a simple Java computerized practice exam. It will be similar in look and feel to the actual Sun exams. This can be marketed as being useful for diminishing test anxiety by allowing candidates to get a real feel for the computerized testing procedure when they take the practice examinations. No competing software is currently available for SCSA exam preparation.
This is also an ideal time for O’Reilly to get into the SCSA Certification market because of the changes in number format which Sun recently introduced. Solaris 2.7 is now called Solaris 7. The only competing Solaris certification text (not yet released) is already being marketed with a 2.X name. O’Reilly could be one of the first publishers to market with books bearing the new version number format.
We have broken down the project into 6 sections. Each of these sections is approximately equal in time requirement. The five sections to be completed are:
· Study Available Exam I Materials & Write Exam I Review Text
· Researching Exam I Questions & Create Exam I Sample Test Questions
· Study Available Exam II Materials & Write Exam II Review Text
· Research Exam II Questions & Create Exam II Sample Test Questions
· Upgrade work as necessary for the Solaris 7 Exams (ready in April)
· Code Java Testing Software
With part time work by both Authors, none of these parts should take much longer than 3 weeks to complete. If the editing and review process can be handled concurrently to our work, not much additional time should be required. It should also be noted that the first section is already well under way. All this leads us to believe that August 1st represents a realistic goal for our completion of this product. Additional time requirements for production and delivery to the market are unknown to us.
· Sun Ultra I Work Station
· Documentation for Same
· The man Pages for Solaris 2.6 and Solaris 2.7 (Renamed Solaris 7)
· Solaris 2.6 Exam Materials from Sun
· The Actual 2.6 Exams (We are taking the exams ourselves, and have access to a large group of friends and co-workers who have taken them or will be taking them over the next few months.)
· Solaris 7 Exam Materials and Actual Exams (We will be ordering these materials and taking these exams as soon as they become available in April. Most changes to the OS are purely cosmetic, but we will be reviewing the new tests closely so we can include specific information on any changes.)
We estimate this book to be a hardcover in the 400+ page range with a US$50.00 or less price tag. All text and illustrations can be in black and white. It could quite easily be split into two books covering Exam I and Exam II respectively. In this case, each would be less than 250 pages, have a soft cover, and a US$25.0 or less cover price. Advantages to splitting it into two books are a possibly higher cover price to production cost ratio, and an earlier release date for the first part. Drawbacks are less impulse buy revenue potential, first volume only sales, and the chance that a larger competing book might seem more complete.
The authors of this book are Alexander Marsh and Sean Hastings. We have included a short introduction by each of us along with an explanation of why we are writing this book together. Please contact us by sending email to suncertbooks@islebyte.com, if you are interested in publishing this book, or require any additional information.
I have been a cross platform systems administrator for several years. My current employer, Collective Technologies Inc. recently became interested in having me obtain SCSA qualifications in addition to my MCSE credentials. I began looking around for a book to help me review for these exams. I was sorry to see that there were no books on the topic.
When I could not find a book on the subject from any publisher, I took on the project of writing an html text that would be available to other Collective Technology employees. Many of us are currently, or soon will be, studying for these exams. While doing this, I happened to speak with my old friend Sean Hastings who was reviewing for the Java certification exams. He mentioned that he had been looking at exam prep books and said he could write a better book than what was available for Java certification.
The idea clicked. We could write an exam preparation book. Since I had already compiled a good number of notes, and begun questioning those who had previously taken the Solaris exams, we decided to work on the SCSA exam book first.
I am an experienced Java programmer and technical writer. I don’t know why this is a strange combination, but for some reason it seems to be uncommon. Apparently, most people who can write code can’t write English. One is thought to be a science and the other an art form. I think each is a little bit of both. I guess I just like the idea of being the atypical artist-scientist hyphenate.
I had been toying with the idea of writing a preparation book about the upcoming Java 2 Platform exams for some time. The books I studied to obtain Java 1.1 certification were poorly written and full of errors. The only one that actually included a computerized practice exam used the same exact questions as had been given at the end of each chapter. This made it impossible for the reader to get a good feel as to whether they had actually learned the material, or merely remembered the answers.
When Alex mentioned that he was compiling information for the SCSA study guide, we talked about my desire to write a good exam prep book. The SCSA Exams seemed a better place to start than Java because of the growing potential and lack of current competition.
We are committed to writing this book. It would be the first book for either of us, but we certainly feel up to the task. We both have a reasonable grasp of written English, and we are both IT professionals who have taken, or are in the process of taking, these exams. We are the people for whom these exams were actually designed. This means that we probably have a better feel for what the target reader really wants than any Ph.D. teaching CIS courses at a major university, or even the guys at Sun who actually wrote the exams. We have access to a large group of friends and co-workers who have taken, or will shortly be taking these exams. We also have a long time friendship. This relationship allows us to work closely, combining our separate skills into a single effort, without any ego issues getting in the way.
Sean Hastings
Alexander Marsh
January 26, 1999
The meat of this outline was created from a point by point description of the Exam requirements on the Sun educational web pages. Some rearrangement was done so that related topics are covered in the same chapters, and dependant concepts appear only after the required knowledge is first covered. Thought was also given to explaining the differences of Solaris vs. other flavors of Unix. All the required points will receive ample coverage. Illustrations will mostly consist of screen captures and pictures of a Sun workstation and connections to peripheral devices.