February 3, 2013 at 8:23 am
Hallo Gail,
I do not understand your resentment. You can do the LAB from whatever location you want.
Why do you have to travel to Europe 🙂
The lab will be organized (start / end) by pacific time zone.
For me - located in Germany - it is o.k. so the lab test will start at 5:30 pm and will take 5:30 hrs.
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
MVP - Data Platform (2013 - ...)
my blog: http://www.sqlmaster.de (german only!)
February 3, 2013 at 8:51 am
Uwe Ricken (2/3/2013)
I do not understand your resentment. You can do the LAB from whatever location you want.Why do you have to travel to Europe 🙂
Bandwidth. Latency.
Imagine writing the lab exam you did, just add half a second latency to each and every single thing that you do. If we add in the Lync client, imagine the video cutting in and out and the VM freezing intermittently. Want to write the lab like that?
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
February 3, 2013 at 10:42 am
It's only temporary until they roll out the new exam. One of the reasons the new exams have been delayed so much is they are moving them to a new platform that should be more reliable and more stable. Prometric is not able to continue hosting the current lab exam on the current platform and make the necessary conversions to support the new platform at the same time.
February 3, 2013 at 11:38 am
Hi Gail,
your words frighten me 😉
I was so confident that problems will not occur when I have my own infrastructure (6 Mbit).
But when I read your lines i get really doubtful!
I hope all problems will be fixed when I start my LAB at 20th of February.
I get fingers crossed - the first try was a technical desaster
The second shot failed with 55%...
I think Microsoft has enough MCM's 🙂
Thank you for sharing your doubts - I really appreciate it.
I will post my experiences directly at 21st of February after the Lab.
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
MVP - Data Platform (2013 - ...)
my blog: http://www.sqlmaster.de (german only!)
February 3, 2013 at 11:55 am
Uwe Ricken (2/3/2013)
Hi Gail,your words frighten me 😉
I was so confident that problems will not occur when I have my own infrastructure (6 Mbit).
Well that's about 3 times the best that I could buy.
The latency is what I had to deal with when I wrote mine. The additional load that the Lync video requires would overwhelm even what I have at home (there's a reason when I present remotely it's audio and slides only)
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
February 3, 2013 at 12:09 pm
Uwe, if I'm not mistaken, the latency problem for Gail that would prompt her to travel to Europe to do the lab exam is due to issues with the internet infrastructure in South Africa.
February 3, 2013 at 12:17 pm
Hi Robert,
good to know 🙂
We'll see - experiences will be posted at 21st 🙂
As far as I know Simon has done his LAB in Australia and got it.
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
MVP - Data Platform (2013 - ...)
my blog: http://www.sqlmaster.de (german only!)
February 3, 2013 at 12:23 pm
Robert Davis (2/3/2013)
Uwe, if I'm not mistaken, the latency problem for Gail that would prompt her to travel to Europe to do the lab exam is due to issues with the internet infrastructure in South Africa.
Local infrastructure partially, mostly the fact that there are only 2 undersea cables connecting the continent to Europe and the latency is far higher than most people in the 1st world are used to.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
February 3, 2013 at 12:38 pm
How do they keep the sea monsters from eating the cables? 🙂
February 3, 2013 at 12:53 pm
Considering how many times Seacom has developed faults off the Senegalese coast, sometimes I think they don't.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
February 3, 2013 at 4:45 pm
Uwe Ricken (2/3/2013)
As far as I know Simon has done his LAB in Australia and got it.
Yep, I did my exam remotely and it was very smooth. I tested my bandwidth before the exam and it's about 400kbps. All typing and mouse clicks were as fast as I'm using my local laptop.
The exam proctor will contact you few days before the exam for you to connect to the lab VM. Both yourself and the proctor will get a very good grasp on the connectivity, suitability of the location ie must be quiet, working web cam, etc
I reckon having a stable broadband connectivity plays a major role in your exam experience. You can be anywhere in the world (or just home) to take the exam!
Simon Liew
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
February 3, 2013 at 11:34 pm
Simon,
nice to read from you. Once again "congratulation" for passing the lab.
Thank you for your statement. You are right - the team will get in contact with me at 13th of February at 7:30 pm.
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
MVP - Data Platform (2013 - ...)
my blog: http://www.sqlmaster.de (german only!)
February 4, 2013 at 3:48 am
Interesting to know that all lab exams will now be remotely proctored.
I had an unpleasant experience with Prometric in London early December, losing over 1.5 hours of metered exam time (plus the continuous interruptions from the technical faults & glitches).
They assured me that the time lost would be added to the exam, but it wasn't - once the original 5.5 hours were up the exam stopped and I was left stranded with some unstarted or half-finished scenarios. Some I didn't even have time to read properly.
When I questioned about the missing extension (which they had reassured me repeatedly that I would get) they simply said 'talk to Microsoft'.
Very relieved to have the remote option!
Cheers,
JohnA
MCM: SQL2008
February 4, 2013 at 4:26 am
What is the total price of remote option (both exams total)?
February 4, 2013 at 6:44 am
Hallo Vedran,
the charge for the LAB is 2.500,00 USD but i get a refund of 500 USD (see my previous post!)
I do not know the charging amount for the Knowledgetest but I've paid 375.00 € = ~ 500 USD.
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
MVP - Data Platform (2013 - ...)
my blog: http://www.sqlmaster.de (german only!)
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