Took the CompTIA Project+ beta

2022-01-29 11:04:00

Back in November, CompTIA announced the upcoming Project+ v5 certification exam. My day-to-day job does not entail project management, but I was curious about the exam anyway.

It's no secret that beta-testing CompTIA exams has become a hobby of mine. Thus, I jumped at the chance to take it, when someone posted about it on Reddit. As has become tradition, I pludged the exam: i.e. I went in with zero preparation, only browsing through the exam objectives document. 

My impressions of Project+ PK1-005 (to become PK0-005):

• The curriculum is pretty wide, covering a number of different project management methods. 
• If anything, the focus on traditional project management feels a bit heavy compared to agile / scrum and their ilk. I guess that makes sense though, what with the target market for CompTIA still being American Enterprise, Government and Military. 
• The questions on the exam are as good as I'm used to from CompTIA: they do not want simple regurgitation of facts, they're testing for understanding of the concepts. 

Overall, I'm feeling pretty good about this update to Project+. 

Will it be a valuable certificate for your resumé? Maybe not, with bigger brand names having more recognized project management certs. But will it rank up there with something like PSM-I or PSPO-I? Or something like PRINCE2 fundamentals? Yeah, probably. 

Finally, do I think I passed? I expect I didn't: my experience and knowledge of formal project management, especially things like PRINCE2, is very meager. 

kilala.nl tags: work, studies,

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VirtualBox and Vagrant error: E_ACCESSDENIED (0x80070005) - Access denied

2022-01-23 09:25:00

I've been using Vagrant for a lot of my quick tests and my classes for a while now. A few weeks ago, my old Vagrantfile configurations stopped working, with Vagrant and Virtualbox throwing errors like these:

There was an error while executing `VBoxManage`, a CLI used by Vagrant for controlling VirtualBox.The command and stderr is shown below.

Command: ["hostonlyif", "ipconfig", "vboxnet0", "--ip", "192.168.33.1", "--netmask", "255.255.255.0"]

Stderr: VBoxManage: error: Code E_ACCESSDENIED (0x80070005) - Access denied (extended info not available) 

VBoxManage: error: Context: "EnableStaticIPConfig(Bstr(pszIp).raw(), Bstr(pszNetmask).raw())" at line 242 of file VBoxManageHostonly.cpp

Or, in a more recent version of Virtualbox:

The IP address configured for the host-only network is not within the allowed ranges. Please update the address used to be within the allowed ranges and run the command again.

 Address: 192.168.200.11

 Ranges: 192.168.56.0/21

Valid ranges can be modified in the /etc/vbox/networks.conf file.

A search with Google shows that a few versions ago VirtualBox introduced a new security feature: you're now only allowed to whip up NAT networks in specific preconfigured ranges. Source 1. Source 2. Source 3.

The work-arounds are do-able. 

• Either create /etc/vbox/networks and add your desired NAT network IP range, 
• Or adjust your Vagrantfile configuration with one extra key word. 

While the prior is more correct, I like the latter since it's a quicker fix for the end-user. 

BEFORE:

stat1.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.200.33"

AFTER:

stat1.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.200.33", virtualbox__intnet: "08net"

Apparently it's enough to give Virtualbox a new, custom NAT network name. 

kilala.nl tags: work, sysadmin, studies,

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That one time I didn't beta-test two Mile2 exams

2022-01-22 16:00:00

Mile2 are a training company, aiming to provide vendor-neutral InfoSec training and certification exams. I've heard their name a few times, but have never taken any of their trainings. Reddit and TechExams also have little experiences posted about them.

That's why I was very curious and interested to join Mile2's beta program for their C)ISSO and C)PTE exams. These new versions are ANSI accredited (meaning they will require CPE points every three years) and have been renewed in a few other ways. Sounds like a great opportunity to give them a shot. Besides, taking beta exams is a hobby of mine.

Requesting access was a solid process, as you needed to submit a bit of a resumé to prove you'd be a valued reviewer/tester. I was approved for the program pretty swiftly, with clear instructions from their marketing team. 

I reported back to the team, with a few doubts about the sign-up process.

• Their Wordpress backend already sent me a proper password setup email. So it was a bit odd that their team had set me up with a weak, default password which looked like it was used for every single beta tester. 
• Their cookie warning (because of GDPR regulations) also had an easily overlooked link, in small text, which said "Do not sell my personal information". This means that students need to opt-out from their info being sold.
• Their login system allows the enumeration of valid usernames, showing "Unknown email address" when trying a non-existent account.

Half an hour later my access was revoked and I was ejected from the beta program, the team citing my "obvious distrust of their organization". Oh well.

kilala.nl tags: studies, work,

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