Construction Ahead: MCSE Exam 70-216
- Installing, Configuring, Managing, Monitoring, and Troubleshooting DNS in a Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure
- Installing, Configuring, Managing, Monitoring, and Troubleshooting DHCP in a Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure
- Configuring, Managing, Monitoring, and Troubleshooting Remote Access in a Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure
- Installing, Configuring, Managing, Monitoring, and Troubleshooting Network Protocols in a Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure
- Installing, Configuring, Managing, Monitoring, and Troubleshooting WINS in a Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure
- Installing, Configuring, Managing, Monitoring, and Troubleshooting IP Routing in a Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure
- Installing, Configuring, and Troubleshooting Network Address Translation (NAT)
- Installing, Configuring, Managing, Monitoring, and Troubleshooting Certificate Services
- Passing the Exam
- Exam Resources
Construction Ahead: MCSE Exam 70-216
I hope you're wearing your safety goggles. This exam melds network design, TCP/IP subnetting, network services, certificate services, and IPSec into one long test. If you're thinking this could be a tough one—you're right.
A new question type you'll most likely encounter is a simulation; you'll have to click an area of a Windows 2000 Server dialog box to answer the question. Of course, you probably won't be able to answer these questions correctly unless you've actually used 2000 Server.
In addition to the typical multiple-choice questions, you may also encounter scenario-based questions. They present a problem and the proposed steps to create a solution; you then have to determine what the proposed steps did. You can also count on drag-and-drop questions that require you to arrange graphics in a particular order or move them to a network component to reach a desired result.
Some questions have more than one exhibit that you'll have to compare with the clues in the question to determine a correct answer. The thing that caught me off guard was the extremely long questions—screen after screen of text. Who's writing these questions...Tolstoy?
Now that you know about the mechanics of the exam, let's discuss the exam objectives.
Installing, Configuring, Managing, Monitoring, and Troubleshooting DNS in a Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure
For openers, know how to install and maintain a DNS server. This includes the different server types: primary, secondary, and caching-only servers. Experiment with creating zones and then configuring those zones for transfer to a secondary server. Know the types of zone transfers: incremental (IXFR) and full (AXFR).
DNS in Windows 2000 with Active Directory is responsible for name resolution and for locating servers throughout your network. Without a doubt, you'd better know all about DNS. Spend some time creating different resource records and learning what they're responsible for. For example, know CNAME, SRV, WINS, and MX records. Don't forget to use reverse lookups—and know why you'll need them.
A useful feature in a large environment is the "round-robin" capability of DNS. Recall that round robin is a load-balancing feature for identical web servers that have different IP addresses. Another feature you'll want to know is the joint effort of DHCP and DNS to support dynamic updates of clients.
Finally, know how to configure clients to use DNS. On this front, it's helpful to know the ipconfig switches relevant to DNS: \displaydns, \flushdns, and \registerdns.
NOTE
Study Hint: Install a DNS root-level server and configure zone transfers to other DNS servers.