MCSE Core Required Exams in a Nutshell

ISBN: 0596102283

Welcome to the web page for MCSE: The Core Exams In A Nutshell. As the author, I designed this book for IT professionals looking to complete their Microsoft Certification. Microsoft offers multiple certification tracks. As an administrator or engineer, the tracks you’ll be most interesting in are:

Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) - Entry level certification track. To become an MCP, you need to pass only one current Microsoft certification exam.
Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) - Intermediate certification track for experienced administrators. To become an MCSA, you must pass three core exams and one elective exam.
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) - Advanced certification track for experienced administrators with strong engineering backgrounds. To become an MCSE, you must pass five core exams and two elective exams.

Taken appropriately, the certification tracks can measure the progress of your IT career from beginner to pro. Or for those already experienced, the certification tracks can be a measure of your progress through the process of getting your professional credentials. Regardless of your certification plans, the exam I recommend studying for and taking first is Exam 70-290: Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment. When you pass this exam, you will get your MCP credentials.

The next exam I recommend studying for and taking is Exam 70-291: Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure. When you pass this exam, you will have completed the two required networking systems exams for MCSA certification. To complete MCSA certification, you would then need to complete a client operating system exam and an elective exam.
Exams 70-290 and 70-291 are also two of the four required networking system exams for MCSE certification. The other two required networking system exams are Exam 70-293: Planning and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure and Exam 70-294: Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Serer 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure.

Exams 70-290, 70-291, 70-293, and 70-294 are covered in this book. This book also covers Exam 70-292: Managing and Maintaining A Microsoft Server 2003 Environment for an MCSA Certified on Windows 2000 and Exam 70-296: Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment for an MCSE Certified on Windows 2000.

Reviews & Information

The Barnes & Noble Review
This book has one goal: to make sure you’ve mastered the core knowledge you need to achieve MCSE or MCSA certification, or to upgrade your existing certification to Windows Server 2003 (Exams 70-292 and 70-296). As with every book in O'Reilly's In a Nutshell series, everything that distracts from the goal has been stripped away. That leaves 700 pages of relentlessly focused review and preparation.

MCSE: The Core Exams in a Nutshell is organized into concise, targeted sections for Exams 70-290, 70-291, 70-293, and 70-294. (If you’re upgrading your certification, all Exam 70-292 and 70-296 objectives are called out for easy access.) In addition to careful content review, each section presents an overview of the types of questions you can expect on the exam, as well as a set of hands-on exercises, scores of well-crafted practice questions, and a “highlighter’s index” that saves you the trouble of marking everything in yellow.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Written by the premier author in Windows administration, William Stanek, and addressing the needs of Windows 2003 administrators preparing for the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) exams, MCSE Core Required Exams in a Nutshell is invaluable. With the recent revisions of the MCSE exams including simulations, success is even more difficult. Not only does this book provide the resources administrators need to succeed on the exams, but to succeed in the real world as well. They can think of this book as the notes they would have highlighted and then recorded for every essential nugget of information related to the skills measured in Exams 70-290, 70-291, 70-293, and 70-294 (and by association Exams 70-292 and 70-296).

To begin with, MCSE Core Required Exams in a Nutshell allows readers to see all of the topics expected for mastery in each of the exams. Then, each exam is covered in three parts: Exam Overview, Study Guide, and Test Your Knowledge sections. This makes for easy reference and a great study aid. The Exams covered include:

EXAM 70-290: Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment

EXAM 70-291: Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure

EXAM 70-293: Planning and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure

EXAM 70-294: Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure

Once they have completed the exams successfully, administrators will find the book to be a valuable reference to core Windows administration skills.

What Training Path Does This Book Relate To?

The book covers the skills tested on Exam 70-290, Exam 70-291, Exam 70-293, and Exam 70-294. See the table below for an exact correlation.

Preparation Guide for Exam 70-290

Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment

Key to the matrix:

		The course includes material to prepare you for this task.
		The course includes some material to prepare you for this task. You will need to supplement the course with additional work.
		The course provides a general introductory overview of this task. You will need to supplement the course with additional work.

