Foreword

This book’s primary goal is to help you prepare to take and pass Microsoft’s exam number 70–291: Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure. Our secondary purpose in writing this book is to provide exam candidates with knowledge and skills that go beyond the minimum requirements for passing the exam, and help to prepare them to work in the real world of Microsoft computer networking.

What is Exam 70-291?

Exam 70–291 is one of the two core networking systems requirements (along with exam 70–290) for the Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) and one of the four core requirements for the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) certifications. Microsoft’s stated target audience consists of IT professionals with at least six months to one year of work experience on a medium or large company network. This means a multi-site network with at least three domain controllers, running typical network services such as file and print services, database, firewall services, proxy services, remote access services and Internet connectivity, as well as messaging, intranet and client computer management.

However, not everyone who takes Exam 70–291 will have this ideal background. Many people will take this exam after classroom instruction or self-study as an entry into the networking field. Many of those who do have job experience in IT will not have had the opportunity to work with all of the technologies covered by the exam. In this book, our goal is to provide background information that will help you to understand the concepts and procedures described even if you don’t have the requisite experience, while keeping our focus on the exam objectives.

Exam 70–291 covers the basics of managing and maintaining a network environment that is built around Microsoft’s Windows Server 2003. Objectives are task-oriented, and include the following:

■ Implementing, Managing and Maintaining IP Addressing: This includes configuring TCP/IP on a server, managing DHCP (clients and server, including the relay agent, DHCP database, scope options and reservations), troubleshooting TCP/IP addressing (manual addressing, DHCP addressing and APIPA), and troubleshooting DHCP (including authorization issues, server configuration, and use of log files).

■ Implementing, Managing and Maintaining Name Resolution: This focuses on DNS and includes the installation and configuration of the DNS server (including server options, zone options and DNS forwarding), DNS management (zone settings, record settings and server options) and monitoring of DNS with System Monitor, Event Viewer, Replication Monitor and DNS debug logs.

■ Implementing, Managing and Maintaining Network Security: This includes the implementation of security templates and applying the principle of least privilege, monitoring protocol security using the IPSec Monitor and Kerberos tools, and troubleshoot IPSec, using Event Viewer and Network Monitor.

■ Implementing, Managing and Maintaining Routing and Remote Access: This includes configuration of RRAS user authentication (including authentication protocols, IAS, and remote access policies), management of remote access (including packet filters, RRAS routing, devices, ports, routing protocols, and RRAS clients), management of TCP/IP routing, implementation of secure access between networks, troubleshooting user access to remote access services, and troubleshooting RRAS routing.

■ Maintaining a Network Infrastructure: This includes monitoring network traffic with Network Monitor and System Monitor, troubleshooting Internet connectivity, and troubleshooting server services, including issues related to service dependency and use of service recovery options.

Path to MCP/MCSA/MCSE

Microsoft certification is recognized throughout the IT industry as a way to demonstrate mastery of basic concepts and skills required to perform the tasks involved in implementing and maintaining Windows-based networks. The certification program is constantly evaluated and improved; the nature of information technology is changing rapidly and this means requirements and specifications for certification can also change rapidly. This book is based on the exam objectives as stated by Microsoft at the time of writing; however, Microsoft reserves the right to make changes to the objectives and to the exam itself at any time. Exam candidates should regularly visit the Certification and Training web site at www.microsoft.com/traincert/for the most updated information on each Microsoft exam.

Microsoft presently offers three basic levels of certification:

■ Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP): to obtain the MCP certification, you must pass one current Microsoft certification exam. For more information on exams that qualify, see http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcp/mcp/requirements.asp.

■ Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA): to obtain the MCSA certification, you must pass three core exams and one elective exam, for a total of four exams. For more information, see http://www.microsoft.com/TrainCert/mcp/mcsa/requirements.asp.

■ Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE): to obtain the MCSE certification on Windows Server 2003, you must pass six core exams (including four network operating system exams, one client operating system exam and one design exam) and one elective. For more information, see http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/mcp/mcse/windows2003/.

Exam 70–291 applies toward all of the above certifications.

Microsoft also offers a number of specialty certifications for networking professionals and certifications for software developers, including the following:

■ Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA)

■ Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD)

■ Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD)

Exam 70-291 does not apply to any of these specialty and developer certifications.

Prerequisites and Preparation

There are no mandatory prerequisites for taking Exam 70-291, although Microsoft recommends that you meet the target audience profile described earlier. Most candidates will take Exam 70-291 as their second MCSA or MCSE certification exam, following Exam 70-290, which is the logical choice for the first step in completing the requirements for MCSA 2003 or MCSE 2003.

Preparation for this exam should include the following:

■ Visit the web site at http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/exams/70-291.asp to review the updated exam objectives.

■ Work your way through this book, studying the material thoroughly and marking any items you don’t understand.

■ Answer all practice exam questions at the end of each Chapter.

■ Complete all hand-on exercises in each Chapter.

■ Review any topics that you don’t thoroughly understand.

■ Watch the companion DVD.

■ Consult Microsoft online resources such as TechNet (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/), white papers on the Microsoft web site, and so forth, for better understanding of difficult topics.

■ Participate in Microsoft’s product-specific and training and certification newsgroups if you have specific questions that you still need answered.

■ Take one or more practice exams, such as the one available at www.syngress.com/certification.

Exam Overview

In this book, we have tried to follow Microsoft’s exam objectives as closely as possible. However, we have rearranged the order of some topics for a better flow, and included background material to help you understand the concepts and procedures that are included in the objectives. Following is a brief synopsis of the exam topics covered in each Chapter:

■ Chapter 1 Review of TCP/IP: You will start by learning about the two most popular networking models: the Department of Defense (DoD) model and the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, both of which provide a layered structure for vendors of networking hardware and software. We’ll then take a look at the various protocols of the TCP/IP protocol suite, and where each fits into the networking models. We’ll review the basics of IP addressing, from binary/decimal conversion to the function of the host and network IDs. You’ll learn about subnet masking,...