70-282 (Small Business Specialist)

duckduckduck

70-282 Designing, Deploying, and Managing a Network Solution for a Small- and Medium-Sized Business

Any information on this one? It's pretty new so Microsoft is rushing it bad, giving 25(!) points towards becoming a gold certified partner for it (with the marketting partner exam for your company sales-guy).

My boss tells me to get it by the end of this month and I've taken the Trancsender already. I can tell you that this exam looks like basically a big advertisement for Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition.

I expect to emerge fully brainwashed and wanting to implement SBS '03 everywhere to fix everything. I'll post my experiences once I'm done with this one for anyone else who needs to tackle this test.

edemby

This test requires a bit of knowledge on everything. It seems to test more on the actual usage and benefits and a few business questions. I thought it was decently rounded and not just techified. Even the study material requires you to put on your business hat.

As far as perks, well I dont know what you as an individual gets, but your company will get notice. As an individual - i need to look that up.
For study material, i used harry belsford book and the Windows Small Business Server 2003 Administrators Companion and Transcender. oh, and some experience.

Good Luck...

duckduckduck

Thanks!

I'm actually taking it tomorrow. I'm a little weak on the experience part as I haven't worked with SBS in about 8 years or so (when the wizards were more of a hinderance than a help).

Hopefully Belsford's book and the good old Transcender will pull me through. As far as what you get for taking this one, if you pass both this and the marketting partner exam, I understand you get the title of "Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist" - for what it's worth.

kevozz

Just sounds like a way for Microsoft to make a few more bucks.

TeKniques

Where I work we actually just got a free exam voucher for this exam because we are a Microsoft Certified Partner.

My boss asked me about it today to see if I was interested, but the exam has to be completed by March 30th to use the voucher.

Interesting, none the less. Good luck on your exam Duck

keatron

I took this (we're a gold partner also) and it was more technical than you would think. Not so much "how to configure this or that" but more which solution does client A need if they have these demands for a solution. I think it's really geared towards making your sales guys sound a little more technical. Don't expect to learn much from an applied perspective.

duckduckduck

Biffed it with a 638 (passing = 700).

Looks like I'll be taking it again on Tuesday. I wish my boss had given me more time to prepare for this one! I wouldn't recommend the Belsford book at all. Your time would be much better spent reading a 70-290 (Server 2003) exam cram and then studying a sales pamphlet for the SBS 2003 to learn the features it has that differentiates it from Server '03.

Most of the exam focused on OU, GPO, DNS, DHCP and DFS configuration questions.

stevehart

Taking it today. Actually, in about an hour.

I was surprised to see how few quality resources are actually out there. Transcenders are good as always, and hands-on knowledge is always the best way to learn, but nobody seems satisifed with any of the "study guides" that are on the market. Time for someone to fill the gap?

Any how, got the pre-game jitters, even though this the 7th MS exam I've taken in my life. Focusing on SQL, ISA, and DFS for my studies - the 3 things I never use in conjunction with SBS and apparently heavy on the exam.

stevehart

Woo hoo! Actually, was by far the easiest MS exam I've ever taken. Scored a 906 on it - only used the Transcenders to study. Quite a good resource - there were many questions that paired up with exam questions.

Nothing too tricky on it - one or two loaded questions, but reading over the question a few times over generally reveals the answer. It's mostly about learning how Microsoft thinks and wants you to respond.

duckduckduck

I passed it as well this attempt and got a MUCH easier group of questions this time around.

Wow, I never knew there could be so much discrepency in the quality, technicality and difficulty of the questions! Only one or two deep technical questions on this last try.

Well, congrats stevehart (and congrats to myself as well)!

eurotrash

congrats to you both

edemby

you do the work and pass the test, but your company gets the title of small business specialist - not you as an individual. i know this cuz its been 4 mos. since i've passed the 70-282 and the designation isnt listed on my transcript. we study hard and test hard - we deserve it to be listed and recognized.
maybe thats why techs arent striving for it in droves - its only a title for the company you work for.
hope you compensated for your efforts......
i hope someday it will be an recognized designation for an individual to obtain for oneself also.

do you agree/disagree? why/why not? just curious.

solo79

edemby wrote:

you do the work and pass the test, but your company gets the title of small business specialist - not you as an individual. i know this cuz its been 4 mos. since i've passed the 70-282 and the designation isnt listed on my transcript. we study hard and test hard - we deserve it to be listed and recognized.
maybe thats why techs arent striving for it in droves - its only a title for the company you work for.
hope you compensated for your efforts......
i hope someday it will be an recognized designation for an individual to obtain for oneself also.

do you agree/disagree? why/why not? just curious.

I am surprised you don't get anything for this as an individual. I was looking to take it for my company. I guess it will still help. Thanks for the info.

sransell

I have also been asked to sit this exam.

Does anyone have a recommendation on the best book/resource to use?

Cheers

solo79

I have only found one book out there.

Microsoft Small Business Specialist Primer & 70-282 Exam Preparation Guide (featuring Windows Small Business Server 2003) (Harry Brelsford's SMB) by Beatrice Mulzer and Harry Brelsford

and a set of cd's

MCSE 2003 Exam 70-282 Training (3 CD-ROMs) by Makau

Both available on Amazon.

I haven't figured out what to study on this one yet. I have started reading the admin guide for Win03 SBS.

amyamandaallen

edemby wrote:

you do the work and pass the test, but your company gets the title of small business specialist - not you as an individual. i know this cuz its been 4 mos. since i've passed the 70-282 and the designation isnt listed on my transcript. we study hard and test hard - we deserve it to be listed and recognized.
quote]

I presume you actually get the 70-282 exam list on your transcript though? Even if not the small business specialist title.

Im looking to use this as a run up exam to the 290? On a scale of 1 to 10 how technical is it and is it worth having it on your cv? There do seem to be quite a few job adverts that mention support SBS.

many thanks

edemby

Congrats to all that have passed
It does also only show up on your transcript as (70-282). nothing spectacular though. might even count as an elective towards an MCSE too.
As far as test material I used the Harry Belsford book, and most importantly the windows sbs administrator companion book (name not in correct order i'm sure but close). that book i read front to back. its gives you the meat and potatos and harry gives you all so important side veggies and desert. he (they) give you alot of business perspective which will help pass the test more so than their technical info.

I would not call it an easy test either. personally i thing this test should be the test you take after you finish your MCSE core. it gives great exposure to the other technologies that interoperate with the server very well and you can make 'em work too. great way to get exposure to Exchange for instance. gives alot of fundamentals. and i think from that, you can better determine what Microsoft technology you might wanna specialize in. if thats what you wanna do.

otherwise the only thing i can think of as to how it makes you a more valueable employee is the fact that whoever hires you also obtains the small buiness specialist designation ( if thier a MS partner of course). do hiring managers even know about this cert?

if it does help you out career wise - go for it !

Danman32

edemby wrote:

might even count as an elective towards an MCSE too.

It indeed does count as an elective:
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcse/windows2003/
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-282.asp

For MCSE anyway. Doesn't appear to be valid for MCSA, which I find strange.

edemby

i wonder if there'll be a MCTS for the SBS specialist for the next server release? hmmm