Skills measured by exam 70-290
Managing and Maintaining Physical and Logical Devices
Manage basic disks and dynamic disks.
Monitor server hardware. Tools might include Device Manager, the Hardware Troubleshooting Wizard, and appropriate Control Panel items.
Optimize server disk performance. Implement a RAID solution. Defragment volumes and partitions.
Install and configure server hardware devices. Configure driver signing options. Configure resource settings for a device. Configure device properties and settings.
Managing Users, Computers, and Groups
Manage local, roaming, and mandatory user profiles.
Create and manage computer accounts in an Active Directory environment.
Create and manage groups. Identify and modify the scope of a group. Find domain groups in which a user is a member. Manage group membership. Create and modify groups by using the Active Directory Users and Computers Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in. Create and modify groups by using automation.
Create and manage user accounts. Create and modify user accounts by using the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC snap-in. Create and modify user accounts by using automation. Import user accounts.
Troubleshoot computer accounts. Diagnose and resolve issues related to computer accounts by using the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC snap-in. Reset computer accounts.
Troubleshoot user accounts. Diagnose and resolve account lockouts. Diagnose and resolve issues related to user account properties.
Troubleshoot user authentication issues.
Managing and Maintaining Access to Resources
Configure access to shared folders. Manage shared folder permissions.
Troubleshoot Terminal Services. Diagnose and resolve issues related to Terminal Services security. Diagnose and resolve issues related to client access to Terminal Services.
Configure file system permissions. Verify effective permissions when granting permissions. Change ownership of files and folders.
Troubleshoot access to files and shared folders.
Managing and Maintaining a Server Environment
Monitor and analyze events. Tools might include Event Viewer and System Monitor.
Manage software update infrastructure.
Manage software site licensing.
Manage servers remotely. Manage a server by using Remote Assistance. Manage a server by using Terminal Services remote administration mode. Manage a server by using available support tools.
Troubleshoot print queues.
Monitor system performance.
Monitor file and print servers. Tools might include Task Manager, Event Viewer, and System Monitor. Monitor disk quotas. Monitor print queues. Monitor server hardware for bottlenecks.
Monitor and optimize a server environment for application performance. Monitor memory performance objects. Monitor network performance objects. Monitor process performance objects. Monitor disk performance objects.
Manage a Web server. Manage Internet Information Services (IIS). Manage security for IIS.
Managing and Implementing Disaster Recovery
Perform system recovery for a server. Implement Automated System Recovery (ASR). Restore data from shadow copy volumes. Back up files and System State data to media. Configure security for backup operations.
Manage backup procedures. Verify the successful completion of backup jobs. Manage backup storage media.
Recover from server hardware failure.
Restore backup data.
Schedule backup jobs.

Exam 70-291

Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure

Key to the matrix:

		The course includes material to prepare you for this task.
		The course includes some material to prepare you for this task. You will need to supplement the course with additional work.
		The course provides a general introductory overview of this task. You will need to supplement the course with additional work.

Skills measured by exam 70-291
Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining IP Addressing
Configure TCP/IP addressing on a server computer.
Manage DHCP. Manage DHCP clients and leases. Manage DHCP Relay Agent. Manage DHCP databases. Manage DHCP scope options. Manage reservations and reserved clients.
Troubleshoot TCP/IP addressing. Diagnose and resolve issues related to Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA). Diagnose and resolve issues related to incorrect TCP/IP configuration.
Troubleshoot DHCP. Diagnose and resolve issues related to DHCP authorization. Verify DHCP reservation configuration. Examine the system event log and DHCP server audit log files to find related events. Diagnose and resolve issues related to configuration of DHCP server and scope options. Verify that the DHCP Relay Agent is working correctly. Verify database integrity.
Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining Name Resolution
Install and configure the DNS Server service. Configure DNS server options. Configure DNS zone options. Configure DNS forwarding.
Manage DNS. Manage DNS zone settings. Manage DNS record settings. Manage DNS server options.
Monitor DNS. Tools might include System Monitor, Event Viewer, Replication Monitor, and DNS debug logs.
Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining Network Security
Implement secure network administration procedures. Implement security baseline settings and audit security settings by using security templates. Implement the principle of least privilege.
Monitor network protocol security. Tools might include the IP Security Monitor Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in and Kerberos support tools.
Troubleshoot network protocol security. Tools might include the IP Security Monitor MMC snap-in, Event Viewer, and Network Monitor.
Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining Routing and Remote Access
Configure Routing and Remote Access user authentication. Configure remote access authentication protocols. Configure Internet Authentication Service (IAS) to provide authentication for Routing and Remote Access clients. Configure Routing and Remote Access policies to permit or deny access.
Manage remote access. Manage packet filters. Manage Routing and Remote Access routing interfaces. Manage devices and ports. Manage routing protocols. Manage Routing and Remote Access clients.
Manage TCP/IP routing. Manage routing protocols. Manage routing tables. Manage routing ports.
Implement secure access between private networks.
Troubleshoot user access to remote access services. Diagnose and resolve issues related to remote access VPNs. Diagnose and resolve issues related to establishing a remote access connection. Diagnose and resolve user access to resources beyond the remote access server.
Troubleshoot Routing and Remote Access routing. Troubleshoot demand-dial routing. Troubleshoot router-to-router VPNs.
Maintaining a Network Infrastructure
Monitor network traffic. Tools might include Network Monitor and System Monitor.
Troubleshoot connectivity to the Internet.
Troubleshoot server services. Diagnose and resolve issues related to service dependency. Use service recovery options to diagnose and resolve service-related issues.

