•Where do you start?

•What course should you attend?

•What exams do you take to become Citrix Certified?

 Given the various name changes that Citrix products have undergone – it can be a bit confusing!!!

 Before explaining the Citrix training and certification tracks, I’ll start off with some of the Citrix products and the names that they have been known as – hopefully this will clarify things for you.

 Then…

In the early days of Citrix there was Citrix MultiUser and then WinView  for OS2. Microsoft came up in the world and WinFrame was born. Winframe grew until it became Citrix Metaframe 1.8.

 Metaframe 1.8 became Metaframe XP. One of the big improvements in Metaframe XP was the consolidation of all the Metaframe 1.8 consoles into the sing Citrix Management Console (CMC).  The CMC is what we would now {2007 / 2008} refer to as the Presentation Server Console). 

 Metaframe XP had its additions in the form of Feature Releases (FR) – Metaframe XP FR1, Metaframe XP FR2, Metaframe XP FR3. FR3 saw the Program Neighborhood Agent Admin Tool feature appear – no more manual editing of XML files!!!

 Metaframe XP then made way for Citrix Presentation Server 3.0.  Presentation Server 3.0 saw the birth of the all new and improved licensing strategy and Access Suite Console.

 Hot on the heels of Presentation Server 3.0 came Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 with the new Isolation Environments features. It was around this time the Citrix decided to brand many of their other products to the version 4.0 convention. 

• Presentation Server 4.0
• Password Manger 4.0
• Access Gateway 4.0

Now…

Presentation Server 4.5 followed next with Application Streaming, Configuration Logging, Health Monitoring and Recovery and the newly named Access Management Console.  Presentation Server 4.5 saw the introduction of Feature Pack 1 with Smart Auditing, as well as Platinum licensing etc. Once again Citrix standardised the naming of many products to 4.5 at this time.

The big name change….

As of April 11, 2008 the nomenclature of Presentation Server 4.5 courses, exams and related certifications have been updated to include the Citrix XenApp name. This name change brings Presentation Server into line with other Citrix Products such as XenServer and XenDesktop.  In case you have been on a different planet recently – Citrix acquired XEN Source in 2007 for $500 million.

Just over the horizon…

Project Delaware is the code name for XenApp 5.0 which is scheduled for release very soon (probably late 2008).  It has many improvements – namely support for Windows Server 2008 and most noticeably the sexy black Web Interface 5.0!! See my previous posting for some screen shots of this.

Now let’s have a look at the training and certification tracks…

The Citrix Access Suite includes, Citrix XenApp, Citrix Password Manager and Citrix Access Gateway. 

Foundation level certification for the Access Suite includes the following levels of certification.

• Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA) for Citrix XenApp (Presentation Server 4)
• Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA) for Citrix Password Manager 4
• Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA) for Citrix Access Gateway 4

Advanced certification for the Access Suite includes the following levels of certification.

• Citrix Certified Enterprise Administrator (CCEA) for XenApp (Presentation Server 4)
• Citrix Certified Infrastructure Architect (CCIA) for XenApp (Presentation Server 4)

FOUNDATION

What should you do to become a CCA for Citrix XenApp (Presentation Server 4)?

 What should you do to become a CCA for Citrix Password Manager 4?

 What should you do to become a CCA for Citrix Access Gateway 4?

ADVANCED

What should you do to become a CCEA for Citrix XenApp (Presentation Server 4)?

 What should you do to become a CCIA for Citrix XenApp (Presentation Server 4)?

 * E-Learning Courses

• To be completed online at https://citrix.learning.accenture.com
• Includes an assessment which must be passed by the candidate.

 ** ILT = Instructor Led Training

 Useful info – look for the Enablement Guide on each of the exam information pages  – Enablement Guides provide exam length, number of questions and exam objectives.

 In some cases credit can be obtained for completing alternate exam. E.g. 1Y0-258 can be used instead of 1Y0-264 – please confirm this with Citrix Education before making any certification / exam decision.

 Please confirm all of these details on the Citrix web site.