Passed 70-284

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Now MCSA:M which is cool.

A challenging exam but if you have some Exchange 2003 experience and perhaps done a couple of Exchange migrations then you should be ok for this exam.

Also having passed other MS exams for the MCSE helped as many questions involved network troubleshooting and not just Exchange Server related problems.

 

Congrats on the pass

I tried the 70-284 twice and failed it twice even though I studied, installed and configured it for work (as well as working with exchange since 2003 (the year, worked with 5.5 and above). Won't be sitting another 2003 Exchange exam again, probably going to go for Exchange 2007 next year, if a Prometric testing centre opens up near me

-Ken

 

Yeah, just requsted it from the MCP site.

Thinking about doing the 70-285 for the MCSE:M but will see how things go.

 

It was a difficult exam, most of the questions I had to consider all of the answers rather than just looking for the answer after reading the question.

Can’t decide about the 70-285 or moving onto Exchange 2007. :hhhmmm

 

The MCSA:M cert arrived today, woohoo! Anyways as Zimbo has suggested I thought I would post an overview of how I approached this exam and as there isn’t too much info about this exam on the site it might help someone.

Books used - exam specific and reference books that are non exam specific.

MCSA/MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-284)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/MCSA-Self-P...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224191544&sr=8-1

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Unleashed
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-E...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224191612&sr=1-1

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Resource Kit
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-E...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224191669&sr=1-1


Your real world experience with the product/material or did learn learn the product/material during your studies?

Combination of both. Installed over 50 Exchange Servers in various topologies and also worked on Exchange 2000\NT to Exchange 2003 migration projects. I have also worked on a Notes\Domino to Exchange 2003 migration strategy but this hasn’t gone live as yet. Hopefully it will soon though!

I read the MS book from cover to cover and also used the other listed books for reference. The resource kit is an excellent book and I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to have a handy reference book for Exchange as it is not targeted directly at the exam.

How you did and if any practical work in preperation for the exam.

Built two labs. First lab was a basic LAN with one DC and Exchange Server and configured one live email domain for testing. After that I installed one DC and three exchange servers which included one front end and two backend server, each on different subnets. This meant I could mess around with some basic Exchange routing groups.

How did you go about this practical work? Eg real Cisco routers or Network simulators - then if so what did you use?

All real kit, very old Dell servers!

How long you studied for the exam?

Roughly three months.

Basically any other info that can help people prepare for exams.

Try not to look at the exam as just being an exam about Exchange server. Some of the questions require a knowledge of network troubleshooting (cant say anymore than that!) which does make sense as now Exchange tightly integrates with Active Directory and if the network Exchange is sitting on isn’t configured properly you are gonna have problems!