Summary of Exam Objectives

The 70-293 MCSE exam measures skills related to the planning and maintenance of a Windows Server 2003 infrastructure. This exam covers tasks relating to all aspects of network design and planning, including making provisions for network security, performance, and availability. This chapter has introduced you to these topics; subsequent chapters will examine the tasks introduced here in far greater detail. The upcoming chapters in this guide will take you through all the necessary steps to prepare for the 70-293 exam.

The first skill set measured by this exam involves the ability to plan roles for installed servers in your network. We’ll discuss how to evaluate existing technologies and hardware to select the appropriate function for each machine in your network, including Web servers, database servers, and domain controllers. You’ll also learn how to plan and configure your physical network infrastructure, including TCP/IP addressing schemes, traffic monitoring, and planning for Internet connectivity.

Windows Server 2003 includes features to provide fault tolerance and increased availability for your network environment. Network Load Balancing and server clustering will enable you to configure logical groups of servers that will function as a single entity, allowing you to continue providing network services to your users and clients in the event of a hardware or another type of system failure. We’ll also examine the steps needed to set up an effective security infrastructure, including the use of Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) and PKI.

To begin our look at the exam objectives here, we started with an overview of the network design process. As you can tell, this process is as much interpersonal as it is technical; in order to develop a useful network, you need to understand what your users, clients, and their managers are expecting the network to do in the first place. Before you can get down to the specifics of choosing server operating systems, software, and hardware, it’s critical to develop a high-level perspective on your organization’s overall makeup, managerial structure, and business requirements. This can include specific functions like e-mail, Internet availability, and printer sharing, along with overall organizational requirements like fault tolerance, growth capacity, and information security. You’ll use this information to design a network that will meet the needs of all members of the organization and make their work as smooth and efficient as possible.

Once you’ve developed a design that you’re satisfied with, you should test the design plan rather than immediately implementing it in a production environment. This will allow you to work out any quirks in the design or to spot something that doesn’t work in reality quite as well as it seemed to on paper. We covered the various options available in creating a test lab, including using temporary equipment, creating a permanent site for testing, and using third-party tools to simulate multiple operating systems when time, space, or money are too tight for a full-blown test lab. We also talked about design considerations for the test lab itself and how best to secure the test lab so that any changes you make there won’t affect your production equipment and environment. Finally, we looked at the importance of network documentation, during the planning stages as well as throughout the life of your network.