Passed w/815

I have passed my MCSA 70-291 with an 815. The exam wasn't that hard but I had a world of a time with the Routing and Remote Access domain. It didn't keep me from passing but it made my head spin. My score on the bar chart was about half on that.

I used Testout and MS pressbook. The exam was 48 questions 1 Simulation.

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lucifer_sam

Well done, It can't be easy studying out there. My exam format sounds very similiar to yours.

I take it that 291 was your last exam for the MCSA - well done fella!!

Good luck and keep yr head down.

LS.

Big Jizay

Congratulations!!

I noticed that a lot of people that take the 291 have problems with RRAS. Why is that? What I mean is, I don't know anything about RRAS at all. I haven't got to that part of the MS Press Book yet. Is it a whole lot of information to remember?

hustlin_moe20

RRAS seemed to be something I overlooked due to the fact that I don't use it at work. I expected one or two questions on it. I didn't know it was a whole domain on the exam. Maybe I should do my research...

My head is down for sure, but my bank account is up. Anyone interested in coming out, let me know. One other Tech exams member is on his way.

amp2030

Congrats on the pass and on the MCSA!!

Johno045

Well done for passing the Beast and getting the MCSA

hustlin_moe20

thanks. ive already recieved to bites on new jobs once i updated my resume.

Slowhand

Congrats on the pass, that's not a bad score at all!

Big Jizay wrote:

I noticed that a lot of people that take the 291 have problems with RRAS. Why is that? What I mean is, I don't know anything about RRAS at all. I haven't got to that part of the MS Press Book yet. Is it a whole lot of information to remember?

RRAS is, for all intents and purposes, a software-based router that Microsoft includes with Windows Server. There's a whole lot to learn, and it's an uphill-battle for both experienced networking guys and newbies, mainly because RRAS does things very differently than Cisco or Juniper devices. (At least, that was the biggest issue for me.) And, for most people, they've never touched RRAS because their company uses a hardware router, as opposed to setting up a Windows box and running the RRAS software as Microsoft envisions. In other word, it's a complicated piece of software that you have to learn for this exam, but are highly unlikely to ever have touched before or will touch ever again.

Big Jizay

Slowhand wrote:

Congrats on the pass, that's not a bad score at all!

Big Jizay wrote:

I noticed that a lot of people that take the 291 have problems with RRAS. Why is that? What I mean is, I don't know anything about RRAS at all. I haven't got to that part of the MS Press Book yet. Is it a whole lot of information to remember?

RRAS is, for all intents and purposes, a software-based router that Microsoft includes with Windows Server. There's a whole lot to learn, and it's an uphill-battle for both experienced networking guys and newbies, mainly because RRAS does things very differently than Cisco or Juniper devices. (At least, that was the biggest issue for me.) And, for most people, they've never touched RRAS because their company uses a hardware router, as opposed to setting up a Windows box and running the RRAS software as Microsoft envisions. In other word, it's a complicated piece of software that you have to learn for this exam, but are highly unlikely to ever have touched before or will touch ever again.

I just started studying RRAS today and there is a lot to learn about it. I've had Cisco training before, so I'm more familiar with their way of routing than RRAS. I could see how the differences between the two could become confusing.

Slowhand

Big Jizay wrote:

I just started studying RRAS today and there is a lot to learn about it. I've had Cisco training before, so I'm more familiar with their way of routing than RRAS. I could see how the differences between the two could become confusing.

The term you're looking for isn't "different", it's "back-assward".

Microsoft makes a fine server product, a fine desktop OS, and a good productivity suite, but they should have left well enough alone when dipping into the routing/firewall market.

dynamik

Don't forget about ISA. That's a good protect.

It's good to understand things like RADIUS as well. I can't imagine they thought it was worthwhile to implement RIP and OSPF though. I understand that a small business may prefer just to get as much out of a single device as possible (VPN access, etc.), but I can't see a business large enough to need OSPF going that route (yes, that's a pun).

Big Jizay

Slowhand wrote:

The term you're looking for isn't "different", it's "back-assward".
Microsoft makes a fine server product, a fine desktop OS, and a good productivity suite, but they should have left well enough alone when dipping into the routing/firewall market.

Yeah exactly! I guess Microsoft has it on the exam to promote it, I don't know

. Nobody I've seen ever uses it.

Dynamik wrote:

Don't forget about ISA. That's a good protect.

It's good to understand things like RADIUS as well. I can't imagine they thought it was worthwhile to implement RIP and OSPF though. I understand that a small business may prefer just to get as much out of a single device as possible (VPN access, etc.), but I can't see a business large enough to need OSPF going that route (yes, that's a pun).

Thanks for the info Dynamik. Do you think that I should use RADIUS in my virtual network setup?

sprkymrk

Slowhand wrote:

The term you're looking for isn't "different", it's "back-assward".
Microsoft makes a fine server product, a fine desktop OS, and a good productivity suite, but they should have left well enough alone when dipping into the routing/firewall market.

Actually, all major OSes have some sort of routing implementation in them. And if you've ever used RRAS in a production environment (which I am assuming those commenting here on how bad it is have not) you would see that it actually works pretty well. I agree that if you want a router, buy a router, not a Windows server. But I also say if you want a firewall, buy a firewall not a router. Many people who swear by the first statement are guilty of the second. I'm not sure what MS's intention was when they implemented RRAS but I would have to think it was just one more thing Windows could do if you needed it to. We used one for years as a stop-gap measure to seperate a classroom from the rest of the LAN. I've seen them used in both small and large offices for ICS.

dynamik wrote:

I can't imagine they thought it was worthwhile to implement RIP and OSPF though.

It's probably just left over backward compatibility. RRAS has been around since at least NT4, not sure about NT3.51 or earlier. For the same reason you can still implement RIP and OSPF in the latest IOS if you want.

Oops! Almost forgot to say GRATZ to the OP on his pass!

dynamik

Big Jizay wrote:

Thanks for the info Dynamik. Do you think that I should use RADIUS in my virtual network setup?

Sorry, it's actually called IAS in the MS Server world. You'll cover it in 291.

impelse

Congrats in your pass