Mike Shafer
 Principal
and founder of Shafer Consulting, Mike's interest in IT systems goes
back to the punch card days of IBM and Honeywell main frame computers
in the late 1970's.
Mike's micro computer experience began in 1982 with the purchase
of a Commodore VIC20 and then a Commodore 64. Although "toys" by
today's standards they were interesting basic computers for the time
and gave the enthusiast an inexpensive avenue into the world of micro/personal
computing.
IBM PC experience started in 1985 with MS DOS followed by work with
the early versions of the Windows operating system in the later part
of the 1980's. Networking experience started in 1993 with the setup
of two 386 machines into a local area network in his apartment.
By late 1994, with Internet access having become available to the
general public, it was good bye to the days of dial up BBS (bulletin
board systems) and onto the incredible world of the Internet. Interest
in the Linux operating system was soon discovered and starting in
January 1995 with an early version of Slackware has continued to
the present with the majority of experience being with Red Hat Linux.
It was apparent by 1999 that the future of and the ongoing issue
with the Internet as a tool for business and other communication
was going to lie in the area of Information Security. As such Information
Systems security became a focus area of study and is a fundamental
part of Shafer Consulting's services.
Mike's computer systems interest turned into a part-time consulting
business in 1986 and full-time endeavor since late 2001.
Education and Certification
- BSBA Finance - Robert Morris University
- BS Business Administration: Finance Major - Accounting Minor
Electives focused on IT related studies. Course work included topics such as Operating Systems, Systems Analysis and Design and the Basic, Cobol and Fortran programming languages.
- CompTIA A+ Certified
 Certifies, by the passing of two separate tests, that the technician is proficient in the areas of computer hardware and Microsoft operating systems software.- CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate)
 The Cisco CCNA network associate certification validates the ability to install, configure, operate, and troubleshoot medium-size routed and switched networks, including implementation and verification of connections to remote sites in a WAN (wide area network).- CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional)
- (In progress) CCNP certification validates a network professional's ability to install, configure and troubleshoot converged local and wide area networks with 100 to 500 or more nodes.
The CCNP requires the successful completion of four exams. I'm currently preparing for the exam for Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks.
- Computer Based Training
- Ongoing: Completed training labs for Windows Server 2003 Active Directory, File Server setup and configuration, DNS (Domain Name Server) setup, Windows XP Professional, and Microsoft Exchange Mail Server.
- MCSE
- (In progress) Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Currently working on attaining
the MCSE designation for Windows Server 2003.
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