EXAMS: STUDY TIPS
• Relates to: MCSE 2000 | MCSE 2003 | MCSA 2000 | MCSA 2003
Required Equipment
There’s no getting around the fact
that you’re going to need plenty of hands-on with ISA Server before you
challenge exam 70-227. A fair number of the questions are based on the
assumption that you have run ISA Server in an Enterprise setting and know how to
troubleshoot common problems that don’t show up in the product
documentation.
Here’s the minimum equipment you
should have:
- 1 W2K Domain Controller
(for Active
Directory)
- 2 W2K
Systems running ISA Server as an
array
- 1 Client system
that runs behind the firewall
For the most part, you can get away with
running ISA Server in Enterprise mode with only a single computer in your array.
You will need two ISA Server computers, though, for playing with Network Load
Balancing (this is a must), setting up local/remote VPN servers, and distributed
caching.
Blow Things Up
A fair number of exam questions are based
on troubleshooting different errors you can run into. Make a point of
mis-configuring things so you know what to watch out for. Here are some good
areas to botch things up:
- Distributed caching –
find out what happens when requests are not resolved within the array before
being routed.
- Log
files – use a tool like
WebCAT
to hammer the heck out of a Web site (on your practice network but external to
your firewall) and cause ISA Server to generate enormous log files. Take a look
at perfmon and find out what kind of errors you get when your hard drive is too
full or too
busy.
- Bandwidth
– have your ISA Server dial out with a modem and use WebCAT again to hit
external servers. Your bandwidth should drop to nothing. Configure ISA Server
caching and experiment with it to see how it can stop WebCAT from pummelling
your outbound Internet
connection.
- Local
Address Table (LAT) – remember, all addresses entered into the LAT are
translated, even public IP addresses. Try mis-configuring your LAT so
you’ll be aware of what symptoms to watch out
for.
- Event Viewer
– read your event viewer regularly so you know what each entry
means.
- Know your
rules – create a whole whack of rules for site and content, web
publishing, server publishing, protocols, etc. See what happens when you change
the order of the rules and move users between groups. You need to know this for
the exam.
Don’t stop with the above list,
however. If you haven’t bollixed up things badly enough to have to
reinstall ISA Server from scratch at least twice then you’re slacking off.
:)
Know Your TCP/IP Networking
This exam will catch anyone with an
inadequate knowledge of TCP/IP off-guard. Do you know basic routing? Route
summarization? Subnetting? If you’re weak with this make sure you brush up
your knowledge before taking the ISA Server exam.
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