70-680 Exam - some advice re group/local policies please

Tommy5

I have been studying using books/videos and have not used a domain or worked in an enterprise environment. The problems i encountered were with questions that had multiple answers for a question, and referred to selecting group policy or local policy as well as the specific paths on the local machine. The videos I have seen tend not to discuss assigning policies through Group/local Policy. Any advice please

ITMonkey

Good thing you noticed! The 70-680 tends to emphasize supporting Windows 7 in a medium-sized company -- say, 20 to a couple hundred employees. It acknowledges large-sized environments when it talks about SCCM, and it also covers Small Office Home Office (SOHO) environments by providing step-by-step manual configuration details. But as you have observed, the study material requires that you know group policy, OU's, and Server 2008 (R2) to a fairly good level of proficiency.

I jumped right into the 680 and had the same thought as you: "What is all this group and local policy stuff?!" Having the 680 behind me, I think the learning path would have been easier had I studied for the 70-640 (and accompanying 70-642 and 70-643) MCTS exams before beginning the 680. Or at least I should have studied for the 70-640 side-by-side as I prepared for the 680.

Here is my recommendation for what it is worth: get the Microsoft 70-640 Training Kit (Edition 1 if you lab with Server 2008, or Edition 2 if you lab with Server 2008 R2). This training kit book is exceptional. Study it along with the 680 material -- you ought to be training inside a lab environment anyway, and the exercises in this book give you step-by-step exercises to create one. The book walks you though exercises where you make a AD DS domain, configure roles and group policies. In fact, I began each day doing a couple exercises *before* reading the related material preceeding the practice exercises. Odd way to learn, but my few brain cells retain knowledge better by having some "hands-on" time with it.

By the way, keep in touch with this forum. You'll find some members who are very helpful as guides as you progress in your studies.

(My former alias is embraceIT. I'm consolidating all my IT-related signon id's to ITMonkey to make life easier.)

Tommy5

Thanks a lot; very useful advice. To be honest Im just doing the 680 material to date but will certainly take your advice.