70-290 Study Guide

[craigie]

Study Time: One & Half Months (Two Hours Daily Min)
Materials: MS Press Book 70-290 & CBT Nuggets
Mock Exam: MS Readiness Review Suite
Exam: 30 Questions With 6 Sims

Lab

2 x Windows 2003 Servers Enterprise R2 Edition
2 x Windows XP Pro SP2 Clients

Configuration

Server01 Roles

Domain Controller, DNS, DHCP, Terminal Server & File Server

Server02 Roles

WSUS, Print Server & IIS

Deployment

My main aim here was to try and mimic my work environment as much as possible. I would also try everything that in the MS Press Book and ensured that it worked. In the end my lab consisted of the following:

Auditing configured Audit Success/Failures for Object Access & Logon Events

Backups configured various backups including Normal, Differential & Incremental

Disks configured RAID 1 using Dynamic Disks and installed multiple volumes. Also used Disk Quotas.

Offer Remote Assistance enabled Client > Client, Server > Client, Server > Server, Server > Client

Organizational Units created OU’s for Employees, XP Computers, Servers etc to apply Group Policy to.

Performance Logs & Alerts configured multiple counters including disk space percentage free with alerts.

Permissions configured various folders with access for different Departments and Users. Using the explicit Allow and Deny feature.

Printers created Printer Pools for each of the Groups, Accounts, IT, Marketing, Sales and used IIS Internet Printing (have to say that going to Server02\Printers is awesome, it only shows the printers the User can access and you just ‘click’ connect!)

Request Remote Assistance enabled Client > Client, Server > Client, Server > Server, Server > Client

Roaming Profiles configured standard desktops, with a mapped H: drive for Personal Documents, F: for files, with shortcuts for Terminal Server and Offer Remote Assistance. Disabled features such as Windows Messenger, Windows Movie Maker in Active Directory.

Terminal Server & Terminal Server Web with Adobe Acrobat Reader deployed.

Users & Groups imported using DSAdd 20 Users each for Sales, Marketing, Accounts and IT. Privileges for IT to RDP, and perform various admin tasks such as view Audit Logs and logon to Servers.

WSUS deployed WSUS using Client Side Targeting for updates to come from the WSUS. Deployed SP3 using WSUS to my two XP Clients.

The main piece of advice I would give, is to do something every day towards your exam (whether you feel like it or not) this keeps the momentum going and also keeps you in good habits.

1. I start of reading the MS Press book and make notes on relevant points that I could either forget or need to reinforce. I normally study for around 2 hours per day weekdays and 2 hours per day at the weekends. I manage to get the MS Press book down to around 150 pages of A4 note paper.

2. I would then at the end of each Chapter install and use whatever I had learnt from the MS Press book, configuring it to mimic my working environment.

3. Once I have finished the MS Press book, I then use CBT Nuggets. When I have watched the first objective video, I then take the Objective Exam in on the MS Press CD. The purpose of this is to reinforce the oldest material that I have learnt.

4. I then rebuilt my whole entire Lab, to reinforce everything that I had learnt.

5. I then keep going over my Notes on a daily basis at work, during lunch, in the evening. Just a brief flick threw.

6. The last of all I take the MS Readiness Review tests on a daily basis. Normally do around one a day for three days before the exam as not to get to many questions repeated. Also in my limited experience so far, the MS Readiness Review has always been alot harder than the exam.

7. Take the exam!

Hope that helps some people out and if you have any questions please ask.

[Big_nath]

This is great, thanks. rep given

[craigie]

Originally Posted by Big_nath

This is great, thanks. rep given

Glad I could help

[Sparky]

Good post mate, should help anyone wanting to take the 70-290.

[zimbo]

Yeah terrific post - rep left!

[craigie]

Thanks for the feedback

[Qs]

After having recently completed my own 70-290 studies I can honestly say that you don't need two servers, it's just a waste.

VMs
1x Server 2003 R2
2x XP Pro SP2 Clients (even one client would be fine)

...is easily enough to learn what's required. You're not tested on server -> server anything.

