Basic questions from an Exchange newbie

gbhpboy

Thanks for taking time to read this post

Wonder if anyone can answer some basic questions about 70-284 from someone who knows nothing about it.

I work in IT, mainly on NT supported systems, but have some practical WIN2K commercial knowledge, but no email tech experience. I have passed 270 290 and 291.
I have a test lab at home with 3 WIN2003 servers and one WIN2K pro client.

Would this be a good elective to take to complete MCSA, I have an interest in messaging?

Can anyone compare this course in length and complexity with exams I have already taken ?

Is the exam a real beast ?

Any ideas on how it may take, to complete from scratch to passed exam ?

Is the exchange software available from MS, with the MS Press book ?

If so, what sort of lab config do you need to run it ? 2 of my servers are bare min spec for WIN2003 ?

I do have a possible opportunity to get involved with supporting Exchange ‘cos our account has just converted a whole load of Notes systems to Exchange, so I will probably get some help from my employer with some training time.

Many thanks

Gabe7055

hehe lots of questions but I will try to answer what I can. This is a great elective to take if you have a interest in Exchange.

You have passed some pretty tough test but Exchange is truly a different beast the things you covered on those test aren't going to be on 284 much at all (I recall being surprised by a few DNS questions but the rest was all exchange based).

I study the exam for 2 months and had a test lab I failed the first time and passed the next day (I get nervous when it comes to test).

You can download a 180 day demo on Exchange from Microsoft's site

Exchange doesn't need a whole lot of processor speed to run well but OMG! does it like RAM. I administer a 180 mailbox exchange server and it has no problems going thru 2 gigs of RAM and my 1 gig test server with a 3.2 P4 would chug some of the times as well. To get the best performance with Exchange you want lots of RAM and a good fast disk array (SCSI is best).

In closing if you really want to get into Exchange I am sure you can pass 284 with a little study and a little time