70-296 DNS

Dbutch1976

Hey guys,

It seems that there is so much information about 70-292 floating around and comparitivly little about 70-296. Basically I am sick to death of DNS since killing myself studying it for 70-292, does anyone know how much DNS is on the real exam?

Thanks,

DUncan.

Megadeth4168

I would also like to hear some more from others who have taken this one.... I plan on taking it very soon... All I've really heard is that many consider it to be easier than the 292... I hope that's true

HeroPsycho

Good amount of DNS on it as well if memory serves me right, although the difficulty of the questions overall is greatly reduced compared to 70-292. But if you don't know DNS, you probably will fail this exam.

Note: I sat that exam almost two years ago, so YMMV.

Megadeth4168

HeroPsycho wrote:

Good amount of DNS on it as well if memory serves me right, although the difficulty of the questions overall is greatly reduced compared to 70-292. But if you don't know DNS, you probably will fail this exam.

Note: I sat that exam almost two years ago, so YMMV.

For some that might seem like a nightmare, but for me, I have been consistently strong in DNS on my exams. I'll have to wait until my reimbursement from the 292 comes in from work, but after I get that I will be signing up for the 296.

sprkymrk

Skills being measured

Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining Name Resolution
Install and configure the DNS Server service

• Configure DNS server options

• Configure DNS zone options

• Configure DNS forwarding


Manage DNS

• Manage DNS zone settings

• Manage DNS record settings

• Manage DNS server options

dave0212

Took this exam yesterday and there is quite a bit DNS but I found my exam focused more on GPO and Security(IPSEC/PKI) which I was glad of as I know GPO very well which was reflected in the full bars for all the GPO subjects on my score report

HeroPsycho

Megadeth4168 wrote:

For some that might seem like a nightmare, but for me, I have been consistently strong in DNS on my exams.

Scoring well on it and knowing it aren't necessarily the same thing. The exam questions you've received on DNS might have just happened to be on stuff you knew well. In my experience on the MCSE core and upgrade exams, you can never know DNS too well.

Not saying you don't know DNS, but you should review it again, make sure you absolutely know when to use forwarding, conditional forwarding, root hints, stub zones, etc. In fact, it's not even enough to know when you should use it; you need to know if using one of those configurations would work to solve the problem, even if it's practically a stupid thing to do. :P

Dbutch1976

I think Megadeath and I are in the same situation, just got through the 292 nightmare and at this point I just want to get this damn upgrade overwith. No matter how many practice questions I do I can't understand certificates. I've never had to implement them in a real life situation and to be honest I don't really picture myself implementing them in the future. GPOs I'm pretty good with, server roles and disaster recovery I'm fairly good with, DNS I have down also, I think certificates are going to be something I need to really grill myself on. Hopefully I'll be done with all this very very soon!

dave0212

Certificates is where I need more knowledge and where I scored low on the 296, luckily I only had about 4-5 questions on PKI, I have read that it is ideal to study the 70-299 material to get a greater knowledge of those areas.

I think I'm going to actually do the 70-299 after I have done security+ for my MCSA:Security

Megadeth4168

Dbutch1976 wrote:

I think Megadeath and I are in the same situation, just got through the 292 nightmare and at this point I just want to get this damn upgrade overwith. No matter how many practice questions I do I can't understand certificates. I've never had to implement them in a real life situation and to be honest I don't really picture myself implementing them in the future. GPOs I'm pretty good with, server roles and disaster recovery I'm fairly good with, DNS I have down also, I think certificates are going to be something I need to really grill myself on. Hopefully I'll be done with all this very very soon!

You are right, practice labs, reading and practice questions do not teach you what real hands on experience in a work environment does. At my job, we do not utilize every feature of 2000/2003 servers. So there are definitely objectives on the score reports from the exams that reflect that.

Reading about the features, practicing on labs and learning from practice exam does help you prepare for the real world scenarios, but you definitely learn a lot more when you actually have to apply the skills.