Just passed the NE exam with a 965

Just passed the NE exam with a 965. Whew. I was surprised not to get any of the RAS/modem questions, but I never found a definitive answer to the problem, so I guess that was a good thing. There was lots of stuff on Netbios, and using a DVM to test cables, so know your ‘meter reading’. Most of the questions on the exam were near-exact to braindumps, and the questions in the Creative Edge NE test exams, which are free and similar to Transcenders, so I really suggest checking them out. Especially if, like me, you can’t afford the transcenders.

First, I’d like to say thanks to all the braindumpers here; I studied from three books, the Coriolis Exam Prep (Very Good), Que’s NE Exam Guide (Very Good), and Osbourne’s MCSE NE Book (bad – badly written and confusing). I found that even the good books were missing in some areas. Also, copy out or print the braindumps and compare answers – there are a lot of conflicts here, and you should go back to your study materials or web info and research anything with differing opinions.

Well, here goes my contribution. Sorry about the length, but I wanted to throw in something from ‘real world’ experience, and since I just quit my job, I’ve got the time. Anyhow, the things I was having a lot of questions about, and took extra time to go over were the DNS, WINS server, and NetBEUI stuff – my work implemented this stuff only just as I left, and the consultant wasn’t very forthcoming on letting anyone else know what was up with it. Here’s the skinny I found on NetBIOS/NetBEUI:

NetBIOS names are 16 characters in length, of which 15 characters can be changed or set by the user/administrator – the last character is used by the system, don’t worry about it. NetBIOS uses several methods to resolve those names into IP addresses so it can find other computers or devices on the network:

First, a NetBIOS machine will check it’s own name cache for a device/IP address. If it doesn’t find it there, it goes to step two;
The NetBIOS machine sends a query to a local WINS server. If the WINS server has the name and address it’s looking for, fine; if not, the computer moves to step three;
The computer will send out a broadcast across the network, looking for the device. (Remember, NetBIOS/NetBEUI is not routable, so this broadcast is only going as far as its local subnet if it is on a routed network. If the network is bridged, however, it will reach everyone.) If this doesn’t solve the problem, the computer moves to step four;
The computer will check the LMHOSTS file. If LMHOSTS files are set up, they will be set up individually (locally) on each computer. LMHOSTS files work like a handwritten, text-based WINS server – they resolve NetBIOS names to IP addresses. If this doesn’t work, the computer goes to step five;
The computer will check a local HOSTS file; similar to the LMHOSTS file, the HOST files are hand-entered, text based files that resolve domain names to IP addresses, like a manual DNS server. If all these methods fail, the computer will then go to step six
It will check a local DNS server. DNS servers resolve domain names to IP addresses.

So, WINS servers and LMHOSTS resolve NetBIOS names to IP addresses

DNS servers and HOSTS files resolve domain names to IP addresses

If none of the steps resolves the name, there’s a problem somewhere. Depending on the method your network is using to resolve names, either the device you’re looking for is not registered on the network with either a WINS server or in an LMHOSTS file, or it’s not registered with the DNS server or the HOSTS files.

I’ve seen this question come up a few times, be careful with it, it’s a trick: Tom can log on to the network but cannot connect to a server on another segment using that server's netbios name. What is Wrong?

a) Tom's computer in not registered in the network naming server.

b) the server is not registered in the network naming server.

The answer is really clear if you think about it: How does Tom’s computer, using NetBIOS, get to a server on another network segment? The only was is to get the address from a WINS server, LMHOSTS file, DNS server or HOSTS file that’s on his own segment. If he can’t get to it, then it must not be registered on any of the name resolution servers on his network segment. So the answer is B.

This relates back to the inability of NetBIOS/NetBEUI to be routed. If your network contains subnets divided by routers, and your computers are using NetBEUI, they will only be able to see other computers or servers on their own network segment. In order to communicate with other computers, you need to set up a WINS server or LMHOSTS files (or DNS/HOSTS), and populate them with the addresses of the devices on the other segments. Then, when your computer asks for a computer on a different segment, it will be given the address by either the WINS server or the LMHOSTS file (or DNS/HOSTS). The computer will then have the other devices address, and be able to communicate with it directly across the routers, instead of using broadcasts, which would not reach the other device through the router.

My test did include the question: If a network uses WINS as the only service to resolve Netbios names and the WINS server is unavailable, what devices on the network will a computer be able to communicate without broadcasting?

The answer is NONE. Remember the order that the computer uses to search: name cache, WINS, broadcast, LMHOSTS, HOSTS, DNS. So without the WINS, the computer has to go to broadcasting, even to find someone on its own subnet. Therefore, according the question, it won’t be able to reach anyone.

