MCSE Core Required Exams in a Nutshell: The required 70: 290, 291, 293 and 294 Exams (In a Nutshell (OReilly))

Exam 70-294: Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Serer 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure is designed to cover the skills necessary to manage the directory service needs of a medium to large organization with a specific focus on Active Directory. The planning skills required aren't as extensive as those required for network infrastructure in Exam 70-293, and mostly extend to planning the placement of Flexible Single Master Operations Roles (FSMOs) and Global Catalogs (GCs) as well as developing a Group Policy strategy. Planning also extends to Organizational Unit (OU) and security group structure.

You should be able to implement forest and domain structure including domain controller installation, site topology configuration for site links and bridgehead servers, and trust relationships. A key part of this is troubleshooting, which includes diagnosing and resolving problems as well as restoring Active Directory.

Some not so routine tasks are covered with respect to Group Policy. Not only do you need to know how to configure policy settings and obtain Resultant Set of Policy (RSoP), but you also need to know how to use Group Policy to automatically enroll computer certificates, to distribute software, and to maintain installed software.

Some of the most common problem areas for people taking the exam have to do with:

Trusts

In an environment with multiple forests and domains, many types of trusts may exist, including internal, external, shortcut, and cross-forest trusts. Establishing and managing these isn't something you'll do every day. More often than not, you'll work only with trusts when things break. Make it a point to spend some extra time with trusts.

Sites

A small organization may not have multiple Active Directory sites. A large organization may have multiple sites but allow only the most experienced administrators to manage them. To get the hands-on expertise and essential background required, you'll probably have to experiment with the theoretical and set up an extended test environment.

Group Policy troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Group Policy requires a keen understanding of policy application, processing, and refresh. Keep in mind that all the things that can affect processing including loopback, slow links, and refresh.

In order to be prepared for Exam 70-294, you should have 12 to 18 months prior experience as a Windows Server 2003 administrator in a medium to large organization. You should have recently studied a Windows Server 2003 administrator's book, taken a training course, or completed a self-paced training kit that covers the related areas of study. You will then be ready to use the Exam 70-294 Study Guide in this book as your final exam preparation.