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Exam 70-285 became available March 26, 2004.
The Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 credential is designed for IT professionals who work in the typically complex computing environment of medium to large companies.
A candidate for this exam should have at least one year of experience designing and planning Exchange messaging systems in environments that have the following characteristics:
| • | 250 to 5,000 or more users |
| • | Three or more physical locations |
| • | Network services and resources such as multiple versions of Exchange Server, Active Directory, proxy server, firewall, other messaging systems, DNS, Internet, intranet, and mobile clients that use a public infrastructure |
| • | Three or more domain controllers |
| • | Two or more Exchange Server computers |
| • | Connectivity requirements such as connecting branch offices and individual users in remote locations to the corporate network and connecting corporate networks to the Internet |
When you pass the Implementing and Managing Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 exam, you achieve Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) status. You also earn credit toward the following certifications:
| • | Core credit toward Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE): Messaging on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 certification |
| • | Elective credit toward Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 certification |
We make a wealth of preparation tools and resources available to you, including courses, books, practice tests, and Microsoft Web sites. When you are ready to prepare for this exam, here's where you should start.
| • | Course 2008: Designing a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Organization |
| • | Currently, a corresponding Microsoft Press title is not available. |
| • | MeasureUp: Visit the MeasureUp Web site to take a practice test. |
| • | Self Test Software: Visit the Self Test Software Web site to take a practice test. |
| • | TechNet: Designed for IT professionals, this site includes How-tos, best practices, downloads, technical chats, and much more. |
| • | MSDN: The Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) is a reference for developers, featuring code samples, technical articles, newsgroups, chats, and more. |
| • | Training & Certification Newsgroups: A newsgroup exists for every Microsoft certification. By participating in the ongoing dialogue, you take advantage of a unique opportunity to exchange ideas with and ask questions of others, including more than 750 Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) worldwide. |
This certification exam measures your ability to analyze business requirements for a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 organization and design an appropriate messaging infrastructure based on these requirements. Before taking the exam, you should be proficient in the job skills listed in the following matrix. The matrix shows which Official Microsoft Learning Products may help you reach competency in the skills being tested in the exam.
| KEY: |
| Skills measured by exam 70-285 | Course 2008 | ||||||||||||||
| Designing an Upgrade or Migration and Coexistence Strategy | |||||||||||||||
Design an upgrade strategy from previous versions of Exchange. Considerations include upgrading from Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 5.5, whether to upgrade the existing organization or create a new organizational structure, and designing connection agreements.
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Design coexistence and migration of Exchange Server 2003 with other messaging systems. Considerations include cc:Mail, MSMail, previous versions of Exchange, Lotus Notes, X.400 messaging systems, PROFS, SNADS, and Groupwise.
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Design the integration with the existing or planned Active Directory. Considerations include potential changes to the current or planned Active irectory structure, and inter-organizational connectivity and synchronization.
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| Designing the Exchange Server 2003 Infrastructure | |||||||||||||||
Design an Exchange Server 2003 administrative model. Considerations include business factors, existing and planned administrative model, organizational unit (OU) structure, policies, administrative group placement and boundaries, and permissions. | |||||||||||||||
Designate and design servers. Server configurations include server placement, connectors, client computer access, and multiple protocols.
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Design Exchange Server 2003 Public Folder Infrastructure. Considerations include company structure, geographical structure, maintenance policies, permissions, replication and indexing.
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Design the storage strategy. Considerations include optimal database sizing, logging strategy, stores and storage group configurations. | |||||||||||||||
Design servers to achieve fault tolerance and increased performance. Considerations include server scalability, storage fault tolerance, front-end back-end topology, and clustering.
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Design a backup and recovery solution. Considerations include planning backup scope, defining the backup schedule, media storage and rotation, backup type, recovering the entire messaging system, individual databases, and servers; re-associating user mailboxes with accounts; and designing mailbox stores to support recovery. | |||||||||||||||
| Designing Connectivity for Exchange Server 2003 | |||||||||||||||
Design an Exchange Server 2003 routing group topology.
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Design Exchange 2003 Connectors. | |||||||||||||||
Design Exchange 2003 Virtual (protocol) Server Strategy. | |||||||||||||||
Design a fault-tolerant DNS solution. | |||||||||||||||
Design Client strategy for Exchange Server 2003. Considerations include hardware, operating system, access method, existing message store requirements, and existing message clients.
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| Designing the Security Strategy | |||||||||||||||
Design an authentication and encryption strategy. Considerations include user authentication and encryption requirements, such as S/MIME, IPSec, NTLM, Digest authentication, and SSL.
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Design protection from external threats. Considerations include protection from unsolicited commercial e-mail, viruses, spoofing, and firewalls.
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Protect the Exchange Server 2003 infrastructure against internal attacks.
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Note: This preparation guide is subject to change at any time without prior notice and at Microsoft's sole discretion. Microsoft exams might include adaptive testing technology and simulation items. Microsoft does not identify the format in which exams are presented. Please use the exam objectives listed in this preparation guide to prepare for the exam, regardless of its format. Learn more, and download samples, on the Testing Innovations page.