In another case, the problem may be that two computers have the same NetBIOS name. A WINS server does not recognize duplicate NetBIOS names; therefore if two computers have the same name, it will register the first one, and reject the second. Only the first one will be showing up on the network. In the same way, if the name is recorded with an incorrect spelling – either your computer has it incorrectly, or the WINS server has it incorrectly - the name will not get resolved and you will not be able to find the address. The way to tell if one of these two scenarios is happening is to ping the missing computer with its IP address – if the ping works, then the computer is online, but there is a problem with either the name being misspelled or not registered with any of the available resolution methods. Remember, pinging the IP address doesn’t have anything to do with the name – you can still reach a computer by ping that you can’t reach by name, if it is online and turned on!

Also, a lot of folks have written about the question, which NetBIOS names cannot be duplicated:

workgroup
computer
domain
share

and you have to choose three. The first is obvious, a computer name cannot be duplicated. The other two answers are a) workgroup, and d) share name. Why, I’m not totally sure. I believe it is because they are names that a NetBIOS computer may request on the network, and therefore cannot be duplicated either. However, I had always thought the only one that needed to be unique was the computer name.

Some of the basic stuff everyone seems to be creating acronyms for memory for you can simply check out yourself on your own computer (either Win95 or NT), which might be a better memory jogger. If you’re accessing this off a Win95 machine and are having problems with WIN – to – NetWare connections, or have IRQ memorization difficulty, look in your control panel. For IRQ stuff, go to Control Panel/System/Devices, then click on your network adapter or Com ports and look at their settings under the Properties tab. Check out where everything is set – I’ve done a lot of adapter installing at work (Sys Admin for Mac/Win network), and although I’ve almost never run into conflicts with machines at work, I found my own home system totally whacked from the ‘normal’ setup the books give you. I had a conflict a while back when attempting to install a network card in it to link to another computer, and now that I know what the preferred settings are, I can see where things need to be changed. That helped me really brought home the whole IRQ thing, so I didn’t stress on it anymore. Also, if you’re on a modem (a network at work will show this too), check out the Network settings in the Control Panel and see what protocol services are operating, and what connection services you have running – Client service for NetWare, File and Print services for Microsoft Networks, etc. This stuff is right there for you to see (just don’t change anything and cancel to get out of each window), and will make you feel more comfortable with the concepts having ‘seen it hands on’.

Always remember that most network problems occur at the physical level and that’s always the first place to check; this was really brought home to me at work – I can’t tell you how many people came screaming that they all of a sudden couldn’t get on the network, so it must be down. 100% of the time, they had put their feet up on the wall under their desks and hit the cable connection, disconnecting it, or had moved their computer around to make room for a boombox and disconnected the NIC. If one person is having trouble accessing the network, it is never a network problem, it is always a problem with the individual workstation. If it was working before, and isn’t now, the answer is a bad network connection to their computer. (I also got zapped on this after an hour with on-call tech support from my home when my keyboard ‘suddenly went out’. After a bunch of checking, the guy finally asked me if I had pets. I do. And they had walked behind the computer and dislodged the keyboard connection. Boy, did I feel foolish. Thank god he had a sense of humor).

The Protocol stuff is basic and is just memorization – get familiar with what you’re using and ask at work if you can. If you’re doing this without experience or work situations, well, study a lot. If you’re in school or near a community college, go to the IT department and see if they’ll show you around. Most computer guys love to show off their stuff, no pun intended. And getting a visual/physical grasp on this stuff will really help you make sense of it and feel comfortable in it. Maybe I got it because I work in a mixed environment and have been dealing with TCP/IP and AppleTalk and expansion for a while, but just realize that it’s really easier to grasp than you think it is - don’t let protocols get you down.

Ditto with the routers, bridges stuff. If you’re taking a class LOOK AROUND – how are things set up? What about work, look at how stuff is set up there. And make tables from your study books and memorize them.

The server specific stuff and WAN communications are going to be weirder, since that’s not really something you can get to unless you work for a big company and the IS folks are REALLY friendly. Study! And Microsoft really seems to be into ATM, although its too expensive for anyone except Fortune 1000.

I had a little different reason for passing this test than a lot of folks – revenge! My company hired a consultant at 3x my pay to set up a new server system and wire a new office. All of which he did without any input from me or anyone actually working on the network. He didn’t even ask what we wanted for future expansion, and spent $70k setting the damn thing up. Plus, he never gave anyone any documentation (god help them if there’s a fire). More than anything, I wanted to learn this stuff to check his work, especially after I found out he wasn’t even certified, and found a lot of things he said to me were direct quotes from some of these books! (To make it worse, he wouldn’t work with me because he ‘didn’t believe this was the kind of work for girls’. Arggh)

Good luck to all of you. See you on NT Server.