70-214 Review

[snoopy51]

This certification exam tests the skills to implement and administer security services in a Microsoft Windows 2000 network environment. For the official MS exam objectives see the link at http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/exams/70-214.asp

In a nutshell, it builds skills on:

• Secure computers with file system permissions, Group Policy, and other baseline security measures
• Configure IPSec and SSL to help protect communication channels for both private and public servers
• Manage user and network authentication, certificates, and public key encryption
• Implement security measures for RAS, VPNs, and wireless networks
• Help protect Microsoft Internet Information Services, Microsoft Exchange Server, and Microsoft SQL Server from unauthorized access
• Maintain system software integrity with service packs, security updates, and hot fixes
• Monitor events, detect network intrusions, and implement prevention, incident response and recovery measures

Or in the alphabetic soup, it is about GPO, IPSec, SSL, SMB, CA, PKI, EFS, RRAS, L2TP, PPTP,VPN, WLAN, RIS, SUS, MBSA and many more.

Exam Statistics

Number of Questions:..........................50
Time:............................................. .......120 min
Level of Difficulty:..................................7/10
Score format:........................................Num eric score
Passing grade:......................................700

You can acquire the necessary skill for exam 70-214 by attending instructor led classes:

• Course 2150: Designing a Security-Enhanced Microsoft Windows 2000 Network
• Course 2153: Implementing a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure
• Course 2800: Microsoft Security Clinic

This article described a personal approach taken to prepare for the exam by self-study. My objective is not just to pass the exam but to build personal skill by doing hand-on exercises to simulate the real world environment. This is a major requirement for me. Your requirement may be completely different. So this article is really describing “Attack Exam 70-214 my way”.

I took exam 70-214 as an elective requirement for my MCSE 2000 certification. The subject of security is a major attraction not only as a favorite pastime but as a former, “White hat”, who functioned as a gatekeeper to prevent outside intrusion in a corporate world.

Setup:

• 3 Pentium 4 PCs connected to Internet through Cable modem/DSL routers. Two are multi-homed.
• 1 Pentium II laptop.
• MSPress: Implementing and Administering Security a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network (Exam 70-214)
• Syngress: Implementing & Administering Security in a Windows 2000 Network (70-214) Study Guide and DVD Training System
• Exam Cram 2: Implementing and Administering Security in a Windows 2000 Network (Exam 70-214)
• <a href="http://www.qksrv.net/click-1330663-8761276" target="_blank" onmouseover="window.status='http://www.transcender.com/redir.asp?id=cjaffiliate&GCID=C1209X036';return true;" onmouseout="window.status=' ';return true;">Transcender: TransCram on line test simulation</a><img src="http://www.qksrv.net/image-1330663-8761276" width="1" height="1" border="0">
• Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit

I picked three books because I don’t believe in “single source” study guide. Different authors with different background will invariably give a different presentation of the same exam objectives.

I picked MSPress mainly they have many hand-on exercises. Lab exercise is a major requirement for me. It was fun to talk about GPO but even better to implement GPO on a test environment. I have tested GPO, IPSec, Certificates, SSL, install ISA server, SQL server and VPN. Unfortunately, I did not perform the Smartcard and Macintosh client exercise due to lack of equipment. There are good explanations on Kerberos. In addition to learning by doing exercises, the book’s lesson summary, review questions and practice test are good quality. The best is it came with 120 days evaluation copy of Windows 2000 server and the study guide is in a searchable Ebook.

The targeted audience for MS Press is for working professional who is not afraid to search the Windows 2000 Resource Kit or Internet for answer. If you have problem with setting up servers then the MSPress book is not for you! One negative point is that it is light on SECEDIT, HFNETCHK and MBSA. It is not covered in much detail. Looking back from my exam, it needs an update in this area. It is a good book to own but I will not recommend as the only study guide for 70-214.

The second book from Syngress by Will Schmied and Robert Shimonski is in different format. It is highly readable and textual presentation of material is well done. It is more exam objective based and came with a two hour of DVD presentation. You can use this video the night before the exam as a review. That is a positive portion of this book but the video quality is poor on my computer. I can not believe this but I finished this book in two days. I particularly enjoyed the SMBDIE exercise. When my Windows 2000 server crashed with a BSOD, I said, “Thanks for showing me this”. Many high quality “Notes” and useful “Test day tips” are words of wisdom. The “Head of class” give you a little edge on information. The “Notes from Underground” give you an idea what is happening in the other side of the world. However, when I try to access the exam or web based test in www.syngress.com, the links are no longer working. Despite its missing link, it is a good book to own!

The last book I used was Exam Cram 2 book written by Roberta Bragg. The format of this book is to consolidate technical fact into format suitable for taking exam. Roberta wrote a few books and articles on security. This book is not a study guide as the name suggested but I have know some friend just read this book and passed the exam. Several of her alert tips were on the exam. Amazing, may be she wrote the exam questions! One of the major features is the two pages Cram Sheet with 104 points. I will never forget this one, point 95, ”To disable EFS for Windows 2000, you remove the recovery agent certificate. When there is no recovery agent, there is no encryption”. Can you do better than that for your exam preparation? Review questions are well done. The practice exam included with the book was written by PreLogic. It is a basic quality practice test, nothing to write home about.

Thanks, Matthew Strebe, Will Schmied, Robert Shimonski and Roberta Bragg for your work!

I used the Transcender’s TransCram for test simulation. You pay $29 for 72 hours of on-line usage. It is a great deal and I don’t want to own the practice exam after the test. The practice exam is of high quality and best among the practice exam arena.

This is just one man’s experience. Your path may be difference! If you plan to take 70-214, we wish you good luck from MCSE World!

By the way, I walked into the exam room with confidence and passed on my first try.

Snoopy51

[QOD]

great review, i was thinking about doing the 70-214 my self, then i got stuck with security and linux, now i am into IDS and probably into C programming, when will it end:wtf2: :wtf2: :wtf2:

any ways on a 1 to 10 scale with 10 being "WO MAMA" what do you rate it??

[dontpanic]

Awesome review! Three thumbs up!

[dontpanic]

snoop, just as a followup, the Web based practice exam for 70-214 is still available, I just checked it out.

You have to do the following things to access it:
1. Sign up for your syngress.com account
2. Register the 70-214 book
3. Go to the "My Account" page...it should in your list of books
4. Click on it (the 70-214 book in the list)
5. On the 70-214 book page, click the link to start the practice exam

Let me know if you can get it working now...

[QOD]

DP we could put this one as an article right??

[dontpanic]

It's in the works...

[QOD]

i am done with the snort book you sent me (took me 3 days) i should send you the review tommorow with the 70-271 exam review
i got some other books from the library that i am going to read, hackers challenge 2, hacking linux exposed, hating the hacker, and linux programming.

thanks

[dontpanic]

Great! Thanks!