Chapter 2. Exam 70-290 Study Guide

This chapter provides a study guide for Exam 70-290:Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment. Sections within the chapter are organized according to the exam objective they cover. Each section identifies the related exam objective, provides an overview of why the objective is important, and then discusses the key details you should know to both succeed on the test and master the objective in the real world.

The major topics covered on Exam 70-290 are:

Managing and Maintaining Physical and Logical Devices

Designed to test your knowledge of standard disk configurations involving both basic disks and dynamic disks. Also covers hardware devices and monitoring hardware devices.

Managing Users, Computers, and Groups

Designed to test your knowledge of the many types of accounts used on Windows networks, including user accounts, computer accounts and group accounts. Also covers user authentication and user profiles.

Managing and Maintaining Access to Network Resources

Designed to test your knowledge of access permissions and shared folders. Also covers Terminal Services security and client access.

Managing and Maintaining a Server Environment

Designed to test your knowledge of general administration, it is very much a catch-all objective for routine administration tasks. Also covers Internet Information Services (IIS) management and security.

Managing and Implementing Disaster Recovery

Designed to test your knowledge of both disaster preparedness and disaster recovery procedures. Also covers shadow copies.

The sections of this chapter are designed to reinforce your knowledge of these topics. Ideally, you will review this chapter as thoroughly as you would your course notes in preparation for a college professor's final exam. That means multiple readings of the chapter, committing to memory key concepts, and performing any necessary outside readings if there are topics you have difficulty with.

As part of your preparation, I recommend installing a two-system test network, with one system acting as a workstation and the other system acting as a server. The workstation should run Windows XP Professional or later and be your primary system for management. That means you will work remotely and use the workstation to perform administration of the server as much as possible. The server should be configured to run Windows Server 2003. Both systems can be virtual machines installed as part of a virtual test environment.