Exam 70-293

Planning and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure

Key to the matrix:

		The course includes material to prepare you for this task.
		The course includes some material to prepare you for this task. You will need to supplement the course with additional work.
		The course provides a general introductory overview of this task. You will need to supplement the course with additional work.

Skills measured by exam 70-293

Planning and Implementing Server Roles and Server Security

Configure security for servers that are assigned specific roles.

Plan a secure baseline installation.

Plan a strategy to enforce system default security settings on new systems.
Identify client operating system default security settings.
Identify all server operating system default security settings.

Plan security for servers that are assigned specific roles. Roles might include domain controllers, Web servers, database servers, and mail servers.

Deploy the security configuration for servers that are assigned specific roles.
Create custom security templates based on server roles.

Evaluate and select the operating system to install on computers in an enterprise.

Identify the minimum configuration to satisfy security requirements.

Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Network Infrastructure

Plan a TCP/IP network infrastructure strategy.

Analyze IP addressing requirements.
Plan an IP routing solution.
Create an IP subnet scheme.

Plan and modify a network topology.

Plan the physical placement of network resources.
Identify network protocols to be used.

Plan an Internet connectivity strategy.

Plan network traffic monitoring. Tools might include Network Monitor and System Monitor.

Troubleshoot connectivity to the Internet.

Diagnose and resolve issues related to Network Address Translation (NAT).
Diagnose and resolve issues related to name resolution cache information.
Diagnose and resolve issues related to client configuration.

Troubleshoot TCP/IP addressing.

Diagnose and resolve issues related to client computer configuration.
Diagnose and resolve issues related to DHCP server address assignment.

Plan a host name resolution strategy.

Plan a DNS namespace design.
Plan zone replication requirements.
Plan a forwarding configuration.
Plan for DNS security.
Examine the interoperability of DNS with third-party DNS solutions.

Plan a NetBIOS name resolution strategy.

Plan a WINS replication strategy.
Plan NetBIOS name resolution by using the Lmhosts file.

Troubleshoot host name resolution.

Diagnose and resolve issues related to DNS services.
Diagnose and resolve issues related to client computer configuration.

Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining Routing and Remote Access

Plan a routing strategy.

Identify routing protocols to use in a specified environment.
Plan routing for IP multicast traffic.

Plan security for remote access users.

Plan remote access policies.
Analyze protocol security requirements.
Plan authentication methods for remote access clients.

Implement secure access between private networks.

Create and implement an IPSec policy.

Troubleshoot TCP/IP routing. Tools might include the route, tracert, ping, pathping, and netsh commands and Network Monitor.

Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining Server Availability

Plan services for high availability.

Plan a high availability solution that uses clustering services.
Plan a high availability solution that uses Network Load Balancing.

Identify system bottlenecks, including memory, processor, disk, and network related bottlenecks.

Identify system bottlenecks by using System Monitor.

Implement a cluster server.

Recover from cluster node failure.

Manage Network Load Balancing. Tools might include the Network Load Balancing Monitor Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in and the WLBS cluster control utility.

Plan a backup and recovery strategy.

Identify appropriate backup types. Methods include full, incremental, and differential.
Plan a backup strategy that uses volume shadow copy.
Plan system recovery that uses Automated System Recovery (ASR).

Planning and Maintaining Network Security

Configure network protocol security.

Configure protocol security in a heterogeneous client computer environment.
Configure protocol security by using IPSec policies.

Configure security for data transmission.

Configure IPSec policy settings.

Plan for network protocol security.

Specify the required ports and protocols for specified services.
Plan an IPSec policy for secure network communications.

