Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer - MCSE 2003 (2008)

Currently this is a sort of random incomplete non-spell checked list of notes, links, tidbits, and observations that make up the MCSE 2003 knowledge set. Intention here is the whole of the MCSE 2003 information on as few as possible web pages; how to organize the info is problematic though. Best thing to do is skim the whole thing, then make repeated passes until it falls into place and leads to other links and info sources. Most likely this page is suffering from bit-rot or is incomplete - here are another 5 million similar pages.

Microsoft Windows 200X is a Network Operating System (NOS) which embraces, extends, and nicely consolidates standards based Kerberos, (D)DNS, LDAP, DHCP, etc. to create, in part, the Directory Service (DS) called Microsoft Active Directory (AD).

Sometimes the acronym MCSE is read as Microsoft Certified Systems Expert - as it is a technical certification and not a university granted engineering degree. (Per Microsoft) skills a MCSE 2003 holder will posses.

Unresolved questions...

Teaching

Exam tips * Exam Tracks * Acronym self test * mnemonic acroyms* exam prep / self test links * Sample Exam Questions and Answers

AD overview * New to 2003 * COMMANDS to know

AD Planning and Design

Windows Operating Systems: 2003, XP, MCSE 2003 / XP Pro notes, 2000, Vista

AD LAYER 8: AD background-ish info, Forests, Forest Root Domain, Trees, Domains, OUs, DCs, GCs, FSMOs, GPO stuff, AD Functional Levels, Trusts, Kerberos , Architecture, MISC

Authentication: Authentication, Authorization, Auditing, Smartcards, Groups, Kerberos, Remote Access, RADIUS, NAT-T

Network Infrastructure: DNS, IP, DHCP, DHCP and DNS, NetBIOS, WINS, Name Resolution, OSI and DOD Models, Networking

Cryptography: Cryptography, EFS (Encrypting File System), IPSec, Certificate Services

Information Assurance: Security, Fault Tolerance, Windows Clustering, Windows NLB, Backup and Recovery

Operations and Management * Software Deployment

AD other layers: Networking, OSI and DOD models

MISC * MS Guides * More Stuff * NT4 MCSE braindumps

Exam tips

Least Administrative Effort

• Administrative methodologies that match Microsoft marketed features are qualified as using least administrative effort
• Questions will present a scenario, ask for the the solution which uses the least administrative effort, and list a few options
• For examples choose:
  • Kerberos authentication for an IPSec deployment
  • Secure dynamic Active Directory integrated DNS updates
  • EAP smartcard or certificate
  • Delegation of authority wizard

How to select the right answers

• Keep in mind that there exists:
  • The "Real World" answer
  • The Microsoft marketing answer
  • The wrong answer
  • The least wrong answer
  • The most right answer, and
  • The Right answer
• Choose the least wrong answer - all the solutions may be wrong, but the more you think about it the farther from your original correct instinctive choice you get and the more time you waste.
• Choose the most right answer - none of the answers are the one you'd actually go with in the real world, but maybe two of them would work; choose the better of these.
• For those very confident people, a risky but less frustrating and quick way to test: Don't read the question - just look at the answer choices and recall which one Microsoft "likes best."

Reading comprehension is being tested too. For time and sanity you need to skip over people's names and some of the business background provided in the question. Also many questions state you are running a single domain AD with all 2003 and XP, albeit stated in more words. However you need to read all the other stuff well as your assumption as to the actual question may be wrong, there could be a double negative in there, or some little detail clue that's easy to erroneously skip.

Take sample tests so you can see the different types of questions/tests: adaptive, simulation, graphic, drag 'n drop, multiple guess, choose all that apply, etc..

Know your defaults. In many scenarios not all information is provided. Assumptions must be made to solve. Assuming the defaults is extremely helpful in getting the right answer.

Know what feature sets where added or improved with new versions, and to a lesser degree, with service packs. Even though 2003 and AD 2003 is three years old and AD is six it is assumed you worked with the older version and are building your knowledge and skills and evolving with Microsoft. You need to know about NT and 9x too - even though they aren't even supported any more! Features added to 2003 over 2000, both AD and OS, will be stressed. Service packs are almost an admission it wasn't right the first time so these are not mentioned so explicitly, yet all the tests are focused at a particular service pack level. So 70-270 might be on XP SP1, but 70-290 will be on 2003 SP0 - even though at the time of test taking the OSs might be at SP2 and SP1, respectively, for example.

MISC

PERFORMANCE MONITORING:

To get to it:
performance
|
-- system monitor
|
-- performance logs and alerts

Knowing clearly what the above two are and are for is key to at least a few questions on the tests
Note that perfmon = NT4

Other related tools to know too:
Task Manager
Event Viewer

Ocum’s razor: “The simplest solution is the best”

Why VMWare guest os selection? That is where does it make any difference what OS you pick in the new guest wizard?
Vague answer: http://www.vmware.com/support/guestnotes/doc/index.html
Better answers: Different VMWare tools setup, different folder sharing, different virtual drivers... Maybe the best answer is simply for naming of the folders, machine and files.

How to use the SysKey utility to secure the Windows Security Accounts Manager database
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310105

Use regsvr32.exe to register un-registered DLLs.

Microsoft Guides

Microsoft Windows 2000 TCP/IP Implementation Details
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/network/deploy/depovg/tcpip2k.mspx
Though written for Windows 2000 this guide lists RFCs, registry keys, some ports, and explains a lot of stuff.

Threats and Countermeasures Guide
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/topics/serversecurity/tcg/tcgch00.mspx

Windows XP Security Guide
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/prodtech/windowsxp/secwinxp/default.mspx

Acronym self test:

You must be able to easily compare and contrast, for example: ICS vs ICF, IAS vs. ISA. And IIS. And those are just the ones with similar acronyms, throw RRAS functionality in there too...

Print this table and fill in as many as you can recall without the use of any reference materials.

Acronym self test answers

exam prep / self test links (alphabetically listed):

bfg.com
boston.com
cert21.com
certexams.com
certfix.com
examforce.com
learnkey.com
measureup.com
quizware.com
selftestsoftware.com
testout.com
trancender.com
whizlabs.com