Frank,

  My role over the past few years has kind ov 'evolved' into a DBA role.  I am certified as an MCP in SQL 7 administration but haven't gone as far as working toward an MCDBA.  I do think that would be helpful.  We are just transitioning over to SQL2000 within the next 2 months so we are a bit behind.  I realize that 2005 is coming out shortly but our ERP vendor will probably not support it right off the bat. SQL7 and 2000 are similar and I have really gotten into performance tuning over the past year or 2 since we were running into a lot of performance issues with our ERP system.

  My recommendation to you is to study an pass the Administration test in the SQLServer software that you have. I'm not even sure they offer the SQL7 test anymore.  I will probably try to pass teh SQL2000 administration test in the near future.  You will be surprised how much you will learn when forced to pass a test. You will learn more when you fail it once or twice... Good luck.