Other than that, it's a good guide

Qs

[jk2447]

Originally Posted by Qs

After having recently completed my own 70-290 studies I can honestly say that you don't need two servers, it's just a waste.

VMs
1x Server 2003 R2
2x XP Pro SP2 Clients (even one client would be fine)

...is easily enough to learn what's required. You're not tested on server -> server anything.

Other than that, it's a good guide

Qs

Have you passed 290? Your sig says you'll of sat it

[Qs]

Originally Posted by jk2447

Have you passed 290? Your sig says you'll of sat it

My sig says I was meant to book it on payday (the 25th).

Managed to get a couple of 20% off vouchers from one of Ken's posts so either I use them and pay it out my own pocket... OR... I wait two weeks and get my new employer to pay for it.

I'm thinking the latter.

Qs

[jk2447]

Originally Posted by Qs

My sig says I was meant to book it on payday (the 25th).

Managed to get a couple of 20% off vouchers from one of Ken's posts so either I use them and pay it out my own pocket... OR... I wait two weeks and get my new employer to pay for it.

I'm thinking the latter.

Qs

Always better to have corporate sponsorship. Good luck for the exam

[Qs]

Originally Posted by jk2447

Always better to have corporate sponsorship. Good luck for the exam

Cheers. Don't want to overload my brain by starting 291 studies too early, so I'll revisit the CBT Nuggets for 290 instead, make sure everything has sunk in.

Oh, and good luck for your 293 too!

Oh, and we're car-crashing away from topic.

So... anyway, the guide!

Qs

[jk2447]

Originally Posted by Qs

Cheers. Don't want to overload my brain by starting 291 studies too early, so I'll revisit the CBT Nuggets for 290 instead, make sure everything has sunk in.

Oh, and good luck for your 293 too!

Oh, and we're car-crashing away from topic.

So... anyway, the guide!

Qs

Cheers mate an don't worry, am always hijacking the topic ha

No as 290 is the 2003 Server Operating System exam, I think you could get away with downloading a free eval of 2003 R2, setting it up on free Virtual PC and just playing with it. Set up 2 XP machines so you can play with their client accounts in AD, add them to a group etc.

Craigies lab gives you a more realistic setup of what you'd see in a small branch office for instance, so is ideal if you want to nail everything and mimic a small but realistic setup. Nice one Craigie

[craigie]

Best to have two servers mate, for things such as fault tolerant Backup DC, DNS, DHCP etc and for future exams.

Oh and in relation to paying for the exam, do it now.

You have two weeks left at your current job, use this time to start studying for another exam. As soon as you move jobs, you will have a ton of stuff to learn.

Also, it doesn't look good on your first few days in your new position to ask for stuff. Maybe a month or two in, when you know them and they know you.

[Qs]

Originally Posted by craigie

Best to have two servers mate, for things such as fault tolerant Backup DC, DNS, DHCP etc and for future exams.

Meh, I still disagree. As it's the first proper server exam people will be facing when gunning for their MCSA two server are far more confusing than one. Personally, I was only ever using one and feel that everything sunk in fine. Each to their own I guess.

Originally Posted by craigie

Oh and in relation to paying for the exam, do it now.

Even with the voucher code from Ken it's still ~£70, which I don't have lying around. I'm still going to wait.

Originally Posted by craigie

You have two weeks left at your current job, use this time to start studying for another exam. As soon as you move jobs, you will have a ton of stuff to learn.

Probably better than I reinforce content for my current exam.

Originally Posted by craigie

Also, it doesn't look good on your first few days in your new position to ask for stuff. Maybe a month or two in, when you know them and they know you.

They've already offered, so I'm going to take them up on it. The new employer is actively encouraging progression (payrises at MCSA and MCSE have been already written into the offer letter) so it will act in my favour.

I appreciate the comments though

Qs

[craigie]

Originally Posted by Qs

Meh, I still disagree. As it's the first proper server exam people will be facing when gunning for their MCSA two server are far more confusing than one. Personally, I was only ever using one and feel that everything sunk in fine. Each to their own I guess.

Mate, people going for the 70-290 should already be using multiple servers, so it shouldn't be confusing.

In relation to your agreement with your future employers, its cool to have an employer that supports you.