Plan secure network administration methods.

Create a plan to offer Remote Assistance to client computers.
Plan for remote administration by using Terminal Services.

Plan security for wireless networks.

Plan security for data transmission.

Secure data transmission between client computers to meet security requirements.
Secure data transmission by using IPSec.

Troubleshoot security for data transmission. Tools might include the IP Security Monitor MMC snap-in and the Resultant Set of Policy (RSoP) MMC snap-in.

Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining Security Infrastructure.

Configure Active Directory directory service for certificate publication.

Plan a public key infrastructure (PKI) that uses Certificate Services.

Identify the appropriate type of certificate authority to support certificate issuance requirements.
Plan the enrollment and distribution of certificates.
Plan for the use of smart cards for authentication.

Plan a framework for planning and implementing security.

Plan for security monitoring.
Plan a change and configuration management framework for security.

Plan a security update infrastructure. Tools might include Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer and Microsoft Software Update Services.

Exam 70-294

Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Serer 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure

Key to the matrix:

The course includes material to prepare you for this task.

The course includes some material to prepare you for this task. You will need to supplement the course with additional work.

The course provides a general introductory overview of this task. You will need to supplement the course with additional work.

Skills measured by exam 70-294

Planning and Implementing an Active Directory Infrastructure

Plan a strategy for placing global catalog servers.

Evaluate network traffic considerations when placing global catalog servers.

Evaluate the need to enable universal group caching.

Plan flexible operations master role placement.

Plan for business continuity of operations master roles.

Identify operations master role dependencies.

Implement an Active Directory directory service forest and domain structure.

Create the forest root domain.

Create a child domain.

Create and configure Application Data Partitions.

Install and configure an Active Directory domain controller.

Set an Active Directory forest and domain functional level based on requirements.

Establish trust relationships. Types of trust relationships might include external trusts, shortcut trusts, and cross-forest trusts.

Implement an Active Directory site topology.

Configure site links.

Configure preferred bridgehead servers.

Plan an administrative delegation strategy.

Plan an organizational unit (OU) structure based on delegation requirements.

Plan a security group hierarchy based on delegation requirements.

Managing and Maintaining an Active Directory Infrastructure

Manage an Active Directory forest and domain structure.

Manage trust relationships.

Manage schema modifications.

Add or remove a UPN suffix.

Manage an Active Directory site.

Configure replication schedules.

Configure site link costs.

Configure site boundaries.

Monitor Active Directory replication failures. Tools might include Replication Monitor, Event Viewer, and support tools.

Monitor Active Directory replication.

Monitor File Replication service (FRS) replication.

Restore Active Directory directory services.

Perform an authoritative restore operation.

Perform a nonauthoritative restore operation.

Troubleshoot Active Directory.

Diagnose and resolve issues related to Active Directory replication.

Diagnose and resolve issues related to operations master role failure.

Diagnose and resolve issues related to the Active Directory database.

Planning and Implementing User, Computer, and Group Strategies

Plan a security group strategy.

Plan a user authentication strategy.

Plan a smart card authentication strategy.

Create a password policy for domain users.

Plan an OU structure.

Analyze the administrative requirements for an OU.

Analyze the Group Policy requirements for an OU structure.

Implement an OU structure.

Create an OU.

Delegate permissions for an OU to a user or to a security group.

Move objects within an OU hierarchy.

Planning and Implementing Group Policy

Plan Group Policy strategy.

Plan a Group Policy strategy by using Resultant Set of Policy (RSoP) Planning mode.

Plan a strategy for configuring the user environment by using Group Policy.

Plan a strategy for configuring the computer environment by using Group Policy.

Configure the user environment by using Group Policy.

Distribute software by using Group Policy.

Automatically enroll user certificates by using Group Policy.

Redirect folders by using Group Policy.

Configure user security settings by using Group Policy.

Deploy a computer environment by using Group Policy.

Distribute software by using Group Policy.

Automatically enroll computer certificates by using Group Policy.

Configure computer security settings by using Group Policy.

Managing and Maintaining Group Policy

Troubleshoot issues related to Group Policy application. deployment. Tools might include RSoP and the gpresult command.

Maintain installed software by using Group Policy.

Distribute updates to software distributed by Group Policy.

Configure automatic updates for network clients by using Group Policy.

Troubleshoot the application of Group Policy security settings. Tools might include RSoP and the gpresult command.

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