Anyone on here studying for 70-642

Chev Chellios

Anyone on here studying for 70-642?

Just wondered as I know most folks are following the Server 2012 path but I need to hit and complete this exam in the near future! Basically looking for anyone else doing the same or similar or anyone who has taken it to offer advice. I've got the official MS R2 book for it and some labs but heard that the Don Poulton exam guide was decent, anyone else here confirm or deny that or offer advice?

djentlemetal

I know you probably got your hopes up by seeing a reply, but I'm sorry to tell you that I'm still lon the 70-640 exam myself. I'm using the Poulton cert guide for this one which is alright, but I see that his 70-642 guide seems to have better reviews. Did you happen to pass your 70-640, yet?

Chev Chellios

Thanks for the reply dude. I have scratched the 70-640 off as spent a lot of time studying it and failed the exam which was a major major de-motivator (never failed anything before that), so much in there we don't use and you can't always lab an Enterprise Certificate authority etc very easily. Basically we are heading towards a server 2012 environment where I work (most is server 2003 currently so alot to do over the next year) and the business has offered me a cash incentive to complete this networking exam so that's a big motivator along with wanting that cert anyway (wanted the MCSA 2008 but got to be realistic now) We have big networking infrastructure projects coming up so I want to be as knowledgeable and involved as possible

How are you getting on with the 70-640? I think I am going to get the Poulton cert guide anyway as it can only help right!?

djentlemetal

I actually took a week-long break from studying. During that time, I went and bought a new laptop so I can actually get a proper virtual environment going and not have to worry about performance issues. I got a Lenovo Z710: Core i7 Quad-core 4700MQ, 8GB of RAM (which I'm upgrading to 16GB next week), Nvidia GeForce 745M graphics, 1TB HDD (5400rpm sucks, but I'm going to replace the optical drive with an SSD in the near future), 17" 1080p screen. I was working with a Dell core i3, 6GB ram machine earlier which probably could have handled most of what I needed to lab with but I was due for a new laptop anyway, and I wanted something that was sure to handle several VMs at once with no performance hiccups.

Anyway, the Poulton book is alright but I really need a lab manual that walks me through different scenarios that I might see on the exam. The chapters in the cert guide are nice and to the point, but they only have a few step-by-step instructions on how to set up a certain aspect of AD or whatever. None of what I've read so far goes into the depth I feel I need to get familiar with for the exam. I have a pdf copy of Server 2008 R2 Unleashed which seems to be what I'm looking for in terms of depth but, again, I'm really looking to sink my teeth into lab scenarios. I know I probably need to get going on the Tech Net labs, but there doesn't seem to be that much going on there, and they just appear to be simulations anyway. Do you know if the CBT Nugget videos have labs I can follow along with?

Chev Chellios

Sorry for the late reply had a manic weekend moving house but all is good as moved to a much bigger place so can actally have a study and get some stuff done for exam prep in a bit of peace and quiet (love my wife and son to bits but it could be hard to get time out to study where we were before) I did the technet labs and those in the official MS R2 book in my home lab for the 70-640 but you are right they don't do into enough depth really so I played around with them breaking DNS and stuff and trying to fix it was a good experience. Once settled in my new place will get the lab fired up on my old but trusty rig and crack on with the 70-642, have ordered the Don Poulton book so will see if it's any good! Good call on replacing the HDD I found with mine that was the bottle neck with the virtual machines going so an SDD is a good call, especially as they are coming down in price.

Good luck with the studies dude and stay in touch, will let you know more once moved and can get back into the studying habit

djentlemetal

I downloaded a pdf the self-paced training kit for the 70-640 over the weekend and the material seems to be more along the lines of what I'm looking for. Poulton's is good, but I think it's designed for people who use AD on a daily basis (which I don't, just yet). The self-paced training kit is more of a hands-on, step-by-step guide to setting up a server with AD and all the goodies that come along with it. Also, the CBT Nuggets series isn't too bad at all from what I'm seeing so far.