Subject: Dump for NetEss 3/1998
*** Braindump for NetEss (70-58) by Nel
Exam: NET ESS
Score: 965 (missed 2 questions)
As another poster said: Remember, you are not the last person who will be taking this test. Write those braindumps up promptly, soon after you get out of the Sylvan place, and get 'em in!
Resources used to study:
Normally I also use the MOC, but for NetEss, I knew I had enough of a background that I mainly needed just details and MS-speak, not a careful introduction to the concepts.
All 3 resources were helpful in preparing me for the test. If you don't have the first one, learn the second two (read EVERY braindump!) and you'll get through it no problem. Trust me. MUCH of this is simple memory work... memorizing a few tables and referring to them during the test will get you through it, and by the time you're done looking up info in those tables and answering sample test questions based on them, you may even begin to know intuitively that 10Base2 cable has a max segment length of 185 meters, needs 50 ohm terminators at each end of the segment, you use network routers but data link bridges, and IRQ 5 belongs to the sound card or LPT2. I also made brief forrays into the Reskit and NT MOCdocs to investigate things like RAID, but primarily used the three resources mentioned above.
There's nothing much that I can add to previous braindumps, because between those and Transcender, what can I say... "No surprises." Does it get better than that? However, here's a summary and a few gotchas worth pointing out again, as well as a description of the format of the test that I saw.
Things to know for NetEss:
- OSI model
- easy mnemonic: Please Do Not Throw Sausage Pizza Away, gives you the first letters of each layer, in correct order
- know where protocols fit into the various layers
- all parts of 802.x model
- network hardware layers:
- gateway - anything above network, generally (think: protocol converter)
- router - network
- bridge - data link (picture a bridge made of Timex Data Links ;-)
- brouter - handles both TCP/IP routing and NetBEUI bridging
- bridges can't be used to alleviate broadcast storms, only routers can (bridges pass broadcasts, routers can filter them out)
- fault tolerance (disk striping, mirroring)
- backup types
- cable types, speeds, distances
- know that RJ58/U is NOT correct for 10Base2 (only RG58/AU)
- RAID levels
- NDIS "allows network protocols to be independent of adapter card hardware" (significant rephrasing of how Transcender puts it -- the idea is that NDIS sits between the net protocols and the hardware, and allows for device-independent network protocol implementation, and binding of multiple network protocols to one card)
- know correct impedances for terminators, barrel connectors, end-to-end of RG58 A/U cable, core to outside of RG58 A/U cable
- Etc.
*** If it's on Transcender, know it; also find the training dump with the heading "MCSE Resource Centre, Training Revision for Network Essentials" and print it out... 9 pages of the VERY last thing you want to look at before you sit for the test -- these 9 pages of tables and definitions are enough to get you at least halfway. Whoever did that document deserves a gold star! (It is NOT a rehash of questions; it is an outline of all those little facts you have to remember to ace NetEss.)
People have reported varying experiences with this test, some starting out with tough scenario questions, others getting only 2 scenarios, etc. Here's what you would have experienced had you taken my test:
- First 14-16 questions were pretty straightforward multiple choice
- At just about the time I was getting comfortable and starting to worry about when it would get hard...
POOF!
[ For those of you who are blissfully unaware, the test pops up a blue-background screen reminiscent of the Windows BSOD, with a note telling you that the next N questions relate to a certain scenario. Read the stupid note. Sometimes it says something of value like "Pay particular attention to the number of optional results specified in choice D", which may help you reason out an answer, if you need to. ]
You have now entered Scenario Hell. A fierce reading comprehension test bars the door. What will you do?
Adventurer replies: "Paraphrase every question, read real slow, make sure I take the time to KNOW what it is asking. Offer a small word of thanks to God for Braindump Heaven and its maintainers."
I made it past the first pair. I won't bore you with the details, because ALL of the scenarios I had -- the 2 and 3 T1 fault tolerant links, the NETBIOS naming conventions with first hex digits then "intelligent" names, want to decrease net loading by 50% (one half of this was the one that offered the infamously incorrect solution of decreasing the TCP/IP packet size), provide a fault-tolerant disk setup, etc. -- have been discussed in the 'dumps before. That's right, YOU, TOO, can have a magic scroll with spells to invoke, to ward off the demons of Scenario Hell! As with any true magic, it is best if you create your OWN scroll by going through the braindumps and collecting "The Worst of the Scenarios", and scribbling them down for later study. Do this, and you're unlikely to be in for unpleasant surprises. Do yourself a favor and research the answers, though. The one question that a brain-dumper got wrong and didn't correctly identify, or mis-transcribed in his/her dump, could make the difference between a pass and a fail FOR YOU. Your scenarios are likely to be SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT from any you see on the dumps. Don't let that throw you. Understand the ones in the dumps (I said understand, not memorize!), and you'll be able to do the ones you see live.
A "normal" question came up, and I answered it. Whew! But then, ANOTHER scenario. 2 or 3 more normal questions. Another scenario.
Every time I thought these were over, YANLK (yet-another-nasty-looking-knife, a phrase from Adventure for boringly annoying but possibly lethal things thrown at one... hi Dave :-)! Another BSOL! I got 6 or 7 sets of them (5 or 6 pairs, and 1 single). Probably saw every scenario question on the braindumps, on this one test. :-(
I thought it would never be over. By the last one, I was getting sick of this, and actually skipped those two questions to page through the next few beyond them, to see, "Are there any MORE???". Thankfully there weren't, because I was tired of reading them and sifting through the information
- The last 15 or so were all downhill, as straightforward as the first 15 or so.
Good default answers if you're not sure and need to guess (I agree with other braindumpers):
- if a question has Protocol Analyzer as a choice, pick it
- if a question has ATM as a choice, pick it
- if a question has frame type as a choice, and IPX or NWLINK is mentioned, pick it
Things to be cautious of:
- EVERY time you see "disk striping" PLEASE take the time to read carefully and find out if they say "with parity" or "without parity", because the first IS fault tolerant, and the second IS NOT; also in these questions, pay attention to if they CARE about fault tolerance (if they do, and you don't see "with parity", "disk striping" is the wrong answer!)
- If you see "router" and "NETBEUI" used together, know immediately that something is wrong with that solution, answer, whatever, because NETBEUI is not a routable protocol
Good luck!